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Does anyone have a child who takes allergy shots?


plain jane
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I took my 11yo to the allergist and she recommended that my child gets a series of allergy shots. She feels they are our best shot to see a reduction in the symptoms my kiddo is experiencing. She didn't give me a ton of information other than to tell me that the shots come in either water based or aluminum based. The water based ones require a series of 30 shots while the aluminum is (either) 11 or 19 (I can't remember the exact number now).

 

I'm not sure which to go with or why. Anybody have some insight or help for me? This is all very new to me and the first time I have ever had to deal with allergy related stuff.

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Allergy shots are usually over years. Those low numbers do not make sense. Generally, you will start with an intense round of frequent shots. (We did one a day for a couple of weeks.) Then, taper off to once a week (? it's been a while) maintenance for a few years. But, I would go with the water based instead of aluminum.

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Sorry, I should have been more clear. This is very new to me and the doctor didn't go into great detail. The numbers are for the first series of shots. She said we might get away with only having to do one series but wasn't certain ATM. The number of doses in my PP are for the first series of shots. I have to select which "flavor" (her word choice ;) ) I want before we can go ahead with any sort of treatment. I do not know what her plans are for the shots in the long-term, or how many my child will need overall. She didn't touch on this other than to say it could be that we may only need one series but could take up to 5 years to see some of the oral allergy symptoms diminish.

 

The water based shots are once a week (with some weeks going in twice) for 19 weeks and the aluminum based ones are done once per week. I think it was 11 weeks but I will call the office tomorrow and double check.

 

My initial thought was to go with the water based ones in order to avoid the aluminum but with the larger number of shots I thought perhaps it might be better to get them over with (so to speak)?? It is my understanding from my talk with the doctor that every shot comes with the potential for an allergic reaction and this child seems to react to a lot of things. :rolleyes:

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DD14 is on year 2 of 3 years of planned shots right now. She had twice weekly shots until she started hurting too bad (the volume injected/strength of serum increases over time and hurts more as you go on) then she went to once weekly for about 6mths. Then 2x per month, now she is at 3-4 week intervals. She has pain and swelling at the injection site for about a day after each shot. She gets 2 shots in one arm, 1 shot in the other each shot day. About every 6mths she needs a serum remix and that means 3 weeks of shots in a row again. After 2 years of shots, she still has about 20 shot days to go.

 

I agree with others saying that the average number of shot is much higher than this doctor is saying. Treatment that is stopped prior to the 3 year mark, often results in the allergy symptoms returning.

 

I would guess, we are in for about 85-100 planned shots with our doctor if we stop around year 3. Add 15-18 shots for each year after that. 5 years is a common goal.

 

DD still has symptoms after 2 years and has to take Allegra daily,and allergy eye drops. On really bad days, she also takes benadryl around the clock. We suspect there is something around a cabin that we frequent that is not in her shots, that she is highly allergic too. She still has to take high doses of antihistamines when we go there even after 2 years of shots.

 

I would get a second opinion before starting treatment with this doctor, something doesn't sound right.

 

.....

 

I do know some doctors will do a super charged first few doses to speed up the process to what is considered maintenance. Maybe that is what this doctor does? I would research it thoroughly first. When I talked to our allergist about this for a friend (her husband was going to do it with another doctor in town) she was Very against it, and said she refuses to do it in her practice.

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