I've been having a lot of trouble with my allergies for years. Between watery and itchy eyes, coughing, sneezing, and all the rest that goes along with it, I have suffered enough for one lifetime. So I decided to look into getting immunotherapy treatment done to see if it lives up to the hype. I figured at this point, I had nothing left to lose. I was surprised by what I discovered in the process.

What is Immunotherapy?

If you haven't heard the name Immunotherapy before, then you're probably not alone. The common name that most people call it by is allergy shots. I had heard for years that they would help my body become acclimated to allergens which trigger my terrible allergy attacks. They might not be a cure, but they were supposed to alleviate the symptoms so that I would not suffer from them as often.

It sounded too good to be true. My symptoms lasted six months or more a year. The doctor said this treatment was appropriate for anyone with over three months a year of symptoms who could not find sufficient relief from allergy medications. That's definitely me. So I decided to research what was involved and then go for it.

What Is Involved With An Allergy Shot?

I'm going to get very real here and freely admit that I do not like big, long needles. Something about them makes me feel like a victim in a science fiction horror movie from decades ago. So I needed to know how many big needles we were talking about here.

The story was that I would get an initial shot in the area of my upper arm. This is supposed to have a minute quantity of the element I'm allergic to, either mold, pet dander, pollen, bee venom, or dust mites as some examples.

They told me that they would increase the dose little by little to the point that I am receiving a maintenance dosage. The downside was that if it turned out that I am allergic to medications, food, or latex, the shots would probably not help me. At least there exists no proof that they would work on those allergens.

Before and After the Allergy Shots Appointments

Another thing the doctor's staff told me that alarmed me was that I should not engage in any strenuous activity or exercise for at least two hours either before or after the appointment. My life is non-stop go go go, so this is not an easy request they're making. The problem the doctor said is that this level of exercise would increase the blood flow around my body tissues and could lead to the allergens spreading across my body much faster.

They assured me that this should not give me serious trouble if I forgot and exercised or did anything strenuous in any case. They just wanted to err on the side of caution. This was not very reassuring to hear.

So the day of the appointment dawned. I went through the usual doctor protocol of telling him all about my supplements, herbal pills, and medications that I get. He was concerned as some of the medicines actually will interact with the treatment being administered or increase the chance of negative side effects. I was worried I might have to cancel the allergy shots, but none of my daily regimen turned out to be a problem.

How Long Will These Shots Continue?

The real question for me as I suffered through that first shot treatment was: how long was I going to need to stay and how many months would such treatment be necessary. The staff told me to relax for about half an hour after the shot while they checked me for any strange side effects such as runny nose, shortness of breath, a tight throat, or itchy eyes. That again scared me, but I played along. Before they would let me go, they made me promise that I would go to the closest ER or physician's office if I experienced any such symptoms.

Once the shot was done, I started to swell up and turn red where they stuck me. The nurses assured me that this is highly regular. The symptoms were only supposed to last from four to eight hours in total. Another reassuring statement from the nursing staff said that if I had any severe reactions or shock, then I was to run to the nearest phone or try to make it to the closest Emergency Room. This included tight throat, difficulty breathing, or anything else unusual.

They also offered me a quick ramp up on to the immunotherapy they called Rush Immunotherapy. The advantage to this was that it would save a significant number of hours at doctor's offices and get the pain of the needles over with quicker. The risks for such an injection were higher risk than the standard treatments offered.

This started with an every other day allergen dose rather than each couple of weeks. My doctor did study me carefully to be certain that I had not suffered from an overdose or reaction to the medication. Once I finished up the initial shot, I was told that I had to return each three to four weeks to receive my shot.

Next the frequency of the shots would drop from a single shot every couple of weeks to a matter of from four to five months per shots. My doctor promised that he would gradually boost the time frame in between one shot to the next. The idea was that finally I would be on a maintenance level for the drug.

Once each month for a span of from three to five years, I was given another shot. The doctor swore that he would gradually raise the amount of time in between these shots till I am having them done once monthly for from three to five years. Afterward, my symptoms from these terrible allergies would be better or even disappear entirely. If they kept going after I finished a year of taking them, then I would need to discuss this with my personal physician.

Contact the Plastic Surgeon

In the end, they told me to start out by talking with the plastic surgeon to get started. Dr. Ran Rubinstein is a well-regarded plastic surgeon who specializes in allergy treatments in Hudson Valley. Dr. Rubinstein is board certified by both the American Board of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and the American Board of Facial Plastic Surgery. I can't think of a kinder, more experienced doctor I would want doing these tests on me. I hope the shots help you as much as they seem to have aided me in getting well from this terrible allergy disease.