The visit is covered by Alberta Health but Alberta Health does not pay for allergy testing materials, patients are required to pay for materials and extracts that are used for their tests. All allergy clinics in Alberta require patients to pay tray fees for the tests varying between 60 - 250 dollars depending on the nature and number of the tests.

11809 68 street NW, Edmonton , AB

Please provide us with your phone number, a staff member will gladly call you to discuss booking requirements.

Tel: 780 - 425 - 3400 / Fax: 780 423 4693 E-mail: info@theallergyclinic.ca Facebook : The allergy Clinic. Whatsapp and text: Coming soon.

Yes. Dr. Vincent Osundwa is a medical specialist as per Alberta Health regulations who sees patients by referral only. You can ask your primary care physician to send a referral to The Allergy Clinic Dr. VINCENT OSUNDWA Fax: 780 423 4693 send the following link to your physician https://www.theallergyclinic.ca//referringtools If you have an emergency, please call 9-1-1 or go to the nearest hospital.

Its a Short waiting list. We can see patients within a few days of receiving the referral.

You can’t cure allergies, but you can treat and control the symptoms. It may take a little work. You’ll need to make a few changes to your surroundings or figure out how to stay away from things that trigger allergy attacks. Medication will ease your symptoms, but you may still have a reaction when you’re around an allergen. Kids, on the other hand, sometimes outgrow allergies, particularly with food. You might try a type of treatment called immunotherapy. You’ll get a bit of what you’re allergic to in the form of shots, oral tablets, or drops. It isn’t a cure, but it can weaken your reaction.

The symptoms can be similar: Look for patterns: Both can cause sneezing, congestion, runny nose, watery eyes, fatigue, and headaches. Itching in the eyes or nose is more common with allergies and less common with a cold. Cold symptoms have no pattern to how they develop. An allergic reaction happens all at once. Allergies are not contagious. Watch the timing: Cold symptoms go away after 7 to 10 days. A reaction will go on as long you’re exposed to the allergen. It may ease up when you get away from whatever it is you’re allergic to, but it may not. Check your hankie: Yeah, it’s kind of gross, but the mucus tells you what you need to know. Colds may cause yellowish nasal discharge. That suggests there’s an infection to blame. Allergic reactions result in clear, thin, watery gunk. Wait for the sneezes to start: Sneezing is common with both allergies and colds. However, itchy eyes and a nose are more common with an allergy. Consult a calendar:Colds are more common during the winter months. Allergies can be year-round or seasonal, depending on the type of allergies you have.

No. Moving won’t cure allergies or symptoms. You’re likely to be allergic to pollen from plants in the new area.

"Hypo" means under or less than, so it’s a product that’s less likely to trigger an allergic reaction. Many things we use every day, like cleansers, soaps, deodorants, makeup, and even mouthwash, have ingredients that can trigger a skin allergy. When you expose your skin to these ingredients -- most often fragrances and chemicals used as preservatives -- you can get contact dermatitis. It starts as red areas that itch and swell. Some people get rashes or blisters. If you see "hypoallergenic" on the label, it means the product doesn’t have those things in it. But manufacturers don’t have to prove that claim. There are no regulations or standards for them to follow. Using hypoallergenic products makes a reaction less likely, but nothing can guarantee it will never irritate your skin or trigger an allergy. Test anything new before you use it, especially if you have had skin reactions before. Dab a little on your inner wrist or elbow and wait. You should know how it affects you within 24 hours.

The type of pollen that causes allergy symptoms comes from plants (trees, grasses, and weeds) that typically don’t bear fruit or flowers. They make lots of small, light, dry granules that can float in the wind for miles. Common plant allergens include: Weeds: ragweed, sagebrush, redroot pigweed, lamb's quarters, goosefoot, tumbleweed (Russian thistle), and English plantain Grasses: timothy grass, Kentucky blue grass, Johnson grass, Bermuda grass, redtop grass, orchard grass, sweet vernal grass, perennial rye, salt grass, velvet grass, and fescue Hardwood deciduous trees: oak, ash, elm, birch, maple, alder, and hazel, as well as hickory, pecan, and box and mountain cedar. Juniper, cedar, cypress, and sequoia trees are also likely to cause allergy symptoms.

Yes. Stress doesn’t cause allergies, but it can make an existing reaction worse by increasing the level of histamine in your bloodstream. This powerful substance can lead to allergy-like symptoms.

The immune system normally protects a person from germs and disease. It helps them to fight off bacteria, viruses, and other tiny organisms that can make them sick. If someone has a food allergy, their immune system mistakenly treats something in a particular food (most often, the protein) as if it’s dangerous to them. Their body reacts to the food by having an allergic reaction.

