Claritin?

[cmclien]

I have a couple questions on antihystamines.

1) Do antihystamines work for those of you who don't have any other allergies? I have read they work best on people who have other allergies. I have NO allergies, so not sure if its worth taking for the side effects.

2) Is there any reason why a less sedating antihystamine like claritin wouldn't work? Have any of you tried something like that and had success?

[bob04951]

Bob had no known allergies before this, but a theory is that the bladder itself becomes "allergic." We have had success with hydroxyzine (cheap by the way) at around dinnertime. He gets some quality sleep when he is not in a flare. ( sometimes 2 hours!) You gotta play around with this stuff and see what works. Good luck! Jill, wife of Bob

[sailawaygrl]

Some people use claritin, I used it in the beginning before I started using the hydroxyzine. I looked it up and read that they basically become the same thing once your body metabalizes the claritin. The hydrox will make you very sleepy so if you have problems with getting up and down all night it is a good one to help you sleep through the night.

Good luck, s
Sandra

[marar76]

OMG Jill, Bob only gets 2hrs of consecutive sleep? That's horrendous! How does he function during the day? There isn't anything he can take to knock him out?

Rachael

[cmclien]

Thanks. I will try the claritin and see if it helps. I am so sensitive to meds that even Claritin makes me sleepy! I think the hydroxyzine would be out of the question.

[cmclien]

I had a really good weekend! I had a couple of 3 hour intervals, thats how I can tell if something is working I don't have the constant need to pee
Perhaps the claritin is working, its been 3 days now. I also am following the diet better but really not THAT much different as I was avoiding most of the foods.
I am also cutting out a few additional foods based on foods that are high in histamine that I got from Jem's link over the weekend. I think the histamine diet is intriguing as it is almost identical to the bladder diet plus cutting out a few additional foods.

Thanks

[cmclien]

Here is Jem's link - really compelling, to me at least. They don't list IC but do list IBS which seems closely related as so many of us have it too.

http://www.ic-network.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68617

[marar76]

Cindi,

I'm so happy for you! I haven't tried Claritin. It's funny, one of the first dr.'s I went to see suggested Claritin. At the time I was so sleep deprived and out of my mind with not knowing what was going on with me that I didn't want to take something that might wire me up. I didn't know that it can help with sleep. I also didn't like his bedside manner so didn't trust his advice. Has it helped a lot with the false urge to pee? Hope it continues!

Rachael

[cmclien]

Rachael,
I think the hydroxyzine is the "gold standard" for antihistamines and IC but my Uro told me there was no reason why claritin couldn't help as it is an H1 blocker like the others, a newer class of drugs though. I figure even if it helps a little then I'm happy. I think in combination with the vesicare and following the diet its all helping each in a different way. Vesicare has helped the most but the urge is definitely less then it was so maybe the claritin is helping too. Its hard for me to pinpoint because I've been much better about the diet too.