I am suffering horribly with allergies. Claritin isn't doing anything for me. I have a nasal spray that I never use but tried this morning because I'm desperate. Anyone know of anything that can help (without making me drowsy)?
I like Allegra - but it is prescription. I used this with Flonase (a prescription nasal spray) and it helped immensely. However, all allergy medicines give me SERIOUS dry mouth. I am thirsty ALL the time. If you can deal with being totally dried out (I can b/c I hate dealing with my allergies) then try Allegra. But actually, I tried a lot of different prescription allergy medicines before I found that Allegra worked for me. If you make an appointment with your doctor, she/he will give you samples of drugs to try.
I have tried allegra...the side effects were really bad for me. I was very nauseous...did any of this happen to you? I do remember that I started using when I had just started using birth control so I wonder if the two together made me feel weird. I have tried Flonase, Kaiser switched to a generic brand I think (go figure) but I do have something similar.
I also found that zyrtec worked for me too. BUT it made me drowsy, so I had to take it at night. Zyrtec works 24 hours, so taking it at night was fine. My insurance decided not to cover me for zyrtec, but to approve me for allegra...so that is why I take allegra.
I really like allegra, and I could not live without it. The only side effect that I noticed with allegra is the dry mouth - which I can live with. But I think I have a strong stomach, because drugs don't usually make me naseous (even birth control).......
When I went to my doctor last year, she gave me lots of different kinds of allergy drugs to try. I met with her ~ 1 month later and told her I liked zyrtec/allegra the best. Maybe your doctor could do that for you? And I love Flonase. I HATE the weird floral smell, but I find that it works GREAT.
most allergy medicines make me tired or they dry out my nose so badly it bleeds. I just take Sudafed 12 hour once every other day or so. It doesn't help with the sneezing or the itchy eyes, but it does clear my sinuses.
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"We live in an age where unnecessary things are our only necessities." --Oscar Wilde
I have HORRIBLE allergies. I've taken everything under the sun and nothing helps. Allegra and Zyrtec do nothing for me. However I swear to you Flonase is awesome! It takes a couple days for it to really kick in, because it's a steroid. (It does have a weird flowery smell, but you get used to it, and I'd rather smell flowers than sneeze all the freakin' time.) But when it does kick in, it works really well. For example, I haven't even noticed that the pollen and juniper count is WAY up where I live! Aww...spring!
thanks for the advice girls, I've decided I will stick with Claritin but I'm going to start using my nasal spray twice a day as recommended. If I don't see results in a few weeks, I am going to see about changing Claritin to something different.