Three Reasons Your Hay Fever Treatment May Be Failing

James Thompson, MD Health Professional Board Certified Allergist and Asthma Specialist I am a board certified allergist and belong to a large single... Send Message Subscribe: James Thompson, MD

Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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1. Your medication may not be targeting the right symptoms. Some patients enter my office frustrated because of the failure of their antihistamine pills (e.g. Claritin (loratadine), Zyrtec (cetirizine) and Allegra (fexofenadine) to relieve symptoms of nasal-sinus congestion. Antihistami...

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side effects I've noticed from Claritin & Allegra
Gloria
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 03:07 PM

Hi Dr. Thompson,

I know I'm not the "typical" patient when experiencing these side effects, I experienced severe dizzy attacks that came on suddenly & totally imobilized me. Which scared me to death!

Because of this, I was too afraid to take any decongestants for my congestion. I have used rhinocort aqua which worked great without experiencing negative side efects. I also do nasal rinsing which actually seems to work wonderfully without any side effects at all!

Gloria

re: side effects I've noticed from Claritin & Allegra
James Thompson, MD
Friday, June 19, 2009 at 01:05 PM

Thank you for your comments Gloria.

You have a lot of company when it comes to having side effects from oral decongestants. There is maximum strength pseudoephedrine in the newer combination pills (e.g. Claritin-D, Zyrtec-D and Allegra-D).

Nasal steroid sprays and nasal rinsing can be a great combination for managing bothersome allergic or non-allergic rhinitis. Most people are much more tolerant of nasal sprays when used correctly (as I addressed in the posting).

I am glad you have a working formula!

Stay Healthy,

J. Thompson, MD

re: re: side effects I've noticed from Claritin & Allegra
Gloria
Friday, June 19, 2009 at 05:24 PM

Thank you Dr. Thompson,

I do everything within my power to keep my health good...

I hope you have a wonderful Fathers Day!

Gloria

re: side effects I've noticed from Claritin & Allegra
Kathleen MacNaughton
Monday, June 22, 2009 at 04:06 PM

I've experienced another side effect of the "D" formulations of Claritin and Allegra (the antihistamine + decongestant combo drugs). They keep me from sleeping! I took Claritin-D for 3 days before I finally complained to my doctor that I hadn't been able to fall asleep for 3 nights and learned about this less common side effect. A few years later, having forgotten, I did the same thing with Allegra-D before I remembered what the decongestant does to me.

So I have also used the nasal rinse when congestion gets too bad.

Kathi

Really Important Lessons
Kathleen MacNaughton
Monday, June 22, 2009 at 04:11 PM

This is such a great article, Dr. Thompson! I've also found that the patients I've worked with don't always understand that you need to get started on your allergy medicine before symptoms take hold, and then keep taking it, even when allergies seem to have calmed down.

Truth be told, I'm guilty of this myself at times, mostly because I hate to spend money on meds unless I'm desperate for them (as I have no health insurance). But I'm always sorry afterwards, when allergies take hold and I feel miserable!

So thanks for the great advice and I hope we all follow your advice!

Best,

Kathi