First introduced by Leonard Noon and John Freeman in 1911, immunotherapy has evolved into an effective treatment for allergies. How exactly does immunotherapy work? Allow us to explain how immunotherapy works and the freedom you can experience after your build-up phase is complete.
Immunotherapy Details: Build-Up Phase & Maintenance Phase
For unknown reasons, your body’s immune system identifies a harmless particle as a threat. It fights this particle with histamine, a natural chemical in your body. When an overproduction of histamine is made, allergy symptoms occur such as water eyes, itchy throat, sneezing, and more.
Immunotherapy can teach your immune system that the particle is safe and not to produce histamine when it comes into contact with the molecule. How does immunotherapy teach your immune system this important lesson? It does this by receiving regular allergy shots! During your allergy shot appointments, a shot is given in your arm that contains a small dose of the allergen. This is our way of slowly teaching your immune system that the allergen is not a threat.
As you continue to receive allergy shots over the course of two to six months, we will increase the amount of allergen the shot contains. This is considered the build-up phase. Once the build-up phase is complete, you will enter the maintenance phase – a three to five-year period that ensures your body will accept the allergen instead of fighting it.
Does this sound too good to be true? We promise it’s not! The Langford Allergy team has helped thousands of people overcome conditions such as:
- Allergic asthma
- Allergic conjunctivitis
- Dust mites
- Grass
- Hives
- Immunologic diseases
- Mold
- Pet dander
- Rhinitis (hay fever)
- Stinging insect allergies
How Immunotherapy Affects Your Life
Immunotherapy allows you to have a freedom from allergies! This freedom will help you live without fear of having allergic reactions or entering anaphylactic shock. If you dedicate your time to the build-up phase and maintenance phase, we’re confident that we can teach your immune system to accept the allergen as harmless.
If you have questions about immunotherapy or would like to schedule a consultation, don’t hesitate to call us: 478-787-4728.