OH MY GOSH!!! I have been reading posts all evening as I had a bad day today. I wanted to find out the dose of cetirizine hydrochloride (reactine) I should be taking as I take one pill a day. Well just found out it has lactose! My major trigger food! Good grief! not sure if it is affecting me as it made a huge difference when I started taking them. Well I am coming right off them! And I just bought a 120 pill bottle!
So I'm on the search for another allergy med. what does everyone use? How many a day? Guess I will have to try different ones as I know some work better for others.
I need to be carful what I take. I started taking them months ago but didn't associate my intolerances with medication until I started in the forum.
Allergy med advice
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Allergy med advice
Monica D.
I have been reading some more on the site and notice some folks are taking both H1 and H2 antihistamines. I'm a bit confused as I looked up the H2 and they are meds that I have been told specifically to STOP taking (acid reducers) as they are known to aggravate MC. Any input into this would be appreciated as well.
Monica D.
Hi Monica,
I use Allegra (180 mg), 1 per day. That's the 24-hour formulation. I tried Claritin for pollen allergies several years ago but it didn't seem to help, so that's when I tried Allegra. It seemed to help, so I stuck with it. Regular Claritin also has lactose, but the Claritin Redi-Tabs should be safe.
H1 type histamine receptors are found in the mouth, esophagus,bronchial tubes, lungs etc., where upper respiratory allergy symptoms are typically triggered. That's why H1 antihistamines are used to prevent symptoms caused by common allergens such as pollen.
The stomach and intestines contain primarily H2 type histamine receptors because histamine is used as a messenger in the digestive system. For example, it tells the parietal cells in the stomach to produce more gastric acid in preparation for a meal that will need to be digested. But a few people have excess stomach acid, resulting in nausea, burning pain, etc., and for those individuals an H2 type antihistamine can be helpful to block the histamine receptors in the stomach so that less acid will be produced.
The hitch is that most of us do not produce too much gastric acid, so if we take an H2 antihistamine and we don't need it, it can lead to acid reflux and/or poor digestion, and poor digestion can trigger MC. But the point is that we are all different and so there are no absolute rules that always work. We have to discover what works for us in such cases by trial and error.
PPIs should always be avoided because they are very risky drugs, but H2 blockers are not PPIs. In some cases H2 blockers can be helpful, while in other cases they can trigger MC. Unfortunately there's no known way to be able to tell in advance whether they might help or cause problems.
Tex
I use Allegra (180 mg), 1 per day. That's the 24-hour formulation. I tried Claritin for pollen allergies several years ago but it didn't seem to help, so that's when I tried Allegra. It seemed to help, so I stuck with it. Regular Claritin also has lactose, but the Claritin Redi-Tabs should be safe.
H1 type histamine receptors are found in the mouth, esophagus,bronchial tubes, lungs etc., where upper respiratory allergy symptoms are typically triggered. That's why H1 antihistamines are used to prevent symptoms caused by common allergens such as pollen.
The stomach and intestines contain primarily H2 type histamine receptors because histamine is used as a messenger in the digestive system. For example, it tells the parietal cells in the stomach to produce more gastric acid in preparation for a meal that will need to be digested. But a few people have excess stomach acid, resulting in nausea, burning pain, etc., and for those individuals an H2 type antihistamine can be helpful to block the histamine receptors in the stomach so that less acid will be produced.
The hitch is that most of us do not produce too much gastric acid, so if we take an H2 antihistamine and we don't need it, it can lead to acid reflux and/or poor digestion, and poor digestion can trigger MC. But the point is that we are all different and so there are no absolute rules that always work. We have to discover what works for us in such cases by trial and error.
PPIs should always be avoided because they are very risky drugs, but H2 blockers are not PPIs. In some cases H2 blockers can be helpful, while in other cases they can trigger MC. Unfortunately there's no known way to be able to tell in advance whether they might help or cause problems.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Have you tried liquid zrytec? Most antihistamines have corn hidden in them, which is my problem. I use that one, and that one seems to bother me the least....
Martha E.
