All Tests

ANSWER:Antihistamines may help your symptoms, particularly if they are intermittent. Another approach would be regular preventive use of a nasal steroid spray such as fluticasone or beclometasone, with anti-allergy eye drops. If the symptoms vary with your environment, they are likely to be due to allergy, which can be checked with skin-prick tests or blood IgE (RAST or CAP tests). Recurrent upper respiratory virus infections may cause similar symptoms with no link to environment. They may still be helped by nasal steroids, even if not allergic in origin.

 Answered by:  Dr Lawrence Youlten    |  Consultant,
Department of Allergy,
Addenbrookes, Cambridge