'At Home' Allergy Shots A New Option For Some Dealing With Sniffling, Sneezing, Misery
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - As we head into what is typically the worst of the flu season, a reminder: There is another misery-maker among us.
Cedar, or mountain juniper pollen, is back with a vengeance.
"Felt like I had a bad cold," says Deborah Romine of Fort Worth, "felt really sick, coughing, sinus headaches, the whole thing." For months.
So when Romine's seasonal allergies seemed never to take a break, she opted for allergy testing at Baylor Scott & White Family Medicine in Fort Worth.
"When a patient comes to me and they're having daily allergy symptoms, something where they're taking allergy medicine every day of the year, that's when I recommend our allergy testing," says Margaret Holland, M.D.
"The advantage of our allergy testing is that patients can give themselves the injections at home," she said.
No more trips to the clinic several times a week and spending big bucks on over-the-counter medicines.
"People think they're curing their allergies, but they're really just alleviating the symptoms, temporarily," says David Boone, CEO of San Antonio-based United Allergy Services.
The company works with primary care physicians to help their patients get tested for allergens, and then they work with their primary care physicians to provide specialized allergy care, when it's convenient.
"First we'll make sure you can do the shots safely," says Boone. "Then you can take that medication home and do that in the privacy and safety of your own home, when it's convenient for you."
Not every allergy patient is a candidate for the at-home immunotherapy, but Dr. Holland says she likes what she's seeing.
"For the patients that are on the immunotherapy shots, we are seeing they are coming into the office less frequently with allergic symptoms, having to take steroids less, and not needing as many daily allergy medications."
"Very convenient, very simple, painless," says Rowmine who calls the at home allergy shots, a "game-changer."
"I feel better," she shares, before adding with a laugh, "People don't get up and move away from me in restaurants because I'm coughing and blowing my nose! I wanted to wear a t-shirt that said, 'I'm really not sick, it's allergies'."
