Best Antihistamine - Urticaria & Severe Itching?

[joencaitlinsmum]

Having a particularly bad flare up of urticaria on my upper body and neck and have been taking a supermarket brand of antihistamine containing Loratadine twice a day (one a day type) going on previous advice from an allergy specialist but its it only works for an hour or two then is back again and don't want to risk overdose by taking more.

Wondering if I have become immune to that type and should switch? Any recommendations for over the counter meds or should I bite the bullet and see my GP for something stronger if there is such a thing?

I have urticaria and in the past GP has prescribed Fexofenadine. Didn't work for me but we're all different I suppose.
The most effective over-the-counter I've found are chlorphenamine (piriton) but some people find they have a sedating effect.

Bit late to reply but I have ongoing urticaria and the only thing which really works for me is cetirizine (normal antihistamine) combined with ranitidine (aka Zantac), which is an antacid but also works on the histamine receptors in your gut. All antihistamines had stopped working for me but my urticaria totally vanished within 30 mins of my first dose of those combined meds!