Are There Any Ways To Treat Insect Sting Allergies Using Alternative Medicine?

— -- Question: Are there any ways to treat insect sting allergies using alternative medicine?

Answer: There are really no alternative medical treatments that have ever been shown to work for insect sting allergy or anaphylactic reactions in general. And that's important to know because in the dangerous kind of reactions with throat swelling or trouble breathing or dizziness it would be dangerous to try other treatments because the important thing is to get the right treatment, to get it quickly because waiting too long to get treated for those systemic reactions is the main reason that some people end up in the hospital or having life threatening or even fatal reactions. Because once the reaction really builds up, it can be too late for even epinephrine to work.

There is research on certain kinds of herbal treatments for certain kinds of anaphylactic or severe allergic reactions. For example, peanut allergy, there are studies so far in animals showing very promising results that a concoction or mixture of multiple Chinese herbs can in fact reduce or limit or even possibly eliminate the severe anaphylactic reactions. But these are very early research studies that will be extended in human studies and it remains to be seen whether there are any of these kinds of nontraditional treatments or alternative treatments that might actually work for anaphylaxis.

Next: What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of Anaphylaxis?

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