JapanFlyerT

I am a long-time sufferer here (and in USA). My Japanese doc prescribes Loratadine (Claratin), and may give me up to a month's supply. Not expensive, but going back every 4 weeks is a pain, so I bought the 365x2 pack at Costco in the US for about $10. That will probably last me 3-4 years.

I did pick up a number of 'new' meds in Costco in the US on my last trip. I have tried them all now, but didn't see any improvement over Loratadine.

Fexofendine (Allegra non-drowsy)
Diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
Cetirizine (Zyrtec)

Then there is fluticasone spray. That helps if I remember to use it consistently.

This year my eyes have been killing me. Visine from the US hasn't helped all that much.

Anyone here found an ideal/different solution?

Q Shoe Guy

I have used Opticrom and also Cromolyn , both work well for me. Neither are available as OTC in Japan.

bmwe92fan

You are right -- this year has been brutal. My wife suffers more than I do and her strategy is to rotate the "pills" (same as you) and to rotate the nasal sprays -- currently between flonase and Nazal we get at the local pharmacy - it's not cheap but it works well for me too. She is also wearing a mask all day (even during tennis) to try and keep the pollen out... A few days ago we were waking up and it was hard to breath there is so much pollen in the air - thankfully it rained and that helped a bit but today it was back....

The best things for eye drops are from the USA -- Look for Alaway, Opcon-A, Visine-A, Naphcon-A -- all have an antihistamine -- most Visine "flavors" don't have an antihistamine -- except for Visine-A. AFAIK these are not available here OTC -- in the US they are all RX to OTC switches....

Unimatrix One

I order Nasalcrom spray (cromolyn sodium) from the US, since it is not available OTC here, and it is a godsend. It's not an antihistamine but a "mast cell stabilizer." It's available by prescription in Japan under the brand name Intal or インタール. It can be used together with antihistamines, so I also take Allegra-D (available in Japan by prescription under the product name "Dellegra" or ディレグラ) which is a combination of Allegra and Sudafed.

I sometimes also use eye drops, but none of the ones I've tried have really worked.

brenc3

When I moved to Japan I started getting very bad seasonal allergy flare up, and Flonase worked the best for me. After a few weeks of using it regularly the allergies became almost a non-issue.

JapanFlyerT

I'm not sure if they are the same as Allegra-D, but Allerclear D-24hr (Costco's version of Claritin-D) is another I have tried. They work well but make urination difficult for me (a common side effect for males over 50).

Unimatrix One

Is that available at Costco in Japan?

JapanFlyerT

I haven't seen it. Pretty sure that is not OTC, as they restrict the antihistamine ingredients to prescription AFAIK.

bmwe92fan

FYI - I'm pretty sure that this is caused by the "-D" - the decongestant with is pseudoephedrine -- which constricts blood vessels -- and the bladder....

boboqui

I tried Claritin, Claritin-D, Allegra, and it does not work for me.

I’ve been taking Clarinex (desloratadine) and Singulair (montelukast) during hay-fever season every morning for decades now.

LapLap

It looks like yesterday’s flagellate dermatitis (lessened with antihistamines) and today’s fever are probably related to shiitake mushroom powder.
Not something I previously knew about. I made an emergency appointment and am taking my kid to see the GP this morning.

Only recent change in her diet is that I started topping up our nukadoko (fermented rice bran bed) from a packet of pre-seasoned rice bran. The last ingredient is… shiitake mushroom powder.

So here is the question. I know heat (and specifically 145C - how???) is the way to make shiitake safe for anyone with allergies, but is there any information (it might be in Japanese somewhere, it certainly isn’t in English) as to whether fermentation will eventually neutralise the compounds in shiitake that cause this reaction.
Drying shiitake in itself obviously doesn’t make a difference.

Lesson for everyone is to thoroughly cook any kind of shiitake mushroom, raw or dried/soaked and watch out for the tell tale rashes. If you look up shiitake and dermatitis there are plenty of examples. What I saw on my kid’s back reminded me of gypsum “desert rose” mineral formations.
It’s on the border of allergy and food poisoning, so even if you yourself aren’t allergic, raw shiitake (including the “juice” from soaked dried shiitake) is probably best avoided. Give it a good cook before you eat it.

freecia

Thanks for the lesson. I looked up the images and was surprised at the striations. I would have guessed external contact based allergy rather than ingested from the patterns.

estnet

Yes, very interesting and quite a spectacular presentation based on Mayo Clinic images. Never heard of this before

LapLap

We saw a GP last Friday and also went to a Hospital on Monday (to rule out a latent reaction to a course of Penicillin that she had taken mid June).
Not sure we’ll ever truly get to the bottom of what happened as she may have also had a co-existing condition (I was told a urine test showing raised leucocytes suggested a viral infection). However, the rash has been fulfilling the expectations I have had by assuming that it is a reaction to shiitake. None of the professionals I saw brought it up.

LapGirl is back at school today but I got to observe her throughout the day yesterday. She had decided not to take an antihistamine in the morning so it was fascinating to see the rashes gradually appear and disappear and appear again, migrating from one area to another as if taking a tour around her body. It was only when one of the travelling “roadmaps” reached a wrist and got to the palm of a hand in the early evening that she felt itchy enough to want to take another antihistamine tablet. With hindsight I would have tried to rig up a time lapse image capture station, get the lighting right and it would have been suggestive of a demonic possession.

It’s definitely on the wane now, each emergent patch is smaller than before, less itchy (with the rogue palm manifestation being the exception) and less dramatic.