I am thinking of giving Allegra another try.  I am currently on 2 Claritin per day.  

For those of you who take Allegra, do you take it in the morning?  Do you take another H1 blocker in the evening?

I take it in the morning and later if I need it for a reaction to something. It does not cause drowsiness. You don't need to transition anything. Just take it in the morning instead of claritin.

I take the original.....

Sandi:
The other inactive ingrediant to watch for is cornstarch. Both it & the
pregelantized starch because of the process used to make them are
high in sulfites.
MikeV

jen:
The problem is it's all trial & error, with the errors causing us some type of symptom. I actually take zyrtec but have switched from the generic to the regular because of the cornstarch in generic. I did the same switching from zyflo back to singulair. I just wish that there was an answer for tramadol as it helps me but if I take more than1 it doesn't could be the filler of cornstarch. These fillers are one way the generics make them cheaper. Another example I kept hearing Heather talk so much about her success with liquid benidryl & she knows a lot. Well I couldn't take the pill version but I now find the liquid version does help me at night. I started watching the inactive ingrediants when after about 6 weeks I started having a bad reaction to ketitofen. The only ingrediant in the pill besides ketitofen was cornstarch. Am now going to try to get my doc to let me try the liquid version to test further. Like I said trial & error. But Lisa was dead on in  a recent post about using knowing the feel of our bodies reaction & how in that case we know more than the docs who treat us. I can sense in my doc a frustration of me always wanting to try new thing. He thinks why can't I just accept me as I am. It's because we all are searching for ways to get as close as we can to the old us before we got this disease.
Good luck in your search. As far as I'm concerned I'm never finished searching.
MikeV

My guess is that most people who take Claritin are using it for reasons you see in the commercials... runny nose, watery eyes... they're not so freakishly sensitive to medications, fillers, artificial dyes, etc... as some of us are!  I bet most people taking medications don't think twice about the color (except to confirm that it's the right drug).

Incidentally, I'm thinking of hopping on the Allegra bandwagon to see if it makes any difference.  I've been taking Claritin (and Zyrtec), but when I thought back to why... it was only because I could get Claritin without a prescription.  I haven't seen OTC fexofenadine (generic Allergra) though, which means that OTC loratadine (generic Claritin) is a LOT cheaper.  If I don't see any major difference within a few weeks I'll be switching back.

Heather

ps - Mike... that's fantastic that you discovered you can take liquid Benadryl  I know it doesn't work for everyone (it has an artificial sweetener), but personally it helps me sooooo much.  I never leave home without it.

Goldie,
The switching to Allegra from Claritin is what has me concerned too.  I am afraid to jump in at 180 mg.  I usually start off with a low dose on a new med and then if I react it's not so horrible.

I did read the Allegra label and it has either pregelitanized starch or cornstarch (I forget) but Walmart's generic does not.  I wish Walmart sold the children's strength pills you swallow (I don't want the chewables)

So far I've not found any 60 mg "non allegra" brand. I've been all over the place online and in town, and pharmacies. Allegra seems to have the market  on the 60 mg still and their fillers are worse than Teva brand! You can still check with pharmacies that may still have stock of 60 mg Teva. Again each brand is different. Dr REaddys is just like allegra tons of crud. Oh yeah Mike! Fully aware of corn and sulfites! Everyone you do have to listen to your body, we all react differently to everything. I can't believe I still doubt myself and beat my head into the wall proving that something bothered me again. Also write it down, I can't tell you the times I've thought,,,, hmmmm I think I've been here before with this particular item!  I'm bigtime with Deb, you can just stop claritin and jump on allegra or your version of fexofenadine.