Drop by Drop Page #6

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because we do what the

grass tablet is doing.

We give virtually the same dose

and we do it on a regular

basis as part of our treatment.

- It still doesn't address

the multi-antigen approach,

the multiple allergies

that people have and addressing

all of those simultaneously

which is what we do in the

La Crosse method protocol.

Sublingual therapy

is versatile.

You can give a dose to suit

the patient's own

allergy condition.

Each immunotherapy set

that the person receives

is customized for

them, so unlike some of

the newer single antigen

tablets, for example,

that are, quote, one

size fits all, end quote,

with this form of immunotherapy

and the way we do it here,

various things are escalated

at varying rates depending

on the clinical response.

So for example, I personally

see that dust mite,

pollens, cat, dog, tend

to improve more quickly

than something

like mold allergy.

- What we're pleased about is

so here's some FDA

approved products

saying that sublingual works.

It's safe, it's effective

and so it's a step

in the right direction

and we're glad of that.

What's important here

for my life is that

shots and pills only deal

with environmental allergies.

What Allergy

Associates does also

helps you fight food allergies.

When we left there that

day, we had a lot of answers.

I knew that he was allergic

to corn and all corn products,

corn starch, corn

syrup, yeast, grapes,

which I had just sent in

his lunchbox the day before,

and I'd not known

that, but then I knew

why I couldn't figure out

what foods he's allergic to

because corn starch

and corn syrup

and yeast are just

in everything.

So by getting him

off of those foods,

we started immediately

to see an improvement.

Then the magnesium level

was low, and that is

what she concluded was

causing the muscle cramping,

and she said, you know,

it's hard to know for sure

but we think that the

allergies are acting

as a major illness in his body

and depleting his

body of magnesium.

So she put him on a supplement.

My thought, that if the

heart's a muscle, you know,

what effect could this

have taken over years?

Maybe even his life,

if this had not been

diagnosed properly.

I remember I was

allergic to yeast

and I had to eat

this fake bread,

and it's like, what even

is bread if it's not yeast?

I don't even know

what I was eating.

And now I can eat a sandwich.

I can eat anything I want,

almost, except peanut butter.

My peanut allergy is so bad

that they haven't been able

to get that totally

under control,

but they have been able to do

it for a lot of other people.

In addition to getting

him off the foods

that he was allergic to and

the magnesium supplements,

they started him on

the allergy drops,

and that was

wonderful relief to me

because I could

give them at home.

It wasn't another

doctor's appointment

and time off work for me,

time from school for him

usually, and pain, of course.

- It's changed my entire world.

I'm able to have confidence.

People don't know I have

allergies unless I tell them.

That's a huge difference.

Everybody could tell immediately

when I walked into a room

that I had allergies or

I had flu all the time,

one of the two things.

And that's all gone,

so I can actually...

I'm now part of society.

ER visits were

really eliminated.

He wasn't on prednisone anymore,

so the cost of medications

also went down.

Dr. Mary, though, she's my angel

because I really feel

like she saved Alex's life

and the drops have been a

wonderful form of treatment.

He is a whole different person.

In fact, last year, he

ran the Chicago Marathon

and both my husband and

I were just in tears

because we never, ever

would have thought

that this little boy who had

this horrible breathing issue

and asthma and eczema,

we didn't think

that he would ever be able

to do something like that.

I can sit in the

grass with my shoes off

and it's gonna cause

a massive reaction.

I can pet a cat,

I can pet a dog.

I can eat corn, I can

eat my popcorn now.

I went right back

to the allergist

we had dealt with for two and

a half, well, more than that,

two and a half years earlier,

and pretty much went

head to head with him.

I just wanted him to know

exactly what we'd done.

He looked at the documentation,

called it rubbish,

and I said, well, you

know what we've been doing

for several years now

has not been helping.

Alex is visibly getting worse,

and so we're gonna try this

because this makes sense to me,

and he was very angry, but

at that point, I didn't care.

I was gonna try it and I felt

like we were on the right path

and then this last year,

which has been 18 years later,

one of my friends told

me that a man told her

that he was taking

his son to La Crosse

because that same allergist

referred him there,

and I asked her to

repeat the story

because I thought I must

have heard it wrong,

and she said, no, he

actually referred someone

to La Crosse, to

Allergy and Associates,

and I said, well, then

Hell just froze over.

I can't believe it.

The difference now

is my eyes don't water.

I can breathe and I

can be outside 24/7.

I can go camping again.

I can do anything, and this

doesn't stop me at all now,

where before, it was miserable.

Before, it was like,

oh, get Benadryl.

I'm sorry, Benadryl

makes me go to sleep.

They had me on four Benadryl

a day, trying to cover it up,

where now, it's like,

stop, take a squirt.

Twenty seconds,

I'm out the door.

I mean, it's a no-brainer, it's

a game changer in my world.

There's certainly

many allergists

that have practice using

sublingual immunotherapy

and why that hasn't

become more mainstream,

you know, that's a question

I think only the leadership

of the college, the ACAAI

and the Quad AI can answer.

Sublingual

immunotherapy will be accepted.

It's not a question of

if it's gonna become

the dominant treatment.

It's just a question of when.

Patients will drive

it, they'll demand it,

and I think that's

the other reason

you're seeing some of

the work and acceptance

in the American

allergy community

is that they have had

two things happen.

They've had their European

colleagues emphasize

the effectiveness of the treatment,

colleague to colleague,

and you've had patients

come up and demand it

because they have

seen its benefits

in relatives and other people.

There has been a huge

change, I would say,

in the last five

years, especially now

that the science is

solidly behind it,

so suddenly, I'm having

people come up to me

at meetings and going,

wow, you guys were right.

So all of that's been kinda fun.

You should be allowed

the option of using drops.

It's not about

getting rid of shots

and taking this away from

allergists as a great tool.

It's just, let people do it

at home, let people try it.

If you say we can't

let people do it

because they're not

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