Allergy shots are the standard treatment that many patients with allergies and asthma around the world are offered.  They are not a specific treatment for AERD, but can be helpful for certain patients.  Allergy shots are only beneficial in reducing the allergic reactivity to specific allergens that the patient is allergic to (grass, cats, dust mite etc).  Obviously, if you don’t have allergies, then allergy shots aren’t going to work for you.  Most people with AERD do have some degree of allergy.

One way to think about AERD is that allergies can be a component of the disease and need to be treated if present.  Take for example someone who has horrible spring time grass pollen allergy, or is allergic to cats and has a cat at home.  It will be unlikely that person will get optimal benefit from medications or aspirin desensitization if they do not also address the issue of the allergy.  That is where allergy shots can be beneficial.  There are also 3 new FDA approved products that work as “under the tongue” allergy treatments. They are only currently for grass pollen and ragweed, but could accomplish the same goal as shots in patients that are allergic to those things.