-
Allergy Injections
Jim
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at 08:54 PMre: Allergy Injections
James Thompson, MD
Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 11:33 AMHi Jim,
As an allergist, I felt compelled to address your comments. Kathleen MacNaughton elegantly summarized a new allergy treatment, under investigation, that eliminates the need for needles ( a big deal for many young children, no matter what size) and may likely require fewer office visits (compared to injection immunotherapy). But you are right the needles are very small. To older children and adults, the injections cause minimal discomfort.
Your comment about "building up resistance too fast" is where I take issue. You, have assumed a "one size fits all" strategy to allergy shots, which is not true. Most board certified allergist monitor the dose and strength (concentration of the extract) of allergy injections, making adjustments along the way, in order to minimize local or systemic reactions. Many allergy injection protocols exist for desensitizing patients, and some allergist have multiple protocols available for using in their practice. Some of the injection protocols move rapidly and others more slowly.
The point is, immunotherapy (aka: allergy shots and desensitization) is established in a manner that allows for adjusting the pace to fit the patient's needs. Allergists vary in how they utilize the standards established for giving allergy shots, but they are able to modify the dose, strength and pace at any point during the shot series. Most people respond well (80% in some studies) to allergy shots and are not made ill from them.
Thanks for sharing,
J. Thompson, MD
- Font size
- Email This
- Bookmark
- Thank you for your input
- Save
- RSS
- Report Abuse
The allergy injections are done with such a small needle you really don't feel it. The problem is they try to build up your resistance too fast. One size doesn't fit all. What I mean is the incremental dose for one person may be less than half of that for another person. For some reason the allergists fail to consider this so the shots can make people ill.