We discussed skin testing and how useful it really is in our previous post.

Today we move on to Allergy Shots also known as Immunotherapy which are often recommended by allergists when the results of the allergy tests come in.

Allergy Shots are not a cure. Their purpose is to reduce your symptoms or in other words to increase your tolerance to substances you are allergic too.

This may be life changer for you is your symptoms are severe but if they are only occasional and mild and easily handled with other remedies you may not want to bother with immunotherapy.

Remember the Skin Prick Test? In the Skin Prick Test a small amount of a possible allergen is injected into the skin; in an allergy shot the same kind of injection is used.

Procedures vary clinic by clinic but you may be asked to have allergy shots every week for several months before you move onto a maintenance schedule of getting allergy shots monthly. The reason for the repeated injections is that the dose is raised each time as the allergist is looking for the correct dose to use in the maintenance routine.

If you have a small number of allergies which are bothering you this is a method that may be worth considering. A deciding factor may be the time and cost of the shots. You can expect some redness and swelling where the allergy shot is given but other symptoms are uncommon.

For safety’s sake, however, you’ll be asked to spend a time in the clinic – 30 to 40 minutes for example after the shots have been given. This is a precaution take just in case you hake a severe reaction to one of the shots. For example, Harold Nelson of National Jewish Health is quoted as saying, “Immunotherapy is most risky for patients with poorly controlled asthma and people with treatment-resistant asthma are not candidates for allergy shots,”

If you’ve had allergy shots, share below how you found the treatment. Was it useful in reducing your symptoms?