Allergy Shots Reduce Sinus Infections, Sore Throats
Dr. John Overholt • March 5, 2014
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Allergies are much more than just a runny nose. We all know they can cause the acute misery of sneezing, itchy eyes and nasal congestion, but they affect people in numerous other ways. One of the most common complications of allergies is an increase in upper respiratory infections. URIs include sinusitis, pharyngitis (sore throat), tonsillitis, and the common cold.
Multiple studies have shown that allergy shots will reduce the direct symptoms of allergies, and now a recent study has helped quantify exactly how much we can expect them to help with the complications.
Multiple studies have shown that allergy shots will reduce the direct symptoms of allergies....
Data presented at this year's AAAAI meeting
show that patients who take allergy shots are overall three times as likely to have fewer URIs than patients who do not. The study used a large Medicare database from Florida and compared several thousand allergy shot patients with matched controls. The study found that allergy shot patients were:
- twice as likely to have fewer sinus infections
- four times as likely to have fewer episodes of tonsillitis
- eight times as likely to have fewer sore throats, and
- 35 times as likely to have improvement in nasal polyps.
These findings confirm what we’ve been saying all along — If you’re having complications from allergies, you need to see a board certified allergist so that you can get tested, get treated, and get better.
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If you spend any time browsing the internet or social media, you’ve likely seen advertisements for mail-in allergy kits. They promise to test for hundreds of food intolerances and environmental sensitivities using just a few strands of your hair or a quick saliva swab. It sounds incredibly convenient, painless, and comprehensive. But if it sounds like a gimmick, it probably is. While these mail-in tests are heavily marketed, they often lack scientific backing and can leave patients feeling more confused than comforted. The Science of Allergy Testing. What Are We Looking For? To understand why hair and saliva tests don't work, we have to look at how the immune system reacts to allergens. When you have a true allergy, your body produces a very specific type of antibody called IgE (Immunoglobulin E) . These antibodies bind to mast cells (allergy cells), which are on high alert to protect you from perceived invaders like pollen, dust mites, or specific food proteins. The fundamental flaw with mail-in hair and saliva kits comes down to basic biology: Wrong Locations: Mast cells and IgE antibodies are not traditionally found in your hair follicles or saliva. Unreliable Results: Because these testing methods are looking in the wrong place, they are highly unstandardized and unvalidated. You are highly likely to get a flood of false positives or false negatives that are impossible to interpret accurately. What the Experts Say: Major medical organizations strongly advise against these methods. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) explicitly recommends against using hair analysis for food allergy evaluations due to a lack of diagnostic value. Furthermore, the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) and the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) have issued strong practice guidelines stating that hair analysis should not be used to evaluate food allergies. The Big Misconception: IgE vs. IgG Many mail-in companies charge anywhere from $150 to upwards of $600 for "sensitivity" panels. When patients produce these multi-page reports, the testing is almost always checking for IgG (Immunoglobulin G) antibodies, not IgE. There is a massive difference between the two:
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