For patients with allergic diseases, recurrence of the condition is the most tormenting. Obviously, they have taken good medication, but the symptoms will flare up if they are careless. There are three seasons of the year. I can’t see the end…
When we interviewed Dr. Hu Liang from the Allergy Department of Jilin Children’s Medical Center, he talked about a young patient he once treated.
“The young patient is 8 years old and has intermittent nasal congestion and nasal itching for 3 to 4 years. In the hospital, he has repeatedly turned around between the ophthalmology, rhinology, and respiratory departments. The conclusion is all ‘allergic’. But the child’s symptoms are always pressing the gourd and then the scoop – the nasal itching is gone, the nasal congestion is back, the nasal congestion is good, the nasal itching is back. Because the allergy family has migrated almost half of China, But the final result is that instead of escaping allergies, there are more and more allergies. From the initial dust mites to pollen to mold, various allergens destroy the psychological defense of children and their families at different times. Even basic Normal life is impossible, let alone study, and the mother almost wants to raise the child in a glass bottle.”
There are many patients with the same troubles:
Compared with the previous symptomatic drug treatment for allergic diseases, everyone is also very curious to know how desensitization treatment is? Can you go to the root? Is the 3-5 year long treatment process worth it? Let’s follow Dr. Hu Liang to learn more about it today.
Can desensitization therapy go away? What kind of people are most suitable for?
Dr. Hu Liang introduced that whether the root cause can be eliminated is the most frequently asked and most concerned question by clinical patients. Patients hope that a method or a drug can be used to completely cure them. It is understandable, but as a medical disease involving immune heredity, it is difficult and unrealistic to want to stop doing it once and for all.
Desensitization therapy, as a specific immunotherapy, can be understood as a vaccine-type treatment for allergic diseases, and it is also the closest approach to “radical cure” understood by most patients. Through desensitization treatment, you can have no symptoms for the next 5-8 years. Don’t underestimate these 5-8 years. It is very important for teenagers and children in the golden growth period.
Furthermore, the earlier desensitization therapy is introduced, the better for the patient. It can not only inhibit the aggravation of allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma, but also inhibit the increase of allergic diseases, such as the development of asthma from the current allergic rhinitis, or the development of pollen and mold allergy from the current dust mite allergy. and many more. As a kind of “precision treatment”, desensitization therapy starts from the source of the disease, that is, the allergen, which is incomparable with other methods.
Of course, the biggest problem facing domestic desensitization treatment at present is that there are very few desensitization drugs we can choose. Currently, only two kinds of desensitization drugs can be generally carried out. This also determines that desensitization treatment is not suitable for everyone. In addition to strict contraindications, it is necessary to find the corresponding allergen before treatment.
Why does desensitization treatment take 3-5 years? Which one is better, sublingual or subcutaneous?
Dr. Hu Liang explained, first of all, we must know that allergies are not formed in a day. Many people’s allergies appear in infancy, and they will experience eczema, food allergies, and then three or four years old. The process of rhinitis and asthma in the future cannot be solved in a day or two.
Secondly, desensitization therapy, a simple understanding is to gradually increase the allergen dose for the human immune system until the immune system finally tolerates the dose. Desensitization preparations require small doses, from low to low High, step by step to improve the patient’s tolerance to allergens, the entire treatment time, whether subcutaneous or sublingual, also takes three to five years.
As for the choice of subcutaneous and sublingual, Dr. Hu Liang explained that both have advantages and disadvantages, which will be decided according to the actual situation of the patient. In general, sublingual administration is more convenient, once a day, and the dosing interval is gradually increased, and can be administered at home; subcutaneous injection must be administered in a medical institution, once a week for the first 15 weeks, and then gradually increase the dosing interval to every four to eight weeks.
Comparatively speaking, subcutaneous drug delivery technology is more mature, which is of course more recommended for some local patients, but in actual clinical treatment, patients from other places are often encountered. Not all families can toss once a week, so from the perspective of economic benefits, sublingual treatment is more suitable. As two treatment methods, there is no good or bad, only suitable or not.
Why do some patients feel futile, and some even feel worse?
Dr. Hu Liang explained that, first of all, as an individualized treatment, desensitization therapy must be effective only after establishing a clear allergen and symptom treatment. Experience is very demanding, and many times even if the allergen is positive, there is no direct relationship between them. For example, a patient who has both dust mite allergy and pollen allergy has no obvious symptoms of pollen allergy except in spring and autumn, so it is very important to establish the connection accurately at this time.
In addition, there are three stages in the occurrence of allergic diseases. A positive allergen test can be a sensitization stage, a challenge stage, or a tolerance stage. Only in the challenge stage, allergy Allergens can trigger allergic symptoms, so even if your allergen is positive, but in the sensitization stage or tolerance stage, it will not cause symptoms, and desensitization treatment will not be effective.
Secondly, due to some individual differences in the autoimmune system, some patients may indeed have poor desensitization effects in clinical practice, or may suffer from severe adverse reactions after desensitization treatment. This is not an option, but it is relatively rare.
Finally, one of the most common allergies is that the patient has two or more allergens. We also mentioned just now that there are only so many desensitization drugs in China. There are several limitations, and there is no way to cover that many. At this time, although your desensitization control is very good, other allergens will also cause you to have allergic symptoms.