Tell me your Claritin stories-- good or bad

[Bossy Monkey]

preferably ones pertaining to generic or private label (ie store brand) equivalents. Girlfriend and I are both mildly allergic to her cats. I tried antihistamine eye drops and for a while was very happy with them, but am lately finding that they seem to be causing excitability, and not in the good way. Benadryl has been recommended to me, but I can't seem to find a non-drowsy version, and anyway there's lactose in most formulations and I'm lactose-intolerant. Soooooo there's Claritin. Food Lion has a 300-count store-brand version for $20, but I don't trust Food Lion overmuch and can't find the 300-count bottle anywhere else. (For people not from the Southeast, Food Lion is equivalent to whatever is the lowest price, lowest quality chain in your area. You may recall the news reports from years past of them dipping spoiled meat in ammonia so they could continue selling it. I think this was debunked, but still.)

Forgive dissertation. If you don't know about any of this stuff, don't worry about it. Just tell me whatever your experience has been with Claritin. (It helps if the story involves pet allergies, of course.)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. Personally, I'm kept alive by Claritin during hay fever season

On really bad days, I have to supplement with a squirt of NasalChrom, but otherwise, it reduces the allergic reaction to the barely noticeable level.

The day that Claritin went OTC was a landmark day for me!

I use Walgreen's store brand, which goes by the name of "Wal-itin." It's about 25% cheaper and seems to work just as well.

[flamingyouth]

2. It doesn't work for me.

I wish it did. I'm allergic to my cats and to lots of different plants. :(

[sendero]

18. Or me...

... about the only allergy medication I've tried that does nothing. None of the "non-drowsy" versions are as good as the old-fashioned "you will feel woozy" types, but Zyrtec works at least a bit for me.

[Heddi]

20. Did nothing for me either

I had taken it when it was Rx only, and it wasn't terribly expensive (with insurance) but it was absolutely useless for me and my husband, and we both have vastly different allergies, all supposedly treatable with Claritin.

I should also let the OP know that I have *NEVER* seen a patient in the hospital take Claritin. The MD's don't Rx it. If you've got allergies, you're getting benadryl or a host of other antihistamines, but NEVER claritin. And not only have I never seen it Rx'ed in the hospital, but I've never had a patient come in that took Claritin as a home-med for allergies either.

After about 8 months on Claritin, I went back to Benadryl and some other things for my allergies/hives and they work just fine.

[Evergreen Emerald]

24. did not work for my daughter either

And since they went over the counter, the insurance does not cover anything "equivlant" so we are stuck with a huge monthly bill for allergy meds.

[flamingyouth]

29. Yeah, I know, doesn't that suck?

:(

[LostinVA]

3. I use a generic Claritin and a 12-hour "crystal meth" pill

That works the best for me -- although it still doesn't work great!

[asthmaticeog]

4. I think the stuff's a godsend.

I was ELATED when they made it OTC - I'm allergic to dogs & cats, and almost all of my friends have pets. I often wind up taking 3 or 4 of the 24-hr pills every week. Never did try the store-brand, though.

[The Sushi Bandit]

5. Claritin was one hot babe!

she never said no. Even to the thing with the hot peanut butter and tootsie rolls!

[politicat]

6. Do you just need the anti-histimine?

Loratidine works really well for both of us. We need the decongestant as well, so we use the Costco version of Claritin D (lots of it - DH is in the same boat as you, except the cats are his, and I'm allergic to MTBE and other winter gasoline additives.)

Walgreens (boo, hiss) and RiteAid out here both carry the 100 bottle for about 5.49, so 3 of them would be 16.50, or less than Food Lion is charging. I'd check CVS or one of the others and work out the per pill cost.

And the generics are supposed to work as well as the non-generics.

[Bossy Monkey]

7. I just need antihistamine; she needs decongestant

Thanks, good point! I was thinking the 300 count would be good for both of us, but maybe 100 count for each of us, one with decongestant, one without would be better.

Alas, the nearest Costco is in Charlotte, 80 miles up the road. I think RiteAid got eaten up by Eckerd's around here, but I may be mistaken. Anyway, I'll look around. Thanks again!

[Talismom]

21. I also use Costco's version of Lorotodine and find that it works very well

From the time my twins could utter a word my husband taught them to say, "My mommy has seasonal allergic rhinitis," then to hold up 4 fingers and say, "in 4 seasons!" Got quite a reaction from people!

Seriously, I seem to be allergic to everything and this stuff really works without breaking us!

[politicat]

27. Awww.... how cute....

in a slightly twisted sort of way! I like it!!

