Taking Claritin-D everyday

[eits]

Originally posted by: dr150
Make sure you take antihistamine regularly.

Allergies causes water to collect in the ear canal which can causes sensitivities to high frequencies/sounds. or muted hearing...........I had this problem and my doctor told me its VERY common and people don't know about curing it....

Take antihistimanine regularly....

wha???

 

[thebigdude]

If you have bad allergies you need to get tested.

You may need allergy shots.

I get 2-4 a week, and the difference is HUGE between shots and pills. Now I don't even need to take pills.

 

[Lucky]

Originally posted by: thebigdude
If you have bad allergies you need to get tested.

You may need allergy shots.

I get 2-4 a week, and the difference is HUGE between shots and pills. Now I don't even need to take pills.

not everyone can afford the cost of allergy shots. They are several hundred dollars.

 

[DougK62]

You basically HAVE to take an antihistamine daily to get it to work. Your body needs to stay on it to get adjusted. When I start taking my Claritan in the fall for seasonal allergies I have to be on it for a good 5-7 days before I start to see its effects.

 

[TheAdvocate]

Originally posted by: thebigdude
If you have bad allergies you need to get tested.

You may need allergy shots.

I get 2-4 a week, and the difference is HUGE between shots and pills. Now I don't even need to take pills.

I am one year in to my allergy shot treatment. It is not a cure all, but so far this spring my health and reactions have been markedly better than last year, and I'm still not to the highest concentration "maintenance" dose (1:100 vials).

Allergies are horrific for my body. My immune system is so out of whack - my body attacks these allergens like they're a terrorist cell (bad pun), and oftentimes ignores legitimate infections (when I get stuff like athletes foot, I have the hardest time getting rid of it, this is why).

I *highly* suggest getting tested, and follow the pre-test procedures to the letter, because they will use the results to create your vaccines. My insurance pays 90% of the injection cost and all of the vaccine cost past my deductible. I do not expect the treatment to "cure" my allergies, but I can already see a vast improvement in my health.

Ive taken Claritan D/Allegra D/etc for 15 years now. I want off of them badly. Pseudophedrine is bad for your heart, expensive, and now you have to fill out paperwork to buy it in my state because of all the damn meth-labs in the area. It will never cure my allergies or improve my base reaction state. Same with Allegra D.

As things are now, I skipped my meds for the past two weekends, which was unheard of for me at this time of the year. And I can breathe adequately through my nose at night, without dosing up on something that revs my heart rate up (makes sleeping tough).

 

[Kyle]

Originally posted by: deejayshakur

Originally posted by: Kyle

Originally posted by: eits

Originally posted by: deejayshakur

Originally posted by: Kyle

Originally posted by: eits



yes, it's a bad idea to take allergy medicine everyday. it could lead to side effects and it could decrease the effectiveness.

"Taking any medicine everyday can't be good for you. "

where are you guys getting this stuff from?
Every doctor/allergist I've been to has said it is perfectly fine- no side effects. If one drug stops working you can try a different one. And as a side note- there are plenty of medicines DESIGNED to take every day...so not sure why you think its always bad to take medicine every day...
For those of you w/out bad allergies, you dont understand that there are days when I NEED somthing to be a functioning part of society- running nose, sneezing, bright red eyes- I wouldnt be able to go out anywhere with out somthing. Last year it was like that every day for months so I had to take the medicine every day for around 4 months. This year I've been lucky so far though (*knocks on wood*) and havnt had to take it much at all

as a general rule, any medication will alter your body's biochemical makeup, if only slightly. still, this adds up and you body will compensate by downregulating natural process that goes on in response to the added chemical. any human physiology class will teach you this. you are probably right in that the side effects of these anti-histamines are very minimal. it's the sum total of all the drugs together that may be detrimental (i'll let the clinical trials determine that).

however, as an allergy sufferer myself, i think it is okay to take it when you feel it is your last resort in order to function at a minimal level. like you said, if allergies are affecting your activities of daily living, popping a pill may be your only fix. you just need to weigh the pros and cons of taking it daily, and try to cut down if you don't need it. there are other ways to decrease histamine exposure like minimizing outdoor activity and even wearing a mask.

lastly, i'm sure the drug companies (and any doctor pushing their products) would love for you to take their drugs everyday, but it's your own body. then again, i may just be an overly paranoid medical student. hopefully another healthcare professional will back me up. and good luck with your allergies.

high 5 to you. i didn't feel like explaining that all over again... i've done it already in other medicine threads.

