Allergy Injections

What are allergy injections?

Allergy injections are a treatment option to ease allergy symptoms. Also known as immunotherapy, allergy injections work a lot like vaccinations. 

Allergies occur when your immune system attacks a substance it considers harmful to your health, even though it’s not harmful to most people. The reaction triggers the release of chemicals that cause allergy symptoms.

With allergy injections, you receive small doses of the substance you’re allergic to. Over time, regular exposure to the substance desensitizes your immune system reaction, decreasing the severity of your symptoms. 

Am I a candidate for allergy injections?

Your provider at Respacare determines if you’re a candidate for allergy injections after a comprehensive exam. You may be a candidate for allergy injections if allergy medications fail to ease your symptoms or allergy medications cause uncomfortable side effects.

Respacare may also recommend allergy injections if your allergies trigger other serious health conditions like asthma.

Though allergy injections provide many benefits, they can’t treat all allergies. Respacare provides allergy injections for seasonal allergies (e.g., pollen, grass), indoor allergies (e.g., dust, mold), and insect stings (e.g., bees, wasps).

What happens during allergy injections?

Your provider at Respacare customizes your allergy injection plan to match your needs. Allergy injections usually go through two phases: the buildup phase and the maintenance phase.

Buildup phase

During the buildup phase, you get allergy injections up to three times a week over a 3-6 month time frame. You start out at a low dose of your allergen, and your provider gradually increases the dose at each follow-up visit.

After each injection, you remain at the office for 30 minutes for monitoring. 

Maintenance phase

Once you reach the right dose to support the immunotherapy process, you enter the maintenance phase. During this phase of allergy injections, you return to the office once a month for 3-5 years to receive your maintenance dose.

Allergy injections reduce allergy symptoms; however, it may take up to a year before you see results. The most noticeable results usually occur during the second year, which is why it’s important to continue the injections through the maintenance phase.

Most people experience significant improvements in their allergy symptoms once they complete their injections. However, some people need to continue with allergy injections to ease symptoms.

To see if allergy injections can help you, call Respacare or schedule an appointment online today.