Allergen Immunotherapy
Allergen immunotherapy is a long-term treatment that works by giving small, gradually increasing amounts of the inhalant allergen a person reacts to, so the immune system learns to tolerate it rather than react to it. Many patients know this treatment simply as allergy shots. Medication can ease symptoms, but only for as long as a person keeps taking it; allergen immunotherapy takes a different approach, aiming to change how the immune system responds to the trigger itself. That difference is the reason someone might take on a long course of injections rather than continue managing symptoms with medication alone. Rather than only easing symptoms, this treats the underlying sensitivity itself.
Who Allergen Immunotherapy Can Help
Allergen immunotherapy is offered for inhalant allergens such as pollen, dust mites, mold, and animal dander. The practice treats adults and children alike, and it tends to suit:
People whose inhalant allergy symptoms return every year or persist despite medication.
People who would rather not rely on daily medication indefinitely to manage inhalant allergies such as pollen, dust mites, mold, or animal dander.
Whether allergen immunotherapy is the right fit for a particular patient is not decided on request. It is decided together with the doctor, after an assessment of that patient's history and reactions.
Looking for treatment for insect sting allergy instead? Visit our Venom Immunotherapy page.
What Happens Before You Start
Testing comes first. Allergen immunotherapy has to be built around the specific inhalant allergens, such as pollen, dust mites, mold, or animal dander, that a patient reacts to, so we identify those triggers before any treatment plan is created. To explain why testing has to come first in a little more detail: the treatment is made up according to what an individual patient reacts to, so identifying those triggers precisely is what makes the injections worth giving at all.
Once your results are in, a treatment plan is agreed with the doctor before any injection is given. This ensures the allergen immunotherapy you receive is built specifically around what you react to, not a general formula. Without that precision, an injection would risk treating the wrong trigger, or missing the one that matters most to you.
How Treatment Works
Build-Up Stage
Injections are given more frequently, with the dose rising gradually as your body adjusts.
Maintenance Stage
Injections continue at a steady dose, given less often than during the build-up stage.
The dose rises gradually rather than starting at full strength because the immune system needs time to adjust to the substance it is being given. Moving slowly, step by step, is what keeps the process tolerable and safe for each patient.
The schedule is set individually for each patient and reviewed with the doctor as treatment goes on, adjusting as needed based on how you respond.
After Your Allergy Shot
Please wait in the office for 30 minutes after every allergy injection, so our staff can watch for a reaction.
If you have asthma, bring your rescue (albuterol) inhaler to every shot visit.
Safety and What to Expect
Given and Observed in the Office
Injections are given in the office by trained staff. Patients stay in the office to be observed afterward, because reactions, if they happen, happen soon after the injection.
A Common, Expected Reaction
Redness, swelling, or itching where the injection was given is a common and expected reaction.
Prepared for More Serious Reactions
More serious reactions are uncommon, and the practice is equipped to treat them immediately. That is the reason injections are given in a medical office rather than at home.
Before each visit, let staff know about any change in your health, any new medicine you have started, or feeling unwell on the day, since any of these can affect whether an injection is given as planned.
Living With Treatment
Allergen immunotherapy is a commitment. It requires regular visits to the office over a long period, and that commitment is real and worth understanding before you begin.
Fitting those visits around work, school, and family life is part of that commitment, and it is worth being honest about. Keeping to a schedule is easier when appointments can be found at times that actually work for you.
Asthma & Allergy Care, P.C. has four New Jersey offices, with evening and Saturday hours, which makes it more manageable to keep to a regular schedule of visits without the process taking over your week.
Many patients find that their symptoms ease and their need for medication falls as treatment goes on. Your response is followed and reviewed with the doctor throughout.
Find Out If Allergen Immunotherapy Is Right for You
Book an appointment to find out whether allergen immunotherapy suits you. Asthma & Allergy Care, P.C. has four New Jersey offices, with evening and Saturday hours, to make it easier to get the care you need.
Four New Jersey offices, with evening and Saturday hours.