Allergy Immunotherepy

[Lemon Thrower]

has anyone had experience with this. doc is recommending.

this is where they give you progressively larger shots of the stuff you are alergic to in order to build an immunity to it..

 

[Nole Daddy]

I would ask these questions first. What allergies do you have; is he referring you to an allergist; and are you willing to commit to routinely going in for the shots?

 

[Lemon Thrower]

i'm allergic to cats, dogs, pollen, and dust (that i know of).

understand the time commitment- once a week for 6 months, then 3-5 years of maintainance.

what is the benefit of seeing a specialist?

how effective can i expect this to be?

i've tolerated these for the last 20 years but they seem to be getting worse.

 

[12Nole]

I go back to my allergist in August to decide whether I want to move forward with the shots or not.

They've already done the prick test and figured out I'm allergic to just about everything. I'll probably do it since I'm tired of not being able to breathe out of my nose.

Last year I did the surgery where they remove the polyps from the nasal passage and that cleared me up for 6 months but I feel like I wasted my money on it.

 

[Nole Daddy]

i'm allergic to cats, dogs, pollen, and dust (that i know of).

understand the time commitment- once a week for 6 months, then 3-5 years of maintainance.

what is the benefit of seeing a specialist?

how effective can i expect this to be?

i've tolerated these for the last 20 years but they seem to be getting worse.

Ok then the things you mention are things where immuno therapy tends to work if you put in the time for the shots. It can be expensive for sure.
Now there are all kinds of companies selling certain types of in house allergy testing in a primary care setting, but personally I think that going to an allergist is the way to go at this point. There is just not a lot of info out there about some of the stuff being done by some companies.

If they are bad and you don't want to see an allergist then nasal steriods and non sedating antihistamines work well(so does Singulair on a good portion of people). Avoidance is a key so if you do have pets then don't let the dog or cat sleep with you, and it is best not to have them. Good luck telling people that, and most keep their pets. You also mentioned dust mites so make sure you have dust mite covers on your pillows and bedding and vacuum with a good vac (if you have carpet). Here is some info. http://www.m.webmd.com/allergies/guide/allergy-shots

 

[Nole Daddy]

I will add most of the time shots don't work because people will not put in the time to do them.

 

[nolealum99]

I have done allergy shots in the past. I did them for about a year and a half. I have since quit as they did not seem to be helping much at all. I too have had nasal surgery. The shots helped very minimally and were not worth the time and money that it cost to go get them every week. I think that the shots can be beneficial to people with serious allergies, where they cannot even function, but for mine, they seemed to not be worth the effort. I now use two different prescription nasal sprays each day and they seem to do as much or more than the shots did.

 

[seminole97]

i'm allergic to cats, dogs, pollen, and dust (that i know of).

Did you have any dogs or cats growing up? Or was it 'no pets' in the household?

 

[ATLNole1]

I did the shots when I was in high school for about 2 years and they worked for me. I was allergic to cats, dogs, grass, trees, dust mites, etc. and used to get sick multiple times a year from allergies. Since the shots, I only get sick with allergies maybe once a year, much better than before.

If you do them, I would definitely see an allergist and get the shots from them. The one I went to operated a walk-in shot clinic a couple days of the week that was separate from the main office. I would sign in and they would call me back in usually just a few minutes to get the shot. Most of the time, I was out of there in less than 10 minutes. The more convenient it is to get the shot, the more likely you will stick to the program.

I can now be around cats/dogs now without any problems so at least for me, the shots were effective.

 

[Lemon Thrower]

Did you have any dogs or cats growing up? Or was it 'no pets' in the household?

had a dog growing up until college.

never had asthma or anything like that

played sports, spent a lot of time outside as a kid