In April this year I went to an allergy doctor and was tested. They poke your arm with a couple of dozen needles with certain contents to detect which cause itching and swelling. Once again I showed grasses and a few other things were causing me problems.
I discussed with the doctor what options were available these days for medication or treatment. I was hoping to avoid another tedious allergy shot regimen, but it didn’t look like there were any silver bullet new medicines that I hadn’t already tried. However, when she suggested I might be a good candidate for an accelerated shot treatment she got my attention.
My allergic reactions are specific to only a few things, and I’m not asthmatic, so I jumped at the accelerated plan. You take several medications in the 24 hours before spending most of the day at the shot clinic, where they ramp up the dosage with a shot every 20 minutes, and monitor you closely for symptoms. You return a week later for another round, after which you are within three or four shots of the maintenance dose, for which you return weekly. Everything went great for me, and I reached maintenance dosage right about the first of June.
I didn’t want to set expectations too high, hoping that perhaps I would see some reduction in my usual symptoms this first season. The doctor explained that it would require some time for immunity to build up in my body, so this first season might still be problematic for me.
Imagine my delight when I had almost zero allergy symptoms the entire month! I thought perhaps it was an unusually tame month for allergies, but not so–the doctor said it was worse than average for most sufferers.
So now I continue with maintenance dose shots once every two weeks, at least through this year. I’m allowed to stretch it to four weeks, which I’ll start doing next year. I’m hoping the doctor may give permission to extend to six weeks eventually.
I can’t say enough how pleased I am with the results, and with this accelerated treatment. Life is so wonderful for me in June, and I took zero supplemental medications. The doctor refers to me as the poster child for the accelerated shot program. If you suffer from allergies I would recommend you check it out.