This particular allergy season has been one of the worst for me, and this evening I find myself sitting around on double doses of loratadine and topical tetrahydrozoline and my eyes are still red and my face is still exploding gobs of mucous like a farting hippopotamus.
I have discovered that my insurance plan covers allergen immunotherapy, in which a mad scientist will inject me with increasing dosages of allergens in the hope of producing within me a tolerance for the indicated alien substance. However, this requires a large time commitment of getting the shots twice a week or so for several months.
Yes, I did this but it was a long time ago. Yes, it helped a lot as I was about to die from my allergies (or at least I wished I would!) and now they’re only a minor annoyance. The help seems to have lasted a long time but on the other hand maybe the allergies have subsided themselves or the drugs I now take are better or a hundred other things. But when I first had the shots they definitely helped.
When I was a child, I had multiple allergies to many foods. I went to an allergist, who recommended shots, first twice a week for a few years, then once a week. These shots started when I was 7, and ended when I reached puberty. The shots did not seem to have much affect while I was taking them; when I reached puberty most of the allergies and their symptoms disappeared.
I reached puberty 50 years ago, so the science of allergen immunotherapy may have improved since then. I sure hope so.
Roddy
I got allergy shots, once a week, from probably about age 7 to age 12. Memory is hazy since I was young.
I honestly don’t remember if it was effective, since I was a kid. Honestly, my allergies are quite annoying but nothing serious - it’s all ragweed, pollen, etc for me. I suspect my mother signed me up for these weekly shots because she has a serious tendency towards over-doctoring, over-treating and over-medicating even minor maladies.
I’m a bit tempted to look back into this treatment, as my current seasonal allergies, untreated, are probably about a 6 or 7 out of 10 on making me uncomfortable. OTC stuff like Claritin or Zyrtec knocks it down to a 4, but they’re still a bother and expensive. I tried a prescription nasal spray for a couple of months, but it didn’t seem to do much.
I have bad allergies, and have been getting these shots for years and years. I have never made it to the maintainance dose, because I am always missing (due to work, the flu, asthma attacks) and having to restart at a lower dose again. They work great. I am far far less sensitive to almost all of my allergens. I can run outside in ragweed season and own cats. I take hardly any allergy meds now, and only for times. I love my allergy shots.
I had allergy shots as an adult, over 10 years ago, to treat dust mite allergies. They’re a damn nuisance, what with the appointment schedule and all, but they worked beautifully. Now all I have is some moderate seasonal allergies. The nights and days of sneezing, dripping and spewing mucus are gone, gone gone.
Go for it. Do whatever you need to keep your appointments. It’s worth it.
My 9 year old daughter has been doing these shots for about 20 months now. She started at shots once a week, now every 3 weeks. She’s also on daily Zyrtec. It seems that her steady state has improved significantly with greatly reduced symptoms. The bad pollen days are still pretty bad however.
Recent studies have determined that sub-lingual drops (drops you put under the tongue and hold for a couple minutes) are as effective as shots. My wife and daughter have both had a 3 year course prescribed for their allergies and have done very well on them. Not all immunologists offer them so you may need to call around. You just keep the vials in your refrigerator and use them once a day (with an epi-pen available in case of a bad reaction) so you only need to see the doctor once every few months for refills.
I have a couple of episodes every year when I raise a lot of fine dust working in the shop or when I change the hay in my dog’s house.
I used to battle allergies daily, I took boxes and boxes of benadryl. Now, I only deal with allergies once or twice per year.
The process is a bit lengthy but completely worth it. My grandmother did allergy shots but claims that they wore off. If the shots stop working for me, I would consider going through the process again - the results are THAT positive.
Yes, my husband gets them. Over the last three years, they’ve become progressively higher in dosage to build his immunity (his allergy is to early summer grasses) and further apart in dosing (started at once a week, now down to once every two months). He did not have any allergies this year, and the previous two years were significantly decreased in severity.
I give him his shots at home and he keeps the vials in the fridge in between. He says it’s 100% worth it.
I started them and the first time I had a little lump in my throat that I thought was nothing. Second time, it was there again, so I told the nurse and had to spend a few hours there hopped up on epi and smacked down on benadryl at the same time. Which seriously sucks balls. I was supposed to go back and start at a lower dosage, but I got kind of scared off.
I took allergy shots as a kid from roughly age 3 to roughly age 12. I had been diagnosed with asthma as a toddler, and that was the prescribed therapy. Whether it helped, it’s hard to tell - the asthma medications were pretty bad back then, and I don’t honestly know whether my symptoms were allergic or not. Certainly allergies contributed, but I lived in a house with two smokers, we had dogs, forced air, etc., and my biggest trigger tended to be cold air.
As an adult, I went through courses of allergy shots from about age 26 to 28, then again from about 31 through 34.
I do believe it helped my seasonal allergies. I started the course when adding cats to the household pushed me from “in remission except when I’ve got a Very Bad Cold”, to “wheezing every day, needing steroids frequently”. It didn’t do a lot for the cat allergy symptoms, that was helped only by one cat dying, the other being rehomed, and moving to another state.
However - it DID make a different in my seasonal allergies. Spring / fall tended to be miserable for me - but now I have less trouble in general than the rest of the family. Back before I started the latest course, I was on a near-constant dose of antihistamines, and sneezing frequently (and my sneezes are LOUD).
I do wish it had been more effective against the animal dander. I really, really want a kitty :(.
Interesting. The last I heard of those, they were used only for a single allergen. As in, not all that useful unless you were allergic to only one thing. Has that evolved?
Oh - Typo Knig has been doing allergy shots for about 5 years. I think he believes they help, but I don’t think it’s a dramatic change. He still takes Zyrtec and Singulair every night.
I had 5 years of allergy shots during puberty. I went from frequent sinus and ear infections (about every 6-8 weeks) and a bought of pneumonia a year to years and years without any of that. I went from being an antihistmaines nearly year round to only needing them a couple of weeks in the spring and fall.
The only reason I stopped was they’d reached their limit of effectiveness
If I thought it would improve things again I do it again in a heartbeat.
It seems so. My daughter who was put on them after developing asthma has a whole laundry list of allergens in her drops. In fact, she has to use two different vials each night since they contain different sets of allergens. (3 drops from each vial, set the timer for 2 minutes, don’t talk until it goes off. We all know the drill at this point :)) There’s something like 15 allergens in one vial and 3 in the other; I don’t know how the decide to split them up but when we pick up the vials we get a print out that lists the allergens and the concentrations used. This isn’t homeopathy, there are really high concentrations of each allergen in those drops. They have her take the first dose from each new set of vials in the doctor’s office in case there’s a bad reaction.
When she started on them she was initially given 3 or 4 sets of vials of different concentrations with a schedule for using them as the concentration was ramped up. Something like first 20 days with the first set, next 20 days with the next set, and so forth. After 3 months of that she was up to the standard concentration that she’s still taking now.
She’s symptom free after being on them for 1 1/2 years and will be allowed to stop taking them in another year and a half.
If you have the money and the time, there is no better option than the shots. Little bro and several friends get them; it’s worth it to all. It’s proven and long lasting.
As a side note, generic Claritin that you’re taking is pretty much the most mediocre allergy pill out there. Zyrtec and Allegra are best; Zyrtec is in generic and fairly inexpensive. Take before bed because it’ll naturally make you a little drowsy.