Do you or someone you know suffer from severe allergies or asthma? Do you struggle with allergic asthma? Do you have a medicine cabinet stocked full of over-the-counter and prescription medications that seem to do little to help?

My younger daughter suffers from severe allergies and asthma. I recall when she was just a few years old; during her peak allergy seasons, there were afternoons she would go lie down in misery. Her eyes were swollen and red, and her nose was leaking without stopping.

Eventually, her doctors decided it was necessary to start allergy shots. By the fourth or fifth round of her injections, her left arm swelled immensely and was bright red. Within 12 hours, her body went into an asthma flare. After we treated the flare with three inhalers, nebulizer, steroids, and usually antibiotics for the infection that set in, we would have to start over with injections.

We did this several times, but the fourth time we reached the dreaded dose, her left arm reaction was very severe, and the asthma flare lasted for two weeks. Her immunologist decided we were doing more harm than good, so we stopped injections.

The asthma flares continued, and this last year has been the worst. She was hospitalized twice for asthma-related complications during 2007. Then in August of this year, she began breaking out in full-body rashes. Every seven to 10 days, she would break out in a severe rash, and it began affecting her body systems.

At the onset of the rash, she immediately takes her prescription ant-histamine and rescue inhalers. The rash only lasts for 5-30 minutes, but the systemic reaction lasts significantly longer. She takes three ibuprofrin for joint stiffness and crawls into bed. She sleeps for 15-18 hours each day for the first couple of days, and then she begins to reemerge. By day four, she is able to hold a cup by herself, and she walks at a normal pace. By the end of day five, she becomes a normal teenager again.

Her immunologist received permission from our insurance for my daughter to begin Xolair injections. This medication is designed for people with moderate to severe allergic asthma, as it teaches the body to block histamine response to allergens. These painful injections are very expensive, highly controlled, and from what research has shown, extremely effective. The National Chronic Disease Foundation is helping with our portion of these injections.

She receives two injections every four weeks, and she will continue them for several years. She has had two rounds of Xolair thus far; there were no reactions to the first dose, but she suffered a lot of pain and muscle spasms from the second dose that sent her to bed for a few days.

Is Xolair going to be the key to keep us out of the hospital for asthma complications in 2008? We are a couple of months from her worst allergy season, but so far, so good! She has had a sinus infection and a viral throat infection during this time and only one severe rash and systemic reaction. Her doctor is hopeful that her immune system will be strong enough by summer to start allergy shots again.