New Allergy & Immunology Patients

Please see the guidance below if you are a new patient or an established patient planning to request allergy testing at your upcoming visit.

• Stop your oral antihistamines 1 week before your appointment so that skin testing can be completed accurately. Examples include Zyrtec, Allegra, Claritin, Xyzal, Benadryl, Pepcid, cetirizine, fexofenadine, loratadine, levocetirizine, diphenhydramine, chlorpheniramine, brompheniramine, hydroxyzine, famotidine, and any other generic equivalents. Please note that many OTC cough and cold medications contain antihistamines.
• Stop nasal antihistamine sprays (Dymista, Astepro, Patanase, azelastine-fluticasone, azelastine, and olopatadine), if applicable, 2 days before your next appointment so that skin testing can be completed.
• It is ok to continue all asthma inhalers, nasal steroid sprays (e.g. Flonase, fluticasone, Nasacort, Nasonex, Rhinocort) and Singulair (montelukast), as these medications do not affect allergy testing results.
• If you are unable to stop your antihistamines prior to your appointment due to ongoing symptoms, it is ok to continue your medications without stopping. At your appointment, we will discuss allergy testing by blood work or establishing a treatment plan right away with plans to perform skin testing for allergies at a later time.
• Some medications used for mental health conditions contain antihistamine properties. Please do not stop these medications for the purpose of allergy testing unless your prescribing provider has deemed it safe to stop for at least 10 days.
• If you are uncertain whether any medications you take contain antihistamines, please call our clinic for further guidance.

If you are a new patient to Spring Valley Pediatrics Allergy and Immunology interested in pursuing oral food challenges, we require an initial consultation first to review the history and previous test results so that an appropriate course of action can be determined. Food challenges come with a possible risk for anaphylaxis, so the decision to proceed with a food challenge can only be made after thoroughly reviewing a patient’s entire allergy history. This is necessary even if your previous allergist told you to schedule a food challenge with them. Thank you for your understanding.