Miscellany: The Allergy Test

I have seasonal allergies - when that ragweed pollen comes around, it's often runny noses and sneezing for yours truly. But aside from that, I never felt the need to see what else I was allergic to. I had heard, though, about the process for testing people for allergies (they essentially stick you full of needles dipped in various allergens) but a friend of mine recently let me sit in while they performed the procedure on him.

It's fascinating to see a grid being drawn on someone's back, almost like a game of Battleship. In each grid is pricked a different extract of something - cats, dust mite goo, pollen, etc. They wait 15 minutes and see which ones, if any, react. It's interesting that in 2008, with all our medical knowledge, it all boils down to trial and error.

Well, not quite - they do inject you with a control, in the form of pure histamine designed to provoke a response. It's a bit unsettling to think that your body's own defenses are restricting your lung function, but I guess it's better than not having an immune system at all.