Philippians 4:13
Jul 2008 took Clindamycin for a Sinus infection that forever changed my life
Dec 2014 MC Dx
Jul 15, 2015 Elimination Diet
Aug 17, 2015 Enterolab Test
Dec 2015 Reflux
Sept 2016 IC
Philippians 4:13
Jul 2008 took Clindamycin for a Sinus infection that forever changed my life
Dec 2014 MC Dx
Jul 15, 2015 Elimination Diet
Aug 17, 2015 Enterolab Test
Dec 2015 Reflux
Sept 2016 IC
Thanks for your help. Claritin never worked for me in the past so I will try Allegra. The cetirizine hydrochloride is I believe the same meds in Zrytec. I cannot buy Zrytec here but the pharmacist recommended the no name brand medication. He said it was the best blocker for stomach intolerance type allergies so I took it.
Im quite on the fence now if I should switch as it seemed to be working for me. Lactose just gives me good ol fashion gas and the pills don't do that to me (or at least I dont feel bloated). I think my best course of action though is to try and switch at least for a week or so. I am still not positive what is setting me off so I am up and down day to day with my symptoms. It is so frustrating. And to top it off my benefits will not cover the food intolerance testing of any kind so I am on the hook to pay for them all :(
Im quite on the fence now if I should switch as it seemed to be working for me. Lactose just gives me good ol fashion gas and the pills don't do that to me (or at least I dont feel bloated). I think my best course of action though is to try and switch at least for a week or so. I am still not positive what is setting me off so I am up and down day to day with my symptoms. It is so frustrating. And to top it off my benefits will not cover the food intolerance testing of any kind so I am on the hook to pay for them all :(
Monica D.
Theoretically, pure lactose in pills should not be a problem because the only problem with lactose is that we cannot digest it when our gut is inflamed. But lactose is a sugar and sugars (with only 1 rare exception — alpha gal) do not cause our immune system to produce antibodies. Only proteins can promote inflammation by triggering an immune system reaction. Undigested sugars should simply pass on unabsorbed into the colon. There they will usually be fermented by bacteria, causing some gas, but the small amounts in pills should be relatively insignificant so that it shouldn't cause any noticeable symptoms. At least that's the theory. If pharmaceutical companies use pharmaceutical grade lactose, then it should be pure, and pure lactose should contain no casein. Casein is the dairy protein that causes us to react.
The problem is that in the real world many members here seem to react to lactose in pharmaceutical products. This leads me to suspect that many pharmaceutical companies may cheat and use cheap industrial grade lactose rather than pharmaceutical grade lactose. Industrial lactose contains traces of casein because it is not as well purified as pharmaceutical grade lactose. Many (possibly most) pharmaceutical ingredients are sourced from distant lands these days (China is a huge supplier, for example), and so if any cheating takes place, it probably occurs at the facilities of the suppliers of these ingredients (while the big pharmaceutical companies look the other way). But maybe I'm just paranoid and my suspicions are unfounded.
The bottom line is probably that some ingredients may be contaminated and some are not. If a product works OK for you, then it may be pure.
Part of the problem with insurance companies not paying for food sensitivity tests is that the medical industry in general is geared for treating health issues with drugs, rather than treating them with diet changes. So there is little support in the mainstream medical community for promoting the use of tests to detect food sensitivities. They don't have a treatment program available for treating food sensitivities, so there's little incentive to do food sensitivity testing. That leaves a huge opportunity for naturopathic practitioners. But of course most of their services are not covered by insurance, so the patient ends up footing the bill because mainstream medicine does not generally recognize the role that food sensitivities play in digestive system issues.
Tex
The problem is that in the real world many members here seem to react to lactose in pharmaceutical products. This leads me to suspect that many pharmaceutical companies may cheat and use cheap industrial grade lactose rather than pharmaceutical grade lactose. Industrial lactose contains traces of casein because it is not as well purified as pharmaceutical grade lactose. Many (possibly most) pharmaceutical ingredients are sourced from distant lands these days (China is a huge supplier, for example), and so if any cheating takes place, it probably occurs at the facilities of the suppliers of these ingredients (while the big pharmaceutical companies look the other way). But maybe I'm just paranoid and my suspicions are unfounded.
The bottom line is probably that some ingredients may be contaminated and some are not. If a product works OK for you, then it may be pure.
