Sublingual Allergy Therapy -- Easier and More Convenient

Do you remember as a kid how painful were those vaccine or medicine shots? The truth is that no one I know likes getting shots. But allergy treatment usually involves a lot of injections.There's a solution to this issue used in Europe for sometime now. Unfortunately, it hasn't caught on in America. It is called sublingual (under the tongue) delivery of allergy medications .

Thomas Brunoski, MD, an allergy specialist, was interviewed by Daily Health News about sublingual (under the tongue) delivery of allergy medications. According to this interview many patients are really happy with this painless treatment -- and some, he says, find it even more effective than allergy shots, with fewer side effects.

The procedure was even recommended by The World Health Organization, which in 1998, recommended as "a viable alternative to injection therapy." More recently, in 2008, the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology issued guidelines saying "sublingual immunotherapy has been shown to be effective in both rhinitis and asthmatic patients and has a good safety profile."

Why it is not widely available in the US?

Sublingual allergy therapy is available in The US, but hasn't gone mainstream. In his interview, Dr. Brunoski believes that this new therapy is threatening to manufacturers of pharmaceutical drugs. If widely available, drug manufactures would sell less antihistamines, which provide quick, short-term relief of symptoms. Also, he thinks that sublingual therapy is cheaper (less profitable) for drug manufacturers so it's unlikely to be heavily advertised.

Ask your doctor about Sublingual allergy therapy

Dr. Brunoski tells in his interview with Daily Health News that his patients describe the results as "good" to "excellent" . So, if you have allergies, this is an option to inquiry to your doctor. You could ban injection from your daily life.

Source(s):

Daily Health News Newsletter. November 6th 2008 issue.

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