Allergy Med (Antihistimines And Anticholinergic) Warnings For Pots

[RichGotsPots]

A lot of us are taking allergy medicines especially those of us who have Mast Cell issues or Asthma. We should be careful because these medicines affect our Parasympathetic system with can raise body heat, cause dehydration ( if you've ever used clariton or other brands of allergy meds and they have dried up your nose or mouth), they can cause tachycarida, lung/bronchispasms and they can cause ORTHOSTATIC HYPOTENSION.

Look at this wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticholinergic

Look through the side effects and you will see the Orthostatic Hypotension as the last possible side effect.

let me know if you've experienced any of this or if you've found them useful.

Thanks,

Rich

[Serbo]

Thanks Rich, what are the accepted or recommended antihistamines for POTS sufferers?

[Katybug]

Rich,

I have had to take Benydryl or Tylenol PM as well as Phenergan (promethazine) and they don't make my BP drop. I think just like anything else, this may affect some people as a side effect but not others. I think I got lucky. I have to use them for allergic reactions, to help sleep occassionally, and the phenrgan for nausea/vomiting and they do help me.

Hope you feel better soon.

Katie

[Serbo]

In the past i've taken Zyrtek, messed me up big time the day after. Couldnt stand up for more than 30 seconds without fainting for a day, and most recently taken Loratadine. Loratinde gave usual drowsiness, ectopic beats, and tachy, issues with breathing which kept waking me up.

[juliegee]

Like Katy, I do fine with antihistamines...but much (not all) of my dysautonomia is mediated by over-reactive mast cells so antihistamines are a mainstay of my treatment plan.

Serbo, my son also had an awful reaction to zyrtec. It completely oversedated him, even when he took it at night. The whole next day, he was so out of it. Thankfully, he does fine with loratadine. Forgive me for forgetting, but WHY do you need an antihistamine? There are many other things you can try, like allegra or naslcrom. With antihistamines, it is often trial and error until you find the right one.

[fiona-jane]

i found that my bp dropped when i first started taking my loratidine for my spore allergy and had lots more palpitations but i'm able to increase my salt and fluid intake to take into account the pressure dropping effect of the med. for me it seems leaving the allergy to go unchecked was causing me far more problems with my PoTS as it made me really quite ill and i constantly had a high fever so repeatedly got heat stroke (till we figured out it was an allergy and not just a virus- day after being on anti-histamines and the fever almost vanished. hopefully once the rotting leaf litter is no longer on the ground i'll be able to stop the anti-histamines as its the fungus that grows in places like that which is causing my allergy problems...

i think its a case of working out which is the worst evil and running with it

fi xx

[rubytuesday]

i've found that only antihistamine that handles my symptoms is 50 mg Benadryl which makes me drowsy. I take Zantac at night and Singulair at night for the asthma and GI (plus antihistamine effect) so sadly, I don't use other allergy meds since seem to be waste of money (ins. does not cover either) when not so effective. So then, I guess this has been a mixed blessing. I continue with runny nose, itchy watery eyes and never know what's causing what internally. Even when taking antihistamine, when dysautonomia hits me, my nose is like an open running faucet. Exercise (in the least) and eating do same. as does cold and heat. I do use proventil nasal spray to try to dry the auto drop when I lector at church or am able to attend (rarely) some social engagement with dinner.

[anaphylaxing]

I've only had POTS since being on antihistamines and having anaphylaxis and my husband always mentions that he thinks the many meds I'm on might be contributing to the POTS. The problem is they're fighting off anaphylaxis and the only way to know if they're the issue is to stop them which is SCARY!

[Angelika_23]

I use Zyrtec daily and have no problems. I cannot take Allegra, that causes me to be tachy. I cannot take anything that has a decongestant in it (as I imagine most of us can't.)

Two of my children can't take anything at all, they have bad reactions to antihistamines. Odd.

[RichGotsPots]

Thanks for responding everyone. Of course everyone will have different reactions especially us POTS people as we are hypersensitive to meds. One symptom I don't have is low blood pressure but I thought I would warn some people who do. My other concern is we all seem to have dehydration issues and body heat issues (extremities are cold and other parts are very warm) these meds further mess with that symptom. For Mast cell people of course they have no choice but for everyone else, I wish there are new meds. If anyone knows knew meds without these affects, please post.. Thanks!

[potsgirl]

I take Benadryl every day, and I seem to be fine with it. Like others, I use it for allergies and for making me a little sleepy before bed to help me sleep. I've had no side effects (that I know of!) and only take 25-50 mg a day. Everyone is so different though. It's really an individual thing. Good luck!

[RichGotsPots]

I started Zyrtec 5mg/day 5 days ago, so far so good, next week I'll try 10mg. Seems like they need to be moving on to new H3 and H4 histamine stuff. Anyone ever try Astelline for the nose?