Hayfever relief (eyes and nose) [Archive]

-<M4v3r1ck>-

14th Jun 2004, 17:22

Hello,

After running a search I read a few threads which offered advice on good hayfever medications but I've not had time to visit the pharmacy today and am quite busy tomorrow so wanted to quickly ask in the hope there'll be some replies tonight :O

My symtoms are fairly mild and in the past I've used beconase nasal spray and aqueous eye drops largely as a preventative measure. The problem is I've recently started wearing contacts and the eye drops can't be used with them.

I'm starting my PPL this summer and am after something in tablet form (preferably but not exclusively) that is good with treating the nose AND eyes. Oh, also, I'm a lowly student type so the cheaper the better :ugh:

Thanks,

Mav :ok:

Flyin'Dutch'

15th Jun 2004, 10:20

For completeness sake:

Hi Folks,

This is just general advice and can not replace individual advice for you as
you can obtain from your GP/AME so check with them first! It is also based
on my experience as a GP and FAA AME, things may be diffirent if you hold a
CAA licence.

If your hayfever is really bad and not well controlled you need to foresake
flying. Quite often it is not the medication for particular conditions but
the underlying condition which makes someone unfit to fly.

When treating hayfever the best thing is avoidance but if that in itself
does not do the job you can treat either the problems topically (at the
place where they occur), systemically or a combination. Sometimes even that
will not do the job.

There used to be a time when an annual injection with a long acting steroid
was advocated but this not only was not very effective (despite anecdotal
evidence from patients) but also could lead to unpleasant side effects. This
is now not a licensed indication for the use of this medication anymore
(Kenalog) and those that still use it for this leave themselves open to
medico-legal criticism.

For eyes you can use:

Sunglasses
Sodium cromoglicate eyedrops or
Rapitil

Nose:

Nasacort (triamcinolone)
Rhinocort (budesonide)

(and although not on the FAA List I know that Beconase is OK too for the
CAA)

Systemic:

Clarityn (Loratadine)

There are some others out there that may be used but some require a status
report (as in a letter from your treating doc/ame that you dont have any
adveerse reactions to the stuff) or that you wait for 12 hours (Actifed) or
48 hours before you can fly again.

HTH

F

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Flyin'Dutch'
Registered Poster

Joined: 22 Sep 2003
Posts: 699
Location: UK
Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2004 23:04 Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Further to that:

Desloratadine or Neo Clarityn is supposed to be more refined and therefore more effective and less prone to causing side effects.

Neither is proven and a lot of these further developments have more to do with the original drug coming off patent rather than drug efficacy.

Eating honey to reduce hayfever is unlikely to be clinically effective, despite common held beliefs regular medicine is not against things which work because they stem from folklore, more likely because it doesn't work. Would much rather eating honey did work as it would save me a lot of consultations and the NHS a lot of dosh.

Some asked me about desensitation and I wrote the following:

'De-sensitisation was very much en vogue in the 80s and early 90s, the reason
that it is not anymore is simple. It did not work. Some people claimed to
have had great benefit but if you look at the natural evolution of these
allergies there are folks that 'get better' from them without any remedy,
they were probably the 'responders' in the desensitation trials'

F