Which Allergy Medicine works for you?

Linda3032 · Post by **Linda3032** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:49 am

I've taken Actifed which contains pseudoephedrine and triprolidine for about 30 years -- and it worked great for me. But now, Actifed no longer uses those ingredients and it no longer works for me. The newer "non-drowsy" allergy medicine makes me "hyper" and I can't sleep at night.

So, I need to find a new allergy medicine that works for me. I tried Benedryl last night, and got heart palpitations.

Do you have a favorite allergy medicine (not the nasal sprays or washes please)? Dang, I hate it when they discontinue something that works.

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:01 am

what are you running a Meth lab?

Clarin-D has the same Pseudoephedrine sulfate (240mg) as the nasal decongestant but it uses 10mg of Loratadine as the Antihistamine.

both make you drowsy, many companies are removing the Pseudoephedrine due to the meth problem. In fact they should just ban the stuff, would go a long way in reducing the associated crime. I used to think I needed it also, but found a saline rinse works just as well.

Linda3032 · Post by **Linda3032** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:43 am

Snoredog wrote:what are you running a Meth lab?

Now, that's kinda a dumb question to be asking someone from Arkansas.

When I tried Allegra and Clarin years ago, they both made me hyper. I might have to revisit them.

SleepySandy · Post by **SleepySandy** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:14 pm

Hi Linda

I take Zyrtec when I need allergy meds. My husband has tried it and it made him really anxious. And, it took forever to wear off. If Allegra and Claritin made you hyper years ago, they probably still will.

I imagine there are other drugs out there with the combination of ingredients you need. I Googled triprolidine and found a few. They're not easy to find and you might need to ask your pharmacist or order them online (no meth lab joke brewing there )

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:19 pm

Linda3032 wrote:
Snoredog wrote:what are you running a Meth lab?

Now, that's kinda a dumb question to be asking someone from Arkansas.

Bummer:

U.S. DENIES FUNDS FOR STATE METH CLEANUP; OFFICIALS MULL OPTIONS

By: Michelle Bradford
Date: March 25, 2000

Congress didn't deem Arkansas worthy of federal grant money to clean up hazardous methamphetamine labs although the state led the nation last year in the number of lab seizures per capita. As a result, federal and state officials are scrambling to find money to cover cleanup costs.

State officials will gather at 3 p.m. Monday at the state Department of Environmental Quality's conference room in Arkansas State Police headquarters in Little Rock to explore funding options. "We're facilitating the idea of getting together the critical players -- the state police, the governor's office, the drug director and other law enforcement representatives -- in a coordinated effort to find solutions to this funding crisis," said Becky Keogh, deputy director of the state Department of Environmental Quality. State agencies received word last week that federal Drug Enforcement Administration grant money used to clean up methamphetamine labs in 2000 had run out. That means state and local law enforcement agencies will get the bills from hazardous material companies that clean up and dispose of chemicals used to make methamphetamine. "It's just going to wreck us," Jefferson County Sheriff Boe Fontaine said. "We shut down 50 labs last year. We're never going to be able to afford to pay for cleanup." Already this year, evidence technicians from the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock have responded to 180 methamphetamine-making sites across the state, said lab Director Jim Clark. It generally cost from $2,000 to $10,000 to clean up a lab depending on its size, according to police. The chemicals found in a meth lab are often toxic or flammable, and they must be cleaned up by a private company contracted by law enforcement officials. Since 1998, the Drug Enforcement Administration has granted money through the federal Community Oriented Police Service program to pay the cost of methamphetamine lab cleanup across the nation. Congress changed the way the program funds were distributed this year. Instead of giving the money to the drug agency to dole out to state and local police, $35.7 million was earmarked for 15 sites around the county, called methamphetamine "hot spots." Arkansas was not one of them. "The funding that Congress has done in this case is not ideal," U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., said. "I would have expected the COPS funding to have continued as it had in previous years.

This was not something I was aware of during the budget process." In designating the "hot spots," Congress was concentrating on areas of the country that were considered high in methamphetamine trafficking, Hutchinson said. "I'm really angry with this, and I think the citizens would be, too, if they knew," Fontaine said. "I really don't know how this situation could have happened.

