# Antihistamines



## Andy in Germany (19 Feb 2022)

I keep getting an alternately bunged up and runny nose to the point I can barely breathe through it. It's not a cold, and seems to be a reaction to something pollinating locally.

I _really _hope it isn't grapes, or I'm stuffed.

I've been using nose spray antihistamines far too much just so I can breathe and eat, and not sneeze on customers. Does anyone know of another effective remedy? I tried salt spray and it didn't touch the bunged-up-ness one bit. but my sinuses caught fire.


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## Time Waster (19 Feb 2022)

Loratidine tablets work best for me. Safe, nondrowsy and works.


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## MontyVeda (19 Feb 2022)

Have you tried Sudafed tablets?

They've always cleared bunged up sinuses in the past for me... but didn't touch last weeks' cold.

Failing that, Tiger balm if you're brave enough to ram some up your nose


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## Andy in Germany (19 Feb 2022)

MontyVeda said:


> Have you tried Sudafed tablets?
> 
> They've always cleared bunged up sinuses' in the past for me... but didn't touch last weeks' cold.
> 
> Failing that, Tiger balm if you're brave enough to ran some up your nose



Tiger balm is potentially smelly and I have clients who are incredibly smell sensitive. Tablets would seem better.


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## Andy in Germany (19 Feb 2022)

Time Waster said:


> Loratidine tablets work best for me. Safe, nondrowsy and works.



Thanks, I forgot to mention "non drowsy" is important.


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## KnittyNorah (19 Feb 2022)

Andy in Germany said:


> Thanks, I forgot to mention "non drowsy" is important.


I get seasonal allergic rhinitis - ie runny nose/bunged up/catarrh type thing from February to June/July - ish; the worst is usually Feb/March from tree pollens. Loratadine is my usual go-to.
I'd used a new-to-me pharmacy for the first time in October for my flu jab and liked them very much, so I went in to ask the pharmacist there about what might be new and useful for seasonal allergic rhinitis. 
He sold me a once-a-day nasal spray - brand name Pirinase; 0.05% fluticasone propionate - I used it as directed for two days at the beginning of the month when my nose was running like a tap, and it's been so much better that I've not needed it since! A good thing too as it goes out of date very soon which is why he sold it to me for £1.99 instead of its usual OTC price of about £14! However now I know it works like the proverbial charm I'll be looking for the generic form, or maybe even visiting my GP to get a prescription for it ...


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## midlife (19 Feb 2022)

Mometasone nasal spray is pretty effective too, need to read the instructions carefully...


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## Reynard (19 Feb 2022)

It won't be grapes @Andy in Germany - they don't even come into leaf till around mid May. At this time of year, the culprit is most likely to be hazel and blackthorn if it's a pollen-based issue. My stand of hazel is covered in male catkins right now, and the sloes and cherry plums are also starting to bloom.

I can't use the non-drowsy tablets as they make me feel sick. But half a Cetirizine Hydrochloride tablet (the basic OTC antihistamine) works for me. Gives just enough relief without any side effects.


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## KnittyNorah (19 Feb 2022)

Alder, birch, elm and yew (and probably some others) can produce pollen _very_ early in the year, depending on the weather and the temperatures as early as January. The wind-borne pollens - ie many tree and grass pollens - are the worst for many people. As a teenager I had horrible reactions to grass pollens in particular, but over the years these became less severe and now I only have a seasonal allergic rhinitis.


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## Reynard (20 Feb 2022)

The one that gets me every time is elderflower pollen... And out this way, it's very difficult to avoid it, the damn things grow like weeds.


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## KnittyNorah (20 Feb 2022)

Reynard said:


> The one that gets me every time is elderflower pollen... And out this way, it's very difficult to avoid it, the damn things grow like weeds.


Elderflower pollen - and pollen which is intended for animal-mediated pollination, produced by other plants - bothers me little, if at all, compared to the pollens produced for wind-borne pollination. Doesn't matter where I am - the wind borne stuff will find me!


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## Andy in Germany (24 Feb 2022)

Reynard said:


> My stand of hazel is covered in male catkins right now, and the sloes and cherry plums are also starting to bloom.
> 
> I can't use the non-drowsy tablets as they make me feel sick. But half a Cetirizine Hydrochloride tablet (the basic OTC antihistamine) works for me. Gives just enough relief without any side effects.



After you wrote that I realised how many catkins I pass on the way to work...

I'm trying the Cetirizin tablets and things have certainly improved in the areas of breathing (more) and sneezing (less) and runny nose (dry), which is a massive improvement. They may be making me drowsy but that's just as likely because I'm undisciplined about going to bed at a decent hour.


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## Tom B (19 Mar 2022)

Another with allergic rhinitis.

I go with citirizine hydrochloride (zirtek) or loratadine.

I'm not sure if you can get tolerance to them but I usually end up on about 50mg a day (five times the standard dose) at peak times. I mentioned it to a GP once and he said it's fine. I seem immune to the drowsy effects. But I do suffer more at night and quite often dose up again.

