Allergen Immunotherapy: Three Years in a Diary
Three years of allergen immunotherapy alongside a diary: keep each season as a report and lay the years side by side with your specialist.
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If you start allergen immunotherapy this autumn, you already know the question behind it: what will have changed in three years? The maintenance phase usually lasts three to five years. Whether the treatment works is for your doctor to judge. Your part is the course. You can keep a diary from season to season, on paper or in the hay fever diary in Sam, whose doctor report as a PDF sums up 1, 3, 6 or 12 months or the whole record. This text shows how you keep each pollen season as its own report and lay the years side by side later.
What allergen immunotherapy looks like over three years
Allergen immunotherapy, also called desensitisation or, for injections, allergy shots, is a long-term treatment. It trains your immune system to tolerate an allergen. The AAAAI describes two phases: a build-up phase of about four to six months, and a maintenance phase that continues for three to five years. In the UK, the BSACI gives an optimal duration of three years.
Injection immunotherapy is given in a clinic, under a trained specialist. The Allergy UK factsheet explains that improvement does not come at once. It usually takes at least six months, often longer. Treatment is usually continued for about three to five years, and the factsheet says the long course is meant to decrease the chance that the allergies will return.
The exact plan and duration are set by your clinic and your specialist. Your part is to keep the course in a way that you and they get something from it. Allergen immunotherapy is a treatment organised by an allergy specialist or clinic, not something you set up yourself.
Why you keep a record over years, not one season
A single season shows a slice. Three years show a course. With a report per season you can see how many symptom days, disturbed nights and days with fallout for daily life each season carried with it.
The first year is your baseline. Everything after it is read against that first year. Without a baseline, the comparison stays in the gut. How to compare single years is also covered in hay fever worse every year: comparing seasons honestly.
Log the first year as your baseline
In the first year the task is not to measure an improvement. It is to create a baseline you will need later. If you already wrote a season down before you started, that is the best baseline of all. Otherwise, keep the first season as precisely as you can, even if the treatment is already running.
Per day, little is enough: the day overview, which symptoms bothered you and how strongly, whether your sleep was disturbed and whether the day suffered. An invented example: "Wed, 20 May. Bad day. Sneezing, eyes watering badly. Restless sleep, daily life heavy." What else belongs in a hay fever diary is covered in hay fever symptoms, season and diary.
Make each season its own report
Between seasons, or before a diagnosis, you record in the symptom diary. For the season itself there is a dedicated program in Sam. In the hay fever program, an own diary with a doctor report and a monthly questionnaire, you tap your day overview and your symptoms. For entries made today, pollen values for your region come in when you share your location.
At the end of the season you create a report as a PDF from the entries. The period is your choice, for example the months April to August. You file that one report for the year. A year later comes the next one, then the one after that.
Lay the annual reports side by side with your doctor
Many pollen seasons look the same after a few years, until you put them side by side. Your yearly reports give their own picture: in which year were the symptom days fewer, the nights calmer, the daily-life days freer? You bring those numbers to the appointment, so that you talk about reports rather than memories.
How to prepare an appointment is covered in which doctor for hay fever: GP, allergist or ENT. Whether the treatment works, and whether, when or how it continues, is decided by your doctor alone. Your report is a basis for that, not a requirement. If you want a close person to follow your course, you choose in Sam what you share. The caregiver page shows how.
What allergen immunotherapy does not promise
Allergen immunotherapy is not a promise that you will be free of symptoms after three years. The AAAAI says allergy shots can be highly effective and may provide lasting relief after treatment is stopped. Cedars-Sinai notes that about 80 to 90 percent of patients notice some benefit, which also means some do not. The AAAAI adds that if there is no improvement after a year of maintenance, your allergist will work with you to find other options.
If you notice something during the season that worries you, such as swelling of the tongue or throat, or trouble breathing or swallowing, call your local emergency number (112 in the EU, 999 in the UK, 911 in the US). Reactions to allergy shots are possible and are why treatment is given under supervision in a clinic.
Keep each pollen season in Sam and compare the years as reports
Over the years you gather what memory cannot hold: each season as its own PDF, year after year, side by side.
- Instead of paper slips and memory: in the hay fever program, an own diary with a doctor report and a monthly questionnaire, you tap your day overview and symptoms, and for entries made today, pollen values for your region come in when you share your location.
- Instead of a notepad: the doctor report as a PDF sums up your season, from symptom days and disturbed nights to days with fallout for daily life. You choose the period and lay the years side by side later.
One limit: Sam does not say whether the therapy works. It only builds your own yearly reports, and the assessment is for your doctor.
Try Sam for freeSam is a wellness companion, not a medical device. The app does not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition or health state. Always consult qualified professionals for medical decisions.
Related reading
- Hay Fever Worse Every Year? Comparing Seasons Honestly
- Allergen Immunotherapy Cost and Coverage
- Which Doctor for Hay Fever: GP, Allergist or ENT
- Living with Allergic Rhinitis Through Pollen Season
Sources
Updated: October 2026
- American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI): Allergy shots (immunotherapy) (page dated 16 September 2026)
- Allergy UK: Immunotherapy (facts sheet, published 6 July 2021)
- British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI): Immunotherapy
- Cedars-Sinai: The pros and cons of allergy immunotherapy (20 June 2024)
- Allergy UK: Hay fever and allergic rhinitis
More on Hay Fever
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does allergen immunotherapy last?+
The maintenance phase usually lasts three to five years. The British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI) gives an optimal duration of three years in the UK. Treatment is organised by an allergy specialist or clinic, and they decide the course for you.
Do I need a diary for allergen immunotherapy?+
No, it is not required. A record across several seasons helps you and your specialist see the course with numbers instead of remembering months later. Your specialist decides what the course means.
What do I write in an allergen immunotherapy diary?+
For each season, a day overview is enough: which symptoms bothered you and how strongly, whether your sleep was disturbed and whether the day suffered. The first year becomes your baseline, and you lay the yearly reports side by side later.
Does Sam show whether immunotherapy works?+
No. Sam only builds your own yearly reports, which you lay side by side. Whether the treatment works and whether it continues is for your doctor to judge. Sam does not say whether the therapy is working.
Does immunotherapy work for everyone?+
No. Not for everyone. Cedars-Sinai reports that about 80 to 90 percent of patients notice some benefit, so a clear course is not guaranteed. The AAAAI advises that if there is no improvement after a year of maintenance, your allergist will work with you to find more treatment options.