Cetirizine VS Piriteze (Hayfever)

[GhostRyder]

Hi all

I wonder if any of you lovely people who suffer from or know somebody who suffers from hayfever can help me.

My DC suffers from the most horrendous hayfever type symptoms. Doc said it could even be an allergy to dust. Doc prescribed Cetirizine 10ml to be taken daily and I’ve always stuck to this and been consistent but it doesn’t seem to stop DC waking up every morning without fail to excessive mucous running from nose and watery irritated eyes.

I tried Piriteze - purchased it from the pharmacy for £6 after feeling very let down with Cetirizine. The bottle lasted me just over a week and I noticed DC was waking without the usual symptoms.

I rang the docs and asked if I could get Piriteze on prescription and they said Cetirizine is exactly the same thing as Piriteze and I’m already getting that.

My question is, am I imagining this or is it really not the same thing. Why was Piriteze more effective in stopping the symptoms?

I’m now thinking to spend £6 every other week to get this for DC, it will add up thought as DC needs to be on this indefinitely from what it seems.

What would you do?

Piriteze does also contain cetirizine as the active ingredient.. can you tell us what doses you were giving, ie what is the strength of the one prescribed, and how many Ml of piriteze were you using?

They’re the same thing - Piriteze is a brand name - cetirizine is the drug.

The other antihistamine you can commonly buy is loratadine - like cetirizine it comes in many branded forms or the unbranded.

@GailLondon I was giving the same dose for both.

Your ds could well have appeared better when taking the piriteze purely because the source of his allergy/ hay fever had disappeared.

But seriously with the Piriteze you’re just paying for branding.

@KittyMcKitty See this is what I don’t get, why was Piriteze more effective? Surely it can’t just be my imagination. DC was definitely more improved whilst taking it compared to Cetirizine. I’ve also tried Loratadine in the past which was not that effective and so doc switched to Cetirizine.

@KittyMcKitty Ahhh maybe just having a good week that week then?

Coincidence. You are giving him exactly the same drug.

Has he tried Beconase nasal spray as well? Our whole family suffers with hay fever, especially DS1 and this really helps alongside the tablets.

Best antihistamine we have had which seems to work is Benadryl. I don’t know how old your son is, but might be worth talking to the pharmacist/doctor and seeing if you can try it.

Piriton doesn’t work well for us, Loratadine not really at all.

@GhostRyder we (as a family) get v bad hay fever and it can vary enormously by what’s in flower.

You're giving him Piriteze and not Piriton (chlorphenamine, which causes drowsiness)?

@Anycrispsleft I specifically asked the pharmacist for non drowsy and she said Piriteze. Maybe she made a mistake?

Life long hay fever sufferer.

With piriteze I am knocked out. I would not be able to drive.

With ceritizene I split the tablet in half and take half in the morning and the other half mid afternoon. That sow at Male me drowsy.

I also use beconase nasal spray and eye drops who’s name escapes me. Opticrom I think.

[quote GhostRyder]@Anycrispsleft I specifically asked the pharmacist for non drowsy and she said Piriteze. Maybe she made a mistake?[/quote]
Piriteze leaves me practically comatose.

@gegs73 Benadryl, tell me a little more about it please. I think I will request this next. DC is 8years old, yes we’ve tried the nasal spray and again not effective. I’m literally looking for the miracle medication as I can’t watch DC suffer anymore, it makes me really sad that I can’t find something to get a grip on this problem, it affects school, concentration, lessons etc

@Galassia oh dear I think she gave me the drowsy one then

The key thing is the 'active ingredient' - that's the drug under all the branding. Piriteze's active ingredient is cetirizine, so it is exactly the same as cetirizine the 'generic' drug, it's just a lot more expensive to buy.

Basically, when a pharma company invents a new drug, they own the rights to sell that drug, for a period of time. This is a way of recouping all the money they spend developing that drug (and covers the costs of developing loads of other drugs that didn't make it through testing). The drug becomes associated with the brandname/company it's first sold under. (Like Calpol for kids' paracetamol.)

