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Immunotherapy, meaning allergy shots, is one of the most popular and effective treatments when it comes to dealing with the main symptoms of hay fever. Such allergy shots will reduce hay fever symptoms that include watery or itchy eyes, breathing difficulties and sneezing. However, you should pay attention to both the risks and benefits implied by an allergy shot for your hay fever symptoms. Most people suffering from hay fever try to avoid its symptoms by taking all sorts of vitamin supplements, changing their eating habits or taking oral medications. All of these may lower the allergy symptoms but they are to be regarded as a simple short term solution. Immunotherapy is to be used because the allergy shot will be formulated in order to contain just a very small quantity of that particular substance you are allergic to. So, the next time your body is exposed to a particular allergen that triggers your hay fever, it will already be ready to fight that allergen off. However, Immunotherapy isn’t a solution that works for every person. For instance, people suffering from asthma or respiratory problems must not take the allergy shots. Also, for safety reason, a child who is under the age of 4/5 years must not be given such an Immunotherapy treatment. An allergy shot is a quite effective treatment for the vast majority of people suffering from hay fever but some of them may actually experience some really harmful side effects. For instance, such side effects may include a real shock as soon as the shot is injected for the first time. Also, nausea and light-headiness can be experienced. This is the main reason why a doctor will keep you for at least 25 minutes after giving you the shot in order to make sure that you are all right. Keep in mind that allergy shots are far away from being an experimental treatment. On the contrary, they have already been approved for almost 100 years now and they are included among the FDA approved treatments. Also, they don’t contain steroids. Unlike other treatments prescribed for hay fever symptoms, an allergy shot will fix the underlying problem of your allergy.Your body will treat the injection like a vaccine and product the necessary anti-infection fighting antibodies that will deal with the particular allergen that triggers your hay fever. Also, an allergy shot may prevent you from developing other new allergies and even reduce your risk of developing asthma. The method of hay fever Immunotherapy consists of starting by being injected with a smaller dose that isn’t likely to cause any allergic reactions. The dosage will be slowly advanced until you become totally tolerant to a larger amount of the allergen extract. Initially, you will have to take these injections once or even twice a week. You will have to do this until a constant dose/maintenance is achieved. It may take you 3 to 6 months in order to achieve this constant dose. Once you have reached it, your allergic symptoms will be largely resolved. Thereafter, you will have to take the injections just every 2 to 4 weeks. You will have to go on with this immunotherapy for 4 or 5 years total in order to achieve the best results. After this therapy, you will continue to get real benefits for the next 8 to 10 years or even for a longer period of time. Keep in mind that once you stop your allergy shots prior of a period of 3 years, you are very likely to develop the allergic hay fever symptoms very quickly again.
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