# Antihistamine advice



## *katie* (Nov 9, 2004)

Hello Maz   and L  

I wonder if I could pick your brains please.

I have had a massive flare-up in my excema since Thursday, my worst yet.  A predictable reaction to recent events but I also feel it's an allergic thing as it originally was awful on my face too...face all puffy/swollen/tingly tongue/couldn't open my one eye/couldn't talk or smile as mouth so sore, etc! Anyway, that's one for the GP!

I saw a GP at a walk-in clinic near my Dad's who didn't have access to my medical records as it was in a different town so she asked me what drugs I'd normally be prescribed to try and tide me over til a pre-arranged appt with my own GP this Thurs.

So...I am now taking elocon & dermovate cream intermittently (except for on my face), aqueous cream, prednisalone orally 20mg od, fexofenadine 180mg od, & escitalopram 20 mg (preventatively!).

I just wanted to check....the steroids & anti-histamines are starting to have some effect now after taking them for 48 hrs but not the effect I would normally see....to try and help further to "tide me over" til my GP appt on Thurs, can I still, as well as the Telfast, take piriton in the usual over-the-counter dose or am I up to my limit with antihistamines?


Thanks hun xx


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## mazv (Jul 31, 2006)

Hi Katie,

Really sorry not been on last few days so only getting to your post just now. Have things settled any further this week? Sorry to hear about the flare up but as you say not unexpected given everything you've been through, the skin is pretty sensitive to stress and immune system changes.

As a general rule then one anti-histamine at maximum dose would ususally be enough and you wouldn't need to supplement with another. However you can get different responses to different drugs. If this happens again then it would be worth switching from one to the other to see if that helps in the first instance. In theory you wouldn't cause any harm adding in another one (they have a relatively high safety margin) but you would run the risk of additive side effects so hence the usual advice to just stick with the one.

Hope it calms down for you soon if it hasn't already     You have all been in my thoughts so much this past month hun, sending all my love to you , Andy, H&L and the massivest cyber cuddle across the www  

Maz x


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## *katie* (Nov 9, 2004)

Hi Maz,

Sorry it's taken so long to thank you for your reply.

Thanks for the advice hun, my skin calmed down really well but I sense I'm about to have another flare-up so will start mucnhing the anti-histamines again and if no relief might see if my gp will let me try something else to see if it helps.

You're a star, as always...big kisses from H&L to L and you.

Love Katie xx


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