If your child has been diagnosed with asthma, a chronic lung disease that can cause difficulty breathing, you likely already know it can be tough to deal with.
Flare-ups can make life miserable and normal activity almost impossible, so keeping the condition under control is a must.
There are a variety of different asthma medications available, and your family doctor has likely already prescribed one to help manage your child’s asthma attacks.
Unfortunately, these medications don’t generally provide a long-terms solution. That’s why more and more parents are looking into the possible benefits of allergy immunotherapy.
Allergies and asthma often go hand-in-hand, so it’s no surprise that allergy immunotherapy has been found to help with asthma management.
If you have a child with asthma, learn more about how this treatment might be a long-term solution for asthma sufferers.
Understanding Allergy Immunotherapy
Allergy immunotherapy (AIT) is a treatment that trains the immune system to resist reacting to an allergy by using the allergen as to as a tool to desensitize your immune system.
The dose is delivered under the tongue or under the skin, allowing the body to build an allergen-specific tolerance.
Over time, the repeated exposure can slowly reduce the body’s reactivity to the allergen. Eventually, some people might even be able to be exposed to the allergen with little to no adverse reaction.
Of course, every child is different, and the results will depend on how your own child responds to the treatment.
It usually takes at least a year of treatment for allergic reactions to start to become less severe, with even greater improvements taking place by the third year of treatment.
Types of AIT
Allergy immunotherapy falls into two categories: under the tongue (sublingual) and under the skin (subcutaneous).
The first, sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), administers a dose of the allergen under the tongue in the form of tablets or drops.
The second, called subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT), administers a dose of the allergen under the skin via an injection.
This method is the most common form of allergy immunotherapy, and needs to be administered by a healthcare professional.
After each injection, you and your child will need to remain at the clinic for a set period for monitoring.
Allergy shots have a slightly higher chance of an adverse reaction, so the monitoring period is simply a precaution.
Benefits of Allergy Immunotherapy for Asthma Management
For kids with asthma, allergy immunotherapy can be helpful in reducing the frequency and severity of asthma attacks.
While the treatment is technically designed to treat allergies, asthma is often triggered by allergies, and AIT has been found to improve asthma symptoms in the following ways:
Reduced Dependence on Medication
Once a child has been diagnosed with asthma, they are generally given prescription medications to help treat the symptoms of the condition.
These might include quick-relief medications, such as albuterol, levalbuterol, and metaproterenol, or inhalers with medications like fluticasone, budesonide, or ciclesonide.
Doctors may also prescribe combination medications containing steroids and a long-acting bronchodilator, designed to be used every day to reduce swelling and alleviate symptoms.
There’s no question that asthma medication is essential to have on hand if your child experiences a flare-up.
But, having to constantly worry about having an inhaler on hand, or having to use a prescription medication every day to manage asthma symptoms, can be both expensive and stressful.
Allergy immunotherapy, on the other hand, has the potential to provide your child with long-term relief, significantly reducing the need for prescription medications.
Reduced Symptoms
Allergy immunotherapy can significantly reduce the symptoms associated with allergic asthma, such as shortness of breath, coughing, and wheezing.
While it doesn’t happen overnight, over time your child may experience a dramatic improvement in these symptoms, leading to an overall improvement in their quality of life.
While there’s no way to cure asthma completely, minimizing the severity of symptoms can be a big help in managing the condition.
With time and consistency, immunotherapy can gradually reduce the severity of your child’s asthma symptoms even when they do experience an attack.
Changed Immune System
Allergy immunotherapy is one of the few treatments that can actually change the immune system permanently.
These changes happen as the doses of the allergen increase throughout the treatment period, which slowly trains your child’s immune system to become less sensitive to the allergen.
The presence of the “blocking” antibodies created over time helps limit the body’s response when your child encounters the allergen in the future.
This remarkable change can reduce inflammation associated with asthma and allergic rhinitis, making asthma management much easier.
While it’s important to remember that AIT is not a cure, it can play an important role in reducing asthmatic symptoms, helping your child manage the condition more comfortably.
As with any medical treatment, it’s important to ask your family doctor if allergy immunotherapy might be a good option.
With the right advice, and some time and patience through the treatment process, you’ll be able to help ensure that your child’s asthma interferes with their life as little as possible.