+ How do I book an appointment?

• Call 03-8560-1924 to make an appointment with our reception staff.
• You will need a written referral from a doctor to claim Medicare benefits.

+ How do I Prepare for an appointment?

• Try to avoid all antihistamine/hayfever tablets for 2 days before your appointment - they may interfere with skin prick testing. If you need to continue antihistamines due to severe symptoms, we can discuss other testing strategies during the appointment.
• Do not stop other medications including asthma puffers & inhalers.
• Take photos of your rashes or swellings. These can help diagnose conditions that may not be present on the day.
• If food allergy is suspected please follow these instructions: www.avidallergy.com/food-allergy-instructions
• If you have seen other doctors/hospitals for the problem, bringing any letters or discharge summaries can mean we can maximise the time spent on managing the problem rather than working with incomplete information on the day. Even if you feel no treatment was given/effective, it may be meaningful to your diagnosis.

+ What happens in the appointment?

A detailed clinical history of your allergic symptoms are taken, including when they started, how they have changed over time, and any treatments your have had/tried in the past. Physical Examinations will be performed if necessary. Allergy Skin testing may be performed during the appointment if appropriate. Usually a management plan is formulated on the day, and a report will be sent to your referring doctor, with a copy sent to you.

+ What do I need to bring to the appointment?

• Your referral letter if claiming a Medicare subsidy
• If you have seen other doctors/hospitals for the problem, bringing any letters or discharge summaries can mean we can maximise the time spent on managing the problem rather than working with incomplete information on the day. Even if you feel no treatment was given/effective, it may be meaningful to your diagnosis.
• If you are taking any medications (prescription or otherwise), please bring the details of those, including strength and dosage.
• Please see these instructions for uncommon food allergies: www.avidallergy.com/food-allergy-instructions
• you are welcome to bring family members/friends to the appointment as your wish.

+ How long is an appointment?

Initial appointments are usually one hour, including testing if appropriate. Please take this into consideration (especially as appropriate parking is very limited on the street in the CBD)

+ Can I take antihistamines/hayfever tablets before the appointment?

• Over the counter antihistamine/hayfever tablets (e.g. cetirizine, fexofenadine, loratadine, polaramine etc.) can interfere with skin testing. Ideally you should withhold these for 48hours prior to the appointment. However we can often still interpret positive results if these have been accidentally taken.
• If you have severe symtpoms which would be unbearable if your stopped, you don't have to stop! We can discuss alternate options for testing, such as blood tests (although the results will not be available that day.)

+ How many things do you test in a skin prick test?

Skin prick tests are targeted at likely substances related to when you experience allergic symptoms. This is why we have a discussion initially around the detailed history of your symptoms. Usually around 10-20 individual allergens are tested, but this depends on your specific problem.

+ I'm interested in Immunotherapy/desensitisastion for allergies, how does that work?

Many common allergies can be treated with Allergen Specific Immunotherapy. This therapy involves gradual re-training of the immune system to be less reactive when exposed to specific allergens (e.g. grass pollen, dust mite, cat, honey bee venom). This can be very effective when used appropriately. Usually patients are assessed for this at their first consultation, and, if appropriate can be started immediately. Ongoing doses are usually given in the community by a patients local doctor.