What exactly is targetted immunotherapy, Doctor?
Targeted immunotherapy involves desensitizing your body to allergens. You go and visit your local allergist, get tested to see what you're allergic to (pollen, mold, etc.), and then you're injected with increasing concentrations of that allergen in a serum.
What this does is take a process that is normally mediated by IgE antibodies and force you to produce IgG antibodies against the allergen instead. By binding the allergen to IgG antibodies before they can bind to IgE antibodies you essentially prevent the immune response from ever happening. Over time, there is even a decrease in the amount of IgE against allergens in the body as IgG levels rise.
It's a brilliant scientific breakthrough and it's been around for a long time. Unfortunately, you have to find an allergist that does high dose therapy (increases the dose to barely tolerable, but safe levels) instead of low dose, which is what some less skilled allergists and ear, nose, and throat guys use. Also, it's pretty expensive, so you'll need health insurance.
I've been getting the shots for over a year now and I'm at my maintenance dose now, which means I don't have to go up in my dosage anymore. I get my shot once per month and that will eventually go to once or twice per year.
If you can find someone that does the therapy, you can essentially do away with your allergies. That's what I did, I didn't have to take any allergy medication throughout my entire allergy season (ragweed during the summer) which is normally my worst time of the year.
I won't promise that it'll stop your hair loss, but at least you wont' have a stuffy nose, itchy eyes, or be constantly tired due to your allergies. For that reason alone it's worth it.
