traveling with allergy shots - Asthma Message Board

irenee2 · 08-08-2004, 10:10 PM

I have been getting weekly allergy shots for 8 months. Have been told that once I am on the maintenance dose, I cannot miss more than 7 days. If I do, they will reduce the dose and start building me up again to the therapeutic dose. I had considered spending 2 or 3 weeks next spring with relatives and friends who live in places where my specific allergens (certain trees) don't exist. I had hoped to avoid these trees for awhile at least. But it appears that I will have to go back to square one if I do this. Has anyone gone away for several weeks like this while on weekly allergy shots and how did the allergist keep you on the therapeutic dose while you were traveling?

kehorner · 08-09-2004, 12:04 AM

All of the places that I have gotten allergy shots, I could miss up to four weeks without having to drop back on the dose. But if that's your doc's policy there's no arguing with that. So you have two options...

1) Skip the three weeks and drop down on the dose. This doesn't mean that you start all the way back at the beginning and have to build up again. In my experience, they will drop you down either one or two levels is all. You'll be back to where you were before you left no more than a month after you get back.

2) You can take your serums and charts with you and find an allergist in the area where you will be staying who will be willing to administer the shots for those three weeks. The problem with this is that most offices require you to see the doc before they will give you shots, so you might end up paying for an office visit that you don't really need.

Personally, I'd skip the hassle and just take the three weeks off. The only times I've moved my shots around was when I was in college and traveling back and forth for my month and a half long winter break. It was convenient for me, because the doc that I was going home to was the doc who was managing my shots. Usually I just left them at school and got them at the health center, administered by the lovely nurse Payne... :-) I did have to find a different place to manage them over the summer since it was a small school and the health center wasn't open then, so I had to go through the whole thing of finding somebody who would do it and then see that doctor, etc. But unless you are planning on staying for over a month or two, or if you are planning to visit that area on a regular basis over the next few years, I wouldn't bother. It is perfectly normal to the allergy shot people when patients take several weeks off, and they will deal with it appropriately.

sue430 · 08-09-2004, 02:18 PM

If you have been on weekly shots for 8 months, I would think that you will be at maintenance soon unless you have had to back up several times or something. Most drs, once you reach maintenance will put you on an every other week schedule for a couple of months, (which you can usually stretch to 3 weeks in a pinch), then switch you to monthly shots. If your dr is insisting that you go weekly even after you reach maintenance, I would suggest getting a second opinion, because I have never heard of anyone having to go every week after maintenance. I have been on the shots for over a yr & 1/2 but haven't reached maintenance yet due to having to back up multiple times because of reactions, but my dr is still letting me go only once/month. I really would double check.

Gal4Dale88USP · 08-09-2004, 07:42 PM

When you say 'set back' what kinds do you mean?
I just started shots about a month ago, just curious.
So far, no problems.
Thanks
~~Lorrie

sue430 · 08-10-2004, 06:48 AM

Hi Lorrie. If you have a systemic reaction to a shot (not real common) protocol is to reduce the dosage by I think at least 50% or something like that. So I had to repeat bottles over & over because every time I had a reaction I had to go back to the beginning of the previous bottle. Also sometimes if I have a severe local reaction (arm swelling, etc) they will repeat the dose of the previous shot. That's not too bad because it just puts you one shot behind, but going back to a previous bottle can set you back several weeks. Good luck with the shots, mine have helped a ton with the asthma.