Allergies

If you are suffering from allergies, we can help reduce or even eliminate your symptoms without medication.

Davidson Family Medicine offers allergy testing and immunotherapy services. Our goal is to find a treatment plan that best suits both your allergies and your lifestyle, so your allergies don’t lead to other medical conditions such as asthma, migraine headaches, sleep disorders, sinusitis (chronic nasal congestion), or nasal polyps (non-cancerous, teardrop-shaped growths that form in the nose or sinuses).

Ask your primary care provider about allergy testing, allergy shots, or allergy drops, so you can start feeling better sooner.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is the most effective way to manage your allergies with minimal use of medication. It allows you to reduce or even stop using antihistamines or steroid treatments while providing a long-term solution to minimize allergy symptoms.

During immunotherapy, your doctor will inject small amounts of the substances that trigger your allergies under your skin, or place them directly under your tongue. This helps your body gradually adjust to the allergens causing your symptoms. The result is fewer allergy symptoms when you encounter these allergens in your daily life.

Initially, treatments are given once a week as you work toward what is called a maintenance dose. Once the maintenance dose is reached, treatments are eventually reduced to once a month. After 1–3 years of therapy, many patients experience significantly reduced—or even eliminated—allergy symptoms, along with a decreased need for expensive medications.

Allergies and Asthma

Most people with asthma also have allergies. Beginning treatment with allergy shots can greatly improve quality of life for asthma sufferers. Studies show that 20% of patients with asthma who undergo this treatment are able to completely stop using inhalers, while the remaining 80% require significantly less medication to control their symptoms.

The link between asthma and allergies is so important that the National Institutes of Health recommends that all individuals with asthma undergo allergy testing and receive allergy shots if they test positive and have allergy symptoms.