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I've been reading this forum and there seems to be a lot of patients claiming the allergy shots didn't work. Being an allergist, I've been on the other side and can often tell you why the shots don't work in certain patients. This is information you never hear about because you only hear the patient's version of the story. So let me explain common reasons why the shots didn't work.
1. The patient was not on them long enough
This is the most common reason why patients don't respond to the shots. The duration of therapy is 3-5 years. Less than 3 years automatically tells me they were on them sub-optimally. And in many cases of severe allergies, they need to be on them longer than 3 years. For many patients, they need to be on them for 5 years.
2. The patient never reached maintenance or reached maintenance after years.
The maintenance dose is the therapeutic dose. If you don't reach maintenance, you will not achieve the benefit of getting the shots. It's similar to someone complaining that baby aspirin didn't help them but were taking 2 mg of the baby aspirin instead of the 81 mg dose they were supposed to receive. And if you reach the maintenance dose much later, then you need to be on the shots longer because it took you longer to reach the therapeutic or maintenance dose. So when a patient claims they were on shots for years, that tells me little as an allergist because I don't know if they reached maintenance and how long were they on the maintenance dose.
When we say a patient needs to be on the shots for 3-5 years, it is 3-5 continuous years. If your schedule is interrupted significantly and you have to start over, that means starting over and doing 3-5 years. You don't get time served like a prison sentence. A lot of patients do not understand this. They will claim they were on shots for years but didn't follow the schedule, didn't reach maintenance and didn't remain on the maintenance dose for years.
3. The patient was not receiving the proper maintenance dose
This is a common reason why certain patient did not respond. The patient was receiving "take home shots" from a primary care doctor (family practice doctor), a naturopath, a nutritionist, a chiropractor, an ENT or others providers not formally trained and educated in the field of allergies. This is important because this affects how the shots are made. Many of these non-allergists provide "watered down" shots. It's cheaper for them to make because it includes less extract. It causes less reactions (and less efficacy) so they are told it's okay to take them home.
When studies are published about the efficacy of allergy injections, that is based on the assumption the maintenance dose is given at a 1:1 ratio of diluent (water) and extract (allergens). Most non-allergists do not provide the injections in this ratio so you are not getting the real thing. And if you are not getting the real thing, you won't respond.
4. What are they using to make their allergy injections
Extracts are standardized. They are produced by reputable companies like Greer labs. Non-allergists may be using less reputable extracts that cost less but are not reputable or reliable. So when you receive your injections, you want to know where the extracts come from and what is the company producing them. Are you getting the real thing or something the non-allergists made in their office or some disreputable company whose product has not been vetted.
5. The patient was not allergic to begin with.
It is important that allergy testing be performed by a trained and certified staff. I have caught a lot of mistakes in which a patient was seeing a non-allergist. The patient underwent skin testing by them. They were diagnosed with having multiple allergies. When we tested them, they were negative to everything. When we confirmed these results with blood testing, they were similarly negative. If a patient does not have allergies, they won't respond to the shots. Many patients are misdiagnosed. They have non-allergic rhinitis also known as vasomotor rhinitis. This is why you want to see a board certified allergist to ensure that testing is being done accurately.
6. The patient was allergic but not enough allergens were identified on initial testing.
The opposite is also true. If the testing is not performed accurately, allergens may be missed. You have been allergic to pets which was not recorded on your initial testing. So if pets are not in your allergy serum, you won't receive the benefit of being desensitized to pets. Therefore, it is important to get accurate testing performed.
I hope this helps. For those reading this thinking about getting allergy shots, I recommend you sit down with an actual board certified allergist before deciding for or against allergy injections. Make an informed decision and if you are going to receive them, do so from a reputable and board certified allergist.
I've been reading this forum and there seems to be a lot of patients claiming the allergy shots didn't work. Being an allergist, I've been on the other side and can often tell you why the shots don't work in certain patients. This is information you never hear about because you only hear the patient's version of the story. So let me explain common reasons why the shots didn't work.
1. The patient was not on them long enough
This is the most common reason why patients don't respond to the shots. The duration of therapy is 3-5 years. Less than 3 years automatically tells me they were on them sub-optimally. And in many cases of severe allergies, they need to be on them longer than 3 years. For many patients, they need to be on them for 5 years.
