Hayfever help!!

[Liliana1]

Hi, I have always suffered from bad hayfever which lasts from now to pretty much the end of the summer :( Because it is so bad it makes it hard for me to do my job (as a teacher phonics when you can't breath is an interesting experiment but not terribly educational!!) and I wake about every 2 hours unable to breath and need an inhaler.

Due to this the doc gives me a steroid injection to get me over the worst time and I take piriteze for the rest of the time, however, we are now very excited and TTC our first child so don't want steroid injection and have heard that you shouldn't take piriteze when TTC or pg. Have tried the herbal route and eaten local honey etc but hasn't helped. Does anyone have any experience or suggestions that I could try?

I have a nose spray and eye drops that seem to help, but I did have a steroid shot for arthritis 6 weeks before I fell pregnant which has the same ingredient as the hay fever one, so it is not as severe as other years. I was taking steroids the whole time I was TTC as the other medications were not safe, nor is uncontrolled arthritis, but understand that the risks are weighted differently for hay fever, so I hope you find something. If it is only one shot, could you have a month off TTC while you get the hay fever under control?

The herbal route could in fact be more dangerous as many of their soups contain a plant steroid very similar but at an unregulated dose to the injection.

Thanks for your reply, have an review of medication tomorrow with the nurse so will have a chat with her about the best way to deal with it. Think I will give the drops and spray a go, reluctant to take a month off TTC but maybe I'll have to x

I've heard vaseline in the nostrils helps (catches the pollen).

Worth a go I suppose.

I'm not certain what is/isn't regarded best for TTC, but I can tell you for a fact that any antihistamine with chlorphenamine as the active ingredient is absolutely safe during pregnancy. I was prescribed this from 20wks on when I was overwhelmed with hayfever, but you can also just go to Boots, etc and pick up anything that has it as the active ingredient.

Once you have your maternity exemption card, then getting a prescription will obviously be cheapest, but before then just go to a pharmacy and buy a chlorphenamine based product there (defintiely cheaper than the £7.20 prescription charge!)

"I can tell you for a fact that any antihistamine with chlorphenamine as the active ingredient is absolutely safe during pregnancy."

May I ask why you think that?

My understanding was that although there is no evidence of increased risk of problems in humans from anti-histamines but animal studies have shown embryo toxicity.

I'm sure we'll never have good human data (given the understandable worldwide aversion to medical trials on pregnant women) but it sounded like you thought that chlorphenamine was in some way different and I'm curious as to why.

The only anti-histamine with a substantial record of use in pregnancy, to the best of my knowledge, is Doxylamine which is used in Canada to treat nausea during pregnancy.

Hard to get in the U.K though.

Damn thing truncated my message...

Probably best to stay with topical treatments: nasal sprays and eye drops.

Less systemic absorption, less risk.

DBennett, when I was suffering during my pregnancy, I was told by my GP, as well as the various nurses on the antenatal ward where I was admitted, that chlorphenamine is safe as it has been around the longest out of all the antihistamines (over 50 years). Due to that they DO have the data on taking it during pregnancy, which is why they are happy to prescribe it, but not other antihistamines.

Ah, so it's an age thing.

If you're going to use an oral anti-histamine then you probably are better off with a 1st generation one, like chlorphenamine.

But I'm afraid I have to disagree about the data, at least as to how good it is.

Bearing in mind that you can get piriton over the counter, without a record being kept, and that, if you were unfortunate enough to have a problem pregnancy it might not be asked about, we really don't have any of the numbers needed to work out a risk profile.

I think after allergen avoidance it is a option but I don't think we have nearly enough data to say it's absolutely safe.

I used HayMax when i was pregnant and i haven't looked back since. It's like the vaseline mentioned above in that you put it on your nose, but its much much better. As soon as i start with the symptoms i just dab a bit on my nose and everything just stops.
Hope this helps - sorry it's late!

This is some info mfrom the patient information leaflet. I second DBennett that i would not take it whilst pregnant unless advised by GP or Obstetricain.

Pregnancy

There are no adequate data from the use of chlorphenamine maleate in pregnant women. The potential risk for humans is unknown. Use during the third trimester may result in reactions in the newborn or premature neonates. Not to be used during pregnancy unless considered essentially by a physician.

Lactation

Chlorphenamine maleate and other antihistamine may inhibit lactation and may be secreted in breast milk. Not to be used during lactation unless considered essential by a physician.