Atchoo! Tired of popping pills for a runny nose? Do you find your medicine isn’t the magic pill you hoped it would be? Do your symptoms creep back soon after you have completed the prescribed course of medicines? If you are allergic to dust mites or invariably come down with hay fever during spring, why not go in for a more permanent cure with allergy shots?
Allergy shots are known to be fairly effective against allergies to stinging insects, pollens, allergic asthma, molds, pet dander and dust mites.
Allergy Shots Build Your Immunity
Allergy shots work like vaccine. They produce infection fighting antibodies and consequently build your immunity towards whatever it is that is triggering your allergy. For this reason they are also called “immunotherapy”.
Allergy shots are given in small doses over weeks and months until you gradually develop immunity towards the allergens that are triggering allergy symptoms such as a runny nose, itchy eyes, sneezing and so on.
Furthermore, it has been seen that allergy shots help prevent people from developing new allergies. It also reduces the risk of developing asthma in children with nasal allergies.
How Many Shots Would You Need?
To start with, you would need to visit your doctor as frequently as once or twice a week, for several months in a row. The way it works is this: with every shot, the dose is increased slightly, until the “maintenance dose” (a constant large dose of the allergen which does not trigger any adverse reaction) is reached. Thereafter you would need to keep taking the shots every two to four weeks, for two to five years, depending on how long you take to develop a strong immunity against your pet allergen! A 3-5 year therapy usually ensures you are free of allergic reactions (or at least much less affected) for another 5 to 10 years, after you have taken your last shot.
How Safe Is It?
They do not contain steroids and have been approved by various medical boards. If you are taking any other medications, discuss it with your doctor. Some medicines can increase the side effects of taking allergy shots. Also, if you are pregnant, or are planning a pregnancy, discuss it with your doctor before starting your treatment for allergy.
In rare cases you might develop some side effects such as breathlessness, dizziness, a runny nose, watery, itchy eyes or constriction of the throat. In such situation, contact your doctor immediately, or visit the nearest emergency.
Otherwise, all you will experience is a swelling or some irritation around the site of the injection, which will subside within 4 to 8 hours. You can treat this with an ice pack or simply take an antihistamine.
Latest Medical Research
Rush Immunotherapy: Instead of a shot of allergen every week, increasing doses are given within a span of few hours to quickly reach the “maintenance” level. Hence the name “Rush”, since it is a more rushed treatment. This treatment is done in a hospital under close medical supervision since it has a much greater risk of side-effects.
Oral Immunotherapy: Instead of an injection, the allergen extract is given as drops placed under the tongue and then swallowed. As per latest study reports by European researchers, Grazax allergen tablet have been found to be as effective as allergy shots for treating Hay fever and other allergies. Grazax is a grass allergen tablet that dissolves easily under the tongue.
Unfortunately allergy shots do not work for those suffering from food allergies (peanuts, shellfish, eggs, milk and so on). Medical Research is testing if a protein extract from the above foods can be fed in small doses to slowly build up a person’s immunity or tolerance level for that food. If successful the treatment would free thousands of families from the constant dread of inspecting each item on the menu for fear of eating something they were allergic to.