Allergy control

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:53 pm

i know there has been numerous discussions in past threads about the best medication for allergy control. it is not something that affected me, then. Spring has sprung here, i am not used to living in a place with so much pollen!

I just wanted to pose the question - which allergy/histamine medication is best and why
(ie least reactive MC wise, despite the small amout of lactose)

1) Loratadine (USA -Claritin AUS Claratyne) has small amount of lactose - no gluten

2) Cetirizine Hydrochloride (USA and Aus Zyrtec) has small amount of lactose - no gluten

3) Fexofenadine Hydrochloride (Allegra or Telfast) (no gluten no lactose)

4) Dexchlorpheniramine (USA?? Aus Polaramine) has small amount of lactose - no gluten

Post by **tex** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 8:20 pm

Gabes,

I don't have any experience with any of those, unfortunately. I used to take Chlor-Tripolon, but the pills contain lactose. I notice that they also make a syrup version, that does not contain any lactose. That suggests that maybe some of the other brands might do the same. Here are the ingredients for Chlor-Tripolon syrup, for example:

Syrup: Each 5 mL contains: chlorpheniramine maleate USP 2.5 mg. Nonmedicinal ingredients: alcohol (<7%); benzaldehyde; dye, FD & C Blue No. 1; dye, FD & C Yellow No. 10; flavor, peach imitation; glycerin; menthol; methylparaben; propylene glycol; propylparaben; sucrose; vanillin and water. Energy: 90 kJ (21.5 kcal). Tartrazine-free. Bottles of 100 mL.

In the U. S., it's called Chlor-Trimeton. The 12-hour time-delay capsules used to be my fav antihistamine, (until the FDA apparently decided to make it a prescription-only medication, a few years ago). Prior to that, it was available OTC. The 4-hour capsules are still available OTC, but they're not nearly as good as the 12-hour version. (I ordered the Chlor-Tripolon from a Canadian pharmacy.

Anyway, you might look to see if any syrup versions of any of those antihistamines are available in Oz, without the lactose.

Tex

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 8:33 pm

Thanks for that Tex

I wasnt sure if there were certain types of anti allergy meds (ie the actual active ingredient) that were better or worse for MC people.

interestingly.. according to this website: (if i am reading it correctly)
http://www.pharmacogeneticstests.com/in ... 16&page=16

Chlor Trimeton has the alternative name of Polaramine in Australia...

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 9:46 pm

This is a great question, Gabes. I hope others respond to it.

I have tried both Claritin and Zyrtec to reduce mast cell issues, but haven't found either one to be helpful. I'm not sure if they exacerbated my MC symptoms because of the lactose, since I was having symptoms anyway. The lactose ingredient is a reason I haven't wanted to get on a regular regimen of either.

I'm intrigued by your post that Allegra has neither lactose nor gluten. Perhaps I should try it.

Gloria

Post by **tex** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 10:18 pm

Gabes,

I believe you're right. The reason I used to use that particular antihistamine, was because I could take one in the morning, and it would keep me symptom-free until the next morning, and I never noticed any bothersome side-effects. I used to have hay fever pretty bad, especially in the fall, when ragweed was blooming, but since I've been taking a lot of folic acid, (in the Metanx), I still get hay fever symptoms, but they're normally not serious enough to justify taking an antihistamine, so I haven't taken one in almost 2 years. I never noticed that it caused any MC-type symptoms, but as you know, I don't seem to react to casein, so I'm not a good guinea pig for testing.

Tex

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Sun Sep 25, 2011 10:44 pm

Thanks Gloria and Tex
Caesin and Lactose are the least troublesome of my triggers. my very supportive pharmacist said the as an inactive ingredient the amount of lactose per tablet is also very low (ie generally less than 5 ml per tablet)

I havent needed allergy control for the past 4 years or more, and just wanted to do a double check in case there was a known enemny for us MC'ers.

Gloria, please double check the ingredient listing for the USA, the fact sheet I used to check the inactive ingredients is for the Australian release of the med.

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:24 am

Gabes,
My hubby's family, and now my daughter, are veteran antihistamine users. In their experience, and my daughter's allergist agrees, Claritin does not help many allergy sufferes. My hubby is totally immune to it. Zyrtec works, but it crosses the blood-brain barrier, so it causes drowsiness compared to Claritin and Allegra (Fexofenadine). Everyone in the family uses Allegra, and they don't seem to be bothered by any side effects. I was annoyed that the children's suspension was full of parabens, but the pills should be fine. I can't comment on MC-tolerance issues though. Fexofenadine went OTC this year and it flew of shelves. It seems you can buy generic OTC now as well, so it's much more affordable than it used to be.

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:30 pm

Thanks for that Zizzle

when i had a chat to the pharmacist, he said the only lactose free non drowsy variant was the childrens syrup, I had already checked the ingredients and it is high risk for soy.

we checked the tablet size of each of the avialable options, smaller the tablet = less amount of inactive ingredients = least amount of lactose

the choice then came down to claritine (claratyne here) and Zyrtec

he said that 7% of people that take zyrtec did report drowsiness issues, the meds i take for PCOS also cause drowsiness so he said the risk of it having that impact was probably higher with me.

so i got 10 tabs of the claratyne to see how i go,

Be wary of generics - there is a much higher risk of them having gluten or lactose or soy. Here in australia the generics do not have to list the inactive ingredients, so there is no way to check if there are nastys.

randyh · Post by **randyh** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:23 pm

I have been taking the generic claratin, seems to help out. I had some really bad allergy and sinus problems last winter and I decided to limit my dairy intake, take claratin, some sudofed (sorry for the spelling), humidifier in our bedroom (Very dry here in New Mexico) and netipot tow or three times a day and finally got a handle on it. I have stopped taking the sudofed since its not recommended for long term use. None of this seemed to cause me any issues and I can breath.

Randy

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:42 pm

Thanks for sharing Randy

The pharmacists said that across the range of allergy meds that are available, what works for one person may not work for another. (gee that sounds familiar)

based on this discussion it would seem the actual 'active ingredients' in the varying options available do not cause MC issues so that is good news.