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Posted in Uncategorized | August 4, 2022
Do you dread allergy season? Do you find that you battle with your allergies no matter what season it is?
Dealing with persistent coughs, congestion, itchiness, sneezing, and other allergy symptoms can make you feel miserable. Allergy therapy can be life-changing if you’re tired of battling allergies day and night.
Allergy immunotherapy significantly reduces allergies or may even cure them for good. Keep reading to learn more about allergy therapy and if it can make you feel better.
Allergy immunotherapy or allergy therapy is a breakthrough treatment that treats the root cause of your allergies, not just the symptoms. Allergy therapy involves receiving allergy shots or drops with increasing allergen amounts over time.
The gradual buildup of a specific allergen in your body changes your immune system and how you react to allergens. Treating your allergies can decrease the chances of your immune system responding negatively if exposed to allergens that cause an allergic reaction.
Ultimately, the goal of the treatment is to reduce or eradicate your allergy symptoms. You could benefit from allergy therapy if:
Various allergy immunotherapy options are available at Specialty Care Institute. They include:
Both allergy shots and drops can provide long-lasting relief for common allergens, like:
It’s important to note that allergy shots can’t treat food allergies. However, if you’re allergic to peanuts, allergy drops are a way of treating this allergy.
Allergy shots are injections of allergens given in increasing amounts over a period of time. They work by slowly exposing your immune system to your specific allergens.
The therapy aims to desensitize your immune system to the allergen so it no longer considers it a threat or causes symptoms. Your first shot will comprise a small dose of the least concentrated extract of your allergen.
There will often be several different allergens combined into a single injection. Combining these allergens allows you to build a tolerance to several allergens simultaneously.
Your allergist at Specialty Care Institute will slowly increase your dosage every week or twice a week. They will do this until achieving the highest concentration or maintenance dose.
Most patients reach the maintenance dose after five to eight months of receiving allergy shots. Once you’ve started receiving maintenance doses, your visits to Specialty Care Institute will be spaced out at regular intervals.
Your allergist may choose to reduce the frequency of how often you receive your allergy shots. Depending on how you respond, this may go from once or twice a week to once a month.
You’ll continue receiving allergy shots in the maintenance phase for around three to five years. Continuing the maintenance phase ensures the best outcomes and long-term relief of your symptoms.
Local reactions to injections like redness and swelling are common. However, severe allergic reactions to allergy shots are rare.
Following every allergy shot appointment, your allergist will watch you for at least thirty minutes for any adverse reactions. They also advise you to avoid exercising for two hours after receiving your allergy shots.
Allergy shots are over 80 percent effective. Clinical studies show the shots decrease allergy symptoms, reduce medication use, and provide lasting relief from allergy symptoms even after treatment ends.
Also known as sublingual immunotherapy or SLIT, allergy drops involve taking drops of an allergen extract under your tongue. After ingesting the drops, your body absorbs them.
Consuming these drops helps to build long-term tolerance to the substance that triggers your allergic reaction. Allergy drops are more convenient than injections because you can safely administer them in your home after the first dose.
Sublingual drops work like allergy shots. First, you’ll have a small dose containing the allergen introduced into your body.
How much allergen is in the drops gradually increases over time until you no longer react to the allergen or your symptoms significantly improve. Allergy drops are most effective when used three times a day.
You’ll receive your first dose here at Specialty Care Institute. We’ll observe you for about 30 minutes to ensure you don’t have any adverse reactions.
If you can tolerate taking allergy drops after the first dose, you can continue taking them in the comfort of your home. You’ll need to continue coming in for scheduled visits. Your allergist will:
Sublingual drops produce fewer and less severe side effects than allergy shots. If any, the side effects often occur during the initial week of treatment and are usually mild.
They might include itchiness inside the mouth or on your lips, nausea, slight numbness, or tingling in your mouth. Many patients find that they start experiencing relief within a month of beginning allergy drops.
As your tolerance to the things you’re allergic to increases, you’ll start experiencing relief. Although you may start feeling better after a month, you must not stop using the drops without talking to your doctor.
Continued use of allergy drops is necessary so your body becomes more tolerant of the allergens. You can only develop this tolerance after three to five years of treatment.
Allergy immunotherapy offers a natural, safe, and effective way of significantly reducing or eliminating your allergies. If you’re tired of the never-ending roller coaster of allergies, the top-rated allergists at Specialty Care Institute can help.
We offer allergy therapy and have unmatched experience in aiding patients in overcoming their allergies.
Are you interested in trying immunotherapy? Schedule an appointment at Specialty Care Institute at one of our convenient locations in Barrington, Hoffman Estates, or Elgin, IL, now!
