Comments on: Low-Dose Desensitization to Allergens

By: Nefernika

Nefernika — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:08:46 +0000

This sounds like it was something different from the current sort of allergy shots–I’ve been getting shots for trees and grass for three years now, and I think what my allergist told me when I started was that most people who are going to respond at all do so within a year, and those with severe allergies might continue for as long as five years. So a six-week course would be AMAZING by that standard!

By: Mike Haubrich

Mike Haubrich — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:06:55 +0000

I’ll get the link to the specific study. it may be a different treatment now, but the one that I found said it had been discontinued.

By: K

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:13:36 +0000

Oh! I didn’t know they had stopped. I thought this was SOP for people with allergies. Weird.

By: a daughter's mother

a daughter's mother — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:19:51 +0000

My local country doctor must have heard about that as well. When I was a kid, he tried a series of shots that were supposed to cure me of my allergy to poison ivy. We lived on a resort, and even if I stayed away from the stuff, the dog didn’t. The shots didn’t work for me. I never heard that it was part of a study, just something new that everybody thought was worth a try. What really worked was moving away from the resort and limiting my exposure, especially after the dog died.
Years later, my “new” family moved to Georgia, arriving mid-winter. On nice weekends we cleared vines and brush from the back yard. Our new neighbors had filled us in on Kudzu, and we didn’t want that strangling our trees. We could tell greenbriars by the thorns, but never knew what all the others were, as they hadn’t leafed out yet. One particularly pesky vine had tendrils all along the stem to anchor it to tree bark, where it climbed way out of sight. We cut and pulled what we could, knowing the severed tops would die.

The next day, my hands had swollen so much that my fingers touched while splayed fully apart. The local doctor scolded me for an idiot for pulling what turned out to be poison ivy bare-handed. Turns out that was the pesky clingy vine. Who knew? In Minnesota it’s a little shrub about 15″ tall, and I never got close enough to see what the stems looked like. Anyhow, I had proof positive that the shots hadn’t worked.

By: Mike Haubrich

Mike Haubrich — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:14:06 +0000

I’m just curious about what happened to the experiment, and I wonder why if it was so successful for treating me what they found to cause them to discontinue. It was only run for 10 years in the United States, but has been used in other countries.

Someday, I’ll have to look into it….

By: Alden

Alden — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:09:56 +0000

I’ve been told that eating Oregon-produced honey will have the same effect on many of our local allergies (grass, trees, etc.). It makes sense. I’m glad you found that treatment.