20 years in 2020 – Here’s 20 Facts About Allergychoices

2020 is an exciting year for Allergychoices — it’s our 20th year of helping providers offer disease modifying allergy treatment to patients across the United States. Our mission for the past 20 years has been to expand affordable access, better outcomes and quality of life to the full range of allergy sufferers through patient-specific, validated treatment.

We’re kicking off our 20th year by giving you 20 facts about Allergychoices and the La Crosse Method™ Protocol that helps guide providers through custom, disease-modifying treatment using sublingual immunotherapy.

1

Allergychoices’ founder, Dr. David Morris (1929-2017), founded Allergy Associates of La Crosse (AAOL) in 1970, after using disease-modifying allergy drops to help more patients in his private practice for several years.

2

Dr. Morris started using allergy drops to treat farmers’ mold allergies instead of allergy shots because it fit better into their unique schedules, and didn’t leave them sore and symptomatic.

3

Though shared since 2002 through education programs by Dr. Morris and his partners, the Protocol developed by AAOL providers was officially published as the La Crosse Method in 2005 as a consistent way to help interested providers offer this treatment close to home.

4

The La Crosse Method Protocol is a “family” of protocols that helps address food, seasonal and year-round environmental allergies.

5

Allergychoices was founded in 2000 as the nation’s first dedicated education, advocacy, and networking resource for patients and providers who were interested in treating the cause of allergic disease using custom sublingual immunotherapy, also known as allergy drops.

6

Allergy drop immunotherapy following the La Crosse Method Protocol is personalized to each patient’s specific level of sensitivity to their allergic triggers.

7

Because allergy drops are customized and capitalize on the body’s concentration of tolerance building cells under the tongue, safety is optimized. No life-threatening reactions have been reported from using the La Crosse Method.

8

The goal of custom allergy drop immunotherapy is to build long-term tolerance to identified allergens — so patients no longer react to their triggers.

9

The custom dose is high enough to be effective, but not unnecessarily high to increase risk of reaction or added expense.

10

Custom allergy drops can treat multiple allergies at once — safely and effectively — which may reduce patients’ treatment time and expense.

11

The La Crosse Method offers the simplicity of consistent patient instructions throughout treatment. Three doses a day, every day, throughout treatment.

12

Patients report, and research confirms, that patients typically need less medication to control their allergy-related symptoms after beginning custom allergy drops — including asthma, eczema, and sinus medications.

13

94% of patients report that they’re able to stick with their allergy treatment following the La Crosse Method.

14

In 2018, patient outcomes showing less medication use, lower costs, and reduced symptoms from the La Crosse Method Protocol were validated by population health scientists and biostatisticians at the Validation Institute.

15

The La Crosse Method Protocol has been used to help more than 250,000 people live healthier, happier lives.

16

Allergychoices helps providers treat patients in all 50 U.S. states with licensed pharmacy services and practice support. Over 2,000 providers across the U.S. have offered allergy drop treatment to their patients through the support of Allergychoices.

17

Sublingual immunotherapy can be taken at home or wherever the patient is, making it an ideal treatment for those who travel often, head south for the winter, or kids away at college.

18

Patients with allergy-related asthma, recurrent sinusitis, eczema, food allergies, eosinophilic esophagitis, irritable bowel syndrome, and headaches, report finding relief after treating the cause of their allergies with allergy drops.

19

Allergy drops are safe for children, starting in early childhood. By treating the cause of underlying allergy early, patients have the opportunity to halt the allergic march which can lead to developing asthma and other chronic conditions.

20

Treatment typically takes 3-5 years for environmental allergies, building sustained tolerance in three phases.

Thank you to all who have allowed Allergychoices to support your allergy care over the past 20 years. If you’re a patient or provider interested in seeing how allergy drops could work for you, we encourage you to learn more in 2020.