Hayfever

[FineFanks]

I'm suffering with symptoms I haven't really had before.

When I've had hayfever in previous years (I don't always get it, seems to be 1 year on, 1 year off kind of thing) I get watery eyes, blocked nose etc.

This time, I'm 17 weeks and I have an unbearably itchy roof of mouth, ear ache and what feels like itchy ear canals.

I barely slept last night!

Researching today on what antihistamine I can take, and NHS advice seems to be that there are certain types I can use, but that its generally better not to.

Yeah hayfever can be worse in pregnancy. From memory topical treatments are ok.... I'm sure I was prescribed nasal spray and eye drops. But no actual anti-histamines.

But best check with doc/pharmacy.

You can take loratadine during pregnancy.

I have to take certizine every day all year for my hay fever.
Doctor and midwife said ok in pregnancy. I would check if you don’t normally take it.

I get extremely bad hayfever and am on prescription medication. When I was pregnant it was actually a bit better. However, I discussed this with my obstetrician. Certainly at that time the only one which had gone through testing was piriton which makes you sleepy. You can use steroid nasal sprays and eyedrops. Honestly though an ioniser has helped me by my bed

I also get really bad hay fever and found one thing that really helped for the very bad days is paracetamol. Obviously not as a daily thing but when it was so bad I could barely open my eyes it really helped.

Poor you. I had the same issue. Symptoms some years and not others. Got it while pregnant. Dr prescribed me a generic brand which you can take after 12 weeks. But it did say on the packet not to be taken by pregnant and bf mums. However the nhs website said it was fine to take. I checked with the pharmacy and they said the reason they discourage taking hay fever tablets is because there are no clinical trials so they don't know whether it's harmful or not. Pharmacist just said take the tablets if it's unbearable otherwise stick to the drug free stuff or eye drops

I had horrific rhinitis in pregnancy. I was going through almost a whole box of kleenex a day and completely lost my sense of smell and taste. I thought i wasn't allowed to take antihistamines either, after being turned away by a particularly unhelpful pharmacist, so I suffered like this for about four months until eventually I made a GP appointment. I was prescribed piriton, which is a first generation antihistamine - these are thought to be safer. Certainly my daughter suffered no ill effects and I felt 100% better after that.

Thanks all.

Contacted my GP and they responded:

With regards to your query about Hayfever meds during pregnancy, the GP has advised that you can check with the local Pharmacist as these meds are now OTC and not on prescription. Please contact us again if you have any further queries.

Quite vague?! I’ll head to pharmacy tomorrow.

Pharmacy will not sell them to you and will say you need to see a gp. You can buy loratidine and cetirizine off the shelf in the supermarket though

Nightmare. I suffered badly in pregnancy and was told I couldn’t take medication. May depend on your dr, but I agree when you’re pregnant pharmacists will always send you to the gp for everything so the response you had from the surgery so far wasn’t very helpful.

Normal dose cetirizine is fine during pregnancy. Your symptoms can get worse during pregnancy; mine did! Itchy ears are the worst- try carefully putting a cold, wet ear bud round the edge of ear canal (not inside). Shut the windows at home, dry clothes inside, wash hair and shower every evening, clean clothes daily.

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/pregnancy/can-i-take-hay-fever-medicine-during-pregnancy/ says loratidine is the first choice if tablets are being used