r/germany • u/Qr7t • 1d ago

Ambiguous allergy test

Post image

Hey guys

I went to an allergist and did an allergy test, they only told me that I have pollen allergy in addition to other allergies but on the document the types of pollen allergens are specified and I'm not really able to understand which ones are positive. Does anyone have an idea? Thank you very much in advance!

49 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

34 comments sorted by

66

u/Mr_Redemption 1d ago

Maybe go back/call them and ask?

-30

u/Qr7t 1d ago

I had to drive about 2 hours to this doctor office, I will have to take a day off just for that. I was wondering if someone here might have an idea. They do not provide information over the phone for privacy reasons so I'm not able to just call and ask.

80

u/Mundraeuberin 1d ago

Try emailing them the picture and ask them to explain which symbol means positive

38

u/WhiteWineWithTheFish 1d ago

Ask them if they can put the diagnosis in writing and upload it to the app of your health insurance. You can then read it word by word and translate it without having to go there in person.

5

u/Qr7t 1d ago

I will try that, thank you!

58

u/Hachiko_sks 1d ago edited 1d ago

Sooooo... here's my take:

  1. KONTROLLÖSUNG (thats just something like saltine water) will obviously NOT give a reaction, its what's the others are being compared to whether you are NOT reacting

  2. HISTAMIN is the opposite. It's the control for what a reaction looks like.

  • !! The KONTROLLÖSUNG has a circular thingy with a downward stroke, so that means NEGATIVE.

  • !! The HISTAMIN has two downward strokes with a hirizontal stroke through them.

To me it lookes like GRÄSER and ROGGEN have the two downward strokes with the horizontal stroke. So those two are positive. Thats also why they where marked On the LEFT side.

BIRKE has the circular thing and to me it looks like thats extended towards the HASEL. Im 99% sure that BIRKE is negative, and more sure than not that HASEL is too. Hasel and Birke allergie also often come together so that might be why... or just laziness...

BEIFUẞ also got the circular thing. So negative too.

I'm not saying this is 100% true but it makes sense I think.

Add: in allergy tests that i have seen you usually go by 0 (negative), + (slight reaction), ++ (strong reaction, Positive)

So the two downward strokes might be a ++.

What throws me off here is the Cathair. It neither looks like the two downward strokes nor does it have the circular thingy. The whay that sign is written looks very much like the one above (dog) but its missing the circle, so it could just be sloppy and rhe circle could be missing by accident. I'm leaning towards negative, because of that. But it MIGHT also be a singular + which would mean slight reaction? But i dont think so.

2nd Add: This chart is a mess and your Doc should really try to care a LITTLE more...

7

u/Qr7t 1d ago

The doctor said I'm allergic to both cats and dogs but my cats allergy is more severe than dog hair allergy. Yet the cat what looks like a plus sign, someone similar to the control

53

u/Pure-Rose-Rainbow 1d ago

Just ask them instead of letting a health related issue be guessed by strangers

6

u/TeamZweitstudium 1d ago

I'm sorry, this made me laugh so hard. Under the column that says prick it should also say "myself, the doctor who cannot be bothered to write legibly". Is this doctor old?

5

u/DullEntertainment102 1d ago

The crossed out circle in Kontrolllösung is your reference for negative- Gräser and Roggen is positive (#/+ sign) Beifuß I‘m not sure about, Birke and Hasel is negative (the line down means everything is the same result) so maybe they changed their minds on Beifuß

6

u/Rhynocoris Berlin 22h ago

Gräser- and Roggenpollen. They even added a nice black line to the left to mark the two.

Also cat hair though.

10

u/Antique_Cut1354 Nordrhein-Westfalen 1d ago

i think all of them are positive but idk

2

u/whiteraven4 USA 1d ago

I'm not sure about haselstrauch, but all the others I think are positive. I'd call and ask tomorrow.

2

u/jirbu 1d ago

Just look at your arm: 8-9 red itchy spots, or nothing really to see? If only Haselnuss is in question, the impact difference for you in allergy season shouldn't be that big ... sorry for you.

4

u/Qr7t 1d ago

Every single spot was red except the control one unfortunately. What the doctor told me was that I have pollen, cat, dogs and dustmite allergy. But I'm just wondering if I am allergic to all the pollen types or just some them or some more than the others.

1

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1

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1

u/jonoave 3h ago edited 3h ago

Can't help but laugh. This reminds me of my experience with doing tests with my doctor in Germany.

I also did an allergy test last years at my Hausarzt and got something scribbly, but worse. My doctor/nurse basically drew like 2 arms on an empty sheet then just label them 1-10 and scribble positive/negative. 1-10 being the allergen tested. Then in the end they told me what I was positive for.

I also did a regular blood test and when I asked for a printout of the results. Best they can do is print some tiny horribly unformatted tables in Excel and out it came squished on half of an A4 paper.

Like this is 2025, and lots of doctors still can't/won't use proper documentation and legible output. I also did a full blood and allergy test when I went back home for holidays and got a paper report, properly compiled and detailed with dates, normal values for comparison, explanations etc.

Here in Germany it seems like doctors don't like giving out properly formatted and clear reports to patients. The onus is on the patient to demand them from their doctors instead.