Hay fever

[liner33]

egomeister said:

I noticed this the other day too! I used to have terfenadine as a kid before they withdrew it and could never get my doc to prescribe fexofenadine either.


OP: You'd have to check what's appropriate for a kid but I'm in a similar position in taking a daily cetirizine and it not being enough. My next steps would be swapping to fexofenadine, and to add a nose spray - I find Fluticasone to work best for me.

With the fexofenadine take note of the side effects (mainly when grapefruit juice is consumed from memory). For the nose spray I always found it takes a couple of days to kick in and I'm wary about long term use as I end up getting mild nosebleeds - i don't know if that is specific to this product or a function of continued nose spray use.

There are a good few products out there available off the shelf - I'd start by buying one of each as see how he gets on!

I understand that it was terfenadine that had the issue with grapefruit juice and other things and was a good part of why it was withdrawn. I used to take it with no I’ll effects and no hay fever I used to that the high dose forte ones (trilludan?) . I was swapped over to the telfast 180 and they work fine but script only up to now

[Gilmore]

This weekend has been truly awful.

Booked in for the jab to be done privately tomorrow.

[egomeister]

liner33 said:

I understand that it was terfenadine that had the issue with grapefruit juice and other things and was a good part of why it was withdrawn. I used to take it with no I’ll effects and no hay fever I used to that the high dose forte ones (trilludan?) . I was swapped over to the telfast 180 and they work fine but script only up to now

Yep, that was related to it's withdrawal. As far as I know terfenadine was metabolised into fexofenadine in the body, and it's this which is the active compound. I'm sure when I was looking at fexofendine the other day I found there was still a recommendation not to take with grapefruit juice. I'll see if I can find where I read it.

I could always be wrong though - always read the leaflet!

Edited to add: It was the NHS page for fexofenadine where I saw it:

NHS said:

Do not drink grapefruit juice, apple juice or orange juice while you're taking fexofenadine. It might make you more likely to get side effects.

https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/fexofenadine/

Edited by egomeister on Sunday 12th June 18:56

[liner33]

egomeister said:

https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/fexofenadine/

Edited by egomeister on Sunday 12th June 18:56

Terfenadine caused electrical issues with the heart of taken with grapefruit juice a lot more severe than anything with fexofenadine

[snoopy25]

BrabusMog said:

Suffering extremely badly this weekend after a few days of respite, I saw the thread yesterday and ordered some Allevia - here’s hoping they work!

Same here, OH ordered them for me last night and they turned up a couple of hours ago. Praying that they work as this weekend has been utter hell for me, I barely got any sleep last night due to being blocked up and having a sore throat as well

Praying that these work!

[Jakey54]

For what it’s worth, personally I found nasal sprays didn’t do much for me - but showers and then a smear of Vaseline inside my nose worked pretty well (tablets too obvs) for bunged up noses.
For eyes - optichrom drops work amazing well for me. Been using them over 20 yrs now most years. Almost instant relief once administered.

[anxious_ant]

Jakey54 said:

For what it’s worth, personally I found nasal sprays didn’t do much for me - but showers and then a smear of Vaseline inside my nose worked pretty well (tablets too obvs) for bunged up noses.
For eyes - optichrom drops work amazing well for me. Been using them over 20 yrs now most years. Almost instant relief once administered.

Ah, I have been smearing Vaseline but only on the outside. Never thought of smearing inside, but might give it a go for some relief.
Been feeling bit tired every morning as hadn't had a good kip.
I am currently still on cetirizine, and the effects wear off at night. As it's "one a day" I sometimes top up at night with kids dosage of Piriton syrup.

[liner33]

Doc told me I could take up to 3 cetrizine I typically take one in morning and one as i go to bed

[Venier]

Thanks for the tips, going to get him seen by a doctor to see if we can up his dosage or try something different although we did get some eye drops for him which I think helped.
Also got a sterimar nose spray but he point blank refused to use both the spray and the drops!!
Kids eh!

[pincher]

I'm allergic to cetirizine (ironically ) and a single loratadine isn't doing much at the moment - looks like I might need to increase dosage.