I think someone in Congress was asleep, and Arkansas got passed over." In response to the change in funding, the agency started using the community police program money left over from past years to reimburse state and local police. Hutchinson and U.S. Sens. Tim Hutchinson and Blanche Lincoln have recently asked for emergency appropriations to pay for methamphetamine lab cleanup. Gov. Mike Huckabee is also working with congressional delegates and the federal government to get some money, Huckabee spokesman Rex Nelson said. Lincoln's office reported Friday that feedback from staff s of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees has been favorable to the requests for emergency money. "We feel encouraged that we have bipartisan support to help move this along," said Jennifer Greeson, Lincoln spokesman. Rep. Hutchinson said steps are being taken to correct the funding problem for 2001. Keogh said the state Department of Environmental Quality is considering putting some of its emergency response trust fund money into methamphetamine lab cleanup.

She couldn't say Friday how much might go to cleanup. "Our role is to make sure that law enforcement can continue their efforts [seizing methamphetamine labs] and that citizens are protected from any hazardous chemical issues," Keogh said. The Drug Enforcement Administration is juggling some of its money, too. The agency is looking to absorb some of the cost of methamphetamine cleanup through its assets-forfeiture fund. To do so, however, police would be required to involve the drug agency in the meth investigation before seizure or shortly thereafter. Further, the investigation must hold the promise of asset seizures to allow the agency to recoup cleanup costs. Police agencies may also be able to recoup some costs from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Meanwhile, meth-making operations continue to crop up in homes, cars and woods across Arkansas. "We don't know where to go from here," St. Francis County Sheriff Dave Parkman said. "These little portable labs, most are spontaneous. We don't have time to contact anyone. We just come up on them. And we don't need to slow down on breaking up these labs. We just had two within a one-week period."

Pubdate:
Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR)
Address: 121 East Capitol Avenue, Little Rock, Arkansas, 72201
Website: http://www.ardemgaz.com/

Linda3032 · Post by **Linda3032** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:59 pm

Well, I'm sure our state government is happy to be number 1 in something. ........

sharon1965 · Post by **sharon1965** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:13 pm

hi linda

i don't mean to be presumptuous, as i'm sure you know best what works for you, but i was just wonderin'...

years ago i took seldane every day, and i did so for 17 years, when suddenly, it was no longer on the market...turns out the stuff was dangerous--who knew?!

so i switched on and off between claritin, reactine, allegra d, whatever worked at the time for however long it worked...then i went to a naturopath (i know, that can be a dirty word around here) and she took me off the antihistimines, telling me that your body is supposed to make histamines, and that short-circuiting you body's ability to do so is very bad for you, sort of like killing yourself slowly...so, i took what she recommended for a while, and yes, it did help! --it was a product called moducare...but that's not the point of my post...when i started cpap nearly 3 months ago, my sleep doc also sent me to an ENT and an allergist...turns out i have a severly deviated septum which is being repaired next tuesday --not really looking forward to that, i must say, but it's apparently going to help me breathe better, so i'm getting it done...so, then i went to the allergist who did the scratch test and said, "you do have allergies!" (no s..t!) he said that the septoplasty would help me a lot but it wouldn't address allergy attacks, said that allergy meds don't really work, too hit and miss, and that you are supposed to have histamines (again?!) and recommended the shots for me...i did tell him that i just started cpap, that i'm having surgery and feeling a little overwhelmed, so he just said to give him a call if i choose to have the shots and start when i'm ready...for me, i'm really thinking about it, but i'm very med-phobic and try not to take drugs wherever possible...so, i just wondered what you're allergic to and if you've ever considered the shots...the literature he gave me claims an 85% cure rate...
thanks
sharon1965

wwva · Post by **wwva** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:25 pm

FLONASE, available by prescription and in generic form to save money. This is the best allergy med I have ever used. Benedryl is the only other med that even comes close to helping me but it makes me soooo sleepy.

Maryb · Post by **Maryb** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 2:35 pm

I've had allergies all my life. I'm allergic to everything but trees. I even have food allergies. In grade school, I used to fall asleep at the desk becuase I took benadryl all the time when I was little. I was tested and had the shots about 30 years ago and they helped some. But what works for me now is zyrtec and flonase every day.
There is also a Rx nasal spray antihistamine (astelin) that is pretty good.
Also, I've found that a nightly pre-CPAP nasal rinse helps the allergies too.

