SPRING HAY FEVER HELL: Claritin?

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So, thus far, this has been a bad one in terms of Hay Fever seasons are concerned. On several occaissions in the past couple of weeks, I've been practically crippled by sneezing/watery-eye attacks of the most extreme kind. At one point, I took some Tylenol Maximum Strength Allergy Sinus stuff....and while it somewhat diminished the sneezin'/itchy eyes, it completely knocked me out like a lifeless rag doll. Couldn't do a thing. I might as well have taken heroin.

So, every third person's been recommending the new over-the-counter, no presciption necessary non-drowsy CLARITIN. It looks formidable, and has a price to match ($25.19 for a box of 20 tablets). I have yet to give it a try. Has anyone here tried it? What are the side-affect if any? Can you function normally? No medicine-head?

Very curious. Do tell.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 15:58 (twenty-two years ago)

I use ZIRTEK. It works until early evening. Then you are so much meat for the pollen demons. No side effects.

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:00 (twenty-two years ago)

For me Claritin has been a godsend -- effective and nonhypnotic. Also, now that the stuff is over-the-counter, there are cheaper generic brands. Look on the packaging for words like "same active ingredient as Claritin." Also, drug stores (in the Washington area at least) have been running specials for Claritin and its competitors.

― j.lu (j.lu), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex, i just started taking the generic version of Claritin last week. ALAVERT. I was nervous about side effects, because I'm paranoid of drugs. There aren't any as far as I have experienced. I bought the melt-in-your-mouth kind, they taste good. They also seem to be working pretty good. I haven't felt tired on them either and seem to function normally (which is half out of it anyways). Strongly recommend.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:02 (twenty-two years ago)

look for the generic name LORATADINE.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Hm, I'll have to keep this in mind. I am prone to terrible sinus headaches (but not actually runny noses, oddly enough) in spring and maybe this might help somehow, since regular aspirin and the like does nothing.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:06 (twenty-two years ago)

i've never noticed any side-effects from claritin (except emptiness of wallet): i have to stock up every time i visit my maw and paw, who live in the country, which i am entirely allergic to

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I have pretty bad allergies, and Claritin and Allegra do nothing for me except make them worse and give me migranes. But I seem to be the only person I've talked to who's had this happen. I used to see an allergist but stopped when I began to suspect it wasn't making anything better. I take Tavist now and have for about 10 years and it seems to do the trick most of the time. I've been told that steroid nasal sprays are the best (Flonase in particular I think)...should be getting some soon.

― kyle, Wednesday, 7 May 2003 16:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex, do you have health insurance? If so, it might be cheaper to get Allegra or allergy shots. The Claritin sounds awfully pricey.

― Nicole (Nicole), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 17:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I just popped my first Claritin pill at 3:15. So far, I have sprouted a tail nor started speaking backwards-Latin, so I guess so far so good. Have the symptoms gone away? Yes, but I'm also inside at the moment. We'll see.

I don't mind paying the biggus buckus for the stuff if it works (tho' cheaper alternatives of comparable strength are preferred, it's true). My bouts with allergy trouble generally only last a couple of weeks, so one box of the stuff ought to suffice.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 19:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Flonase works well for me. And I have asthma as a side effect of my allergies, so I use Proventil for that.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 19:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think you'll get side effects with Claritin. Oddly, its new replacement, Clarinex, which is supposed to be almost the same, seemed to make me off-balance (literally).

For the truly desperate: I recommend nasal irrigation. Attach a "Grossan tip" (available for purchase online) to a Waterpik device. Put warm salt water into the reservoir, turn the Waterpik on its lowest setting, then allow the water to go in one nostril and out the other. Reverse and do the other side. Warning: this can sometimes lead to unanticipated delayed outflow later on. If you bend over and wave your head around while exhaling through your nose, you can get rid of some of the excess. Some days I cannot get rid of a sinus headache until I do this procedure.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 7 May 2003 19:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Maybe leaking water out of your nose uncontrollably would enhance your image at the right shows.

― Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 7 May 2003 19:50 (twenty-two years ago)

geez, does everyone have this shit?

I took Claritin for a while, and it helped a bit but I also got Kyle's reaction. Not all of the medicines respond to all of the allergens. (but it sounds like yours is seasonal and thus Claritin or a similar generic might be appropriate).

Flonase is good stuff in my experience. None of these is perfect, but I've been off the allergy meds for weeks (months?) because I've been too busy/lazy to go to the doctor and am pretty much unable to breathe.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 8 May 2003 00:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I had a course of pollinex injections, must be 30-odd years ago. It had been bad before that - I am a major-league asthmatic, and this kicked it off of course. These jabs got rid of my hay fever completely and so far it hasn't come back. I asked about them years later, and was told they had been withdrawn - permanent cure in 80% of cases, but an unwanted side effect in some unspecified number of others: death.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 8 May 2003 20:32 (twenty-two years ago)

For the truly desperate: I recommend nasal irrigation.

A milder version of this is pho or ramen soup and noodles--the steam and spice help open clogged sinuses.

― j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 8 May 2003 20:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Inhaling the steam from boiling eucalyptus leaves is also good, but it's hard on whatever pan is used.