2. The patient never reached maintenance or reached maintenance after years.
The maintenance dose is the therapeutic dose. If you don't reach maintenance, you will not achieve the benefit of getting the shots. It's similar to someone complaining that baby aspirin didn't help them but were taking 2 mg of the baby aspirin instead of the 81 mg dose they were supposed to receive. And if you reach the maintenance dose much later, then you need to be on the shots longer because it took you longer to reach the therapeutic or maintenance dose. So when a patient claims they were on shots for years, that tells me little as an allergist because I don't know if they reached maintenance and how long were they on the maintenance dose.
When we say a patient needs to be on the shots for 3-5 years, it is 3-5 continuous years. If your schedule is interrupted significantly and you have to start over, that means starting over and doing 3-5 years. You don't get time served like a prison sentence. A lot of patients do not understand this. They will claim they were on shots for years but didn't follow the schedule, didn't reach maintenance and didn't remain on the maintenance dose for years.
3. The patient was not receiving the proper maintenance dose
This is a common reason why certain patient did not respond. The patient was receiving "take home shots" from a primary care doctor (family practice doctor), a naturopath, a nutritionist, a chiropractor, an ENT or others providers not formally trained and educated in the field of allergies. This is important because this affects how the shots are made. Many of these non-allergists provide "watered down" shots. It's cheaper for them to make because it includes less extract. It causes less reactions (and less efficacy) so they are told it's okay to take them home.
When studies are published about the efficacy of allergy injections, that is based on the assumption the maintenance dose is given at a 1:1 ratio of diluent (water) and extract (allergens). Most non-allergists do not provide the injections in this ratio so you are not getting the real thing. And if you are not getting the real thing, you won't respond.
4. What are they using to make their allergy injections
Extracts are standardized. They are produced by reputable companies like Greer labs. Non-allergists may be using less reputable extracts that cost less but are not reputable or reliable. So when you receive your injections, you want to know where the extracts come from and what is the company producing them. Are you getting the real thing or something the non-allergists made in their office or some disreputable company whose product has not been vetted.
5. The patient was not allergic to begin with.
It is important that allergy testing be performed by a trained and certified staff. I have caught a lot of mistakes in which a patient was seeing a non-allergist. The patient underwent skin testing by them. They were diagnosed with having multiple allergies. When we tested them, they were negative to everything. When we confirmed these results with blood testing, they were similarly negative. If a patient does not have allergies, they won't respond to the shots. Many patients are misdiagnosed. They have non-allergic rhinitis also known as vasomotor rhinitis. This is why you want to see a board certified allergist to ensure that testing is being done accurately.
6. The patient was allergic but not enough allergens were identified on initial testing.
The opposite is also true. If the testing is not performed accurately, allergens may be missed. You have been allergic to pets which was not recorded on your initial testing. So if pets are not in your allergy serum, you won't receive the benefit of being desensitized to pets. Therefore, it is important to get accurate testing performed.
I hope this helps. For those reading this thinking about getting allergy shots, I recommend you sit down with an actual board certified allergist before deciding for or against allergy injections. Make an informed decision and if you are going to receive them, do so from a reputable and board certified allergist.
Good Luck to you all
Well, I did my time with an allergist and it got to a point where he had me take the solutions and needles home and give them to myself. I never got better, nor were the room full of suffering people I saw each time I went to his office.
I was introduced to Pycnogenol in 1995 and still pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming as to how this antioxidant worked in my body. Then a year later I found grape seed ex and have been on these for about 23 yrs. No drugs, no allergist.
Had a nice set-up. The allergist would administer the first shot in a new solution, and I would take the bottle to work where the nurses would give the subsequent shots every two weeks until the bottle was exhausted. Then repeat the process. This went on from 1976 until retirement in 1997.
In retirement, I had no choice but travel to the allergist's office every two weeks, a 32-mile round trip. This went on until he retired in 2005. Decided to quit cold turkey just to test it and voila, no more symptoms.
Pisses me off that he shot me 30 years without any skin tests to see if I was still anaphylactic. At some point during that period, allergic reactions disappeared. But when?
Had a nice set-up. The allergist would administer the first shot in a new solution, and I would take the bottle to work where the nurses would give the subsequent shots every two weeks until the bottle was exhausted. Then repeat the process. This went on from 1976 until retirement in 1997.
