I'm in Canada, and here it is not an OTC, one can buy it just of the shelf, Reactine comes regular and non-drowsy which is what I buy, I take the extra strenght one, the main ingredient in it is Cetirizine Hydrochloride 10mg/tablet, not many antihistamines work for me as they make me feel quite sick and even more dizzy but this one has worked for quite a while now so I haven't had to change it, another one I've tried that worked but didn't buy it regularly as it is more expensive is Aerius which uses desloratadine, a metabolite of loratadine (copied from their site). I got no side effects from either one.
Is Reactine an OTC? I haven't heard of that one before. Does it cause drowsiness or anything like that?
The antihistamine I take is Reactine, I cannot tolerate many either, but this one seems to work for me and it doesn't make my symptoms worse.
Glad to hear that I'm not the only one that gets affected by weather changes but too bad we do go through this!
I have a terrible time with weather changes, especially lightning storms. Sometimes I get so dizzy I can't move. Haven't found anything to relieve it, but drinking a lot of Coke helps some (can't stomach coffee). I can't take Benadryl, as it makes my symptoms much worse. Just goes to show how different we all are with this :) I have noticed that the worse the storm, the worse my symptoms, so if I'm incredibly dizzy, I know it's time to head to the basement with the dogs, because there's probably a tornado nearby.
What my allergiest thought when I told her this was that the antihistamines were working because since I'm allergic to molds that when it is about to rain the mold spores count are higher, now I'm not sure sometimes I'm even dizzy in my sleep and this wakes me up, so I just take an antihistamine then and usually within a 1/2 hour I can feel the difference.
I am also sensitive to weather changes with lots more achiness and foggy head when the barometric pressure dropping quickly. Extreme heat and cold are hard too.
Karinosa,
Any idea why the antihistamine helps?
Weather definitely affects my body!
I can tell you better than anyone when it is going to rain within 24hrs! My head feels so groggy, my dizziness increases and my overall feeling ill gets worse. What I do, is take an antihistamine and it seems to help or at least reduce the effects.
High humidity for me is the worse, extreme heat also affects me, now - I live in Canada so winter is fast approaching and when it is humid and cold I get hives instead of the other symptoms.
I only have treated with the antihistamines but would like to see what everyone else does to cope.