FAQ Immunotherapy

Frequently Asked Questions

Table of Contents

1 Frequently Asked Questions
2 Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy

See also: Vaccination & Vaccination FAQ

See also: Allergy

See also: Autoimmune Disorders

See also: Immunotherapy

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Q. What is Immunotherapy?

A. Any medical intervention or treatment that induces, enhances or suppresses immune responses is called immunotherapy. Many modern cancer treatments, chemotherapy, vaccination, allergy desensitising treatments and immunosuppressive drugs for autoimmune disorders are forms of immunotherapy. Whether some herbal treatments and even homeopathy may be classed as immunotherapy is food for thought but they do not directly target immune responses, in the way that modern drug medicine, designed to be immunotherapy, aspires to do.

Q. Will immunotherapy treatments help my dog's allergies?

A. A course of desensitising (hyposensitising) vaccinations can be used to try to reduce the allergic response. However, not only is this a very expensive route to follow, it also does nothing about the allergic condition that gives rise to the allergic response. Furthermore, it is very specific to the particular allergy that has been diagnosed. If the allergic condition or disease is not cured, then there is nothing to stop the body developing new allergies.

Q. Is it safe?

A. The safety of anti-allergic immunotherapy (hyposensitisation) is not fully monitored. At the AVMC, we tend to believe that an analogy best helps us to understand the effect of the desensitising course. If a wild lion were to be put in a cage and repeatedly poked with a stick, its reactions would at first be savage but eventually it would tire and cease to react. If this is what happens to the immune system, with desensitising injections, we would not advise their use.

Immune suppressive drug treatment, e.g. for autoimmune conditions, seems to be a risky endeavour.

Q. Is there an alternative to immunotherapy for allergy?

A. Deep constitutional homeopathic prescribing appears to be able to help the body to cease its allergic response. Furthermore, in successful cases, the body does not appear to develop new allergies, as if the underlying allergic state has been cleared.

In summary, at the AVMC, we believe that the immune system is too precious and too vulnerable, to risk suppression, enhancement, challenge, exhaustion etc., using drugs or vaccination.