Part of the problem with insurance companies not paying for food sensitivity tests is that the medical industry in general is geared for treating health issues with drugs, rather than treating them with diet changes. So there is little support in the mainstream medical community for promoting the use of tests to detect food sensitivities. They don't have a treatment program available for treating food sensitivities, so there's little incentive to do food sensitivity testing. That leaves a huge opportunity for naturopathic practitioners. But of course most of their services are not covered by insurance, so the patient ends up footing the bill because mainstream medicine does not generally recognize the role that food sensitivities play in digestive system issues.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Hi Monica,
I am getting the feeling that Spring is a time for many up and down day to day symptoms. This is my first Spring under a new diet and antihistamine use and am finding it a little hard to master what I am feeling too. It is daily detective work as far as I am concerned, and some days I am doing ok, others are not so easy to decipher what I should be doing.
I'm trying not to over think this MC stuff...but yes it is hard. Planning ahead right now is the hardest thing for me to do, this last Winter I got along much better.
Good luck
Erica
I am getting the feeling that Spring is a time for many up and down day to day symptoms. This is my first Spring under a new diet and antihistamine use and am finding it a little hard to master what I am feeling too. It is daily detective work as far as I am concerned, and some days I am doing ok, others are not so easy to decipher what I should be doing.
I'm trying not to over think this MC stuff...but yes it is hard. Planning ahead right now is the hardest thing for me to do, this last Winter I got along much better.
Good luck
Erica
To Succeed you have to Believe in something with such a passion that it becomes a Reality - Anita Roddick
Dx LC April 2012 had symptoms since Aug 2007
Dx LC April 2012 had symptoms since Aug 2007
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Gabes-Apg
- Emperor Penguin
- Posts: 8332
- Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:12 pm
- Location: Hunter Valley NSW Australia
a few years ago Tex mentioned an old school anti-histamine Chlorpheniramine Maleate.
there is a version with minimal MC inactive ingredients made by Advance Pharmaceutical Inc.
the tablets come in 4mg dosage and these last a couple of hours, I find this good as you can take them as you need them during the day, and you are not totally blocking histamine for 24 hours.
Here is the original discussion from 2014
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ht=maleate
there is a version with minimal MC inactive ingredients made by Advance Pharmaceutical Inc.
the tablets come in 4mg dosage and these last a couple of hours, I find this good as you can take them as you need them during the day, and you are not totally blocking histamine for 24 hours.
Here is the original discussion from 2014
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ht=maleate
Gabes Ryan
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
-
Gabes-Apg
- Emperor Penguin
- Posts: 8332
- Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:12 pm
- Location: Hunter Valley NSW Australia
and this conversation from 2014 also came to mind
where people with major Mast Cell issues may need antihistamine dosage DOUBLE the FDA recommendations...
I am not recommending that, but I am mentioning it as something to read and research.
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ine+dosage
Major Allergy /Mast Cell issues is very common amongst this group. like most things in MC world, each person has to do a bit of trial and error to figure out what works best for them...
there has been way more awareness of allergies and mast cells since 2014.
not sure how much reading you have done on the site and the mention of methylation cycle.
this article may be helpful
http://samanthagilbert.com/histamine-ma ... imbalance/
where people with major Mast Cell issues may need antihistamine dosage DOUBLE the FDA recommendations...
I am not recommending that, but I am mentioning it as something to read and research.
http://www.perskyfarms.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ine+dosage
Major Allergy /Mast Cell issues is very common amongst this group. like most things in MC world, each person has to do a bit of trial and error to figure out what works best for them...
there has been way more awareness of allergies and mast cells since 2014.
not sure how much reading you have done on the site and the mention of methylation cycle.
this article may be helpful
http://samanthagilbert.com/histamine-ma ... imbalance/
Gabes Ryan
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
Hi Gabes! This is really what I have been looking for! Someone to confirm I may benefit from a double dose. I will read those posts. I have done much reading on the site but haven't come across this thread. There is so much information here which is great but a lot to get through. Sometimes you may be searching one key word but others have called it something else (mast cell issues - not sure what that is but I think that is me 
)
Tex, you may have a point. Dont fix what is not broken. My meds haven't bothered me so why am i switching? And they work.