Doctors get nothing for pushing drugs.

Speaking from somewhat experience (dad being a doctor) he never told patients to take drugs for ANY kind of personal benfit and its pretty outrageous you think they do that.
Drug companies, maybe...but any doctor worth ANYTHING would not be prescribing drugs to fatten his wallet.
Also- your body does NOT "down regulate" the same for any med. Steroid shots for allergys for example are really bad to rely on, because as you said, your body will have problems when you stop taking them. Same with OTC nasel spray.
This does not happen with OTC antihistamine...
Link some articles that show that it does and I will retract my statement

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Additionally, three cases of severe liver damage have been described in patients taking loratidine. Two patients treated with loratidine and 1 patient, receiving loratidine and ketoconazole, developed liver injury. Two of the patients received a liver transplant.

from: Perez R, Rodrigo L, Perez R, de Francisco R. Acute cholestasis related to desloratidine. World J Gastroenterol. 2005 Jun 21;11(23):3647-8.

yes, it's a case study, but it goes to show that any drug has side effects, however unnoticeable.

did you know breathing has side effects too? respiration is an oxidative process, which results in the accumulation of free radicals over time. make sure you take your antioxidants.

one other thing: being a physician's son is one thing; being a physician is entirely different.

Doctors get nothing for pushing drugs.

i really really want to comment on that, but i really really won't even bother at this point as i have 12 exams coming up.

Ok- I know that I am not a doctor and really know nothing about medicine =)
I was not talking about side effects- ANYTHING will have side effects. I was just talking about adverse reatctions to taking antihistamines when it comes to your body "changing" and making it hard to stop taking them.
I knew that the "doctors get nothing" comment would draw fire. From my experience (talking to about 30+ doctors, either friends or when I worked at the dr. office) they completly ignore the drug reps, and give samples based on what WORKS, not what gets them the best seats at the next basketball game. And they would be offered those perks no strings attached- it was not that they would get to go to a free dinner IF they gave out brand x of drug- they would be invited to go no matter what. Some doctors I talked to would accept nothing from them, some, like my dad, would go to the games, eat their food, and then use their drug ONLY if it was the best one out there. I think most doctors are intellegent enough not to be swayed on a DRUG choise based on advertising.
I know there are some bad seeds out there....
Anyways, sorry to play devils advocate, I was bored and a bit buzzed last night. You guys clearly know more than I do when it comes to this stuff, I was just voicing my opinion on what I had been told from an allergist and also a doctor when it came to lotoradine, past what they said, your right, I dont know anything eles.

 

[fustercluck]

I got tested for allergies around a year ago, i was super-allergic to pretty much everything . Got a lot of really high scores, which is bad for an allergy test. I guess i'll just try taking regular claritin for a week and let it try and build up to see if it's any better. Might try and get more flonase as well.

 

[Bryophyte]

Originally posted by: Lucky

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Insurance Companies wouldn't put it on the covered list so it stayed outrageously high for longer than it should've and required Doctor visits.

Funny, I took it when I was younger and my insurance covered it. It's actually more expensive for me now that it's OTC than it was when it was covered by my insurance.

ZV

walmart sells the non-d version in bulk for 120/$18.

Costco has generic Claritin (non-D version) for $11.xx for 300 pills. Buying name brand Claritin in regular pill form is STUPID, STUPID, STUPID.