Whats New in Allergy Treatment

Today nearly 60 million Americans suffer from allergies — or roughly 20% of the population — yet less than 3% of allergic individuals are currently undergoing immunotherapy (the only treatment that changes your underlying allergic disease instead of temporarily treating symptoms).

Injection immunotherapy is an effective treatment, yet many allergy sufferers are not willing or able to consider this treatment. Sublingual immunotherapy, or allergy drops, is an off-label use of the same antigens used in allergy shots. Due to the better safety profile of allergy drops, more allergic individuals can benefit from a treatment approach that addresses the cause of the allergies.

There are many benefits to consider with allergy drop treatment including reduced time spent for physician visits, the convenience of taking immunotherapy at home or on the go, the ability to treat a broader array of allergic patients such as children without shots, and the reduced need for allergy medications. Learn more about the steps to allergy drop treatment and how allergy sufferers could benefit.

The Allergychoices Advantage

In recent years, sublingual immunotherapy has gained momentum and recognition as a viable alternative to subcutaneous injection for both allergic adults and children. More U.S. physicians are referring or offering sublingual immunotherapy for their patients. However, not all forms of sublingual immunotherapy are alike. At Allergychoices, we advocate the La Crosse Method™ Practice Protocol because it offers a comprehensive, safe and effective approach to treat the broadest range of allergic patients. This is enhanced with our vast clinical experience in providing sublingual immunotherapy — more than 40 years of clinical application in treating 135,000 patients, in addition to our understanding of the available research literature. We have helped train hundreds of physicians and practices from around the country using this approach.

One of the biggest hurdles to widespread adoption has been the variability of sublingual immunotherapy dosing. Clinical trials have reported dosing ranges from .017 to 500 times the amount given in allergy shots, yet both positive and negative results have been reported. The La Crosse Method addresses these issues. We believe the treatment should be tailored for the patient. There is no universal optimal dose that applies to all patients. Each patient's treatment includes only the allergens they have tested positive for, and dosing is based off of skin and/or blood test results.

Our philosophy is that by treating patients with a precise therapeutic dose based on their test results, we can eliminate the risks of unnecessarily high doses that can needlessly trigger reactions, and avoid unnecessarily high doses that can drive up patient expense. In addition, research shows that dose frequency may be as important, or more important, to patient success than the dose amount. A hallmark of the La Crosse Method lies in the three times a day dosing — every day — that provides constant stimulation of the key cells that are critical to building tolerance.

The La Crosse Method also offers the simplicity of consistent patient instructions throughout treatment — patients are not sent home with complex or varying dosing instructions or multiple bottles for the same allergies. Patients are prescribed one vial for their specific environmental allergies and one vial for specific food and chemical allergies containing a 90-day treatment supply.