Do Allergy Shots Help In Reducing The Allergy Symptoms?

Itchiness, watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, and redness are some of the common symptoms that majority of the people experiences as allergy symptoms. The most effective way to fight against particular allergen is immunotherapy or allergy shot, but some people will get frightened to get allergy shot. Allergy shots hold a little amount of substance that fights against the particular allergen. For example, if the person is allergic to pollen, a small amount of substance called pollen will be added to the shot. A small amount will be given so that the body will get used to fight against the allergen and if the body comes in contact with that substance next time, body will be familiar with that. Who are not eligible to take allergy shot? Allergy shots are not safe for everyone. Although most of the people experienced positive results from these shots, they are not suitable for all. People who are suffering from asthma, heart attack, and respiratory problems, pregnant women, and children under age of five are not recommended to receive allergy shot. Alternatively, certain individuals are experiencing some side effects such as: • Feelings of shock when the shot is initially injectedrn• Lightheadednessrn• NausearnSo, for these reasons, the patient should stay in the doctor’s office for at least fifteen to twenty minutes after receiving the shot. Benefits of allergy shots: • Allergy shots improve allergic rhinitis, hay fever, bee sting allergies, drug allergies, and eye allergies. • In some cases, allergy shots improve asthma symptoms also. The most common reaction to allergy shot is swelling at the place where the shot is given. The success of this immunotherapy varies from person to person depending on the severity of the person’s allergy and the number of substances the person is allergic to. In addition to the traditional allergy shots, there are new approaches to immunotherapy procedures to treat allergies. Oral immunotherapy works similar to the allergy shot. In this method, increasing doses of allergen will be given to slowly build up the patient’s tolerance. The only difference with oral immunotherapy from allergy shot is with oral immunotherapy extract of allergen is used as drops. In this method, generally the drops are placed under the tongue and then swallowed. Intranasal immunotherapy method involves intranasal administration of grass and house dust mite allergen extracts, which reduces the nasal symptoms such as “nasal allergy”. The side effect with intranasal immunotherapy is nasal irritation. When compared to the traditional allergy shots, intranasal immunotherapy has no long lasting benefits. Rush immunotherapy involves quick build up to the maintenance dose of extract. In this method of treatment, during early phase increasing doses of allergen will be given every few hours rather than a few days. Since there is a great risk involved with this rush immunotherapy, this should be done in hospital under close supervision. Some people will experience severe reaction to the allergy shot, which is called “anaphylaxis”. In case of bad reaction with this shot, physicians will do appropriate treatment to stop this reaction. Since allergy shots are not good for everyone, talking to the physician before taking this shot is more advisable.