(no subject)

[arib]

What OTC allergy medication works best for you?

Comments

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I'm a big believer in the power of Sudafed. But it doesn't make me jumpy, as it does to many other people. And I take Benadryl at night, so I can breathe while I sleep (and, if it's a particularly bad sinus attack, I add in a 12-hour Sudafed to the mix).

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

Claritin all the way. Pricey, but worth it - only one tablet a day pretty much covers it. I take the Claritin-D 12 hour extended release tablets, containing 5 mg loratadine and 120mg pseudoephedrine sulfate.

Price is about $15-20 (depending if anyone has a good sale) for a month's supply. You can get it in smaller amounts too (and maybe larger), but 30 tabs at a time is the most economical I've seen.

Chlorenephrine maleate is tolerable, but still had an occasional tendency to put me to sleep. Benadryl is right out - diphenhydramine is the same ingredient in OTC sleep meds, it's just at half dosage in Benadryl. If I wanted to take sleep meds, I'd buy sleep meds.

[arib.livejournal.com]

At work, they give Benadryl as a PRN for kids who have insomnia.

[born-to-me.livejournal.com]

Like hfcougar, I can't take diphenhydramine (Benadryl) unless I want to sleep too - but I use it religiously when I have anything I think is allergic skin-wise (itching), or if I'm trying to stop an allergy attack at bedtime. There is a cheapo generic mix of pseudoephedrine sulfate and chlorenephrine maleate (with acetaminophen) that keeps me sane in the spring because it works in a heartbeat and I don't get sleepy. I get it at Dollar General or Wal-Mart - as far as I know it's not a 'knock off' of any particular name-brand drug.

[cellio]

Sudafed cold stuff, actually. (I take Allegra for allergies, which isn't OTC, but in a pinch I've used Sudafed to treat the symptoms.)

[arib.livejournal.com]

followup: Program nurse just gave me some spare claritins that we had to spare, I'll let you know how they work.

[kshandra]

I've been taking Actifed for allergies dating back to when it was still a prescription med (20+ years, now). Their Allergy & Sinus formula doesn't help me worth a damn, for some reason, but the Cold & Sinus formula has never let me down.

[ororo.livejournal.com]

Claritin, the generic or chlor-trimeton for sheer antihistimine value. I avoid psuedephedrine because it keeps me away. Bendadryl is someting I only use for hives because it wreaks havoc with my dream cycle.

[flaim.livejournal.com]

Hmm. From what I understand, pseudoephedrine isn't an allergy medicine at all, but a decongestant. My mom and I go through it like candy, and get it at Costco (under $5 for 3 boxes of 96, beat that, I dare ya). I've been experimenting with different anti-histamines but haven't yet found one that worked decently. I've tried some generic loratidine but that didn't do much, and chlorenephrine maleate seems to work ok. What's next on the list?