Reasons for having a Kenalog injection:
Treatment of severe hay-fever, that is resistant to alternative treatments:
Hay fever is caused by your immune system reacting unnecessarily to pollens. Your immune system is such an important part of your body that it will preferentially use up a lot of your energy uselessly ‘fighting off’ pollens which it interprets as attacking you. Energy that would be much better utilized elsewhere in life.
Trees can begin to produce pollen in late January and some grasses continue producing pollen until September so depending on what you’re allergic to, the season can be many months.
Between 10-15% of us suffer from hay fever symptoms. For many people it causes significant fatigue and problems with concentration and alertness. Research has shown that people can do 5-10% worse in their exams during hay-fever season compared with other times of the year.
Of those 10-15% of people with hay-fever, about 10% do not respond to conventional, easily available treatments like anti-histamine tablets, nasal sprays and eye drops. Many of these people consider a Kenalog injection to help them get through the season.
Each Kenalog injection contains Triamcinolone acetonide 40mg/1ml as the active ingredient. Triamcinolone acetonide belongs to a group of medicines called corticosteroids (steroids). The principal effect of corticosteroids is to reduce the body’s inflammatory & allergic response and they are used very commonly for many serious medical conditions. Their use has saved countless lives since their discovery in the 1940’s but they do have significant risks.
Kenalog injections were given routinely to severe hay fever sufferers via the NHS until about 5-10 years ago but have now fallen out of favour and the NHS no longer prescribes or administers Kenalog for hay fever as their guidelines have determined that the potential risks do not justify the benefits that people may gain from the treatment.
There are many people who have used this treatment to good effect and while we do not directly disagree with the assessment of the NHS, we do believe in patient choice and are happy to make this treatment available to people who have thoroughly considered the risks.
Kenalog is still officially licensed for the treatment of severe hay fever in the UK and continues to be routinely administered to patients in most other countries around the world.
A Kenalog injection does not cure hay fever. It just temporarily suppresses the immune system enough to take away the symptoms in most people who need it.
