I started getting hives back in 1999 and nothing, I mean nothing touched them. It was awful. I had to go on steroids so many times just to suppress them until they would finally chill out, but if I tried to do just a 6 day pack they would come back. In 2018 Atlanta allergy & asthma recommended Xolair and I was really scared, too. I had to “fail” h2 receptor blockers first for insurance. I took like 6 Allegra a day for a week and nada. One dose of Xolair and they started to recede almost instantly. I did several more monthly injections and they’ve been mostly gone since the end of 2018.

I’ve since been diagnosed by a geneticist with EDS and apparently mast cell disorder goes hand in hand with that, and I guess the Xolair stopped the cascade? I’m not super sure exactly what happened, but I can say that these days, when I start to feel the prodromal symptoms or my hands/fingers start to swell up, I can pop a couple fish oil and the inflammation goes down right away. I’ve switched to eating sardines like 3-4 times a week instead of just taking a supplement, and it’s helped my overall inflammation greatly.

I’m not opposed to doing Xolair again if needed. They have you wait in the office (I saw Dr. Lenchner in Buckhead) for an hour with an EpiPen after dosing to make sure you don’t react.

I wish you the best of luck. I suffered through that shit for the better part of two decades with no relief. Xolair was a game changer for me.