Michelle Ganz has suffered from severe allergies her whole life.
“If I was walking past a field where someone was cutting grass, my throat would start to close up. My eyes water very, very badly. My nose starts running. I pretty much shut down,” Ganz said.
She is most allergic to trees, grass, dust and dander.
“It it’s outside, I’m allergic to it,” Ganz said.
As a result, she has spent most of her life more or less avoiding nature, even though she enjoys being outside. Ganz has tried traditional allergy shots a few times, but said they were never effective enough to make it worth the pain and time they took.
This year, she found out about another kind of allergy shot: intralymphatic immunotherapy, or ILIT.
ILIT shots work like traditional allergy shot therapy by making the immune system less responsive to allergens in the environment. Unlike traditional allergy shot therapy, though, ILIT doesn’t take many months or years. It usually just takes three shots over two months. Allergen proteins are shot directly into lymph nodes in the groin.
“Which is a lot more efficient way of presenting the allergen to the body's immune system to develop a response,” explained Dr. Christopher Brooks, an assistant professor and physician with Ohio State University’s Division of Allergy and Immunology.
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Symptom improvement
Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center has been offering ILIT shots for one year as of this month. ILIT has been available in some other places in the U.S. and Europe for longer. In central Ohio, Premiere Allergy & Asthma also offers ILIT.
Brooks said in six-month and one-year follow-ups with Wexner Medical patients, people with allergies like pollen have seen a huge improvement in symptoms.
Ganz had her final ILIT shot in March. She’s no longer taking her allergy medicine. She said she doesn’t need it.
“I went for a really long walk the other day and my face didn't catch fire,” Ganz said. “It was delightful.”
Ganz highly recommends ILIT. It has even helped her with her job. Ganz is an archivist for the Dominican Sisters of Peace in Columbus. She works with dusty historical collections, and now she can do that without taking medicine.
What to know about ILIT
ILIT wasn’t covered by Ganz’s insurance, and the shots cost about $1,000 a pop. She said it was worth it for her, and that when she priced it against the copay of many regular allergy shots, she actually saved money. She’s getting a booster shot soon then hopes to be done for about a decade.
The ILIT treatment isn’t FDA approved because it hasn’t been around long enough to earn approval. Brooks also warns that like traditional allergy shot therapy, ILIT doesn’t work perfectly for everyone. It also is not a treatment for food allergies.
Most of the time, Brooks recommends patients get tested for allergies before undergoing the treatment. He said immunotherapy is most effective when allergists understand the specific pollens and proteins that are irritating people.
“So, for example, if someone's specifically allergic to oak tree pollen, we would include oak tree pollen,” Brooks said. “We can't just say they're allergic to trees, so we're going to include all the trees.”
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What causes allergies?
Allergic reactions happen when the body’s immune system starts to react to specific things that it thinks shouldn’t be there. In response, antibodies release histamine and other chemicals that cause symptoms like itchy, watery eyes, runny nose, coughing and sneezing.
Allergy treatments introduce the allergens in a specific way that makes the body develop tolerance.
Brooks still often recommends traditional allergy shots because they’ve been around the longest. Wexner Medical Center also offers under-the-tongue drops and tablets for allergy immunotherapy.
But he says ILIT is great for folks who just don’t have time for a drawn-out process.
“Patients who come in every week for their allergy shots, we love seeing them. They often enjoy coming in for their allergies shot,” Brooks said. “But at the same time, I think a lot of our patients have busy lives and would be preferring to do other things.”
Brooks said the right treatment really comes down to the patient and their schedule. He considers all of the options safe and effective.
As for Ganz, she’s excited to finally get back out in nature. She wants to take a long walk through the woods to a waterfall.
“Allergies don't have to ruin your life. There are ways to get help now and I hope people can take advantage of that,” Ganz said.
