has anyone tried Immunotherapy for their allergies?

[waterbee]

anyone tried Immunotherapy for their allergies?

"immunotherapy is intended to reduce or eliminate your allergy symptoms and associated medical conditions. Immunotherapy works by desensitizing you, or recalibrating your immune system, by exposing your immune system, in a very controlled way, to slowly increasing dosages of your allergens over time. By doing this, your body learns tolerance and won’t have the same allergic inflammatory reaction upon exposure to your allergens in the future."

im looking at trying this very soon, wondering if anyone else here has done so or thinking about it.

[grant555]

im doing it. it has a very high success rate however it takes about a year of weekly shots to see benefit for most people. it you have significant allergies, it should help.

[ehsan372]

Hi.
I start this 3 month and keep on this but much time need to get result.at least 2 years

I have sinus allergy and eye allergy.i hope help me.i have dry eye and allergy both.

[Hokucat]

Hi Waterbee. My son has been doing the shots for 2 1/2 years. He is allergic to cats, dogs, horses, grass, dust, you name it...plus he has asthma which the allergist says is related. And of course we have cats and dogs in our house! He used to need his rescue inhaler several times a week, but now it's only a few times a month, if at all. We used to make him stay away from our animals, but now he carries them around and sometimes they sleep on his bed with him. So I think this is proof the allergy shots have been very helpful for him.

[waterbee]

Thank you for your replies all! I'm feeling positive about starting my treatments next week.
During testing (where the inject individual allergy provoking stuff) I had a very strong reaction to dog fur and dust which ion exposed to daily ( all my blood tests with NHS where negative for air born allergies too!) I had very high reaction to red bell peppers! (Which I noticed are in lots of things I wouldn't of thought of) in fact just cutting out red pepper alone (while I wait for my Vacinations to be made up over the last month) has reduced the puffiness in my eyes a lot and made them more comfortable.
i ate out a few weeks ago at a friends and they made a casserole , not adding any peppers! After my eyes got sore, she said - I can actually see the difference! We checked the label and found red pepper in the stock! Aha! One step closer to fighting back. That was confirmation for me.
im hoping to see some improvements in the next few years. It was pricy but worth it!

[dryeyesandchocolate]

Hey Waterbee,

Good luck and keep us posted! I tried Immunotherapy when I was 17. I had severe ragweed and tree allergies. It was something like 1 shot every week for several months then one shot every 2 weeks for a few more months. Allergies are kind of hard to quantify, because every season is different and they always feel awful! But I definitely noticed it helped me. I should have kept on it longer because that was ~7 years ago and this past year my allergies were the worst they've been in years. I'm considering doing it again. The only thing holding me back is the huge time commitment.

Please let us know how it goes for you. Even if it doesn't help the dry eye, it will be great to get some relief from allergies anyways

[waterbee]

Yes of course, if you like will update In a few weeks then a few months.

I started the Vacinations today (we have to do them ourselfs at home everyday for 4 months , after which we have to retest them at the clinic to encrease the concentration in the Vacinations and continue this cycle until symptoms are gone, it's quite Taylor made there to the individual ) anyway, I started them today and with in 15 mins my eyes puffed up, in fact they are still feeling heavy and fatigued and rubbish. (More so then normal) was having a good run with my dry eye (drops every 2-3 hrs is good fir me) and now that's over. I think it might be a rough few weeks but definitely be worth it to see if this is connected and the nurse said it should settle down soon.
One interesting conversation I had while at the clinic was a lady who had stuffy sinus issues all her life (no congestion or hay fever symptoms so her local gp told her it must of been the way she was born) anyway long story short she ignored the advice and came to the clinic privately and had the vaccines for hay fever and perfume and all her sinus issues had cleared up, she said she couldn't believe it and it's changed her life, her enthusiasm was really infectious!
I have stuffy sinus issues since I got dry eye (the same year) so even if my dry eyes are not cleared up if they go it will be worth it.

[Hokucat]

Hi Waterbee. Did they tell you to take Benedryl a half hour or so prior to getting each shot? Or at worst case you can take it right after the shot. It helps reduce the allergic reaction to the shots. That's what they the doctor has my son do.

