Hay fever in pregnancy

[SeptMummy]

I always try to avoid taking anything but can't bare the thought of a summer feeling sore itchy eyed and sneezing.... Went to GP and have been prescribed Cetirizine Hydrochloride 'Allacan' to take only when totally necessary, but upon reading the packet rather than the usual 'ask your doctors advice before taking if pregnant' it says 'not recommended for use if pregnant'... Having felt relieved there was something to take, I'm now in a quandary!!
Anyone else been prescribed this and if so has all been ok?
Many thanks in advance

I took loratadine on prescription daily during my pregnancy. The instructions have to be careful as it's unethical to test on pregnant women. My view was that if my GP was comfortable prescribing it then I was comfortable taking it.

They have to be super-careful with their labelling for pregnancy. If you want to be a bit more cautious, you can use the steroid nasal sprays (Beconase, Pirinase) in pregnancy - they mostly act locally in the nose, so less gets into your system. You can buy them OTC, if getting back to the GP for a prescription is tricky.

I asked the doctor about it and he looked up which anti-histamines are safe for pregnancy and both Loratadine and Cetirizine came up. I'm sticking with Loratadine though because Cetirizine had a nastier list of side-effects whereas I've always been fine with Loratadine. I was told I can take it every day if needed.

Also was told by the pharmacist that Fluticasone nasal spray is ok in pregnancy, used it once and it cleared me right up to the point I thought my head my explode!

Cetrizine was fine for me and don't forget about anti histamine eye drops too . Beconase nasal spray is amazing ( don't know of that's safe in pregnancy)

Beconase etc are actually recommended by NHS as first attack for hayfever in pregnancy as they're localised rather than definitely having to go into your blood stream. It's the only thing that actually helps for me anyway- the tablets aren't any use so I just didn't bother with them this year

www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/935.aspx?categoryid=54

I took loratadine all through childhood but my local pharmacist was uncomfortable recommending it to me while pregnant so I emailed my gp and they left a prescription for me for it and an Avamys(sp?) nasal spray. I'm comfortable using them if my GP is!

Thank you all, that's great, use with caution seems to be the way to go... Might try nasal spray & eye drops first as less into the system the better!

I took loratidine, eye drops and nasal spray when preg with no probs

I doubled checked with the midwife yesterday - loratadine is definitely ok to take.

Avamys was the nasal spray the doctor told me was ok

My hay fever improved dramatically during both of my pregnancies. I didn't take anything - but found extra strong mints a great relief for clearing out ones passages! ( I still swear by them...)