Knoxville — On a sunny afternoon, James Moneyhun climbs the jungle gym at Lakeshore Park. Like most kids his age, he loves to play outside, but his severe allergies got in the way.
“Stuffy nose, swollen up eyes, and I had trouble falling asleep since my nose was so stuffed up. And, it was miserable,” Moneyhun said.
Without wanting to take shots, James was the perfect candidate for a treatment Ear Nose and Throat surgeon Nicholas Panella started offering in the fall at ENT Consultants of East TN.
Instead of a shot, patients use a dropper to place the same contents of a traditional shot injection under their tongue.
“When we've introduced this and explained that this is something you can do mostly at home, and it's really effective, we're getting a really positive response. Most of the people we talk to about it lean towards going the sublingual allergy drops over the allergy shots,” explained Panella.
Panella said the drops caught on in Europe decades ago, but are gaining popularity in the United States.
“In the state of Tennessee, it's not going to be covered by most insurance policies. That seems like something that is a real stumbling block for most people, but when we really price it out, we find that a lot of people, particularly people who have the newer insurance plans that might have a higher deductible, we've priced it so that it's cheaper for most patients than it would be to do allergy shots,” Panella said.
Like shots, allergy drops help a patient build up a tolerance to whatever is causing their symptoms.
“I hold my tongue out for two minutes, and you just have to wait, and when the two minutes is up you swallow the drops,” Moneyhun explained.
Patients like him can finally enjoy the beautiful Knoxville spring weather without all the side effects that used to come with a change in season.
“It changed a lot when I started these drops. It just changed my life,” Moneyhun said.
You can reach Dr. Panella at Npanella@entcet.com.