Allergy Shots???

Stephanie, I go to a great acupuncturist who changed careers because he didn't want his 4 yr old having to take shots like he did when HE was little! His name is Dr. Steve Homoky ###-###-####), and he treats allergies and environmental sensitivities with NAET (www.naet.com). No needles, just acupressure. Since I took my children and myself through these treatments, it's been 4 years w/ no major illnesses. No antibiotics. In fact, they've only missed a handful of days from school, mostly due to pure exhaustion. My daughter has had some pretty severe reactions to drugs, so this was the right path for our family. And best of all, we don't have to avoid any foods like most of the elimination diets out there. It's a permanent fix! That's great, especially for me, since I was severely lactose intolerant for over 14 years. I can have cheesecake now! Yeah! Good luck, and feel free to call me if you have more questions. There are other docs out there who do these treatments, and they can be found on the website.

B. Biehl
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We are going through the same thing now. My son has terrible allergiest (inherited from my father and me). We finally just did the full skin panel and everything came up being severely allergic. The only thing that was not were feathers. ha.

We go back in 7 days to talk to the doctor about his proposed course of action which will probably be shots (as we've discussed before...he feels that 4.5-5 is a good age to start esp if they are severe).

People keep asking... will it work? will it work? I don't know but I feel that we have to give it a shot. Even if it makes them not as severe, it may be worth it so he doesn't have to take as many meds or get a sick. I HATE giving him all of these medications. It's just a band-aid. Shots are a potential solution. He has been off his meds for 6 days for the skin panel and he thinks clearer...

I had shots for about 9 years...did it help. ON some things yes. On others, no. It wasn't until a year after I had my kids that my allergies have practically done dormant. Is it because of my shots... who knows? But again, I just feel that if we might have a chance to make my son better and suffer less, it's worth it than doping all the time. Yes, the first year, meds will probably need to be used as they are now but hopefully by 2nd year, we'll start to see a difference. Good luck. It's a tough decision.

I have horrible allergies as well. I had allergy shots for awhile, but it seemed to me that whenever I was exposed to an allergine after having the shot, my reaction was worse. My doctor's office always used the same arm in about the same place. I have never heard of rotating arms. It never hurt. I just did not get much relief from it. I take Claritin once in the morning and once at night per my doctor's directions. Also, I know we would do anything for our children, but you need to look into the cost of the shots. My insurance company said they would be covered at 100%, but that was far from the truth. I had a $20 copay, so every week when I had my shot I had to pay the $18 they charged out of pocket no reimbursment. That was my copay. VERY EXPENSIVE!

My husband is very alergic as well. He's allergic to Dust, grass, mold, wheat, corn, dogs, cats, heck everything! We didn't get the option of an allergy shot, he is taking allergy drops. It's the same idea as the shots, they give you different levels to build up your "tolerance" to the allergy and eventually you won't need them. It's a sublingual drop that you place under your tongue for 30 seconds. He takes two different kinds: food and environmental. So far we have had great results. He has suffered from sinusitis all his life. He now says I can't believe how different things taste and smell. I'm happy cause he doesn't snore anymore!! Ha ha, well good luck and check with your child's ENT about the sublingual drops! They're awesome!!

Hi Stephanie,
I took shots for 4 years and it really didn't help me out but I know of some people that swear by it. (?)
I ended up using a nasal spray and it worked fine for me. I still do use a spray and irrigate with saline water every day with a product that I brought at Walgreen's.
I also use a nebulizer for the sinus infections when I do get sick. It uses a nasal applicator instead of for a mouth. I got it through my ENT. The medicine that I use in it has an anti fungal, antibiotic and steroid and pretty much covers all the bases without compromising my body with oral medicine. It's been great!
C.

my son who is also 4 is currently going thru allergy shots. We keep him motivated by telling him when this is all over he will be able to get the dog he has always wanted(he has dog, cat, and tree allergies). Not every week is good but the nurses are good and the shots are done within 2 minutes. The hardest part is waiting the 30 min after to make sure there is no reaction. He is ending his weekly shots and moving on to maintenance shots. My in-laws, parents and sisters all have dogs and he has not had a reaction to them in about 2 months. This has been a blessing, any parent knows what its like to fight a toddler to take their daily allergy medicine. This is much easier on everyone. My son doesn't even cry, so its more the anticipation of the shot then the actual shot itself.

Hi, Stephanie....

Sounds like your daughter could be my clone with her allergies! :) I didn't have a problem with the shots, but my oldest brother (by 6 years) did, so Mom always did his shot FIRST in our family.

What is going to happen is that the dose of anti-allergen is going to be very, very small and increase on a regular basis until she gets up to "full dose" levels. The shots will be given on a weekly basis, rotating her arms (right one week, left the next, then back to the right). The needles themselves are extremely SMALL, and will go *just* underneath her skin in to the fatty tissue. I keep my fingernails trimmed very short, and the needles are not as long as my pinky nails! The needles will NOT go into the veins or the muscles, and the only time she will "feel" the shot is if it should happen to hit close to a nerve (I've given myself shots (once- to several-times a day) over a 25 year period, and can remember doing that fewer than 5 times, so it's an extremely rare event.) I was on the allergy shots from the time I was 5 years old till I was almost 12, when we moved from Sherman to West Texas, and the change in environment almost eliminated my allergies. Once I came back, though, my allergies were back! >groan< I tried doing my allergy shots again, but since I did those once a week, I was always getting confused as to which arm I had used/needed to use, because I was also doing my (multiple) daily insulin shots. I'm now using a combination of Rx and OTC allergy meds, but don't feel I'm getting as much relief as I would if I were still doing my allergy shots.

I think once your daughter starts feeling the relief from the medication, she will get over her "fear" of shots, especially when she realizes that she doesn't even feel it go in. (Unlike her vaccinations, which do go into the muscle tissue.)

Feel free to contact me if you have any more questions, and God Bless!
~J.~

My daughter is 7. She had chronic sinusitis. She also has severe asthma. 2 years ago we were on 64 continuous days of antibiotics for a sinus infection. We went to an ENT doc. and they suggested flushing her sinuses. They also suggested removing her tonsils and adnoids. I agreed to do this. We had tonsils and adnoids removed and had our sinuses flushed. 2 years later we had the same problems we had always had. We average about 4-5 hospital visits a year with asthma. We have been on every kind of preventative medication you can think of. We were also allergy tested and came back with similar results as you.
Back in November I started taking her to a chiropractor. All I can tell you is our experience. We haven't been to the hospital since November (the longest stretch of her life so far) and we are off every kind of medication-even the preventative asthma meds. This has been her healthiest winter of her life. I was skeptical at first. All I know is she is a different child. There is hope!

Some allergy doctors are now doing drops rather than shots for kids. I would call around and find one that does that rather than subject her to shots. NAET is also another wonderful alternative. I also have those same allergies and the mold one can be a HUGE issue. You may want to consider having a mold test done for your home to see if you might have issues there. For sensitive folks, even a small amount of mold can cause huge issues. Also, mold produces toxins and if you daughter is of a certain genetic disposition, those toxins could be contributing tremendously to her health issues.
Also, you should have HEPA filters in your home - that will help your daughter alot, especially put one in her bedroom and minimize the clutter in there especially books and stuffed animals that are a HUGE source of dust.
And, given the she's likely been on antibiotics for the infections, she needs probiotics to help replenish the healthy bacteria in her gut - 70% of our immune function is in our gut.