I am a long-time summer allergy sufferer. Even stepping outside my door on a lovely summer morning results in sneezing, itchy and watery eyes, and a quick dash back indoors where my allergies aren’t as bad. Anybody who suffers from allergies knows the misery it can be when you don’t have proper medicine for it. I have been taking Claritin D for years because of this.
Due to the Patriot Act’s regulation of pseudoephedrine, the nasal decongestant found in many stronger allergy and cold medicines, there are now strict laws on how much of any medicine containing the substance you can buy at one time. You must show your license and sign a log stating that you purchased any medicine containing pseudoephedrine. There is a very low limit to how much can be purchased per month. The two hardest-hit names were Claritin D and Sudafed.
After Claritin D became expensive and a pain to purchase, I decided to look around for a cheaper alternative. I found my answer on Amazon.com in the form of Member’s Mark Loratadine. The active ingredients in Claritin (and many other allergy medicines) are Loratadine and pseudoephedrine. Using common sense, I thought, “If I take care of the allergies that are making my nose stuffy, would I even need the nasal decongestant?” and the answer was no. I’ve been using Loratadine for months now and have had complete allergy relief.
The results are wonderful (and tons of reviewers of the product on Amazon.com agree with me) as is the price; I paid just $18.50 for 360 Loratadine 10mg pills that I must take once daily. Claritin D was costing me about $1.25 per daily pill, which added up to over $225 when you account for the fact that allergies are a problem at least six months per year. I live in Georgia, so it’s more like they’re a problem nearly year round, as we don’t tend to have winter too much here!
There are some things you should know before taking Loratadine though. The first is that it takes longer to kick in than does Claritin D. You will likely have to take it for 2-4 days before it builds up to its full potency. Second, you can’t miss days with this medicine and then just pick up taking it again after a few days. I personally have missed a day here or there and haven’t had to “start over” per se, but according to Amazon.com’s reviewers, if you do miss more than 2-4 days of taking it, you will have to rebuild full efficiency. If you stop taking the pill for long periods of time (for example, if I take it only during the summer because I don’t need it during the winter), you can cause yourself to become increasingly immune to the effectiveness of it. However, these are the same effects of regular Claritin and its store brands that can be bought in various places.
Overall, I intend to keep taking Loratadine throughout the winter even if I don’t need it as much then. It fights the indoor and outdoor triggers that usually set my allergies off, including the hair that my two cats shed. My husband and I went from breaking the bank just for some relief to being allergy free for the low total cost of $18.50 each per year.
As a side note, Loratadine is a mid-level allergy relief product. The tier below it is Diphenhydramine, which is generic Benadryl. Almost nobody buys this anymore due to the fact that it causes drowsiness. Above Loratadine is Cetirizine, the main ingredient in Zyrtec. Zyrtec never worked for me whereas Claritin did, so I tried Loratadine first. If you are the other way around, give Cetirizine a shot! It’s supposed to be more powerful than Loratadine and costs only a small amount more.
You also do not have to purchase the Member’s Mark brand of Loratadine. It was simply the cheapest at $18.50 for 360 pills (the other brands were $20 for only 300 pills) at the time of my purchasing the medicine. More reviews (almost all of them 4 1/2 – 5 stars) can be found by typing “loratadine” in the search box.
I hope I have helped you find relief from your allergy symptoms and perhaps some for your wallet as well!
