Allergy - Cocklebur Test

If you are not able to step outside without sneezing your head off, chances are that your allergies
are acting up. Your body’s immune system tends to tag harmless substances as foreign and goes into
the ‘hyper’ mode for some reason or the other, resulting in your body developing mild to severe
allergic reactions to substances such as pollen from Cocklebur. It is important that you seek
immediate medical attention to help alleviate some of those persistent and irritating symptoms, but
also to get medical help for the more serious allergic reactions as well. If you do develop some of the
following symptoms, it is advisable to consult with your doctor at the earliest.
Rash
Constant coughing
Wheezing
Congestion
Rash
Fever
Anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction)
It is important that you check in with your doctor and into an emergency room especially if you start
developing signs of an impending severe allergic reaction.

Your doctor would first submit you to a brief physical examination after which he would review your complete medical history, and then order for an allergy test for cockleburs to be carried out. It is at this point that you would have to inform your doctor whether you are allergic to other substances including that of cockleburs, and whether you are currently taking any medication to offset your current symptoms. Your doctor would advise you to avoid taking any anti-histamines for 24hrs prior to getting the test done sand would prescribe an effective treatment, on reviewing the results of the test.

This test is mainly used to determine whether you are allergic to Cockleburs or not so that you can avail the best anti-allergic medication for the same.

You are not required to undergo any special prep for this test; your doctor would ask you to roll up your sleeves so as to collect a sample of your blood directly from your vein. He would then tie a band across your upper arm to make your veins more prominent; he would then move to apply antiseptic to a small part of your arm and draw out a small sample of your blood, by using a standard size syringe. The sample would then be stored in a sterile container, tagged and processed before being dispatched to the lab.

The lab would process your blood and test it for the presence of IgG antibodies, specific to the allergen in question. The results of then test should become available right away and depending on the results, your doctor may order for a complete allergy panel test or other procedures or diagnose your current condition and provide you with effective anti-allergy medication for the same.