Do you buy brand name antihistamines?

[Workyticket]

Dh and ds (10) are both taking Piriton for hay-fever. Just wondering if non brand ones are as affective 🤔

we buy own brand.
3 people with hayfever it soon adds up.
they work just as fine

Home and bargain I think they are about 50p.

My dogs have hayfever and this so what the vet advised. Half a tablet daily.

I buy unbranded phenergan - it's great though makes you drowsy.

The branded /unbranded are the same.
Just no-one making the Activasan (?) or whatever its called by Benadryl. Its the only one working for me and expensive 😩

@ClumpingBambooIsALie Do you know what it is that makes fexofenadine better than the others? I've bought some but not tried it yet. Only recently available otc, isn't it?

I actually don't, I just know that both DP and I (sneezy ppl both) were really pleasantly surprised by how much more effective we personally found it (plus, for me, one of either loratadine or cetirizine makes me sleepy, and I can never remember which one it is 🤣). And yep it's recently become available to buy; I have some that's branded Allevia that I recently bought, but in the past I used to nick one of DP's prescription Telfast-branded fexofenadine I know some people don't find it any better but I guess it's one of those things where you have to evaluate it for your own physiology etc.

When they also market your antihistamine as a sleeping tablet, you know you're not gonna get a lot done

That's actually how I discovered it - GP prescribed them as a short-term sleeping aid and I noticed on the side they were working wonders with my hay-fever

As long as it says cetirizine on the packet, I'll have it. Buying branded is a con for many products, as non-branded or supermarket-own types are just as good.

You can buy job lots of generic anti histamines on Amazon, they work just as well as branded and are much much cheaper. But I would say that if the hay fever is really bad you might want to look into also getting an age appropriate nasal spray and/or eye drops to attack it from all fronts. But yes, the generic ones do the exact same job, just as generic paracetamol and ibuprofen do.

Ha, if you think that’s funny, anti-nausea pills make me even more nauseous, sometimes to the point of vomiting.

I find Sainsbury’s own brand cetirizine is just as good as branded.

Same here... Though I get them on prescription which is £££. Do you have an alternative?!

It's not that they work the same, they ARE the same. Mind you, fexofenadine is much better than citirizine or loratidine.
The original piriton (chlorpheniramine, not chloramphenicol as someone said above) is an excellent antihistamine but can make you very sleepy. The older antihistamines are prone to that because they cross the blood-brain barrier more easily.

I can't get my head around why anyone would buy brand name drugs of any kind tbh.

I get mine from poundstretcher - and yes, they are exactly the same drugs as the brand names for a fraction of the price.

There is no reason for anyone over 3 to still be taking Piriton or be buying it by brand name!

Non-drowsy anti-histamines have been around for >20 years now, lets move with the times and embrace superior technology.

DH and I both have chronic urticaria, plus I have numerous pollen allergies and asthma so we both take antihistamines year round. I buy Cetirizine unbranded online, 2 years supply (1 year each) for about £15.

Branded is a con. If your antihistamine isn't working see your GP - but main reason is you probably need to get started BEFORE the pollen season, not during, it's too late then. Look at a pollen calendar online and make a note for next year.

I buy ceterizine in bulk from Amazon as I take at least two a day all year. I bought 30 boxes of 30 tablets for £18.99.

If your antihistamine isn't working see your GP

Mine barely touch it but try getting a GP to show any interest! I was given a stronger one that although it said it was non drowsy made me feel fuzzy so I gave up and went back to the over the counter ones and just took more (I've been told I can have up to 4 a day).

Same way I don't pay extra for Nurofen - just buy generic ibuprofen. They all work just as well.

I work in a shop and so many people will pick up branded medicines rather than the much, much cheaper generic versions. I can understand for certain medications people might be less familiar with the active ingredients so just go for well known brands, but when it's things like basic ibuprofen or paracetamol, I don't really get it.

Thanks everyone - we're lucky enough not to use much in the way of meds as a family so I admit to being a bit clueless.

I've had a look on Amazon and the ceterizine mentioned above is so cheap!

Does anyone know of one for kids that's 1 a day rather than half a tablet twice a day? We're rubbish at reminding ds.

You can buy 6 months worth ( one a day ) of Allergan for about £3.20 on Amazon.

The only branded painkillers I buy are Anadin Extra as I can't find anything as good.

Not sure where mine was from, it was one of those things where DP was online and while he was at it, I asked him to buy me some fexofenadine from somewhere and he did. But you can definitely get it online. Don't know how the price compares to prescription costs, sorry.

I don't think anyone has mentioned it so:
There will be a PL number code identifying the medicine on the back of branded packets.
If this PL number is the same on the unbranded boxes then they are the same medicine. Exactly the same.
Only diff could be the weight.

Obvs you need medical advice that is tailored to your specific situation but:

When my urticaria used to be really mad I was on 4x cetirizine and 4xfexofenadine a day.

The nasal sprays and eye drops are brilliant but absolutely need to be started 2 WEEKS BEFORE SYMPTOMS START to be effective. Apologies for shouting.

Being a lazy and disorganized person, who also appears to have allergies for 10 months out of 12, I just gave up and decided to take cetirizine every day as planning for pollen season, especially working out if it would be an early spring etc is a skill beyond me.

Just to buck the trend (there's got to be one right? Just to make it interesting!) .. I always buy my branded antihistamine, Benadryl. I also only take red liquid tab Nurofen

I've tried others and they are not effective for me. Whether that is my brain telling me this who knows but I'm happy with what I choose to take and it works for me