[waterbee]

no they told me that taking any sort of anti histamine wasn't a good idea. (all docs are so different ant they) they seem to think the reaction is ok, and when it stops it can indicate to me when its time to increase the volume. They told me it should take about 2 weeks to start to settle down. Im now just taking the shots before bed as if not my eyes are to sore,( and the fatigue they bring on makes me want to sleep anyway.)

[Hokucat]

Yes, doctors can have different opinions, and sounds like your treatment getting shots every day is different than my son getting shots once a week in the beginning, so that plus him being a kid might make a difference. Am glad you figured out the optimal time of day to do it. Good luck, am sure in the long run the shots will help a lot!

[waterbee]

3 week update!

I actually had some interesting experiences when is started doing the shots, at first my eyes actually got heavy after taking them and slightly puffy. it made me notice all this time, that my eye lids look quite different on a good dry eye day compared to a bad one, i also got very tired after taking my shot, which is all good and normal and after around 2 hours my eyes went back to normal (well, dry eye normal for me) and felt pretty good !

Then the spring hit here in the UK, and as usual i developed sinusitis (this happens every year, around Feb to April and matches up to when my dry eye issues started approx 2 years ago, (sometimes i wonder if it could be something to do with trees or early spring flowers , as it all matches up to when i relocated to an area with these type and thats when they come into bloom, but who knows)

so now i really cant tell you if its doing any good as im to blocked up and sick to notice. my eyes have gone stingy and heavy (drops every 15 mins from 2 hours) ) which isnt really a surprise me as it goes hand in hand with the sinus issue.

when ive saved enough im going to get tree and pollen added to my shots (i took dustmites, animal fur and food allergies in my first round and ran out of money to do more) so hopefully NEXT year i wont have this issue (even if its just the sinus issue)

so il up date after April again (when allergies are gone) and keep doing my shots. I do think its very promising and can already eat food that i couldn't of eaten before, so wont be giving up yet.

[Hokucat]

Thanks for the update, Waterbee. That is a good sign you can eat things you couldn't before. Interesting about how your dry eye issues started when you first got sinusitis a few years ago. Hopefully you are on to something, and the shots continue to help your allergies and perhaps your eyes after this allergy season is over!

[waterbee]

Well just after my allergies started up i caught a head cold and then a virus and was pretty sick, So still no way to see whats allergies, whats LDI and whats viruses.
I did go back to the clinic and had every possible air born immno test done. there was so many. so i got a mixed vaccine done with over 30 things in it, all of which im taking along side my other existing treatment. (just to make me feel a bit worse in the short term! ugh as soon as i take them i itch) There is not a tree, grass, weed, mold, fur out there that im now not having allergies treatment for. so lets wait and see.

(ps eyes still feel awful! but during head cold didnt need any drops for 48 hours. I WAS A NORMAL EYE PERSON! EYES FELT SUPER HUMAN! ...but now, meh not so much)

[waterbee]

another update!
I've gone back to having pretty good dry eyes (drops every 2 hours ish ) and no longer itch when i take my shots! I randomly had a day when i only needed drops 4 times a few days ago, which is a rare occurrence for me unless i have a heavy cold. (actually its happend only twice to me in two years) so who knows, maybe its a good sign or maybe its just random event, dry eye is so up and down like that, drives me nuts i cant find a logical pattern to it.

[ehsan372]

another update!
I've gone back to having pretty good dry eyes (drops every 2 hours ish ) and no longer itch when i take my shots! I randomly had a day when i only needed drops 4 times a few days ago, which is a rare occurrence for me unless i have a heavy cold. (actually its happend only twice to me in two years) so who knows, maybe its a good sign or maybe its just random event, dry eye is so up and down like that, drives me nuts i cant find a logical pattern to it.

Thanks for update. I am very happy success with shot. I recommend you to take evening primrose oil capsule.when I took this, my allergy and dry eye are pretty good.one person after 40 years suffered from allergy and sinusitis told me this method.this is work better than all antihistamine.