Allergy medication

In recent years there has been a great increase in the types of medicines available for those with allergies, as well as an increase in the number of allergy sufferers who take prescription medication. Currently, about 50% of those with allergies take prescription medication and 35% of those with allergies take over-the-counter medicine for relief. There is room for improvement, however. 65% of allergy doctors and physicians were only partially satisfied with the allergy medication available and more than half of allergists surveyed were prescribing more than one medication for their patients.

Oral antihistamines are the most commonly prescribed allergy medication. They relieve allergy symptoms by blocking histamine, the chemical “culprit” that causes many symptoms. The older antihistamines such as Benadryl and Chlortrimeton, however, can cause drowsiness. The newer antihistamines, or second generation antihistamines, are supposedly less likely to cause the drowsiness associated with the older medications, so they are often referred to as “nonsedating.”

Claritin has been recently made available over-the-counter, but some of the nonsedating antihistamines require a prescription. In general, if these newer antihistamines do not work well for a patient, doctors will then resort to the original, first generation antihistamines.

The newer, second generation antihistamines include:

• zyrtec (cetirizine)

• allegra (fexofenadine)

• clarinex (desloratadine)

• claritin (loratadine)