I can only tell you this: everything over the counter is more effective than anything I can prescribe. The best antihistamines were discovered 50 years ago. The patents ran out so they are available over the counter. Today, drug companies are scrambling to find new marketable drugs. All they can come up with is what they call the new non-sedating antihistamines: Clarinex, Zyrtec and Allegra. In allergy meetings we laughingly refer to them as good news/bad news drugs. The good news is they don't have any sedating side effects. The bad news is they don't have any effects at all. On a scale of 0-10 with 10 being the most effective, all of those are about a level 1. Everything over the counter is a level 7 to 10. That's what we prescribed for years until the patents ran out. More important than drugs, we try to convince people to get out and move more. They have a family and a job so they are not moving like they did in college.
