Can Immunotherapy Eliminate Your Allergies? We Asked The Experts

With Curex, you no longer have to leave your home for treatment or clinical care. As a part of your plan, you get unlimited telehealth visits with your clinician to ensure your symptoms are being properly managed throughout the duration of treatment. To get the full scoop on allergies, immunotherapy, and how Curex is changing the game, we chatted with allergists and immunotherapy experts Chet Tharpe, M.D., and Neeta Ogden, M.D.

Dr. Neeta: Immunotherapy works by exposing the body to doses of small, medical-grade allergen extracts that are increased over time. This trains your immune system to no longer be reactive to those allergens. Sublingual immunotherapy, which is the form that Curex offers, is administered under the tongue once daily and it makes treatment so much more efficient.

Dr. Neeta: Allergy shots—aka subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT)—have been around for over 100 years. Sublingual drops and tablets (SLIT) were created in the mid-'80s but have recently been increasing in adoption. The biggest difference between subcutaneous and sublingual treatment is convenience. The drops can be taken at home, but the shots require you to actually go to your provider's office weekly. The shots are more invasive, so there's a higher risk of side effects, like anaphylaxis, whereas the drops are much safer. It's unlikely to experience serious side effects from drops. 

Dr. Neeta: Sublingual immunotherapy is a first-line allergy treatment throughout Europe, with nearly 90% of immunotherapy patients in France utilizing the drops over the shots. However, sublingual treatment did not gain traction in the U.S. until recently, with the FDA approval of sublingual tablets and increasing clinical data surrounding efficacy and safety. Curex is the first company to introduce this form of sublingual immunotherapy on a national scale via telemedicine, and it's currently the fastest-growing trend in allergy care. 

Food allergies, on the other hand, must be treated in person because there is a higher chance of serious allergic reaction. For life-threatening food allergies, it's imperative that you be observed by a clinician during treatment, but Curex hopes to branch into the non-life-threatening food allergies at some point. If you have a venom allergy, I also recommend you opt for the shots. 

Homeopaths believe that the lower the dose, the more powerful the treatment. As allergists, we believe that a much more potent formulation of allergens that your body can tolerate (i.e., leads to minimal side effects and symptoms) is much more effective in increasing one's tolerance to allergies, thus decreasing their body's reactivity and symptoms.

Dr. Chet: Uncontrolled allergies can greatly impair one's well-being in several ways. Sleep is commonly impaired with resultant fatigue, inattention, poor concentration, and low productivity. In kids and teens, allergies have been associated with ADHD, lower test scores/academic performance, impaired athletic performance, and lower self-esteem. In adults, allergies have been associated with anxiety and depression, lower work productivity, and even impaired sexual performance.

Not only is Curex the largest online allergy and asthma clinic with over 50,000 users across every state in the U.S., but they also have the highest patient loyalty and satisfaction rates in the industry. Their sublingual immunotherapy program gives you the power and the flexibility to tackle your allergies once and for all. Who knows, maybe you can finally get that dog you've always wanted…