After some time the company's exclusive rights to make that drug lapse (think about it as the end of copyright). Then other companies can make exactly the same drug, and can sell it cheaply (they don't have to recoup the costs of developing it). However, people often still associate the brandname and trust it, or don't understand it's the same drug, and so they continue to buy the more expensive, branded version.

Most likely is the particular pollen or allergen that was triggering your child's allergies has decreased (many pollens are active for specific weeks of the year and so allergies come and go naturally). Another possibility, if your child is old enough to be aware of the different medication labels/reputations, is that there is an element of placebo effect - your child believes the more expensive drug will work better, and so to some extent it does.

There was even a study in 2015 that told people with Parkinsons that they were getting a cheap drug or an expensive drug, but in the study all the drugs were basically water pills, so didn't have any effect except psychologically. The people who believed that had the more expensive pills saw more improvements to their condition that those who believed they had the cheaper pills - but all the pills were fake of course and did nothing.

Your DC symptoms may have improved by coincidence as the pollen count is not so high now. There are other drugs ie Piriton which is chlorphenamine, also Fexafenodine. If it's really bad you can have steroid injections before the season starts. Cetirizine and Loratadine are non drowsy so GPs try those first but they do nothing for me.
I suggest you go back to the GP and ask to try something different, and also search Mumsnet for the many threads about hayfever a couple of months ago.

Just saw previous post. If it was piriton, not piriteze, you got, then piriton contains a different active ingredient, which would explain the difference.

I'm fairly certain my DS was prescribed generic piriton (chlorphenamine being the active ingredient) when small, as he was too young for cetirizine, so you may be able to get it prescribed - but ask for the generic version as that is a lot cheaper (and exactly the same). It's one of the older antihistamines though and will often cause drowsiness, so GP may be reluctant to prescribe. We were certainly switched to cetirizine soon as possible for this reason.

Benadryl is non drowsy for most people, but for a small percentage it can cause this. Best to take it the first time at night just to see how you feel with it, it didn’t however make any of us tired. It seems to dry up noses, eyes etc much better than anything else we have tried. It’s the box with the yellow flower - Benadryl allergy one a day, though again I’d check that age wise it’s ok for them.

Did you try with the Beconaise spray for a reasonable amount of time? It does take a while to build up so at least a week I would have thought twice a day for the full effect. The doctor can also prescribe stronger steroid nasal sprays but again I don’t know if they are suitable for young children. I have Avamys on prescription which really works very well.

If it’s really affecting him, I would ask to be referred to the Allergy clinic at the hospital. We’ve not done this so far as we have been managing it kind of OK, but our Doctor mentioned this if it got worse.

There are loads of other drugs you can try, some in combination (eg like nasal siesta, eye drops and oral medications). There are also stronger antihistamines.

Go back to your GP.

*SPRAYS!!! not siesta!

Although maybe a nasal siesta might help lol!

Have you tried giving the medication at bedtime? I find my hayfever is at its worst overnight and prevents me from sleeping so I take advantage of its drowsy making properties.

I read somewhere that the pollen drops out of the atmosphere as the night gets cooler, which kind of makes sense.

Ask if he can get fexofenadine from the GP. It's the only one that's ever worked for me.

@JuneOsborne

Ask if he can get fexofenadine from the GP. It's the only one that's ever worked for me.

After suffering with hayfever for 30+ years I was finally prescribed this a couple of weeks ago and it is life changing!! I changed from Cetirizine to Loretadine a few years ago but they both leave feeling hungover and don't particularly work so I avoid taking them unless it's really bad. I've tkaen the Fexofenadine daily for the last couple of weeks and felt fine on it and not had any symptoms, even after spending a couple of hours on a field of cut grass :)

I second (third?!) persevering with a nasal spray for longer. I wish I had done as a kid, but when you try it when your symptoms are already bad it just feels like you're sticking pollen up your nose so didn't bother much. In my early 20s I found if I started taking it a few weeks before symptoms usually kicks in it's genuinely life changing. If I run out or even when I get close to the bottom of the bottle and less is coming out, my symptoms get much worse again.
When I was pregnant I dropped the tablets completely as advised and just used the spray and it was fine.
I don't notice much difference between the three main over the counter antihistamines and despite taking them daily I still react badly to bites; they just don't do much for me.