This blog is for my 20% time project in Anatomy and Physiology. In 20% time, we spend twenty percent of our class time working on a project we are interested in.
I have severe cat allergies, but I also have a cat, and so I wondered if there was a way to treat or even get rid of my allergies. I went to the doctor and found out about a procedure named sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), which is a relatively new procedure in which you put a drop of whatever you're allergic to under your tongue, training your immune system to no longer react to it. Typically, this process takes about three to five years.
This procedure is much more convenient and safe than its cousin, subcutaneous immunotherapy, or allergy shots, which have been studied much more extensively and basically do the same thing, but using shots rather than drops. I decided to try SLIT, but because of the lack of available information on this procedure, I wanted to do an experiment of my own which would answer my question: How effective is SLIT, and how long will it take before I start to notice its affects? This way, I could tell if the procedure was effective, as well as provide information about my experience to anyone considering SLIT.
To this end, I designed an experiment in which I would play with my cat once a week for fifteen minutes, putting my face near her and petting her to loosen up her fur, as well as the two days prior to my first dose of SLIT. I would record my symptoms, their severity, and the time that they started and when they began to decrease or went away. Then, I would compare the data from multiple weeks to see if my symptoms increased or decreased at all in that time, both in length and severity, hopefully providing a picture as to how SLIT was affecting my allergies.
I have severe cat allergies, but I also have a cat, and so I wondered if there was a way to treat or even get rid of my allergies. I went to the doctor and found out about a procedure named sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), which is a relatively new procedure in which you put a drop of whatever you're allergic to under your tongue, training your immune system to no longer react to it. Typically, this process takes about three to five years.
This procedure is much more convenient and safe than its cousin, subcutaneous immunotherapy, or allergy shots, which have been studied much more extensively and basically do the same thing, but using shots rather than drops. I decided to try SLIT, but because of the lack of available information on this procedure, I wanted to do an experiment of my own which would answer my question: How effective is SLIT, and how long will it take before I start to notice its affects? This way, I could tell if the procedure was effective, as well as provide information about my experience to anyone considering SLIT.
To this end, I designed an experiment in which I would play with my cat once a week for fifteen minutes, putting my face near her and petting her to loosen up her fur, as well as the two days prior to my first dose of SLIT. I would record my symptoms, their severity, and the time that they started and when they began to decrease or went away. Then, I would compare the data from multiple weeks to see if my symptoms increased or decreased at all in that time, both in length and severity, hopefully providing a picture as to how SLIT was affecting my allergies.
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