A food allergy involves the immune system and symptoms can be life-threatening. A food intolerance is the inability to digest or absorb certain foods. For example, someone with lactose intolerance doesn’t have enough of the enzyme lactase to break down the sugar (lactose) in dairy products. The symptoms of food intolerance affect the gastrointestinal tract and can cause discomfort but are generally not life-threatening.

Health Canada defines the priority food allergens as: peanut, tree nuts, sesame, milk, egg, fish, crustaceans (e.g., lobster, shrimp) and molluscs (e.g., scallops, clams), soy, wheat and triticale, and mustard. A person can be allergic to any food, but these are the most common. Health Canada’s food labelling regulations require the inclusion of the common name of these priority allergens as well as gluten sources and added sulphites on a food label. Read more about the priority food allergens.

Anaphylaxis (pronounced anna-fill-axis) is a serious allergic reaction that is rapid in onset and may cause death. Individuals who have IgE mediated food allergy and are at risk of anaphylaxis should carry an epinephrine auto-injector (e.g. EpiPen®, ALLERJECT®) which contains life-saving medication to treat an allergic reaction. At present, tests cannot tell us how severe a person’s reaction will be.

Symptoms of anaphylaxis generally include two or more of these body systems. Skin: hives, swelling (face, lips, tongue), itching, warmth, redness Respiratory (breathing): coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, chest pain/tightness, throat tightness, hoarse voice, nasal congestion or hay fever-like symptoms (runny itchy nose and watery eyes, sneezing), trouble swallowing Gastrointestinal (stomach): nausea, pain/cramps, vomiting, diarrhea Cardiovascular (heart): paler than normal skin colour/blue colour, weak pulse, passing out, dizziness or lightheadedness, shock Other: anxiety, sense of doom (the feeling that something bad is about to happen), headache, uterine cramps, metallic taste However, a drop in blood pressure without other symptoms may also indicate anaphylaxis. It is important to know that anaphylaxis can occur without hives.

Food is one of the most common causes of anaphylaxis, but insect stings, medications, latex, and exercise can also cause reactions. Learn more about the non-food allergens.

Most allergic reactions happen within minutes, but some can occur a few hours after exposure.

Even a very small amount ‘hidden’ in a food or a trace amount of an allergen transferred to a serving utensil has the potential to cause a severe allergic reaction. It’s important to know how to avoid cross-contamination.

For most people, accidentally eating a food containing their allergen poses the greatest risk. Allergic reactions to foods are caused by specific food proteins. Since food odours do not contain protein, they cannot cause reactions. People can have reactions when they inhale food proteins to which they are allergic, such as in the steam produced while cooking certain foods, like fish.

Yes. People at risk need to tell their friends and partners about their food allergies to avoid accidental exposure, as small amounts of food can be transferred from one person to another through kissing.

Reading ingredient labels on foods, taking special precautions in food preparation and ensuring proper hand washing and cleaning go a long way toward reducing the risk of an accidental exposure.

Epinephrine is first-line treatment for anaphylaxis, and epinephrine auto-injectors (e.g. EpiPen, ALLERJECT) contain a pre-measured dose of the medication. Antihistamines and asthma medications shouldn’t be used instead of epinephrine for treating anaphylaxis, but can be given as secondary medications. After receiving epinephrine, a person should go to hospital, ideally by ambulance, for observation and/or further treatment.

There is no easy explanation to explain the prevalence of food allergy. One theory, known as the “dual-allergen exposure hypothesis” suggests that initial exposure to food allergens through the skin, especially in babies with eczema, can lead to allergy while oral exposure (eating the food) can lead to tolerance. Another theory, the “hygiene hypothesis”, suggests that people in Western countries are living in cleaner and more sanitized environments, and their immune systems are shifting toward developing allergic responses to certain foods and away from fighting germs or infections. The risk factors for food allergy include: Age: Food allergy is more common in young children than in older children or adults. Family history: You’re more likely to have a food allergy if your parent or sibling has one. Another food allergy: If you have a food allergy, you’re at greater risk for developing another. Related medical conditions: Your risk is increased if you have an allergic disease such as asthma, eczema, or hay fever.

In 2019, the Canadian Paediatric Society released updated recommendations on the specific timing of early introduction of allergenic foods for high-risk infants. The new guidance is to actively offer non-choking forms of foods containing common allergens (e.g. peanut, egg) around 6 months of age, but not before 4 months, as this can be effective in preventing food allergy in some high-risk infants.

Allergies to peanut, tree nuts, and shellfish (crustaceans and molluscs) tend to be lifelong. Some allergies, such as milk and egg, are often outgrown by school age.

Currently, there is no cure for food allergy, though there are newly emerging therapies that show promise. The best studied treatments involve immunotherapy or desensitization to a food allergen using different methods of delivery and include oral immunotherapy (OIT), sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) and epicutaneous immunotherapy (EPIT). These therapies may be potential treatments for some patients with food allergy.