― Rockist Scientist, Thursday, 8 May 2003 21:05 (twenty-two years ago)

the only allergy medicine that ever worked for me w/o side effects is ZIRTEK.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 8 May 2003 21:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Now, a little over twenty-four hours later, I am somewhat surprised....I continued to sneeze a little bit (though who knows if it would have been worse if I hadn't taken the Claritin tablet). There was the slightest feeling of drowsiness (and it was tougher than usual to wake up this morning), but overall it was fine.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 8 May 2003 21:15 (twenty-two years ago)

You can get eucalyptus oil, as well (well you can in Australia) and this in boiling water is very good for steaming open a clogged head. I've suffered half my life with chronic clagged sinuses to the point that it feels more normal not to be able to breathe well :-/

Since I moved to Melbourne from Canberra I've had almost no hayfever (way less wattle and other such native polleny plants) but Claratyne (our version of Claratin) is great. Best way it works is if you take it well before you leave the house, it seems to work better being already in your system rather than during an attack.

Theres also this thing called Clarinase 24 hour which has some obscenely large amount of pseudoephedrine in it (240mg or something? eg 4 times a usual dose... sposed to be slow release - ha). Great for the sinuses but geez, you'll be bouncing off the walls for a week.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 8 May 2003 21:23 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

Arrrgh my fucking eyes are super-sensitive to light and keep jumping in and out of focus. I'm guessing this is hayfever. What do I do?

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

What OTC drugs can tide me over until I get prescribed Zyrtek? This is ridiculous/

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I CANNOT SEE STRAIGHT

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

i wish you would have told me this earlier, i could have hooked you up.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

If I'm all fucked up this evening, you'll know why.

I caught myself driving with one eye stuck shut yesterday!

(also, can I hold on to the DVDs for a bit longer or do you want them back?)

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

sounds like what i went to the eye doctor for last week, allergy symptoms as well as conjunctivitis.

― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

YES! Did it feel like you kept going cross-eyed? And couldn't focus?

I need someone else to feel my pain.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:43 (twenty-one years ago)

My eyes are literally dancing around inside of my head like jumping beans.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I try to explain to people at work that I have this problem, but after my repeated visits to the doctor all last week, I know they're thinking "oh god, another passive-agressive hypochondriac paranoid JEW!".

(/Larry David)

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:46 (twenty-one years ago)

yes, very sensitive to light. You need to get some eye drops, Tobradex. Prescription only though. Go see an eye doctor.

― Velveteen Bingo (Chris V), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Have just discovered that Boots sells generic loratedine for 50p less (per 7-tab box) than Clarityn itself. Woo!

― caitlin (caitlin), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 18:19 (twenty-one years ago)

i've used claritin and clarinex and I have ZERO side effects and my reaction is gone in less than a half hour. granted, I don usually have awful sneezing fits, but I can. usually it's more of an itchy itchy itchy burning in the ear/nose/throat junction and a bit of sneezing. but its gone with these magic pills.

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 18:47 (twenty-one years ago)

three years pass...

FUCK. THIS. SHIT.

― The stickman from the hilarious "xkcd" comics, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 09:49 (seventeen years ago)

at least you don't have a stinking cold in the middle of fucking june

― Just got offed, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 09:51 (seventeen years ago)

yeah i got awful hayfever eye itch on the train yesterday morning. It's just the way it sneaks up on me I hate, before i know it i'm scratching the shit out of my eyeballs as if someone has thrown acid in my face.

― Ste, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:06 (seventeen years ago)

I've progressed from barbed wire throat through to nose bleeds from excess nasal irritation

― The stickman from the hilarious "xkcd" comics, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:07 (seventeen years ago)

I wonder if there's a subculture based around hayfever?

― Just got offed, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:09 (seventeen years ago)

today is a bad day.

― caek, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:10 (seventeen years ago)

can you get zyrtec in the uk? it's over the counter now in the us. that stuff works

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:10 (seventeen years ago)

VOILA: http://www.sneezefetishforum.org/forums/index.php?showforum=49

― Just got offed, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:12 (seventeen years ago)

More specifically: http://www.sneezefetishforum.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=28580

― Just got offed, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:13 (seventeen years ago)

I mean the whole thing's quotable but this might take the biscuit:

Her whole body reacted with every sneeze, even her legs and feet reacted, they moved with every sneeze

― Just got offed, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:15 (seventeen years ago)

I've progressed from barbed wire throat through to nose bleeds from excess nasal irritation

Dom, I'm medicated to the gills against hayfever and I had these symptoms for three weeks, the barbed-wire throat being particularly notable. I think it's just the rhinovirus of the month.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:23 (seventeen years ago)

stop harshing on pollen's harmless fun, Passantino, I suppose next you'll be criticising Chlamydia or shingles because they don't confirm to your narrow cynical wordview where continues for 18 pages

― MPx4A, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:34 (seventeen years ago)

I get nosebleeds off basically punching myself repeatedly in the nose trying to force a sneeze

― MPx4A, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:34 (seventeen years ago)

lol ferg

C'mon guys I've just stumbled across possibly the most staggering repository of internet WTF you've never seen, maybe we could figure rooting around

― Just got offed, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:37 (seventeen years ago)

Shall I investigate "Stories" (750 topics) or "Artwork" (461 topics)?

― Just got offed, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:38 (seventeen years ago)

We're jaded, man.

― The stickman from the hilarious "xkcd" comics, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:38 (seventeen years ago)

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u107/Vinerilla/STP80329.jpg

― Just got offed, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:39 (seventeen years ago)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/trblmn/ohgodoa6rq7.gif

― caek, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:43 (seventeen years ago)

ok it's just deviantart with a kick

"stories" probably a greater source of lolz

― Just got offed, Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:47 (seventeen years ago)

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