Not bad this year, although I have my neti pot and Claritin ready… they’re working to combat the pollen to great success.
Claritin is largely ineffective at doses that don't cause drowsiness. This has been well documented for decades, including during clinical trials. It's supposedly effective (and safe to use) at maybe 4x the standard dose, but that will cause drowsiness, and "nonsedating" was a massive marketing tool.
When it was his turn to speak, Straus engaged in a little bureaucratic soft-shoe, complimenting the Schering team's presentations as ''a tough act to follow.'' Then he tried to demolish the heart of Schering's application. Straus didn't doubt that loratadine worked as an antihistamine, he said; he just doubted that it worked at the 10-milligram dose. In fact, at one point he claimed that ''10 milligrams is not very different than placebo clinically.'' The reason the dose was so low, he argued, is that evidence of sedation began to crop up at higher, more effective doses.
What he didn't say -- but what everyone understood -- is that using a higher, more effective dose of Claritin would affect how the drug was described on the label. The term ''nonsedating'' was considered a critical marketing point. A single adjective or phrase contained in the F.D.A.-approved label -- no more sedating than a sugar pill,'' for example -- can form the basis of claims made by company salesmen to doctors, the basis of words that throb in the bold type of advertisements, even the basis of lawsuits filed against competitors. Those seemingly eye-glazing, hairsplitting distinctions provide the foundation for multimillion-dollar marketing campaigns.
Allegra and Xyrtec are far more effective at their standard doses. Xyrtec still causes drowsiness for many though. Allegra actually has two standard adult doses (60 mg for 12 hour and 180 mg for 24 hours). I can't take the 24 hour dose. I don't get sedated but I start feeling jittery. A pharmacist said I could just split a tablet and that should be fine even though it likely wouldn't match the 60 mg dose.