My symptoms seem to be what you call major mast cell issues. My stomach does go off on my no touch foods but I can usually take a couple pepto or tums to alleviate it (this is now still on Encocort and allergy pills, much worse before). If it is really bad, I will wake up running to the bathroom in the morning with WD. What my major reactions are seem allergy based! Massive pressure/sinus headaches, plugged/popping ears, itchy rash on my chin or eyelids, etc. And they do not go away for a day or two after consumption of an intolerated food.
I'm excited to read those posts now. Still doesn't get down to what I shouldn't be eating but maybe with a higher does I can be a detective with the stomach issues and get rid of these blasted headaches every day!
Oh also, I sent off my samples to The Intolerance Testing Group (hair) and hope to hear back from them in a couple weeks. It was very cost effective at $105 for a full workup and am going to see a naturopath next week and try the electrodermal screening as well. That for some reason I am covered for through my benefits fully. I will try and cross reference the two and see what they come up with.
)Tex, you may have a point. Dont fix what is not broken. My meds haven't bothered me so why am i switching? And they work.
My symptoms seem to be what you call major mast cell issues. My stomach does go off on my no touch foods but I can usually take a couple pepto or tums to alleviate it (this is now still on Encocort and allergy pills, much worse before). If it is really bad, I will wake up running to the bathroom in the morning with WD. What my major reactions are seem allergy based! Massive pressure/sinus headaches, plugged/popping ears, itchy rash on my chin or eyelids, etc. And they do not go away for a day or two after consumption of an intolerated food.
I'm excited to read those posts now. Still doesn't get down to what I shouldn't be eating but maybe with a higher does I can be a detective with the stomach issues and get rid of these blasted headaches every day!
Oh also, I sent off my samples to The Intolerance Testing Group (hair) and hope to hear back from them in a couple weeks. It was very cost effective at $105 for a full workup and am going to see a naturopath next week and try the electrodermal screening as well. That for some reason I am covered for through my benefits fully. I will try and cross reference the two and see what they come up with.
Monica D.
Monica,
Some authorities believe that magnesium deficiency is the number 1 cause of migraines and headaches.
Have you seen the short articles at the following links, regarding the association of mast cells with microscopic colitis? These provide some basic information about the topic, and they offer some references if you want to read more about the subject.
What are mast cells?
How are mast cells associated with microscopic colitis?
How do I know if mast cells are causing problems for me?
How are mast cell issues treated?
Tex
Some authorities believe that magnesium deficiency is the number 1 cause of migraines and headaches.
Have you seen the short articles at the following links, regarding the association of mast cells with microscopic colitis? These provide some basic information about the topic, and they offer some references if you want to read more about the subject.
What are mast cells?
How are mast cells associated with microscopic colitis?
How do I know if mast cells are causing problems for me?
How are mast cell issues treated?
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Monica,
My migraines have decreased greatly in the last 9 months since I've started d3 and mag oil. I typically get them in the fall and spring (my first symptom is being stopped up on the right side of my sinuses then right eye pain). I still get a few but nothing like I use to. I also boil salt water immediately with tea tree oil and breathe that in as soon as the pain starts.
This truely is the worst allergy season yet. My son typically can tolerate his seasonal allergies, but has asked to go to the allergy Dr. That's pretty bad, he knows they are going to prick his arm. So I'm taking him just to find out what we should try to avoid.
Hope you get better!
My migraines have decreased greatly in the last 9 months since I've started d3 and mag oil. I typically get them in the fall and spring (my first symptom is being stopped up on the right side of my sinuses then right eye pain). I still get a few but nothing like I use to. I also boil salt water immediately with tea tree oil and breathe that in as soon as the pain starts.
This truely is the worst allergy season yet. My son typically can tolerate his seasonal allergies, but has asked to go to the allergy Dr. That's pretty bad, he knows they are going to prick his arm. So I'm taking him just to find out what we should try to avoid.
Hope you get better!
Martha E.
Philippians 4:13
Jul 2008 took Clindamycin for a Sinus infection that forever changed my life
Dec 2014 MC Dx
Jul 15, 2015 Elimination Diet
Aug 17, 2015 Enterolab Test
Dec 2015 Reflux
Sept 2016 IC
Philippians 4:13
Jul 2008 took Clindamycin for a Sinus infection that forever changed my life
Dec 2014 MC Dx
Jul 15, 2015 Elimination Diet
Aug 17, 2015 Enterolab Test
Dec 2015 Reflux
Sept 2016 IC