In retirement, I had no choice but travel to the allergist's office every two weeks, a 32-mile round trip. This went on until he retired in 2005. Decided to quit cold turkey just to test it and voila, no more symptoms.
Pisses me off that he shot me 30 years without any skin tests to see if I was still anaphylactic. At some point during that period, allergic reactions disappeared. But when?
Oh good grief...what a drama of 30 yrs. Are you cured? I hope ..
Oh good grief...what a drama of 30 yrs. Are you cured? I hope ..
Yeah, when he retired, I didn't seek out a new allergist, and lo-and-behold have not needed to.
I should have raised the issue about new skin tests, but just assumed that the shots would be a permanent lifetime fixture. But he certainly should've known that they're not necessarily permanent.
Yeah, when he retired, I didn't seek out a new allergist, and lo-and-behold have not needed to.
I should have raised the issue about new skin tests, but just assumed that the shots would be a permanent lifetime fixture. But he certainly should've known that they're not necessarily permanent.
First thing that came to my mind with the 30 yrs, how many kids did the MD put thru college?
Thinking back about my allergist, he never looked healthy. Red nose, nasely and just off as I think back. I have more to say but will send a PM about the doc.
First thing that came to my mind with the 30 yrs, how many kids did the MD put thru college?
Thinking back about my allergist, he never looked healthy. Red nose, nasely and just off as I think back. I have more to say but will send a PM about the doc.
Probably a few grandkids with that allergy shot series- for real. No one needs 30 years of allergy shots unless they are developing new sets of allergies every 5 years and need entirely new sets. If they keep on developing new allergies every 5 years, something else more serious is going on than just needing allergy shots.
I went for immunotherapy allergy shots for years.
every few years they would retest me to see why my allergies were still so severe they were decapacitating.
and each time, the same conclusion : good news and bad.
the good news was that the shots worked in that i was no longer allergic to the things that has tested positive and they had been treating me for, through so-called "maintenance".
the bad news is that i now test positive for a whole new set of substances/allergens !
this went on for years - several cycles of starting over again from square one with new formulas based on new testing.
finally, the doctor concluded that there was no point in continuing, suggesting that my body seems to 'want' to be allergic, to something, and it will keep finding a way. lol
so i went back to my cocktail of combining several antihistamines, singular (leukotriene inhibitor), Astilin (nasal antihistamine), and Nasonex (nasal steroid).
if on all of these, at continuous, well above "recommended" dosages, i can usually kick my severe allergies down to controllable in around 3-4 days, then start to taper off the meds somewhat.
The problem is, I'm now slightly insulin resistant, not quite enough to be prediabetic, but enough to be cautious, and steroid sprays like nasonex or flonase can negatively affect insulin resistance.
so i cut out the nasonex.
with out nasonex, during allergy seasons, such as fall ragweed, all the antihistamines pills, sprays, singular, etc... in the world can not come even close to keeping my allergies under control enough to be functional.
i may have to go back to steroid sprays, and choose possibly becoming prediabetic as the lessor of 2 evils.
Quote:
Originally Posted by idiopathic
I've been reading this forum and there seems to be a lot of patients claiming the allergy shots didn't work. Being an allergist, I've been on the other side and can often tell you why the shots don't work in certain patients. This is information you never hear about because you only hear the patient's version of the story. So let me explain common reasons why the shots didn't work.
1. The patient was not on them long enough
This is the most common reason why patients don't respond to the shots. The duration of therapy is 3-5 years. Less than 3 years automatically tells me they were on them sub-optimally. And in many cases of severe allergies, they need to be on them longer than 3 years. For many patients, they need to be on them for 5 years.
2. The patient never reached maintenance or reached maintenance after years.
The maintenance dose is the therapeutic dose. If you don't reach maintenance, you will not achieve the benefit of getting the shots. It's similar to someone complaining that baby aspirin didn't help them but were taking 2 mg of the baby aspirin instead of the 81 mg dose they were supposed to receive. And if you reach the maintenance dose much later, then you need to be on the shots longer because it took you longer to reach the therapeutic or maintenance dose. So when a patient claims they were on shots for years, that tells me little as an allergist because I don't know if they reached maintenance and how long were they on the maintenance dose.
