Questions people ask before they enroll

Enroll online — it takes about two minutes. The clinic confirms your visit within one business day and sends everything you need beforehand.

Same and next-day appointments are available.

Yes. Dr. Stanga treats children and adults across central Iowa.

Yes, telehealth visits are available. Testing still has to happen in the clinic, so a first visit is usually in person.

595 S 60th St, Suite 160, West Des Moines, IA 50266. Patients travel in from Clive, Waukee, Urbandale and across central Iowa.

No. You pay the clinic directly rather than routing care through an insurer. That single change is what makes hour-long visits, testing read the same day and a physician who answers your messages possible.

Yes. The clinic accepts cash, credit card, HSA and FSA.

No. Membership and visit costs are published in advance and apply to everyone. No surprise billing, no coding games, no explanation-of-benefits.

New patient visits run 45 to 60 minutes. Follow-ups are 30.

Yes. Dr. Stanga performs your evaluation, reads your testing and builds your plan. There are no handoffs.

In the clinic. Skin panels are read the same day and you leave with a written plan. Blood work is drawn here and comes back in one to two days.

Message the clinic when something changes. You'll hear back from the person who treated you.

More than most people expect. Seasonal and year-round nasal allergy, asthma, food allergy, eczema, chronic hives, chronic sinus disease, drug and medication allergy, stinging insect allergy, and recurrent infections.

No. Iowa does not require a physician referral to see a specialist, and because Allergenix does not bill insurance there is no prior authorization either. You can enroll directly.

There is no minimum. Skin testing is done routinely in young children, including infants where the history warrants it. Dr. Stanga is board certified in pediatrics as well as allergy and immunology, and treats children and adults in the same practice.

If you are being tested, yes — seven days beforehand, because antihistamines suppress the skin reaction testing depends on and can make the whole panel read as negative. Nasal steroid sprays and asthma inhalers do not need to stop. Send your medication list when you enroll and we will confirm.

No. A positive test shows your immune system has made antibodies to something. Whether that is a clinical allergy depends on whether you actually get symptoms when exposed. This is why results are interpreted alongside your history rather than read off a printout, and why testing without a physician's interpretation leads to so much unnecessary avoidance.

Yes, at any age. Adult-onset allergy and adult-onset asthma are both common, and a change of environment — a move, a new job, a new pet — is a frequent trigger. It is not unusual to react at forty to something that never bothered you before.

An allergy is an immune reaction and can be dangerous. An intolerance is a digestive or metabolic process — lactose intolerance being the common example — which causes discomfort but is not life-threatening and does not involve the immune system. They get confused often, and the distinction changes how the food is managed.

It depends on how much of your year is affected and for how long. Antihistamines manage symptoms while you take them. Immunotherapy changes how your immune system responds, and the effect persists after the program ends. If you are on medication most of the year, or it is not controlling things well, immunotherapy is the conversation worth having.

Yes. Follow-ups, medication reviews and treatment planning work well by telehealth, and allergy drops can be managed remotely. Testing has to happen in the clinic, so a first visit is usually in person.

A list of every medication and supplement you take with doses, any prior allergy testing results, and — if you have been tracking symptoms — a note of when they are worse and where you are when they happen. Patterns are frequently more diagnostic than any single test.