Xolair & allergy shots

[Guest guest]

My understanding is that immunotherapy is supposed to increase your

tolerance to an allergen by exposing you to a little of it at a time

on a regular basis. Xolair works completely differently in that it

binds to the IgE cell so it cannot bind to the mast cell upon

exposure to an allergen, thus preventing the allergic cascade.

Without IgE binding to the mast cell, a reaction can't happen.

Xolair would not " cancel " out allergy shots. However, for people who

respond really well to Xolair, it is possible that it will eliminate

the need for them to have immunotherapy. I, for example, no longer

need immunotherapy thanks to Xolair. That will not be the case for

all people. People with a really high IgE (like 1000+) for example,

will probably have so much IgE that the Xolair cannot bind to it all

so they still need allergy shots to build up immunities to the

allergens.

Personally, I find it terrible that a doctor would insist Xolair

patients be on immunotherapy. I know a lot of folks who could not

tolerate immunotherapy whose lives have been dramatically improved by

Xolair. These are exactly some of the people who are supposed to

benefit from Xolair.

Your opinionated group leader,

Addy