[Cabsi]

The other thing I do is run an air purifier in our bedroom for an hour before I go to bed. It does a good job of removing pollen from the air in the room, but not much good if you have pollen already on your pillow case (took me a while to work that one out).

[Sammo123]

Gilmore said:

This weekend has been truly awful.

Booked in for the jab to be done privately tomorrow.

Out of interest who have you called to have the jab? I've had hayfever for as long as I can remember and it makes summers miserable as no tablets or nose sprays do anything.

[mike74]

lemonslap said:

You can take as an adult more antihistamine than recommended according to my GP, not sure with children however.

I take 4 x cetirizine, 4 x loratadine and 1 x fexofenadine everyday without any ill effects. My understanding is Loratadine affects the body differently to cetirizine.

Wow!

I take half of one Cetrizine and I'm a dribbling zombie for the following 24 hours.

[geeks]

Not sure if its an old wives tail or not but I was told that a large spoonful of locally produced honey each day can help with hay fever at home.

I stick to a couple of Benadryl a day as when I was in MK there was no locally produced honey, but as a grown up I don't have to worry about doses so much

[egomeister]

pincher said:

I'm allergic to cetirizine (ironically ) and a single loratadine isn't doing much at the moment - looks like I might need to increase dosage.

There are a bunch more options available off the shelf that you can try - it's worth experimenting and seeing what works for you. I know people who swear by loratadine but it's never done anything for me. Terfenadine (Triludan) was great for me back in the day so I'm glad that it's replacement fexofendine is readily available now and seems to be working ok for me the last few days.

Some more options with different active ingredients (although I think some might be older products that are more liable to make you drowsy)

Tablets:
https://www.boots.com/allevia-120mg-tablets-x-15-1...
https://www.boots.com/benadryl-allergy-relief-12-c...
https://www.boots.com/piriton-allergy-tablets-30-t...

Nose sprays:
https://www.boots.com/health-pharmacy/medicines-tr...
https://www.boots.com/holidays/staycation-essentia...

[FilH]

geeks said:

Not sure if its an old wives tail or not but I was told that a large spoonful of locally produced honey each day can help with hay fever at home.

I stick to a couple of Benadryl a day as when I was in MK there was no locally produced honey, but as a grown up I don't have to worry about doses so much

Works for some ( the honey that is ) others not.

Hayfevers different for everyone, and so are what medication works.

Tried the lot over the years and all usless , except the injection, which almost over night stops it for a few months.

[Paul Dishman]

geeks said:

Not sure if its an old wives tail or not but I was told that a large spoonful of locally produced honey each day can help with hay fever at home.

I seem to recall that was trialled and found to be ineffective, so it is an old wives tale.

[egomeister]

Paul Dishman said:

geeks said:

Not sure if its an old wives tail or not but I was told that a large spoonful of locally produced honey each day can help with hay fever at home.

I seem to recall that was trialled and found to be ineffective, so it is an old wives tale.

Still more plausible than the homeopathic stuff someone suggested I try once

[pincher]

egomeister said:

pincher said:

I'm allergic to cetirizine (ironically ) and a single loratadine isn't doing much at the moment - looks like I might need to increase dosage.

There are a bunch more options available off the shelf that you can try - it's worth experimenting and seeing what works for you. I know people who swear by loratadine but it's never done anything for me. Terfenadine (Triludan) was great for me back in the day so I'm glad that it's replacement fexofendine is readily available now and seems to be working ok for me the last few days.

Some more options with different active ingredients (although I think some might be older products that are more liable to make you drowsy)

Tablets:
https://www.boots.com/allevia-120mg-tablets-x-15-1...
https://www.boots.com/benadryl-allergy-relief-12-c...
https://www.boots.com/piriton-allergy-tablets-30-t...

Nose sprays:
https://www.boots.com/health-pharmacy/medicines-tr...
https://www.boots.com/holidays/staycation-essentia...

Thanks - I think I might give Allevia a go, based on other poster's experience.

[Gilmore]

Sammo123 said:

Out of interest who have you called to have the jab? I've had hayfever for as long as I can remember and it makes summers miserable as no tablets or nose sprays do anything.

Just googled 'Hayfever Jab Near Me' and found someone local.

£60.

See if ti does anything at about 2:30 today!