Solutions for Airborne Allergies
What are airborne allergies?
Airborne allergies are the body’s harmful overreaction to airborne substances that are not actually harmful. Airborne allergies, also known as IgE mediated airborne allergies, elicit an immediate or slightly delayed response by the immune system, resulting in symptoms such as hay fever, hives, and asthma. While these allergies are not generally life threatening, they can drastically alter the quality of life of the sufferer.
What is immunotherapy?
Immunotherapy is the process of desensitizing the immune system to allergens through the gradual introduction of allergy-causing dusts, molds, and pollens to one’s body. Over time, the concentration of these allergens is increased until the immune system learns to ignore them. This process decreases the body’s production of antigens, and thus reduces or eliminates allergic reaction and its symptoms. In other words, as the immune system learns to tolerate these allergens, it will stop overreacting to them and allergies start to go away. Immunotherapy is available in two forms: subcutaneous (allergy shots, also known as SCIT) and sublingual (drops under the tongue, also known as SLIT).
Unlike other allergy treatments, such as corticosteroids or antihistamines that only treat the symptoms of allergic reaction, immunotherapy actually modifies the immune system’s response to allergens.
What is sublingual immunotherapy?
Sublingual immunotherapy is a safer, easier, and faster working alternative to traditional allergy shots. Instead of traveling to a doctor’s office once a month to receive allergy shots, sublingual immunotherapy can be administered safely at home. The process is simple and only requires a person to place the allergen solution under their tongue for two minutes, once a day.
Studies show that 80% of people treated with sublingual immunotherapy were relieved of some or all of their symptoms, and 90% of asthmatic people’s symptoms cleared up.
What are the advantages of sublingual immunotherapy over traditional allergy shots?
- Sublingual immunotherapy works faster. Instead of the four to six months of weekly injections to reach a maintenance dose with traditional allergy shots, it only takes three to four months with sublingual immunotherapy. Most patients report reduction in symptoms after the first month, with a significant reduction by the second and third month.
- Safety. There are no severe reactions, and there has never been a reported death as a result of sublingual immunotherapy.
- Administered at home
- Avoids children's fear of shots and needles
- Avoids having to come to office for shots
- Less costly/fewer physician visits
- Great for travelers
FAQs
Is sublingual immunotherapy safe?
To date, there have been no life-threatening adverse events and no fatality has ever been reported. Sublingual immunotherapy has been used for over 60 years worldwide and, currently, more than 50% of the population of patients in Central Europe receiving specific immunotherapy is on sublingual immunotherapy.
Why are allergies on the rise?
It has been suggested that allergies are on the rise due partially to the Hygiene Hypothesis. The Hygiene Hypothesis postulates that reduced infection and bacterial exposure in early life favors the TH2 phenotype that promotes the development of allergy. This is why we see first born children having more allergies than subsequent children. The greater a child’s exposure to infection in early life, the less TH2 promotion and the more TH1 promotion occurs. This reduces the likelihood of allergy development. Other suggested causes of the rise in allergies include global warming and pollution.
How does sublingual immunotherapy work?
Allergies are the result of a dysfunction of the immune system; they are a normal immunological process mounted against an inappropriate stimulus. The immune system believes that it is being invaded by a parasite rather than a harmless allergen present in the environment. Sublingual immunotherapy corrects this dysfunction of the immune system by placing low doses of the harmless allergen consistently over time under the tongue. These allergens then attach themselves to the dendritic cells, known as the antigen-presenting cells, located in the sublingual mucosa. This induces immune deviation of TH2 in favor of TH1 cells and down regulates TH2 responses, thus reducing and/or eliminating allergies and their comorbidities.
What is the typical amount of time to achieve immune modulation (remission of allergic symptoms)?
Three to five years.
How long will it take for me to see results with sublingual immunotherapy?
Typically favorable results are seen once the maintenance dose is achieved, which is approximately three months. However, many patients state reduction of symptoms within the first month, and often within the first couple weeks of starting the drop program.
I travel a lot. Will sublingual immunotherapy work for me?
Sublingual immunotherapy is a perfect program for travelers such as pilots, businesspeople, etc. Sublingual immunotherapy has distinct advantages over subcutaneous immunotherapy when traveling. SCIT requires that the patient remains in the office after the injection for thirty minutes to monitor for potential side effects. With SLIT, the patient can take the serum on the road with him/her. All of our bottles are less than three ounces, making them perfect for travelers.
Contact Austin Wellness Clinic for more information about our sublingual airborne allergy treatments
