If I were taking hydroxyzine even once a day, I would be feeling dead, too! My doc is Dr. Akin, the Boston specialist, and he has me take that for emergency (as in when my symptoms are heading toward anaphylaxis). I don't know your symptoms, but the typical beginning meds are:

Zantac twice a day (150 mg or 300 mg each time)
Allegra (180 mg) in morning
Zyrtec 10 mg in early evening.
Maybe singulair (10 mg) once a day

Perhaps you could try that. That is what I was originally put on, and I still take it. It works very nicely for me. Changing one's diet is required in order to control mast cell symptoms., For example, shellfish and alcohol are 2 things that seem to bother nearly all mast cell people. So, those you should probably avoid. Otherwise, keep a food diary and see what your safe foods are and what bother you. For example, I cannot eat garlic or onions. I can't even smell them without symptoms starting up. So, obviously I avoid those like the plague.

The hydroxyzine is what is making you so tired. I used to take a much weaker dose than you and I would honestly fall asleep in the middle of a sentence while talking to my husband! It was a godsend when I switched to the combo I listed above.

Deborah,

Thanks for the reply.  This is getting too difficult for me.  I had been taking Xyzal in the AM and then the Hydroxyzine HCL (50 MG) at night, but I thought that the Xyzal was making me tired since it had been started more recently than the Hydroxyzine.

Anyhow, I'll see.

I have no idea what I will do, but I did notice that Dr. Afrin definitely wanted me to take antihistamines 2 times per day at least.

Maybe I should have stuck with the Xyzal.  I had discontinued it because I had no clue if it was doing anything?  That's why Dr. Afrin started me on the Claritin----probably because it was cheaper.  He goes with the cheaper meds first.

Well, I may not last another day like this.  I have no idea what will happen, but something has to.

DavinaRN,

Doesn't that much Allegra cause you to be dried out to the point of discomfort?

From years ago, I remember Allegra really drying me out.

Dr. Afrin does like to start you on meds that are less likely to have side effects and drug interactions and ones that are less expensive, BUT he also wants you to have what works for you.  He suggested I go with Claritin, but I had already found it did nothing for me, so I'm using Allegra (180mg three times a day...and it doesn't dry me out at all) since it helped more.

If you're just not able to cope, contact his nurse to get a message to him and ask him if you can change things up sooner.  It's one thing to try to stick it out and maintain a prescribed regimen, it's another thing to be completely miserable.

Oh, and as for "acclimatizing" to the sedating effects of antihistamines, I did find that I was able to take a higher dose of Zyrtec after taking a small dose for awhile, but I was much happier cutting out the Zyrtec altogether and just using Allegra as my only H1.  (Dr. Afrin actually recommended only using one H1 rather than two, as many people on here take, because he said it made it easier to manage your increasing list of drugs.)

I can sympathize with the time it takes to go through all of this, as you really do have to isolate each med change so that you can tell how it affects you.  I spent months and months just trying to go through each of the meds I was already on and determining if I could eliminate any of them (I got rid of a lot of them!).  I'm now tapering up on aspirin, and trying to find a balance between it helping (it actually does seem to help some) and the bruising caused by the blood thinning properties.

DeborahW, Founder wrote on 03/24/13 at 10:27:45:


Does Allegra require a prescription?

Allegra is OTC now in the US.  You can get brand name, but of course the generic (fexofenadine) is cheaper.  

I imagine you could get a prescription for it, but your insurance might not pay... or the co-pay might be more than you would pay OTC.  I buy all of my antihistamines in bulk on the Internet.

BTW... I keep a printed list of all my medications and supplements in my "kit" when I leave the house.  The list is pretty long, but nobody minds when they can just make a photocopy!

Heather