SLIT is not homeopathy. The antigen doses are meticulously prepared but are much higher than in a homeopathic formulation.

Which of these immunotherapies is available now? You may be surprised to know that all of them are although you may have to travel to take advantage of them.

I did an informal poll of some of my allergy mom friends across the country. Several  have had their children treated with allergy shots with good results. The common thread was that it was somewhat inconvenient to go to the doctor's office. One mom I know has been giving her son shots at home.  The downside to shots, (besides the needle) is that they cannot be used to treat food allergies.

I have a friend in Texas whose son is being treated by his allergist with oral immunotherapy. She adds an egg powder to fruit punch and her son downs the equivalent of one whole egg each day. Within a few months, he had "passed" a challenge to egg only to suffer anaphylaxis when he consumed egg while he was sick with a cold. They backed down the amount of egg powder after that and gradually started to increase it again. He is able to consume all egg products now but will only consume them when they are baked or cooked into foods like pancakes, cupcakes or cookies. He does not like the taste of scrambled or hard boiled eggs so he takes the egg powder daily to maintain his tolerance. His mother reports that it's been worth everything they've been through not to have to worry that he'll suffer anaphylaxis from a trace exposure.

Another friend in Pennsylvania, has started her son on sublingual immunotherapy drops. After only eight months, she is very pleased with the results. He has been able discontinue some (but not all) of his asthma medications. His recent blood work showed a significant drop in his total IgE levels as well as food  specific scores so she is hopeful that in the long run, this treatment may help with some of his food allergies as well.

It's up to every individual to determine their level of comfort with any potential treatments. Each type of immunotherapy carries some degree of risk and the travel and expense for some types of treatment may put them out of reach for many. I will share with you that last month, we began sublingual immunotherapy for my son.  So far, he's had no side effects.   It literally takes about six seconds total per day so it's perfect for an allergy mom's busy schedule. Now if I could only find a six second treatment for his messy bedroom!