Allergies, Rhinitis, and Medications - A Look at Three Popular Allergy Medications

It’s fall. Leaves are turning, the weather is getting cool, we’re making Halloween costumes and decorating for fall. Some of us are also sneezing, coughing, and hacking our way through this season. Some of us squint at the colorful leaves through itchy, watering, reddened eyes and just wait for colder weather to kill off the ragweed, goldenrod and other irritants. Some of us drag ourselves around in a fog of fatigue with predictable pressure in our face or head. 

It’s allergy season, especially here in the Southeast part of the United States that I live in. My first symptom is usually just feeling really, really tired and not myself. Then I catch myself rubbing my eyes; having a dry cough; drinking liquid all day to get rid of that nasty taste in my mouth due to constant drainage in my throat; just knowing that I’m going to get a sinus headache practically every afternoon, and all day on a rainy day. My oldest daughter is prone to allergies with the same symptoms, too, so here’s a run-down on three medications for allergies. 

Claritin has been around for a long time since 1993. At the time Claritin was introduced, it was the front runner, because two other popular antihistamines had just been pulled from the market due to possible health complications. Claritin is an antihistamine that reduces the familiar sneezing, itchy eyes, runny nose, and stuffiness of hay fever or seasonal allergies. Since FDA approval in November 2002, Claritin has been sold over the counter under its generic name, loratidine. This caused the price to drop by about 70%, but for those of us who paid a small copay for prescription Claritin, it actually ended up costing more. I had been living in the Southwest for 8 years, and hadn’t taken any allergy medicines. I found that Claritin, or loratidine, wasn’t effective for me like it had been in the past. I still sneezed; still had itchy eyes; still had constant post-nasal drip and headaches. They might have been milder than with nothing, but I was always glad when colder weather rolled around.