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From: jam@ho95b.UUCP (Joe Malecki)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Allergies
Message-ID: <409@ho95b.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 13-May-85 09:48:51 EDT
Article-I.D.: ho95b.409
Posted: Mon May 13 09:48:51 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 14-May-85 20:16:23 EDT
References: <1668@bmcg.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 71

I am a "highly allergic individual," and the weekly injections I've been
getting for about 2 years have improved my life greatly.

First off, I never went through the medieval skin tests.  There is a much
more modern alternative, but most allergists (who get their business soley
from allergies) scorn it for economic (THEIR economics!) reasons.

The blood test I have undergone is called RAST -- Radio Allergo Sorbent
Test.  It's pretty fancy.  I don't have the literature in from of me, but to
"the best of my recollection":

	A blood sample is taken, and mixed with a specific allergen (for
	example, cat dander). I believe it's actually the allegen in the
	substance itself that is added, so that they don't actually shake a
	cat over a testtube, they add the already-isolated substance to your
	blood.

	They let your blood react (or not react) with the allergen, and then
	add a radioactive chemical that binds to the allergen-antigen complex
	that has formed in your blood.  The more allergic you are to the
	allergen, the more antigen combines with it, and the more the
	radioactive chemical binds to it all.

	Then they put your blood on filter paper or something, and wash it.
	The heavier 3-way complex of allergen-antigen-radioactive tracer
	stays behind, and they then use a geiger counter to measure how much
	radioactivity is left.  You can see that the severity of your allergy
	is proportional to the radioactivity of the test products.

	The above procedure is repeated for all the allergens being tested.

The claim is that the results of the RAST are repeatable, while the results
of skin test are eminently non-repeatable - each time the skin tests are
done, different results almost always occur.

As I've said, I've been taking shots (2 per week) for some time, and they
have helped greatly.  For the first time in my life, I've had both nostrils
clear and unclogged, the headaches almost never recur, and I'm not so
bone-dragging tired all the time.

Now for the economics: 

I get my serum from an ENT (Ear Nose Throat Doctor) Allergist, not a
plain Allergist.  I had a long discussion with my doctor, and he said the
reason why the RAST has undergone attacks is strictly economics.  An
allergist gets all his/her money from allergy testing and giving shots.
The blood test is very efficient, requiring only two tubes of blood - NO
returning dozens of time for all the scratches on the back or arms.
ENT Allergist get all the business they need from their ENT practice and the
surgery they do (surgery is where the profits are). They allergy stuff is
only to help the patients.  

I believe this guy because I went to him with nasal polyps caused by my severe
allergies.  He said I would need surgery to remove them, because they almost
completely occluded my nasal passages.  But he refused to perform the surgery
until I got my allergies taken care of.  Otherwise the polyps would grow back
again and again. He wanted no part in operating to treat only the symptoms,
and not the problem of my allergies.

Sorry for being so long-winded, but I've been feeling so great because of the
shots (I stopped them for about 6 months, and became miserable again), that
I'd like to help anybody else understand the options available to them.

You're welcome to call me if you have any questions about the tests.
-- 
Joe Malecki
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Room 4K-223 
Holmdel, NJ 07733
(201) 949-4847
{allegra, cbosgd, ihnp4}!ho95b!jam