What Kind of Allergy Symptom Relief Can Shots Provide?

photo credit: BlueGoa??

Allergy shots can provide relief from many symptoms for many individuals. The effectiveness of immunotherapy will vary on a case-by-case basis. The two primary factors that influence the effectiveness of allergy shots are the severity of your allergic reactions and the type of substances to which you are allergic.

Currently, there is no form of immunotherapy that has been proven to provide allergy symptom relief for food allergies or various types of allergic hives. However, allergy shots are proven to help provide relief from:

• Seasonal Allergies including hay fever, asthma caused by certain seasonal allergens and reactions to pollens, dust mites and other substances that are only present during specific times of the year.
• Indoor Allergies caused by various molds, mites, cockroaches and pet dander.
• Insect Allergies caused by stings from various flying irritants like yellow jackets, bumble and other bees, hornets or wasps.

How Often Will I Have to Get Allergy Shots?

The process of building up your immune system against allergens generally lasts anywhere from two to five years. The most effective immunotherapy schedules are done in two phases.

During the first phase, often called the build-up phase, you will visit your doctor as often as three times a week, receiving a larger dose of the allergen each time. This slow increase allows your immune system to become accustomed to the substances without causing a full-blown allergic reaction. Some doctors will consider a more aggressive approach to this first phase, administering greater increases in the allergen in order to shorten the immunotherapy process. While this approach is attractive to some patients who are anxious to achieve allergy symptom relief more quickly, it increases the risk for side effects and stronger allergic reactions.

The second or maintenance phase of the immunotherapy process begins after an effective level of allergen introduction has been reached. While this is the longest phase and can last up to five years, during the maintenance phase you will most likely only need to receive treatment about once a month. Your allergen doses will remain consistent during this phase, ensuring that your body is completely accustomed to this level of allergens. During the maintenance phase, you should begin to experience partial or complete allergy symptom relief.

What are the Side Effects of Allergy Shots?

Much like with vaccinations, you may experience moderate allergic reactions after receiving immunotherapy. In most cases, your doctor will require you to be monitored for a short time (usually about thirty minutes) after each shot is administered. A slight allergic reaction is normal, but if you begin to experience increased side effects like itchy eyes, shortness of breath, a tightness in your throat, trouble swallowing or a runny nose, you should contact your doctor immediately.

Allergy shots are generally administered in the upper arm and, as with most shots, you will most likely experience discomfort around that area for several hours after the injection. Normal reactions are redness, swelling or irritation. If these reactions increase or do not begin to reduce within 8 hours of your immunotherapy session, contact your doctor.

Who Should Consider Allergy Shot Treatment?

Immunotherapy is not a cure for allergies, it simply provides some allergy symptom relief. Allergy shots are most recommended for those who cannot receive adequate relief through allergy medication or other methods such as a change in diet. Severe allergy sufferers and those with non-seasonal allergies are often good candidates for immunotherapy.

When you discuss your options with your doctor, be sure that he/she knows all other regular medications - including beta blockers and other vitamins and supplements - you might take during your immunotherapy process. Some substances can greatly increase the risk of adverse side effects and may make you a poor candidate for immunotherapy. If you are planning to become pregnant or are already pregnant, your doctor needs to be aware of this as well.

For many, immunotherapy can provide a great opportunity to find allergy symptom relief. There are many variables that will determine whether it is the right choice for you. If you are ready to begin treating your allergy symptoms, work with your doctor to determine the best allergy symptom relief option for you.

photo credit: Corey (a.k.a. Ten0fnine)

Every time you turn on the television these days or fire up your internet browser, you most likely see several ads boasting allergy symptom relief. From the promise that your pets will no longer make your eyes burn and itch to the assurance that you will be able to frolick in freshly-mown grass without regretting it for the next several hours, allergy symptom relief has come a long way in recent years. Not all of the remedies live up to their promises, but - as a life-long allergy sufferer - I can tell you that many of them really do work.

Before I answer some basic questions about allergy symptom relief, let me tell you about my own experience with allergies. My allergies started presenting themselves just a few hours after my birth when my stomach rejected my own mother’s milk and that was the beginning of a childhood filled with tests, trial treatments and many other tactics my parents tried to bring me allergy symptom relief. The one thing they refused to do was throw out all my stuffed animals and remove all the carpeting from the house when one particular specialist decided that would “cure” me.

As I have grown older, some of my more extreme allergy symptoms have eased up a bit. I can eat a few strawberries with only a bit of gum discomfort, walnuts make the roof of my mouth swell, but not my throat anymore and I can finally enjoy a glass of orange juice without my gums swelling for three days. I assume I am still allergic to penicillin, but that’s not one I’m going to check up on because the first time I took it I almost died.

Now that you know a bit about my own struggles to find allergy symptom relief, let me give you an overview of what allergies actually are, common allergy symptoms and how you migth be able to find allergy symptom relief.

What Are Allergies?

Dictionary.com defines allergies as the following:

an abnormal reaction of the body to a previously encountered allergen introduced by inhalation, ingestion, injection, or skin contact, often manifested by itchy eyes, runny nose, wheezing, skin rash, or diarrhea.

Right. So what is an allergen? Well, that’s where it gets really fun. You see, an allergen can be just about anything to anyone. Although dust, pollen, pet hair, various foods and medications are all common allergens, each individuals can have a different reaction to each different substance. For many people, amoxicillin will kill a nasty virus and return them to a normal level of health. If I take it, it might kill the virus, but it would most likely kill me in the process.

When you suffer from allergy symptoms, it is because your immune system has decided - for some reason or another - that a certain substance is attacking your body. This could be something as innocuous as a bit of household dust, but sometimes your immune system’s programming goes a bit haywire and goes to war. When this happens, you experience allergy symptoms.

What Are Common Allergy Symptoms?

The type of allergy symptoms you experience will vary greatly based on the offending allergen and also the severity of your body’s aversion to it. Symptoms can range from nothing more than an annoying runny nose or cough all the way to death. These days, it is quite rare for allergic reactions to actually result in death because great medical advances have been made in the area of allergy symptom relief.

Some of the most dangerous allergies like bee stings and some nut allergies which can cause the throat to close up and restrict breathing can be taken care of quickly with an epinephren shot. In this case, you will still want to take a trip the emergency room, but the extreme reaction can be take care of from home. Most individuals who suffer from dangerous allergies like this keep some sort of allergy symptom relief kit with them just in case.

The most common types of allergies these days are seasonal allergies. In the springtime, plants like ragweed and certain flowers product excessive amounts of pollen. This causes allergy sufferers to experience varying degress of sinus blockage, sort or scratchy throats and headaches. There are many in expensive medications available over-the-counter that can provide allergy symptom relief quickly and, oftentimes, completely.

How Can I Find Allergy Symptom Relief?

To find allergy symptom relief, sometimes you simply need to avoid the offending substance. In my case, I spent most of my childhood and teenage years avoiding the citrus fruits, nuts and pollen that caused me discomfort. However, as I just mentioned above, today there are many choices of medication that can bring about allergy symptom relief.

This site covers many different types of allergies and some of the ways in which you can find allergy symptom relief. You will find information about new allergy medications, old home remedies and everything in between.