Claritin or Zyrtec ... for adults?

[Cam&Clay]

I use the generic Zyrtec. Claritin does nothing for me.

[Gena]

I've taken both. Zyrtec works better for me. Claritin does OK for my seasonal allergies for a few days, but after a while it doesn't seem to really be effective. Zyrtec sometimes makes me groggy, but not if I've been taking it for a couple of days.

I have really bad alleriges to pet hair and all of my in-laws have pets. So when we go to any of their houses I take both Zyrtec and Benadryl at the same time. Even with this combination I can only be in a house with pets for a couple of hours before my throat starts to close up and my eyes get all red and itchy.

[fauve01]

Neither Zyrtec nor Claritin work for me--at all! Singulair is the only thing that works. I just mention it in case you try both and neither work, tell your allergist and see if he/she will prescribe something else. My BIL says Allegra is the only thing that works for his allergies.

FWIW, i never had allergies until my 30s. DD has allergies and singulair works for her too (ped said the apple falls near the tree with allergies...)

HTH,
Anne + DD 10-03

[egoldber]

If you're sensitive to meds' side effects, I recommend that you get the 24-hour kind and take it right before bed.

And another FYI. While it is more common for Zyrtec to make people groggy, it can give some people insomnia. It does this to my older DD, who takes it in her allergy season.