Can you mix two hay fever drugs?

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My 14 y/o son is suffering very badly this year with hay fever. Normally cetrizine hydrochloride works fine, but it's not touching it. I tried him on lotradine too - no joy. Both are one a day pills. Can he take both in one day if hours apart - say one in the morning and one at bedtime?

My doctor said yes but check with yours first

No you can't take both. He needs to see a doctor if he needs something else. A steroid nasal spray can be very helpful.

I'm not a doctor but I've been doing this for many years with no ill effects.

Thank you all. Why do you say not @Sertchgi123?

They are both antihistamines, just a different make. Antihistamines are safe when used as directed. Otherwise, there can be problems:

Taking too much can be harmful for children and adults.

My ds was prescribed an adult dose of cetirizine from the age of 5, so I suspect there’s quite a wide margin in the allowed dose.

It really doesn't matter what anyone on an internet forum is saying. Get a doctor's appointment.

Will 111 give advice on this or a pharmacist?

Might be worth a shot

What symptoms is he having? Might be worth going for direct treatment like nose spray for running nose eye drops for eye problems etc

Ask a pharmacist initially. As an adult, I take 4 different allergy medications and have been advised this is fine. But check for your child - a pharmacist should know, though if they can't help, then a doctor's appointment,

@slipperywhensparticus this is not an appropriate use of the 111 service - 111 is for when you need medical advice that is urgent enough that it may not be safe to wait for a doctors appointment.

Hi I've found Benadryl is best. The active ingredient begins with an A but feeding baby so can't go and check what it is. They sell them in savers for £2.99 for 12. Don't buy from boots/Tesco as they charge around £6 a box xx

Take at tablet then get a different nasal spray and also eye drops. I use Vaseline in my nose too

I’ve always found piriton to work the best. It can cause drowsy ness though as it crosses the brain blood barrier. The once a day none drowsy ones do now. I’ve taken both when my hay fever has been bad for many years. A quick call to the doctor to cover your back though as he is still technically a child it’s better to be safe x

Speak to a pharmacist first. We were back and forth last year with DS2 and had to try all of the different brands before the doc would agree to see us. We got through three and cetrizine worked best with advice from the pharmacist. Also have eye drops.

This years pollen seems to be affecting DS2 worse than last year, but I hadn’t considered mixing antihistamines before - so I might ask ours the same thing.

It’s horrid to see them suffering though - DS has really struggled this year

Yes, I asked the allergy nurse yesterday. They also said one type can stop working after a while so might be wise to switch drugs for a while. My dh takes piriton tablet on top of nasal spray.

But ask your pharmacist obviously for a child.

The advice above was given in relation to my 6yo btw. Her poor skin after the tests on both arms.

Alternative remedy which works 95% of the time for my DH who has really bad hay fever.........
Put a coating of Vaseline up each nostril every morning. Honestly it’s worked wonders for him and much healthier than taking too many tablets.
Worth a try at least.

I seconed prition, all these modern non drowsy one a day tablets do nothing for me. It has to be the strong stuff, they don't seem to like giving it out anymore. Its never made me drowsy though.

I don't think your supposed to mix antihistamine as they all act on the same mechanism. But you can take nasel sprays with them, good idea to check with a pharmacy first though.

My specialist said I could take 30mg of cetirizine a day plus a loratadine.

Loratidine and chlorphenamine work for me.

A Pharmacist advised me I could take Beconase and loratidine together, early in this season when I was struggling. Suggest maybe a chat with a Pharmacist to see if it's OK for younger people?

It’s worth talking to the doctor- they can prescribe a stronger anti histamine

I wouldn't advise it. Always find chlorphenamine works best (piriton)

Ring the surgery. I tried all this - combinations of both, Vaseline in the nose, Beconase, Piriton, the piriton spray, Sterimar spray and irrigating, local honey blah blah blah. Fexofenadine, that's what worked. My GP is worthless so I went private but hopefully you have a decent one. A LOT of people have been on their knees with hayfever this year.

Check with your GP first, especially as your son isn't an adult yet. But I called mine last Friday because I'd been struggling and they said one cetirizine hydrochloride (10mg) in the morning and one at night, or just doubling the dose to take two tablets at the same time each day was completely fine. So for the past few days I have been taking one tablet at 11am and another at 11pm. It's really helped me! I was also offered prescription Fexofenadine so that may be an option to ask about.