Patient Information
Allergen Immunotherapy Injections
What is allergen immunotherapy?
Immunotherapy is a medical treatment that activates or suppresses the immune system to treat disease. Allergen immunotherapy injections, sometimes referred to as "allergy injections" or "allergy shots," are often prescribed for patients suffering from allergy symptoms in the eyes, ears, nose, throat, skin, or respiratory system.
Immunotherapy is an appropriate treatment for individuals with moderate or severe symptoms that are not well-controlled by lifestyle and environmental changes or medication.
How effective are allergy injections?
Allergen immunotherapy injections may reduce allergic reactions to common allergens, including pollen, mold, animal dander, cockroaches, and dust mites.
A 12-month course of allergy injections is likely to reduce the sensitivity to airborne and indoor allergens. Continued treatment has shown further improvement. While injections are not a "cure," they are proven to reduce sensitivity, symptoms, and the need for medications. It is essential to maintain your injection schedule as recommended by your physician. Missing a treatment could result in a dosage adjustment or increase.
What is the treatment process with allergy shots?
Generally, there are two phases to immunotherapy: a build-up phase and a maintenance phase.
During the build-up phase, a patient receives a weekly injection with increasing amounts of the allergens each time. The build-up phase typically lasts between 10-12 months (at a frequency of once a week). After the build-up phase is complete and a patient reaches their effective therapeutic dose, they can begin the maintenance phase.
The effective maintenance dose depends on the patient and their degree of sensitivity, reaction, and response to the immunotherapy injections during the build-up phase. Once a patient reaches the target maintenance dose, they can decrease the frequency of treatment.
Maintenance injections generally range from every 2 to 4 weeks to provide the best combination of effectiveness and safety for each patient. Shorter intervals between allergy injections may lead to fewer reactions, improvement in symptoms, but some individuals may tolerate treatment intervals greater than four weeks.
Standards for effective maintenance doses are based on benchmarks established by the Joint Task Force for Practice Parameters for Allergen Immunotherapy, a national collaborative committee led by a panel of allergists who created these parameters after reviewing numerous published and peer-reviewed publications.
What are the possible reactions to allergy injections?
It is possible to have an allergic reaction to the allergy injection itself. These reactions can be local (swelling at the injection site) or systemic (affecting the rest of the body).
Systemic reactions include hay fever-like symptoms, hives, flushing, lightheadedness, or asthma, and very rarely, some life-threatening reactions.
Some conditions can make allergic reactions to the injections more likely, like excessive exposure to pollen or strenuous exercise after an injection. Serious systemic reactions can occur in patients with asthma that is not well controlled by medication.
If you are a patient with asthma and are experiencing symptoms, it's important to notify your nurse or physician before receiving your scheduled injections. Some reactions to injections can occur, even in the absence of these conditions. Please inform the nursing staff if you have been diagnosed with a new medical condition or have been prescribed any new medications since your last visit.
If any symptoms occur immediately or within hours of your injection, please inform the nurse before receiving your next injection.
