While most insurance companies cover allergy testing as well as initial and follow-up visits with your allergy doctor, some of them are restrictive about the type of allergy immunotherapy that they will cover. While most will cover allergy shots (also known as...
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Allergy Drops: A Simpler, Safer Alternative to Allergy Shots
Allergy medications like antihistamines and steroids can treat the symptoms of allergy but only allergy immunotherapy has been proven to alter the underlying allergic disease. It used to be that if you wanted to get to the root of your allergy problem through immunotherapy, the only option was allergy shots (subcutaneous immunotherapy). Aside from being painful, though, allergy shots can be time consuming, because they must be given at the doctor’s office (usually twice a week).
An alternative to shots is sublingual immunotherapy or SLIT. SLIT works much like allergy shots except that it is dosed under the tongue where it absorbs into the bloodstream through special cells in the mouth (known as mast cells). Because the drops have a more favorable safety profile than shots, they can be taken at home instead of at the doctor’s office. The drops have also been shown to be safer for children under 5. (Shots are not usually recommended for children younger than 7.)
Another perk of sublingual immunotherapy is that it can be used for food allergy treatment. Studies at Duke University recently showed SLIT to be effective in reducing children’s peanut allergies.
Contact AllergyEasy to learn more about sublingual immunotherapy.