Maryb

Linda3032 · Post by **Linda3032** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:59 pm

Thanks for all the responses. I've never been tested for my allergies -- actually I'm afraid it's my husband , because I never had an allergy problem until I was 21 yrs old and married him.

But I'm also afraid, like many of you, that I'm allergic to lots of things -- and my dog. And there is no way I'll get rid of him.

The closest Allergist is 150 miles round trip, and I know it takes more than one visit. I'm just not sure I want to invest that much time and energy.

Like I said, Actifed worked for over 30 years -- it never made me hyper like the current things on the market. And I always took it at night, so if it made me a little drowsy, then that was great.

I have been looking at trying to take a decongestant and antihistamine separately - as needed. So Mary's suggestion of Astelin sounds like a winner.

I also called my doctor's office today and will go in tomorrow to be hooked up to a Holter Monitor to test my heart palpitations.

I really hate feeling so hyper lately and not sure what's going on with my body. Normally I'm in very good health (considering my age), and normally am in a great mood. Lately, I just feel anxious and depressed, and I HATE feeling this way.

Anyway, if you have any more suggestions, I'd love to read them. Thanks again.

WNJ · Post by **WNJ** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:33 pm

I have fairly severe allergies, so I’ve tried a lot of things over the years. Unfortunately, I’ve found that I do not tolerate a number of sinus meds very well.

I’m terribly intolerant of the decongestant Sudafed (pseudoephedrine) so I carefully avoid anything with that as an ingredient. The really bad thing about this is that there is no other decongestant available, with or without a prescription (unless something has come on the market recently that I’m not yet aware of.)

PPA worked very well for me as a decongestant, but they took that off the market several years ago.

I’ve had good luck with the prescription sprays, such as Flonase, Vancenase, Bectonase.

For an antihistamine, I find that Zyrtec works better for me than any other. It does so without any noticeable side effects. I found that many other prescription antihistamines worked well for me for a short while, then not at all.

I recently decided to try saline nasal irrigation to see if I can manage things with less meds.

I hope you find something that gives you some relief. Allergies make for misery.

Wayne

cflame1 · Post by **cflame1** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:37 pm

I can tell you what doesn't work for me is Flonase... it makes my nose bleed.

The only thing that seems to work for me lately is Tylenol Allergy.

SleepySandy · Post by **SleepySandy** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:19 pm

Linda

Linda3032 wrote:I really hate feeling so hyper lately and not sure what's going on with my body.

Are you still taking the Actifed? Pseudoephedrine makes my dad really hyper. I don't know if that's a possibility since you have been taking it for so long. But, our bodies do change over time.

I had an allergy blood test. My ENT ordered. I'm pretty sure allergists prefer the skin test. If the blood test shows specific allergies, I'm not sure if they can prescribe a more targeted medication or shots. I learned I'm off-the-charts allergic to grass pollen and Zyrtec seems to work for me so I don't need to explore a more targeted med. It is handy information but might not be useful for you. Anyway, it might be something to discuss with your dr.

Sandy

nightingale · Post by **nightingale** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:36 pm

Have you ever tried Chlortrimaton? Also, the NeilMed nasal irrigation set/solution helps me immensely.

Good luck!

Nightingale

Alisha · Post by **Alisha** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:29 pm

Linda, I've gone through allergy shots, special diets, sprays, meds, etc. I, too, took Actifed for a few years when needed, but it quit working for me.

Now if the allergic reaction is whelps on my body and an overall body itch, one Benadryl a day relieves the itch and by the fifth day the whelps are gone. I take the Benadryl in the morning, so I won't be concerned about it keeping me awake.

If the allergic reaction is sneezing, watery eyes, congestion, etc., I increase the number of nasal irrigations. If the congestion remains at bedtime, I take a Zyrtec-D 12 Hour Tab before retiring. Sometimes I will add a couple of sprays in each nostril of Nasacort AQ. Many times, though, the nasal irrigations alone will be enough.

Allergy problems, like mask problems, are different for each individual and helped by whatever works best for us at the time. Sorry we haven't been more help to you on this. I hope you can find something that will work for you.

Regards,

Alisha

Mask

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