I chose to do my 20 Time project on sublingual immunotherapy because there is not much information available about the procedure, and I thought my experience with it would be helpful to those considering using it, and I also wanted to confirm for myself that it worked. Initially, I planned on doing tests once a week for fifteen minutes each. the tests would include placing my face near the cat for the entire fifteen minutes, then recording my symptoms and their severity, duration, and the times they started and ended. However, because sublingual immunotherapy is such a slow process, I later decided to do trials only once every two weeks so that the trend would be more visible when I compared the symptoms from all of my different trials. I had several setbacks along the way; early on, I forgot my SLIT drops while on vacation, and I had to restart the drops from a lower dose when I got back, and later I was forced to figure out a way to prevent my cat from running off in the middle of a trial, which I did by closing the door to whatever room we were in, then distracting her by giving her something to attack. The final major problem I faced was the issue of how to represent and compare the severity of my symptoms in each trial, but eventually I decided to simply assign numbers to them, from zero, being least severe, to ten, being most severe, after considering the intensity and duration of each symptom in that trial.
During the course of this project, I learned many things, both about myself and sublingual immunotherapy. From there results of this project, I learned that sublingual immunotherapy actually works, and that it is therefore worth continuing despite the bad taste the drops leave in my mouth and the side effects I experienced early on in this process. I also discovered several things about myself throughout the course of this project, mostly from how I was able to deal with setbacks. When I left my SLIT drops behind on vacation, and was able to figure out what to do once I came back, I learned that I was able to deal with stress- in this case, stress about how this would affect both the SLIT procedure and my project- and find a solution by calling the doctor and asking how I should proceed. I also discovered my resourcefulness when trying to keep the cat from running off during a trial, as I had to try several different methods of distracting her before discovering that she would stay still longer if I put her behind my closet door and wiggled a sock in front of the crack where the hinges are.
If I did this project again, I would definitely increase the time each trial lasted for, since the fifteen-minute periods, while showing my improvement nicely, did not accurately represent my overall allergy symptoms and how much I actually proved; despite what the results of my last couple of trials seemed to say, I still do have bad allergies, but it now takes a longer period of exposure to allergens in order for me to begin experiencing symptoms. Obviously, I will not be doing this whole project over again, but I do plan on continuing SLIT and possibly doing similar, but longer, tests every month in order to gauge my improvement. I also want to spread awareness about this procedure, so that people who suffer from allergies just like mine can finally get rid of those allergies.
I think that this project went very well; I stuck to the schedule I had set up, recorded the results of each test consistently, and dealt with all the problems that came up in the process. I was also able to refine my plan later on by deciding how to compare and display the data I collected. Most importantly, I accomplished all the goals I set for myself and this project by proving, both to myself and to those who are considering SLIT or simply curious about it, that sublingual immunotherapy does work. I do think that I could have made more of an effort to spread awareness about SLIT and let people know about the options they have, but overall, if I had to give myself a grade, I would say I've earned an A on this project. I turned in each post on time; I laid out my plan and introduced the subject in detail in my first post; I described my original, untreated symptoms, as well as the problems I encountered while conducting that initial test, in the next post; in the post following that, I detailed the schedule of dosage progression by which I would reach the top, or "maintenance," dose, and then described my symptoms upon reaching that dose; and, in my final post, I presented the data from all of my subsequent trials, then discussed the problems I encountered and where I was going to go next; and finally, I created a graph which showed my improvement visually, using the rating system I devised.
During the course of this project, I learned many things, both about myself and sublingual immunotherapy. From there results of this project, I learned that sublingual immunotherapy actually works, and that it is therefore worth continuing despite the bad taste the drops leave in my mouth and the side effects I experienced early on in this process. I also discovered several things about myself throughout the course of this project, mostly from how I was able to deal with setbacks. When I left my SLIT drops behind on vacation, and was able to figure out what to do once I came back, I learned that I was able to deal with stress- in this case, stress about how this would affect both the SLIT procedure and my project- and find a solution by calling the doctor and asking how I should proceed. I also discovered my resourcefulness when trying to keep the cat from running off during a trial, as I had to try several different methods of distracting her before discovering that she would stay still longer if I put her behind my closet door and wiggled a sock in front of the crack where the hinges are.
If I did this project again, I would definitely increase the time each trial lasted for, since the fifteen-minute periods, while showing my improvement nicely, did not accurately represent my overall allergy symptoms and how much I actually proved; despite what the results of my last couple of trials seemed to say, I still do have bad allergies, but it now takes a longer period of exposure to allergens in order for me to begin experiencing symptoms. Obviously, I will not be doing this whole project over again, but I do plan on continuing SLIT and possibly doing similar, but longer, tests every month in order to gauge my improvement. I also want to spread awareness about this procedure, so that people who suffer from allergies just like mine can finally get rid of those allergies.
I think that this project went very well; I stuck to the schedule I had set up, recorded the results of each test consistently, and dealt with all the problems that came up in the process. I was also able to refine my plan later on by deciding how to compare and display the data I collected. Most importantly, I accomplished all the goals I set for myself and this project by proving, both to myself and to those who are considering SLIT or simply curious about it, that sublingual immunotherapy does work. I do think that I could have made more of an effort to spread awareness about SLIT and let people know about the options they have, but overall, if I had to give myself a grade, I would say I've earned an A on this project. I turned in each post on time; I laid out my plan and introduced the subject in detail in my first post; I described my original, untreated symptoms, as well as the problems I encountered while conducting that initial test, in the next post; in the post following that, I detailed the schedule of dosage progression by which I would reach the top, or "maintenance," dose, and then described my symptoms upon reaching that dose; and, in my final post, I presented the data from all of my subsequent trials, then discussed the problems I encountered and where I was going to go next; and finally, I created a graph which showed my improvement visually, using the rating system I devised.
Comments
Post a Comment