For those who aren't aware, this blog is about sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), a relatively new allergy treatment that desensitizes your body to allergens. It uses a liquid mixture containing whatever you are allergic to, and you put that mixture under your tongue for twenty seconds each night, building up to a top dose of four drops of the more concentrated bottle.
The schedule:
10:1 Dilution:
Day 1: 1 drop
Day 2: 2 drops
Day 3: 3 drops
Day 4: 4 drops
Day 5: 5 drops
Day 6: 6 drops
Day 7: 7 drops
Day 8: 8 drops
Day 9: 9 drops
Day 10: 10 drops
1:1 Dilution:
Day 11: 1 drop
Day 12: 2 drops
Day 13: 3 drops
Day 14: 4 drops
However, on day eight, I forgot my SLIT drops in a hotel room and didn't get them back until a week later, so my allergist had me take five drops and increase from there according to the schedule. Soon after that, I began feeling side effects: the area under my tongue would swell up and became tight, causing the area to hurt if I moved my tongue too far, and the inside of my ears would itch. However, these symptoms faded, but didn't stop altogether, after I reached the top dose on day fourteen. The 1:1 dilution has one drawback: it tastes awful, though luckily the taste does't linger for long.
On March 3rd, the day after I reached the top dose (4 drops of the 1:1 dilution), I again tested the symptoms of the allergic reaction I felt after 15 minutes of playing with my cat. Here are the results:
0:00- Start experiment
6:30- Itchy back of nose
13:50- Itchy eyes
18:00- Sneezing
45:25- Eyes stop itching
~4:50:00- Congestion stops
These are remarkably similar to the results of the previous test I did; there is not yet enough data to confirm it, but it appears that, as I expected, the symptoms have remained about the same, in both intensity and timing; after all, my allergist said that it should be about three to five months before I noticed any improvement. Therefore, I will only compare my results after several more weeks of experiments.
I have leaned much how I am able to persevere despite setbacks in this process. I also learned about the side affects of this treatment which could help those considering starting SLIT, most importantly that they will go away with time, although the solution will always taste bad.
The schedule:
10:1 Dilution:
Day 1: 1 drop
Day 2: 2 drops
Day 3: 3 drops
Day 4: 4 drops
Day 5: 5 drops
Day 6: 6 drops
Day 7: 7 drops
Day 8: 8 drops
Day 9: 9 drops
Day 10: 10 drops
1:1 Dilution:
Day 11: 1 drop
Day 12: 2 drops
Day 13: 3 drops
Day 14: 4 drops
However, on day eight, I forgot my SLIT drops in a hotel room and didn't get them back until a week later, so my allergist had me take five drops and increase from there according to the schedule. Soon after that, I began feeling side effects: the area under my tongue would swell up and became tight, causing the area to hurt if I moved my tongue too far, and the inside of my ears would itch. However, these symptoms faded, but didn't stop altogether, after I reached the top dose on day fourteen. The 1:1 dilution has one drawback: it tastes awful, though luckily the taste does't linger for long.
On March 3rd, the day after I reached the top dose (4 drops of the 1:1 dilution), I again tested the symptoms of the allergic reaction I felt after 15 minutes of playing with my cat. Here are the results:
0:00- Start experiment
6:30- Itchy back of nose
13:50- Itchy eyes
18:00- Sneezing
45:25- Eyes stop itching
~4:50:00- Congestion stops
These are remarkably similar to the results of the previous test I did; there is not yet enough data to confirm it, but it appears that, as I expected, the symptoms have remained about the same, in both intensity and timing; after all, my allergist said that it should be about three to five months before I noticed any improvement. Therefore, I will only compare my results after several more weeks of experiments.
I have leaned much how I am able to persevere despite setbacks in this process. I also learned about the side affects of this treatment which could help those considering starting SLIT, most importantly that they will go away with time, although the solution will always taste bad.
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