When we say a patient needs to be on the shots for 3-5 years, it is 3-5 continuous years. If your schedule is interrupted significantly and you have to start over, that means starting over and doing 3-5 years. You don't get time served like a prison sentence. A lot of patients do not understand this. They will claim they were on shots for years but didn't follow the schedule, didn't reach maintenance and didn't remain on the maintenance dose for years.
3. The patient was not receiving the proper maintenance dose
This is a common reason why certain patient did not respond. The patient was receiving "take home shots" from a primary care doctor (family practice doctor), a naturopath, a nutritionist, a chiropractor, an ENT or others providers not formally trained and educated in the field of allergies. This is important because this affects how the shots are made. Many of these non-allergists provide "watered down" shots. It's cheaper for them to make because it includes less extract. It causes less reactions (and less efficacy) so they are told it's okay to take them home.
When studies are published about the efficacy of allergy injections, that is based on the assumption the maintenance dose is given at a 1:1 ratio of diluent (water) and extract (allergens). Most non-allergists do not provide the injections in this ratio so you are not getting the real thing. And if you are not getting the real thing, you won't respond.
4. What are they using to make their allergy injections
Extracts are standardized. They are produced by reputable companies like Greer labs. Non-allergists may be using less reputable extracts that cost less but are not reputable or reliable. So when you receive your injections, you want to know where the extracts come from and what is the company producing them. Are you getting the real thing or something the non-allergists made in their office or some disreputable company whose product has not been vetted.
5. The patient was not allergic to begin with.
It is important that allergy testing be performed by a trained and certified staff. I have caught a lot of mistakes in which a patient was seeing a non-allergist. The patient underwent skin testing by them. They were diagnosed with having multiple allergies. When we tested them, they were negative to everything. When we confirmed these results with blood testing, they were similarly negative. If a patient does not have allergies, they won't respond to the shots. Many patients are misdiagnosed. They have non-allergic rhinitis also known as vasomotor rhinitis. This is why you want to see a board certified allergist to ensure that testing is being done accurately.
6. The patient was allergic but not enough allergens were identified on initial testing.
The opposite is also true. If the testing is not performed accurately, allergens may be missed. You have been allergic to pets which was not recorded on your initial testing. So if pets are not in your allergy serum, you won't receive the benefit of being desensitized to pets. Therefore, it is important to get accurate testing performed.
I hope this helps. For those reading this thinking about getting allergy shots, I recommend you sit down with an actual board certified allergist before deciding for or against allergy injections. Make an informed decision and if you are going to receive them, do so from a reputable and board certified allergist.
I went for immunotherapy allergy shots for years.
every few years they would retest me to see why my allergies were still so severe they were decapacitating.
and each time, the same conclusion : good news and bad.
the good news was that the shots worked in that i was no longer allergic to the things that has tested positive and they had been treating me for, through so-called "maintenance".
the bad news is that i now test positive for a whole new set of substances/allergens !
this went on for years - several cycles of starting over again from square one with new formulas based on new testing.
finally, the doctor concluded that there was no point in continuing, suggesting that my body seems to 'want' to be allergic, to something, and it will keep finding a way. lol
so i went back to my cocktail of combining several antihistamines, singular (leukotriene inhibitor), Astilin (nasal antihistamine), and Nasonex (nasal steroid).
if on all of these, at continuous, well above "recommended" dosages, i can usually kick my severe allergies down to controllable in around 3-4 days, then start to taper off the meds somewhat.
The problem is, I'm now slightly insulin resistant, not quite enough to be prediabetic, but enough to be cautious, and steroid sprays like nasonex or flonase can negatively affect insulin resistance.
so i cut out the nasonex.
with out nasonex, during allergy seasons, such as fall ragweed, all the antihistamines pills, sprays, singular, etc... in the world can not come even close to keeping my allergies under control enough to be functional.
i may have to go back to steroid sprays, and choose possibly becoming prediabetic as the lessor of 2 evils.
I've talked a lot about my allergy journey here and that the shots NEVER did a thing for me. Even was taking the shots at home via doc's instructions. NOPE.
And when I found Pycnogenol and then a year later Grape Seed Extract, the allergy issues were history. I've been taking them going on 25 yrs. And they also address diabetes. Read my info if you want to read successes.
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another reason shots fail
