269: Allergy Testing: Everything You Need To Know w/ Dr. Stacy Silvers

I'll be direct. Anything and everything to do with food allergies seems to be kind of confusing. I'm hoping today to demystify some of the questions and thoughts and ideas from the patient side of things around allergies and allergy testing, specifically. Today's guest, Dr. Stacy Silvers is a board-certified allergist specializing in environmental and food allergy diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Dr. Silvers oversees Aspire's allergy program and protocols, and also leads the food allergy and oral immunotherapy (OIT) program at Aspire Allergy & Sinus. Dr. Silvers is considered an expert in the field of food allergy diagnosis and treatment. Join us as Dr. Silvers discusses all things relating to food allergies, diagnosis and treatment! What do you have experience with? Is it patch testing, skin prick, intradermal testing, blood test... the whole nine yards? Let me know in the comments what has worked for you and if your diagnosis was a game-changer! In this episode: Food sensitivities vs. food allergies The differences between allergen testing -- blood, patch + skin prick Which medications interfere with allergy testing results Why you could develop a food allergy despite eating it before without any issue Thoughts on removing foods to figure out a food allergy Quotes “That's one of the benefits of (skin prick) testing is you get quick results, usually before you even walk out the door. So that test is very good for nasal allergies, food allergies, anaphylactic type reactions." [05:31] “When we compare prick testing and the lab testing, the sensitivity is about 75% with the blood test compared to the prick test. So if we can do the prick test, we prefer to go that route. But we can't always do the prick test. You have to be off certain medications in order to do the prick testing reliably." [09:12] Links Find Dr. Silvers online Follow Aspire Allergy on Instagram Healthy Skin Show ep. 248: Is Eczema Related To Histamine Intolerance?  Healthy Skin Show ep. 222: Food Allergies + Skin Rashes in Kids w/ Jennifer Brand, MS, MPH, CNS Healthy Skin Show ep. 037: Nickel Allergy And Eczema w/ Dr. Peter Lio