Allergy shots (1 Viewer)

[Judge Smails]

This looks like a racket. $1500 or so per year for the serum, $26 per shot, 2X a week for 6 months, then monthly afterwards. Recommend 3-5 years.

Then they want you to plan for a minimum of an hour (first come first served for shots, estimate 30 minutes, then 30 minutes observation time for reaction). Plus drive time that's like 90 minutes each time. Who has that freakin' time?

If I was GUARANTEED I'd never get allergies again, especially in the spring, I might think about it. But no guarantees.

Who's done allergy shots? Worth it or not?

 

[Poke_4_Life]

I have been on them for 2.5 years. I used to get sinus infections about six times per year and bronchitis once or twice a year.

I have had two sinus infections since I started and one was within the first few weeks of starting.

It is somewhat expensive but my insurance covers a lot of the cost and I just pop in once a month for shots. My place is quite quick with the shots but do require 30 minute wait for observation. Office is also only two miles from my house.

I am obviously very pleased with my results. YMMV.

 

[Insein]

I got them as a kid. I still get them as an adult. I guess they didn't work.

 

[Judge Smails]

I have been on them for 2.5 years. I used to get sinus infections about six times per year and bronchitis once or twice a year.

I have had two sinus infections since I started and one was within the first few weeks of starting.

It is somewhat expensive but my insurance covers a lot of the cost and I just pop in once a month for shots. My place is quite quick with the shots but do require 30 minute wait for observation. Office is also only two miles from my house.

I am obviously very pleased with my results. YMMV.

for bad sinus infections or bronchitis I get it. Seems a bit much for mostly seasonal allergies though...

 

[Hawks64]

I have been on them for 2.5 years. I used to get sinus infections about six times per year and bronchitis once or twice a year.

I have had two sinus infections since I started and one was within the first few weeks of starting.

It is somewhat expensive but my insurance covers a lot of the cost and I just pop in once a month for shots. My place is quite quick with the shots but do require 30 minute wait for observation. Office is also only two miles from my house.

I am obviously very pleased with my results. YMMV.

for bad sinus infections or bronchitis I get it. Seems a bit much for mostly seasonal allergies though...

Seasonal wouldn't be worth it. I have been on the shots for 5 years and used to have almost daily headaches and 3-4 sinus infections a year. Haven't had a sinus infection in a couple of years and headaches are very minimal. Totally worth it for me.

 

[glvsav37]

Swear by them. Use to get real bad asthma attacks -- could barely walk up the stairs w/o my inhaler (and I'm an average height/weight guy).

Got shots every week for close to a year, now down to every 3 weeks.

Now I can't tell you the last time I had an attack. Play and ref ice hockey, do Crossfit and run around with my kids with no problem.

 

[elbowrm]

I got them for 10+ yrs. works great for dog allergy.

 

[LOCO]

sublingual immunotherapy is what you are looking for.

 

[TheWalkmen]

I was doing them (shots) and when I got to the highest dosage I had a reaction within minutes of getting the shots. The dr. had to pump me with some steroids to stop the reaction. It was the scariest moment of my life, I truly thought I might die. I stopped doing them but I didn't have allergies for like 2-3 years which was awesome. Is the serum the new, safer route? I'd do that.

 

[TwinTurbo]

The shots did not work for me at all. Others swear by it. The only thing that fixed my seasonal allergies was to move to NYC.

 

[ThreeThousand]

Worth every penny for my son. Suffered everyday before shots now very very limited. Repeat. Worth every penny

This times 1000 for me. I live in Atlanta, which is like the allergy capital of the world. They have been a lifesaver for me. Now I laugh at the allergy sufferers during the spring.

FYI - my medical plan (and previous medical plan, FWIW) covered these as preventative care 100%. No out of pocket cost at all.

 

[Poke_4_Life]

Worth every penny for my son. Suffered everyday before shots now very very limited. Repeat. Worth every penny

This times 1000 for me. I live in Atlanta, which is like the allergy capital of the world. They have been a lifesaver for me. Now I laugh at the allergy sufferers during the spring.

FYI - my medical plan (and previous medical plan, FWIW) covered these as preventative care 100%. No out of pocket cost at all.

This is a good point. Mine are not covered 100% but are covered pretty well because it is preventative. Also before I started I had consults for surgery and sinus cavity CT scans, etc. So I am positive insurance is saving money now.

 

[GAlmgren]

They have been helpful for me, but not a cure for everything. I tested allergic to every tree, grass, and weed that they tested for as well as some molds, foods and cats.

I went with the allergy drops (sublingual immunotherapy) instead of the shots. The shots are covered under my insurance, but the drops are not, so i'm paying $80/month. This sucks, but I work out of town so going to the Dr. once a week for a shot wasn't really a good choice. It does sound like the drops are going to be approved by the FDA and then be covered by insurance though. Also, the shots are supposed to be a bit more effective.

There is a limit to the amount of allergens they can put in drops so we chose the ones that seemed most common in my area. It has really helped with those, but when something else comes out that I am not being treated for, I still get hammered. I think that the shots get one or two more allergens to the mix than the drops.

 

[TheIronSheik]

I get them and my insurance covers everything. I don't pay a penny for the shots.

 

[urbanhack]

I have been on them for 2.5 years. I used to get sinus infections about six times per year and bronchitis once or twice a year.

I have had two sinus infections since I started and one was within the first few weeks of starting.

It is somewhat expensive but my insurance covers a lot of the cost and I just pop in once a month for shots. My place is quite quick with the shots but do require 30 minute wait for observation. Office is also only two miles from my house.

