To determine whether your problem is allergic in nature or not, find out whether your answer more positively to the following questions.
TESTING POINTS FOR COUGH
1. Do you have more coughing during the night than the daytime?
2. Do you have bouts of sneezing also?
3. Does cough occur only in a particular season or only on the change of season?
4. Is there any family history of coughing, bouts of sneezing or eczema?
5. Did the patient ever suffer from eczema in the childhood?
6. Does cough aggravate at the change of season or during a particular season?
7. Do you vomit each time after taking particular food item?
8. Do you develop rash around your lips and inside of the mouth after taking a specific food item?
9. Do your suffer from abdominal pain (colic)?
10. Do you lose weight because you cannot retain a food item which is considered to be an essential part of diet?
11. Do you have a reddish oozing rash on your face?
12. Do you get cough frequently?
13. Is there a frequent running of the nose?
14. Do you have wheeze in the chest?
15. Is your cough sometimes followed by fever?
16. Do you get abdominal colic at any time?
17. Have you or had you an earlier oozing rash on your face?
NOTE
□ Points (1) to (6) pertain to cough which is allergic in nature.
□ Points (7) to (11) pertain to your child who is allergic to a food.
□ Points (12) to (16) pertain to your (child’s) symptoms due to asthma.
CONCLUSION
If your answer to even two of the points in No.(l) above is in the affirmative (‘Yes’), your cough is allergic in nature. If you say more ‘yes’ to the conditions mentioned in No (2), you are allergic to a (particular) food item and, finally, if your or your child’s answer to more than half the questions is in the affirmative, it can be concluded that there are far more chances to have asthma.
TESTING POINTS ABOUT HAIR-DYE ?
□ Do you feel like scratching or feel the need to scratch after 24 hours application of Hair-Dye?
□ Do you have itching behind the nape of neck and ears after 24 hours of application of Hair-Dye?
□ Do you notice raised spots and redness on the scalp, on examination the scalp?
If your answer is ‘Yes’ even to one of the said questions, you must stop use of Hair-dye without any delay.
POINTS ABOUT SKIN RASH BEING ALLERGIC IN NATURE
□ Does the rash cause any sort of itching when it is at a (particular) site?
□ Does the rash appear and disappear suddenly?
□ Is the rash raised from the skin?
□ Does the rash appear only after taking a particular food item (say egg, fish, chocolate, tea or coffee or any other food item for that matter)?
□ Has the rash any relation to cold, heat, emotional state or exertion?
If you reply in ‘yes’ to even one of the said questions, it can be concluded that your rash is allergic in nature. There could be other testing points which might be peculiar a particular patient, but not to all the patients. Hence, two cases cannot be generalised. Time of aggravation and type of allergen are two core factors which determine the diagnosis or, at least, help in diagnosing.