Allergy symptoms are not always verified with allergy tests.
How can this be?
There are a number of possible reasons.
Allergy tests are not 100% accurate. You may get a false positive or a false negative.
A false positive is when the allergy test shows that you are allergic to something when you are not. This may cause you to needlessly avoid certain things to avoid allergy problems.
A false negative is worse. It can mislead you into thinking that you are OK with something when it actually cases allergy symptoms.
If you are tested for an allergen and get a negative result, there is a chance that you are still allergic to it.
Use allergy tests as a guide. If your doctor says you are, or are not allergic to something, do not take this as 100% fact.
Another reason you may have allergy symptoms but negative allergy test results is that you may not have been tested for the allergen that is actually causing your allergy symptoms.
It would be impractical to test you for every possible allergen. Tests are for the most common allergens. You may have an allergy to a less common allergen.
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I was tested for over 100 allergys and they all came back negative, however I have had to avoid swiming in rivers and lakes when I go camping because once my head is submerged even for 5 seconds, I will be misserable the next 2 days with a stuffed up and running nose, eyes red and itchy, and no energy. Does anyone know of someone else with a similar problem? I live in Missouri and even get it in fresh moving streams like rivers. I have had this problem on the rivers in Arkansas, Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, the rivers in Missouri and in Kansas. Its miserable and wish I could enjoy the water. (Sudafed and such medicine won’t even work; nor will the afrin or other sprays doctors have suggested to open the nasal passages)
Any help or thoughts appreciated!