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Hi Cindy,
You're welcome... I never used to know that Zyrtec was the same thing as Reactine. I guess that's another one of the small differences between Canada and the USA (ie: like the American KFCs don't sell french fries, etc).
I used to take Chlor-Tripilon as a kid... it worked ok... but it didn't work that well for me during ragweed season. Plus it made me drowsy. I tried Seldane when that came out, and it didn't work at all so I continued to use Chlor-Tripilon . I was quite happy when Hismanol came out as it worked really well!! But then they stopped making it in the mid 1990s.
I am glad Reactine is available now as it works really well.
[This message has been edited by erik (edited January 09, 2004).]
Reactine (Zyrtec) and Benedryl are very different aren't they?
I was taking Reactine daily - prior to figuring out what the heck was causing me to break out in hives daily.
Reactine in longer lasting, but Benedryl works faster.
There was a point in my life when I was taking 7 antihistamines a day. This was to prevent reactions - just to keep them livable. For several months I was reacting to something 24/7.
As I discovered what was causing the reactions, I was able to lower the amount of pills I was taking, until I got down to one per day.
It took several years after figuring out what I was allergic to before I was able to stop taking my daily pill. It was a crutch. I knew it, but still was afraid to stop taking it. Well, now, I'm mostly drug free (nooooo, not any fun drugs - just occasional antihistamines, or advil).
I am glad to hear that there are similar situations to ours out there. Our latest addition to our home pharmacy is a nebulizer med called Pulmicort. I am supposed to use it for 5- 10 day spurts whenever he requires albuterol. I hesitated until the allergist told me that reducing inflammation in his lungs would reduce scarring and therefore reduce his chances of developing asthma later. Am I happy about a new med not really, but I am grateful it exists and I do believe it helped him a lot.
I too have feared I would be seen as an overmedicating mom, but I don't believe that doctors recommend stuff just to shut me up either. I do what it takes to alleviate his symptoms and I really don't think he takes a lot of meds unless he's got a cold, then it seems like it's always time to give him something.
My son is on Zyrtec for his allergies. He is allergic to just about everything but only peanuts for food. In addition to taking Zyrtec 1/2 tsp two times a day we have also started allergy shots. Allergist said that with his allergies by taking allergy shots we had a 50% chance of him not developing asthma before the age of 5. To me that is well worth taking a gamble on. Hopefully once he builds up a resistance on the shots we can stop the Zyrtec but until then we will keep up with both.
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Cher ~
Dougie 12/14/01
And now a word from a Claritin fan... My son has the peanut allergy but I have struggled with some hayfever and other allergies during the past few years. Benedryl has always knocked me out for several hours with a very long waking up period to follow. I tried Zyrtec recently and have to say it didn't really work that well at making me comfortable. I was able to get some Claritin for the same symptoms that recurred about 2 weeks later and the Claritin provided so much more relief for my symptoms - post nasal drip, sinus pain, scratchy throat. I spoke to a friend who is an ear,nose, and throat doctor and she said lots of her patients say that they really prefer one over the other. Either the Zyrtec works and Claritin doesn't, or vice versa. Nobody seems to say they both work well for the same person. I wonder about giving Claritin to my 3 year old son with Peanut Allergy. I don't know what the proper dosage is and I think this would be off label for his age group but I suspect it would work for him since he has half my body chemistry. Has anyone tried Claritin for their toddlers? If yes, did it work and what is the dosage for a 30 pound child? My son's allergist said Claritin would be okay, but I haven't tried t yet since we haven't had a chance to get any for him.
Edinview, in Canada, the first children's antihistamine to hit the shelves after Benadryl, was Kids' Claritin. Kids' Reactine followed a few months later. These are available without a prescription.
My PA son has tried all three for his environmental allergies.
I wasn't clear from your question though if your child had environmental allergies or if you wanted to use the Claritin for your child for environmental allergies?
For some reason, I still believe that when dealing with a PA reaction, the *best* antihistamine to use is Benadryl.
Right now, our whole family takes Chlortriplon, which I believe is like a *old* Claritin (not sure that that makes sense).
We recently all tried Reactine and I didn't find that it worked as well as the Chlortripolon. I thought perhaps my system, in particular, may have built up an immunity to Chlortripolon and the Reactine would work better, but it didn't.
For dosing information, you may want to check out the prescription drug part of [url="http://www.mayoclinic.com"]www.mayoclinic.com[/url]
Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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I think liquid benedryl is recommended because it works the fastest at treating an allergic reaction (that is what I had heard). However, I believe it also causes drowsiness, so I use Reactine during ragweed season (and it works very well for me)
erik, when I'm treating myself for a reaction to a mosquito bite (I swell up at the spot of the bite really badly), I use my regular antihistamine.
But when Jesse had his anaphylactic reaction 1-1/2 years ago, the doctor very specifically said that he had to be on a course of Benadryl for the next 24 or 48 hours. This was in addition to his regular daily antihistamine.
I even remember the time that Jesse almost died. I remember telling the E.R. doctor, because they were giving Jess Benadryl, that he had had his Kids' Claritin (that's what he was taking at that time) that day and and what time and the doctor basically told me to be quiet (they were working very hard on Jess). I just thought that they had to know that he had already had a dose of some kind of antihistamine in him that day, but obviously, that didn't stop him from having a reaction and Benadryl was needed in the E.R.
To the best of my understanding still, to-day, there is something *different* about Benadryl, separate from the other antihistamines and it is certainly the one to use for a PA reaction (of course, this also comes from a woman that does not have any Benadryl in her home [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/eek.gif[/img] )
Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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First of all welcome. It's so nice to have new people just learning about the PA field. I used to take Zyrtec(I am non PA) for dust allergies. Well the most important thing is how long does it take for the antihistamine to enter the system. Zyrtec takes a little longer than Benedryl. So you can debate anyway.
P.S. I love NY can't wait to visit the Big Apple again.
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