Immunotherapy is a tempting treatment for allergies, especially when you suffer from hay fever, allergic asthma, atopic dermatitis, or insect stings. However, it can feel like a big commitment because of the time it takes to reach the “maintenance phase” of your treatment. That’s where rush immunotherapy comes in.
Unlike traditional allergy shots that take up to 6 months to desensitize your immune system to an allergen, rush therapy reaches the same point within 1-3 days.
Whether you choose traditional allergy shots or rush therapy, our team can ensure you get the results you’ve been searching for at Advanced Allergy & Asthma in Ogden, Utah. If you’re considering rush immunotherapy, here’s what you can expect.
The main difference between rush therapy and traditional shots involves your initial treatment phase. This is when we introduce your system to small amounts of an allergen to build tolerance. Once you no longer react to the allergen, you switch to the maintenance phase of your treatment plan.
Both rush therapy and traditional allergy shots have a maintenance phase, lasting 3-5 years or longer. During this period, you typically require a maintenance dose once a month.
When you have rush immunotherapy, you spend 1-3 days at our office receiving shots every 15-60 minutes — traditional allergy shots usually occur 1-3 times a week for 3 to 6 months. This accelerated process means you build up a tolerance to your allergen faster. Then, you can immediately switch to your monthly maintenance dose.
Rush therapy gives you all the advantages of traditional immunotherapy, with fewer office visits, which often translates to lower costs. It’s also a safe solution, even for potentially scary allergic reactions, like those involving insect venom. However, we usually don’t recommend any form of immunotherapy for food allergies.
You can get dramatic results for treating allergies with rush immunotherapy, and they can even last up to eight months. However, your symptoms may not completely clear up overnight. Instead, you should notice significant improvements over the first year of your treatment program phase, and they continue getting better each year.
In most cases, by the time you reach the third year of your program, you no longer have any significant reactions to the allergens in your maintenance dose. Many people have so much success from rush immunotherapy they can discontinue their maintenance shots entirely within a few years of their initial treatment. However, the maintenance doses must continue sometimes to keep allergy symptoms at bay.
If you have allergies, we can guide you through the best treatment options to get your symptoms under control. Contact Advanced Allergy & Asthma to schedule a consultation by calling or booking a visit online today.
