Allergy Immunotherapy Trains Immune System for Long-Term Tolerance

Key Quotes

"So the idea behind allergies is that your body is overreacting to something harmless right so we're not supposed to be allergic to pollens cats dogs foods drugs but if you are your immune system encounters these allergens and it's thinking danger danger when it's really something harmless that's dr gina depool hadalgo"

Dr. Gina Dapul-Hidalgo explains that allergies occur when the immune system mistakenly identifies harmless substances as dangerous. This overreaction is the fundamental mechanism behind allergic responses to common environmental triggers.

"Most patients we end up recommending things like antihistamines nasal sprays eye drops um really more symptomatic treatments to help decrease your symptoms so you can you know be around the allergen and be somewhat okay claritin zyrtec allegra they're really temporary kinds of treatment options"

Dr. Dapul-Hidalgo notes that common allergy treatments like antihistamines and nasal sprays focus on managing symptoms. These medications offer temporary relief but do not address the underlying cause of the allergic reaction.

"But what if i told you there was another kind of treatment that worked for all but the most severe allergies one that didn't just treat the symptoms of your allergies but the actual cause of them the idea is that you build tolerance over time by giving you what you're allergic to you get desensitized to those allergens that you're being treated with"

This quote introduces the concept of allergy immunotherapy, or allergy shots, as a treatment that targets the cause of allergies. Dr. Dapul-Hidalgo explains that this method aims to build tolerance by gradually exposing the patient to the allergen, thereby desensitizing them.

"So it was actually introduced over a hundred years ago so in 1911 a brave uh british physician named dr leonard noon started purifying the um grass extracts because he hypothesized that there's some toxin they used the word toxin back then that there was some kind of toxin that was causing these symptoms and that by inoculating these patients with increasing doses of grass pollen that it would decrease the symptoms and desensitize them"

Dr. Dapul-Hidalgo recounts the historical origin of allergy shots, crediting Dr. Leonard Noon in 1911 with pioneering the treatment. His hypothesis was that a "toxin" in grass pollen caused allergy symptoms, and he proposed that increasing doses could reduce these symptoms and desensitize patients.

"So the idea is that you're starting off with very dilute doses and then you come once a week for several months and then at some point when you reach this target dose or maintenance dose then you can come every two to four weeks depending on the protocol so it's two phases what we call the build up phase which is all that going once a week coming coming and then then there's the maintenance phase which is then the once every four weeks"

This passage describes the phased approach to allergy immunotherapy, as explained by Dr. Dapul-Hidalgo. The treatment begins with a "build-up phase" of weekly injections with increasing doses, followed by a "maintenance phase" where injections are administered every two to four weeks.

"Yes so it's exactly what you're saying which is we didn't have it right right so it was like 2008 2000 yes and the guidance back then was avoid the allergenic foods until age three and we're like okay we're going to avoid these allergenic and then my chinese mother just gave her everything and she was like not even one and i was like well i guess she's fine yes and so after those recommendations back then we saw this huge prevalence of peanut allergy and we're like what is going on here"

Dr. Dapul-Hidalgo discusses a significant shift in guidance regarding food allergies, particularly peanut allergies. She highlights that previous recommendations advised avoiding allergenic foods until age three, but this approach was later found to be associated with an increase in peanut allergy prevalence.