Your Allergist May Have a Secret

Your allergist may be keeping a secret from you.
With the media's assistance, they will be unable keep it from us much longer.

Allergy sufferers: what if we told you that instead of going to the allergist's office several times a week for allergy shots, you could put a few drops/tablets under your tongue every day and achieve the same or better results? What if we told you with these drops, in 2-3 years, it is possible that your allergies could clear up or, at worst, be markedly improved? Most of you would jump at the chance.

Sublingual Immunotherapy.
In Europe, it has been an approved allergy therapy for over a decade. The results have been amazing. The philosophy is similar to desensitizing shots, in that the drops/tablets contain minute amounts of the allergen(s) and over a 2-3 year period, the pharmacy increases the amount to the point that your immune system does not overreact. The largest amount of data has been compiled for environmental allergens (grass especially). However, data has been trickling in recently for food allergens as well.

Why Such a Secret?
Money, plain and simple. Allergists' bread and butter are weekly office visits for desensitizing shots. Revenue would plummet if office visits were replaced by drops/tablets. That said, sublingual therapy is bound to take over. There are too many reasons for it not to. Allergy patients often give up desensitizing therapy because they are unable to adhere to the rigorous schedule. Patients become easily discouraged when they do not see results and find it hard to wait years for improvement. The ability to administer drops/tablets at home, office, or while traveling will greatly improve compliance.

What Savings!
In our opinion, sublingual immunotherapy would create billions of dollars in health care cost savings. There would be a reduced reliance on allergy and asthma medications (and, in turn, less side effects). There would be less allergy/asthma-related hospital and emergency room visits. Of course, there would be less allergist visits. The question is, will the allergists and drug companies allow sublingual immunotherapy to flourish?

Why Is Sublingual immunotherapy Non-Existent in the U.S.?
In most states, is not covered insurance and it is not cheap (it is covered in Wisconsin). A three month supply of drops/tablets costs $250-$350. That adds up over a two or three period. In Europe, it is covered by insurance.

Ongoing Case Studies
We are currently following a group of clients (as well as Steve's son) with major environmental allergies who are on sublingual immunotherapy. Along with adherence to a diet/nutrient regimen that removes cross-reacting foods during the height of the four major allergy seasons (trees, grass, ragweed, and mold), the results have been very impressive.

For example, Steve's son, who has a severe grass allergy and moderately severe tree and ragweed allergy, has been medication (except for the occasional Claritin Reditab) and symptom-free while following the protocol for six months.

Course of Action?
Strongly encourage your allergist to provide sublingual immunotherapy or find one that does! Currently, there are few allergists in the U.S. that offer it. One allergy drop compound pharmacy we trust is Allergy Choices. They have an allergist listing by state.

Note:
This therapy addresses IgE (true food allergy) only, not IgG (food intolerance).

Associated Content
While we have tracked numerous studies we over the last five years, here are a few recent media pieces on sublingual immunotherapy.

Oral alternative to allergy shots improves hayfever.

In the Works: Immunotherapy for food allergies.

Pills to Treat Non-Food Allergies on the Horizon.