The Allergy Clinic
Specialists in Allergy & Asthma Care
Specialists in Allergy & Asthma Care
In a Hurry? Then RUSH!
Most treatments for allergy and asthma are effective, but come with the same limitation: when you stop taking them, they
don’t afford you any further benefit. The one exception is allergen immunotherapy, or allergy shots. Allergy shots build up
your immune system and teach it tolerate the harmless substance that your body mistakes for a foreign invader. Typically,
allergy shots are given once or twice a week for several months until the dose is built up to a high level called “maintenance”.
We have to start at a low dose to slowly desensitize your body, allowing you to tolerate higher, more effective doses. At that
point, which is when the shots actually impart their beneficial effects, the shots can be given less frequently.
The problem with the build-up is that it takes a long time, and these days, with a co-pay for each date of service, you get a
“wallet biopsy” every time you walk through your allergist’s door. Over the past ten years, a procedure whereby the entire
shot build-up is administered in one day has become more popular. In order to tolerate this procedure, we give the patient
some medicines to take for a few days before we get started.
Most treatments for allergy and asthma are effective, but come with the same limitation: when you stop taking them, they
don’t afford you any further benefit. The one exception is allergen immunotherapy, or allergy shots. Allergy shots build up
your immune system and teach it tolerate the harmless substance that your body mistakes for a foreign invader. Typically,
allergy shots are given once or twice a week for several months until the dose is built up to a high level called “maintenance”.
We have to start at a low dose to slowly desensitize your body, allowing you to tolerate higher, more effective doses. At that
point, which is when the shots actually impart their beneficial effects, the shots can be given less frequently.
The problem with the build-up is that it takes a long time, and these days, with a co-pay for each date of service, you get a
“wallet biopsy” every time you walk through your allergist’s door. Over the past ten years, a procedure whereby the entire
shot build-up is administered in one day has become more popular. In order to tolerate this procedure, we give the patient
some medicines to take for a few days before we get started.
The Allergy Clinic has performed “Rush Immunotherapy” over 600 times the past twelve years. This is by no
means a simple procedure; you come into the office at 8:30 a.m. and are attended to by the nursing staff, the physician
assistant and the doctor continually throughout the day. We are usually done by 3:00 p.m. or so; then we observe you
closely until 5:00 p.m., send you home, and follow up by phone the next day. Over the course of the 6 to 8 weeks, the
frequency of the shots is tapered until you only take your allergy shots once every 4 weeks! You are able to tolerate such a
rapid increase in your allergy shot dosage because of our unique 72 hour pre-medication schedule.
Rush Immunotherapy should be considered by patients who:
1. need relief quickly
2. don’t want the hassle of weekly or twice weekly allergy shots
3. want to become pregnant and not have to take allergy medications
4. want to pay fewer insurance co-pays by requiring fewer shot visits
5. can't take traditional allergy shots due to frequent travel or work schedules
6. have taken allergy shots before but never attained their unique benefit because of not
getting the shots up to the high doses required to impart the immunological
benefits.
The medical literature has reported dozens of studies over the past few years on the safety and effectiveness of Rush
Immunotherapy. At The Allergy Clinic, we strive to make the Rush procedure as uneventful as possible, so that there are,
indeed, no more side effects from Rush than from conventional immunotherapy.
means a simple procedure; you come into the office at 8:30 a.m. and are attended to by the nursing staff, the physician
assistant and the doctor continually throughout the day. We are usually done by 3:00 p.m. or so; then we observe you
closely until 5:00 p.m., send you home, and follow up by phone the next day. Over the course of the 6 to 8 weeks, the
frequency of the shots is tapered until you only take your allergy shots once every 4 weeks! You are able to tolerate such a
rapid increase in your allergy shot dosage because of our unique 72 hour pre-medication schedule.
Rush Immunotherapy should be considered by patients who:
1. need relief quickly
2. don’t want the hassle of weekly or twice weekly allergy shots
3. want to become pregnant and not have to take allergy medications
4. want to pay fewer insurance co-pays by requiring fewer shot visits
5. can't take traditional allergy shots due to frequent travel or work schedules
6. have taken allergy shots before but never attained their unique benefit because of not
getting the shots up to the high doses required to impart the immunological
benefits.
The medical literature has reported dozens of studies over the past few years on the safety and effectiveness of Rush
Immunotherapy. At The Allergy Clinic, we strive to make the Rush procedure as uneventful as possible, so that there are,
indeed, no more side effects from Rush than from conventional immunotherapy.