I am obviously very pleased with my results. YMMV.

for bad sinus infections or bronchitis I get it. Seems a bit much for mostly seasonal allergies though...

Use a neti pot consistently and your problems will go away.

 

[fred_1_15301]

sublingual immunotherapy is what you are looking for.

The oral sublingual tablets were just approved in the U.S. last year. If you don't want to go into your allergist's office frequently, these are a good option (although your allergist will try to talk you out of it)

 

[Poke_4_Life]

I have been on them for 2.5 years. I used to get sinus infections about six times per year and bronchitis once or twice a year.

I have had two sinus infections since I started and one was within the first few weeks of starting.

It is somewhat expensive but my insurance covers a lot of the cost and I just pop in once a month for shots. My place is quite quick with the shots but do require 30 minute wait for observation. Office is also only two miles from my house.

I am obviously very pleased with my results. YMMV.

for bad sinus infections or bronchitis I get it. Seems a bit much for mostly seasonal allergies though...

Use a neti pot consistently and your problems will go away.

You really think someone that was considering sinus surgery has never used a neti pot? It helps but its not a life changer like allergy shots.

 

[urbanhack]

I have been on them for 2.5 years. I used to get sinus infections about six times per year and bronchitis once or twice a year.

I have had two sinus infections since I started and one was within the first few weeks of starting.

It is somewhat expensive but my insurance covers a lot of the cost and I just pop in once a month for shots. My place is quite quick with the shots but do require 30 minute wait for observation. Office is also only two miles from my house.

I am obviously very pleased with my results. YMMV.

for bad sinus infections or bronchitis I get it. Seems a bit much for mostly seasonal allergies though...

Use a neti pot consistently and your problems will go away.

You really think someone that was considering sinus surgery has never used a neti pot? It helps but its not a life changer like allergy shots.

Yes.

I also think people who consider getting back surgery have never done yoga or considered strengthening their core and lower back. People are uniformed and lazy (not saying Smails is).

 

[Sheriff Bart]

I have been on them for 2.5 years. I used to get sinus infections about six times per year and bronchitis once or twice a year.

I have had two sinus infections since I started and one was within the first few weeks of starting.

It is somewhat expensive but my insurance covers a lot of the cost and I just pop in once a month for shots. My place is quite quick with the shots but do require 30 minute wait for observation. Office is also only two miles from my house.

I am obviously very pleased with my results. YMMV.

for bad sinus infections or bronchitis I get it. Seems a bit much for mostly seasonal allergies though...

Use a neti pot consistently and your problems will go away.

You really think someone that was considering sinus surgery has never used a neti pot? It helps but its not a life changer like allergy shots.

I used a Neti pot before and after sinus surgery. I don't take allergy medicine but a couple of days a year now. Hell, I hardly even use the Neti pot anymore. I've also incorporated eating local honey into my diet. That seems to have helped a lot too.

 

[jamny]

Thinking about going in for a test but not sure if it's worth it. I get seasonal allergies in the spring and have started getting it in the fall too, mostly just when sweeping leaves. I also will get random attacks while indoors, in the middle of the night without even the windows open. I guess dust or maybe there is mold somewhere. We don't have pets right now but I've never noticed an issue with cats or dogs that we've had or at other peoples houses.

Are these shots something you do for the rest of your life? I wouldn't mind doing it for a couple of years if it fixes things for the rest of my life but if it's an ongoing thing maybe I should just still with the meds. Claratin D always works well for me.

 

[ThreeThousand]

It depends on the person and whether your allergist is able to wean you off them.  From my personal experience, I've not been able to kick them entirely but have gotten to a point where I have an injection once every 6-8 weeks. 

There are other solutions as well that might help a lower-level sufferer, prior to making the jump into full-blown shots.  You can try encasing your mattress in an allergen cover, encasing your pillowcases in same (these seem to help me a little bit).  You can buy a HEPA air filter and run it in the rooms you most often frequent.  There are also air filters that you can place over the air registers in your rooms and allergen air filters you can utilize for your furnace.  Any combination of these might be the first step.  Outside of the independent, whole-room HEPA air filter, most of these are pretty cheap to try.  Amazon is your friend.

 

[sublimeone]

I did allergy shots when I was a kid. It's hard to know if there was any benefit but I still had really bad allergies. During the worst parts of the year I used to take Zyrtec, Flonase, medicated eye drops and netipot throughout the day. I had a hepa filter in my bedroom and office... at night I'd stuff a wad of toilet paper in each nostril because anytime I laid down there was constant drainage.... my allergies were tolerable for most of the year and then for about a 4-6 week period in the spring and (to a lesser degree) a few weeks in the fall my life was pretty miserable due to the allergies. All this to say I discovered, by accident, a cure and I no longer have allergies. 

My wife was trying to lose the last few pounds of baby weight this past spring and started following a paleo-ish diet. Essentially she stopped eating bread/grain/rice and refined sugars. She had a lot of success with it and reported feeling really great and finally convinced me to give it a try if she would prepare all of my meals. So, this was a couple weeks into the allergy season and I'm just miserable. I start this diet and after about a week every single allergy symptom is gone. I didn't even connect it to the diet at first. When I finally realized it I went back and looked at pollen counts etc... to try and figure it out because I didn't think it possible that it was all due to diet - but it was.

I am now completely allergy free. I can take hikes through the forest, drive with the windows down etc... and I have zero issues. It's amazing. I bought a bike. I don't eat bread or beer at all (vodka is OK), I don't eat peanuts either. I rarely eat refined sugar but on occasion I'll have a dessert. It took a little while to get used to but my allergies are literally 100% gone.