My little lad also takes half a tab.

They're cheap as chips at about £2-3 per 30.

I've never had much joy with nose squirters.

I did get one of the third generation antihistamines that was a pill every 6hours worked well but was more of a faff. I think I was given it at hospital by a sympathetic doc when in with my lad. I bought some more OTC but I couldn't tell you the name now.


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## Time Waster (19 Mar 2022)

KnittyNorah said:


> I get seasonal allergic rhinitis - ie runny nose/bunged up/catarrh type thing from February to June/July - ish; the worst is usually Feb/March from tree pollens. Loratadine is my usual go-to.
> I'd used a new-to-me pharmacy for the first time in October for my flu jab and liked them very much, so I went in to ask the pharmacist there about what might be new and useful for seasonal allergic rhinitis.
> He sold me a once-a-day nasal spray - brand name Pirinase; 0.05% fluticasone propionate - I used it as directed for two days at the beginning of the month when my nose was running like a tap, and it's been so much better that I've not needed it since! A good thing too as it goes out of date very soon which is why he sold it to me for £1.99 instead of its usual OTC price of about £14! However now I know it works like the proverbial charm I'll be looking for the generic form, or maybe even visiting my GP to get a prescription for it ...


That stuff had been around for a long time. I got prescribed it as a kid with antihistamine tablets. Stopped them after they gave me nosebleeds. Seriously bad for that. Most of the nasal sprays for allergies do that for me.


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## JB052 (19 Mar 2022)

When


Andy in Germany said:


> I keep getting an alternately bunged up and runny nose to the point I can barely breathe through it.


Might be worth looking at the Buteyko breathing exercise to unblock your nose, I find it very effective.


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## KnittyNorah (20 Mar 2022)

Time Waster said:


> That stuff had been around for a long time. I got prescribed it as a kid with antihistamine tablets. Stopped them after they gave me nosebleeds. Seriously bad for that. Most of the nasal sprays for allergies do that for me.


Yes, that's one of the side-effects warnings. Reasonable to be made aware of it, as medium to long term topical use of any steroid will change the tissue its used on. If I only need to use one squirt once a month, for a few months each year, I shan't worry much about it.


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## Reynard (20 Mar 2022)

KnittyNorah said:


> Yes, that's one of the side-effects warnings. Reasonable to be made aware of it, as medium to long term topical use of any steroid will change the tissue its used on. If I only need to use one squirt once a month, for a few months each year, I shan't worry much about it.



One squirt a day I reckon... Not sure one a month would be terribly effective... 

I was a long-term user for a chronic sinus issue, but these days I find I manage well if I use the spray only when I have flare-ups, and simply use half a tab of cetirizine to keep the hayfever under control. I don't really remember having nose bleeds, but sometimes the stuff didn't half sting...


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## KnittyNorah (20 Mar 2022)

Reynard said:


> One squirt a day I reckon... Not sure one a month would be terribly effective...
> 
> I was a long-term user for a chronic sinus issue, but these days I find I manage well if I use the spray only when I have flare-ups, and simply use half a tab of cetirizine to keep the hayfever under control. I don't really remember having nose bleeds, but sometimes the stuff didn't half sting...


My hayfever/allergic rhinitis/whatever it is is _very_ mild nowadays and has been getting milder as I get older. It was horrendous when I was a teenager; back then there was only the 'sleepy' antihistamine available which meant either be so sleepy or have a nose running like a tap and sneezing sessions fit to burst and very disruptive for self and others ... I suspect nowadays you'd get special allowances for at least some part of the GCSE and A-level exams, but we just had to battle on ... one girl who was even more badly affected than any of the rest of us, with asthma all through summer, got special dispensation to do hers at the time usually permitted only for re-sits, ie in November, but that was considered very drastic and exceptional.

The past few years I've found that a week's course of almost any antihistamine at the start of the season (need to catch it before the allergic reaction gets a chance to ramp up, as it were) will give me good control for an extended period (maybe just taking a tablet occasionally when the pollen count's extra high) and then another week of tablets after a couple of months and repeat once again to see me through the summer ie February - April - June or thereabouts. 
It seems this spray will be even better at a rate of a sniff a month or so; I have to say that I prefer it to the tablet-taking. I used it twice early in February and I've not had the tell-tale allergic 'tickles' until today, slightly. I'll see how it goes the next couple of days but one sniff every six weeks or so is OK by me!


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## Time Waster (20 Mar 2022)

I used to work with a woman who had allergies so bad she was taking 4 branded antihistamines a day and still had continuous runny nose and often sneezed hard in 10 to 15 sneeze bursts at the height of her pollen allergy season. She found anything other than the main brand version gave her a sore throat on top of the rest of the symptoms. 

The nasal spray for me can take just one or two sprays to trigger a nose bleed. They're not just a quick one but bleed and bleeds for some time! Not nice. Must admit the bleed itself doesn't bother me as much as not knowing if I'm walking around with a bloody nose on show if there's no m mirror to check and clean myself up properly. Now I use selfie camera if course but not back then as they weren't available.


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