What Do They Put in Claritin? »
Not long ago, I ran out of Claritin, and it took me a few days to get back to the store and pick up a new batch. Since it was the middle of winter, I figured I was safe to go for a few days without - I mean really, how much pollen can there be in the air in mid-January? If it's not safe to go without Claritin then, when will it be safe? I guess the safe answer is "never", because after I went a couple of days without, I felt like I had had my brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick (bonus points for anyone who knows where that comes from).
While I've been on daily medication for a while now for epilepsy (first Dilantin and later Zonegran), and I am well aware of the consequences of not taking that medication every day, I wouldn't think that an allergy medication could cause such severe pain. Of course, I can't say with complete confidence that the pain came from the (lack of) Claritin in my system either, but after I picked up a new bottle and started taking it again, the pain went away. So what else am I to think?
Keeping in mind that I am not a doctor, it is my believe that antihistimine medications work best in advance - that is, they don't really do much if your head is already stopped up. But since decongestants are such a no-no with Dilantin, I've always been scared of taking them, and since I have such bad allergies, that's why I continue to take the Claritin. It's really not bad - it's just a tiny pill after all. I understand the need to continue taking it, so that it can have a continued effect of keeping things cleared out.
But if it really does have such an adverse affect, it's downright scary on its own. I typically stay away from nasal sprays, because you hear the horror stories from those, and people getting addicted to them and needing to keep on the spray to keep their noses clear. I can't say that I had that problem when I didn't take the Claritin (it was the middle of January, after all), but that headache was a killer. It's like my skull was being split open, and I'm just wondering if there was something else going on or if it is indeed a side-effect of coming off of Claritin. Has anyone else experienced this before?