[LeftyMom]

8. All the claritin pills I've seen were lactose based

Most pills of any kind are (for example, every birth control pill sold in the US has dairy in it.) :(

Maybe you could take the liquid?

[Bossy Monkey]

10. Thanks, I'll definitely check before buying any

and will certainly look for the liquid version. Thanks again!

[bettyellen]

9. love it, even the generic. a nurse told me if you are in a really bad way

to take 1 1/2 - 2X the recommended dosage and it works amazingly well that way if i'm stuffy, even without the "D".
once my sinus was so bad i was seeing double (it was pressing against my eyeball) that was one of the times i took two, and it worked in an hour.
less craziness than sudafed, not as tiring as benedryl, it's the best for me. i also use saline wash when i know i'm exposing myself to bad stuff. i need to get better at the netti pot too, that's a little weird for me just yet.
Nasalcrom spray is great ocassionally for decongesting, also OTC, and very good. Not like those old sprays that sting and just dry you up for a while.

[OhioBlue]

11. I love Claritin D

and the generic brands work just as well for me. I struggle with allergies and get a lot of sinus infections if I don't take them.

btw - there are a few people on this board that know a lot about cats, so if I'm wrong on the following I trust they will correct me... but

I think you could also try a powder or spray from your local pet store - you put it on the cats and it is supposed to counteract the chemical in their saliva that causes allergic reactions. I bought some a couple of years ago, but never used it (I tried to find the bottle to give you more info, but I must have thrown it out b/c it was old) - I ended up just keeping up with the allergy medicine for me.

[RockaFowler]

19. Claritin D Works for me too

I buy it at Sam's for $26 for 30 pills. My insurance raised the cost of my Zyrtec D to $35 for 30 day supply. So, I looked into Claritin D and found it was cheaper. It works perfect for me. Plus my husband said that I don't snore any longer since I started on it.

[Lady President]

12. They don't help me

I have pretty good luck with most allergy medicine, but Claritin doesn't do anything for me. I could pop them like M&Ms and they wouldn't help. No matter what you try, I'd start by buying a small amount to see how they work before going with the 300 count bottle.

[huskerlaw]

13. If Claritin works

the store brand will work exactly the same. Look at the ingredients. It's EXACTLY THE SAME. If you buy Claritin, you're paying for the name and the pretty package. (My parents are pharmacists, they would kill me if I bought actual Claritin)

[fight4my3sons]

14. makes me jittery

works well for my allergies though. I have used the Claritin-D and the regular Claritin

[tjdee]

15. The Claritin D made me feel like a nut. I sang "Underneath it All" loudly,

all day. I am not sure why it affected me like that. :shrug:

[Kali]

16. I started on it last fall

used the Safeway version - works GREAT, my allergies are fall plant pollens, house dust and some pet.

Benadryl has never done a THING for me, but other antihistamines work. On the drowsiness problem: I used to think I HAD to have fancy prescription stuff because everytime I would try an OTC it would wipe me out for like two days. And so I would give it up. - A few years ago I participated in an allergy med study and in the process learned that, at least for me, the instructions about drowsiness were actually true - the symptoms diminished over time. So until I got on the fake claritin last fall (another study - this was all I could take) what I would do is make sure to start the meds on a weekend so by Monday I could pretty much stay awake - after 7 to 10 days I never noticed any drowsiness. So if your life isn't tooo hectic and you can be flexible, those drowzy but CHEAPER meds may still be usable.

[Rabrrrrrr]

17. I use a generic Claritan in the summer when my allergies are fuckall.

And it works really about as well as any of the prescription medicines I used to take years ago.

Mine are - gasp - from Sam's Club, where they're something frightfully fucking cheap, like 300 pills for $15, or something. Way fucking less than Claritan.

[LSdemocrat]

22. Generic works great on my severe seasonal allergies, one downside:

For me it caused sore throat after about 2 weeks of use. The sore throat, however, was tolerable, and certainly worth the pain vs allergy symptoms.

[Bossy Monkey]

28. Actually, sore throat is one of my two constant symptoms...

so something that makes that worse wouldn't be something I'm eager to try. (The other one is itchy, watery eyes. Sinus headaches and congestion are just occasional annoyances, so far.)

[gardenista]

23. I tried the 12-hour for a few days. Didn't sleep for almost 72 hours

it was a nightmare.

I'd rather be stuffed up than never sleep again.

[arwalden]

25. Works For Me... But It Causes My Eyes To Dry Out...

So I figure BREATHING is more important than having tears.

[TroubleMan]

26. The Walgreens equivalent, Walitin, works fine for me.

And it's cheap, too.