Allergy Shots And Their Effectiveness

 
Allergy shots, or Immunotherapy are given over a period of time to help reduce your reactions to common allergens. The shots actually consist of a small trace of the allergens to desensitize your body to them. They are typically used to treat seasonal allergies but are becoming more common with other allergies.

Immunotherapy has been available to allergy sufferers for approximately 80 years and are generally thought of as a safe alternative to common medications. Your doctor or allergist may recommend allergy shots if you have hay fever or suffer from indoor allergies like dust mites or mold. However, if your allergies are severe you will need to be monitored closely during the administration to make sure a severe allergic reaction is not triggered.

One thing to realize is that allergy shots are not effective for every person suffering from allergies. There are also some risks involved with this type of treatment that your doctor can go over with you. Immunotherapy is also not effective on certain types of allergies like those to food. Your physician will review your allergy history with you to see if this is a type of treatment you want to try.

How Effective Can Allergy Shots Be?

Some studies have shown that immunotherapy as a treatment can reduce seasonal hay fever reactions by upwards of 90% and the year-round variety by 70%. Another study done on younger children who are allergic to bee stings found that allergy shots lowered the probability of a reaction to around 5% as opposed to 32% in those not treated. Additionally, the protection provided stayed with the individuals for several years after the shots were administered. Again, this doesn't mean that this treatment works for everyone but it does help a majority of allergy sufferers.

You may need to have the allergy shots administered for six months or so before you see any improvement in your symptoms. Your allergist will be reviewing your case with you periodically so if there is no improvement to your symptoms after this time you may need to alter your approach. If there is some improvement in the overall effectiveness then the shots will be continued periodically for between three and five years on average, or until the symptoms have gone away for an extended period.

 

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