If you suffer from allergies, whether it’s seasonal allergies caused by pollen or a year-round headache from dust mites, there’s hope for relief beyond medications that treat symptoms and therapeutic allergy shots. Sublingual immunotherapy is an increasingly popular way to help allergy sufferers deal with their symptoms. Otherwise known as allergy drops, sublingual immunotherapy delivers the antigens the body needs to fight off allergies in sublingual drops under the tongue.
Allergy drops are a good option for people who don’t respond well to shots or just can’t stand needles. It’s also a more convenient option for people who don’t have the time to commit to allergy shot therapy. This is because the drops can be taken unsupervised at home, where the shots have to be administered in the doctor’s office.
The drops are for treating people with allergies to ragweed, dust mites and several grasses. The drops are customized for the specific needs of each patient. This is done by first administering an allergy test to assess the patient’s allergies. Then the drops are made with the appropriate antigen. The therapy is similar to the therapy received in allergy shots, it’s just a different method of delivering the antigen to the person.
One of the benefits of participating in antigen therapy is that it addresses the underlying cause of the allergies, rather than just treating the symptoms. The advantages of sublingual immunotherapy are that they incur fewer trips to the doctor’s office, and over time the patient will require less allergy medication as symptoms subside.
Here at Piedmont Ear, Nose, and Throat Associates, we always try to find the best therapies and treatments for all of our patients. While allergy drops are not as widely used as the traditional therapy of allergy shots, we realize that every patient has different preferences. Each form, drop or shot, is just a delivery method, and we are willing to work with our patients to use whichever delivery method works best for their particular situation.
If you’re interested in learning more about sublingual immunotherapy, please call Piedmont Ear, Nose, and Throat Associates today. We will be glad to set up a consultation with one of our physicians, who can speak with you about the medication and answer any questions.