Newly Approved Grass Allergy Tablet: The Pros and Cons

Check out this link from the ACAAI to learn more about the pros and cons of the new grass allergy tablet: 

http://www.acaai.org/allergist/news/New/Pages/AllergyTabletApprovalWarrantsCautionfor_Some.aspx

What are allergy shots?

Allergen immunotherapy ("allergy shots") treats the root cause of allergies such as reactivity to grass, tree, or weed pollens, cats or dogs, or dust mites, by gradually building tolerance -- instead of just temporarily symptoms as medications do.

With a course of immunotherapy, an allergic person can build lifelong tolerance to many of these allergy triggers, avoiding the need for chronic allergy medicines.


For more about what allergy shots can do for you, click here.

Allergy Shots: Worth the Wait

Q. Why do I have to wait 15 minutes after allergy shots at the doctor's office? I've never had an allergic reaction.

A. Waiting for 15 minutes after receiving an allergy shot is inconvenient, I know. But allergy shots contain what the individual is allergic to, so the major risk from an allergy shot is an allergic reaction.

Intuitively, you might think such reactions would be most likely to occur during the build-up phase of allergy shots - the initial period of about three to six months where the dose of allergen you receive is gradually increased - but it turns out that's not the case. Reactions can happen at any time, even long after a maintance dose has been achieved (that's when the shots get less frequent and keep up your immunity to the allergen).

While most reactions to allergy shots are mild, there is a small risk of a serious reaction. And rapid treatment is key in preventing mild reactions from progressing into more serious ones. The vast majority of allergy shot reactions occur within 15 minutes of the injection, but occasionally they happen later.

The professional allergy associations' joint recommendation is that to ensure safety, individuals should stay in the doctor's office for at least 15 minutes after receiving an allergy shot. Patients who have experienced reactions more than 15 minutes after an allergy shot should be observed for a longer period of time.

Source: White MD, Martha. Allergy & Asthma Today, Volume 9, Issue 4. Winter 2011.

Gene studies may help guide length of bee allergy shot treatment course

Allergy to bee venom can lead to severe, life-threatening reactions to stings.  Venom immunotherapy has been found to be extremely effective in protection from reactions to stings, however, how long to treat with bee venom "allergy shots" has remained a complex question.  Initially, researchers thought it would be necessary to continue treatment indefinitely, but more recent studies suggested that 5 years of immunotherapy is usually adequate in developing a long-lasting tolerance to the venom used for treatment.  This is the guideline most physicians today use in determining the length of treatment for bee venom allergy.

While this may be the case for some patients, others may take longer to become completely tolerant of bee stings.   It has now been discovered that there are genetic differences in patients with successful immunotherapy as compared with those who go on to have severe allergic reactions after stopping treatment with bee venom injections.   Therefore, it may be possible in the future to use genetic studies to help identify patients at risk for sting reactions after discontinuation of shots.

J Allergy Clin Immunol 2010;125:1092-7. Niedoszytko M, Bruinenberg M, de Monchy J et al.  Gene expression analysis in predicting the effectiveness of insect venom immunotherapy.