Can Antihistamines Cause Flares?

[ICNDonna]

I'm hanging in there. I'm currently in the middle of a *huge* flare-up again; waiting on urine test to see if it's a special kind of UTI called Ureaplasma/Mycoplasma or just a good ole'-fashioned IC allergy season flare. I'm on day 2 of the Glucosamine/MSM tablet I take when these happen, not much relief yet There are so many masks and so many people looking at you like they're reading to scream at you if you do the wrong thing! It's been hard. But people are starting to be a little kinder to each other in my part of the world, and I still have the same wonderful partner I got about a year after my IC diagnosis. And my cat, of course. She helps with everything <3 How are you, Donna? Your kind, gentle words have always been a balm for us.

Thank you! I'm doing okay --- I have a severe case of cabin fever --- I never knew I'd be happy to just go to the grocery store! I even had a computer appointment with my respiratory therapist. We go to the drive-up pharmacy, tried trimming my hair (disaster, but with a mask it's okay). I just want to go get a haircut, then go out for dinner, and go shopping for some summer clothes, but I'm chicken.

Having a wonderful partner is WONDERFUL! Those make life worth living.

Huge hugs,
Donna

[laura_ess]

I'm hanging in there. I'm currently in the middle of a *huge* flare-up again; waiting on urine test to see if it's a special kind of UTI called Ureaplasma/Mycoplasma or just a good ole'-fashioned IC allergy season flare. I'm on day 2 of the Glucosamine/MSM tablet I take when these happen, not much relief yet There are so many masks and so many people looking at you like they're reading to scream at you if you do the wrong thing! It's been hard. But people are starting to be a little kinder to each other in my part of the world, and I still have the same wonderful partner I got about a year after my IC diagnosis. And my cat, of course. She helps with everything <3 How are you, Donna? Your kind, gentle words have always been a balm for us.

[ICNDonna]

I'm glad you're doing okay now. How are you doing in this crazy, crazy world? My daughter and I went grocery shopping at 7:00 am today, wore masks and gloves, followed the arrows in the store, and stayed six feet away from other shoppers. I'll be so thankful when we can safely get back to a normal life.

Warm hugs,
Donna

[laura_ess]

Yeah, it was the Blexten, sadly. I had to stop it. As soon as I did, my pain went away. I had to go on a lower dose of Claritin and and a bunch of other med-tweaking

[Citygirl67]

Hey laur_ess.

Did you ever figure out what happened here? Do you know if the antihistamine caused the flare?

[laura_ess]

Hey all,
I haven't posted in a while because my IC was doing pretty well on-and-off over the years (yay!)

I was recently diagnosed (tentatively) with MCAS, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, and for it, I've been following the standard protocol of taking a combo of elevated doses of H1 and H2 antihistamines (H1 = cetirizine, Blexten, Rupall, Claritin etc, H2 = Zantac, Pepcid etc.) I currently have been taking Blexten (bilastine, a new H1) and Zantac. I also have been taking buffered Vitamin C (the special kind from SISU that has calcium in it) and Culturelle probiotic (l-rhamnosus). I also take my usual IC meds (Cysta-Q twice a day, vaginal diazepam cream 2 nights a week). All of this was going great, except now I'm in a gigantic IC flare and I have no clue why. I can't think of any major trigger foods I've eaten ( I follow a modified version of the IC diet and have for years) and I've been on the Vitamin C for over 2 months now. I feel like if it was going to bother me, I'd be bothered by now. I made sure to get one of the kinds recommended for IC-ers as well. My probiotic is also a low-histamine kind called Culturelle.

I do know that Blexten, my H1 antihistamine, can cause urinary retention and I have had troubles with that in the past (mostly kidney/flank pain, nausea, hesitancy and frequency) but those went away. Now I'm having a good ole' fashioned IC flare after being on the typical dose of Blexten for over a week and I'm terrified that it's causing my flare. I've gone back on Glucosamine/MSM 2x a day, the kind from SISU, a dose that's helped me a lot in the past, but it's been 3 days with basically no relief.

Has anyone else found an H1 antihistamine to bother your bladder? The pills are white, so I know it's not a dye (red dye tends to bother me), but of course, it could be an additive. Also, how long does Glucosamine at 1500mg a day take to work? I know 3 days isn't that long, but I'm going bananas over here. Any (kind) suggestions would be most helpful