Allergy shots for environmental allergies

[staceyshoe]

What are your thoughts about allergy shots? We are a non-vaxing family and are very very conservative about pharmaceutical interventions. 5 y.o. ds was just diagnosed with severe pollen allergies (which do make him MISERABLE), and the allergist recommended de-sensitizing allergy shots. He explained it as a shot of natural substance that triggers the allergy and that by slowly increasing the amount of allergen injected, ds's threshold for allergic reactions will improve. Is this truly a natural treatment?

[changingseasons]

Well, they are a natural treatment in the sense that they're injection you with your allergen (pollen or whatever) rather than a chemical. But I would imagine the shots have some sort of preservative in them, so that's what I would ask about.

Do they offer sublingual immunotherapy (it's pretty new I think for enviro allergies), or just the shots? That might be another option if the shots have chemical preservatives in them. Or maybe find a practitioner who does LDA or something along those lines.

Or for something more natural, you could try homeopathy or acupuncture!

[staceyshoe]

Thanks for your reply! That really helps. They don't offer sublingual--at least they didn't for us. I think he's not a candidate for it anyway because his pollen allergy is so severe that he's more likely to have a reaction requiring immediate medical attention (still rare, but more likely with severe allergy), and the sublingual immunotherapy is designed for home use. If we do the immunotherapy, they want him in the office for an observation period afterward just to make sure he's not having a dangerous reaction. I will need to check into preservatives if we decide to try that option.

We've tried homeopathic remedies and herbs without success. We may try acupuncture for him. It's been very helpful for my health issues. What is LDA?

[changingseasons]

Low Dose Allergen.... something? I think environmental medicine docs use it, but it's kind of hard to find. I think it's similar to allergy shots, and I honestly don't know what the difference is.

[mama1803]

Allergy shots did not help me, nor are they "natural". Allergy shots do not cure the tendency to have allergies, so even after treatment the immune system will continue to overreact. So while you may become desensitized to pollen your body will be sensitized to something else--the family pet, dust mites, etc.

This book does a really fabulous job of explaining how inflammation is the root cause of allergies. The inflammatory response is necessary to good health but when it can't be turned off all sorts of conditions can result.

http://www.amazon.com/Healing-New-Ch.../dp/0345494504

Also, methylation referes to a series of chemical reactions that happen in the body. One such function of the methyl cycle is to regulate histimine. If methylation is sluggish and the body can't clear histimine as it should you have allergic reactions. Methylation can be sluggish for a variety of reasons, but a common one is some sort of nutritional deficiency. The B vitamins (particularly B6 and B12 and folate) are great for kick starting methylation, as is magnesium.