Does your teenager take hay fever meds?

[Saltire]

If so, what do they take (are they prescribed) and what is the best time of day to take them?
Ds1 has hayfever, he has loratadine on prescription, nad has jsut started back on it.

Not teens, but my primary age children take Zirtec every morning. It works pretty well.

They were originally prescribed, but we just get them over the counter now.

DS2 (15) takes ceritazine in the morning and has eye drops on prescription. He tried loratadine but got better results with ceritazine.
No problems with either but when the pollen is high they don't relieve the symptoms.

I said teenagers as ds1is a teen but ut applies to all.
He takes the loratadine in the morning but had very watery eyes and runny noae this morning and he had an exam. I wondered if perhaps he should have taken it at night as it didnt help him this morning. I have some ceterizine i might give him those tomorrow and see how he gets on

Can you get stronger stuff on prescription than the shop stuff?
ds really suffers every year. When the pollen count is high it's like he's suffocated by it.

My ds takes telfast daily on prescription along with own brand beconaise nasal spray (also prescription) when things are really bad

is telfast stronger than the shop stuff?

I would imagine so as it's prescription only

My DH manages on a sniff of becconaise most mornings - might that be worth a try/

I have got him a doc appt after school. The loratadine is prescrition but he must need something stronger. He has woken this morning with sore eyes he says they feel gritty and sore.

My DD17 takes either loratadine or cetirizine ( she changes every couple of weeks or so as it starts to be less effective).

She takes it twice - once in the morning and once in the evening (doctor advice) and has amalsye(?) nasal spray on prescription. Plus her inhaler as it really affects her airways.

It doesn't Affect her eyes though, so no eye drops.

Plus we have an air purifier in her room which filters pollen and dust.

She is allergic to something for about 11and a half months a year.....

We think cut grass is one of DSes triggers. It only starts when the first grass cut of the year on the public areas happens. He is supposed to have PE today but the lesson is outside so i have asked for him to be excused

yes we have an air filter as well
I think grass is the trigger for ds
I'm considering getting a roomba when I get paid as they are meant to be good for getting all the dust up (apparently)

DD(15) takes prescription desloratidine and avamys nasal spray. Hayfever triggers her asthma, but this combo works well for her.

You get your loratadine on prescription but you can buy it off the shelf in Tesco's and the like.

The Telfast you can only get on prescription

Sometimes ds has eye drops - I just get him optrex allergy

And you should not overlook the benefits of jumping in the shower to wash off the allergens! My DD would do that after a PE lesson outside.

And when things are really bad (often) she runs a bowl of water and puts her face in it to allow the water to wash out her nostrils and eyes.

And they say you can use Vaseline as a barrier at the bottom of your nostrils to catch the pollen on e way in. But it looks dreadful so you'd only want to do that amongst friends....

For eyes: you can get antihistamine eye drops, which are far more effective than the over the counter stuff. Patanol is one, but there are others - dh buys them on the internet.

You can get a version of Patanol on prescription now, from GPs.

They are hugely effective, so if eyes are the problem - worth following up.

He got some eye drops from the doc.
Has anyone tried to get a 15 year old to put eye drops in? . You would think we'd asked him to jump off a cliff

My 19 year old DS has had severe hayfever since he was a toddler.

What works (fairly well) for him is:

Zirtek tablet (or similar) once a day.
Eye drops - a prescription one, but can't remember the name. I'll post later if I think of it. OTC ones just don't work for him.
Alomide nasal spray taken twice a day (similar to Beconase, but works better for him).
Piriton tablet taken in the evening if he's really suffering.
Also has an inhaler because the pollen affects his airways. Luckily, he only needs that for a couple of months a year.

He's well trained with the eye drops now & can do them himself, but as a small child it was a nightmare to get them in - we had to resort to bribery. I was still doing it for him as a young teen.

Tell your 15 year old that although eye drops sting a bit at first, it soon settles down, & with regular use it doesn't sting when you put them in. Also, with regular use the symptoms should reduce.

Correction to the above:

The prescription eye drops are Alomide, and the nasal spray is Avamys (or something similar).