Claritin Vs Benadryl For Allergies
I normally don’t like medicinal drugs unless I really need it very badly. But my allergy started again and it’s been bothering me everyday. My wife recommended Benadryl for me. She’s a nurse so I took her word for it. Actually, I didn’t know that Benadryl has a medicine for allergies. I thought they are only for when you have a fever, lol. Like I said, I hate these stuff. Claritin advertises heavily on television so I thought they’re the best out there for relieving allergies.
The active ingredient in Benadryl is 25mg of Diphenhydramine HCI per tablet while Claritin has 10mg of Lortadine. Both ingredients are for antihistamine – a medicine used to treat allergies and hypersensitive reactions and colds. Here’s the drug facts about the two:
Claritin
- Lortadine 10 mg
- temporarily relieves runny nose, sneezing, itchy, watery eyes, itching of the nose or throat
- not more than 1 tablet for adults every 24 hours
Benadryl
- Diphenhydramine HCI 25mg
- temporarily relieves runny nose, sneezing, itchy, watery eyes, itching of the nose or throat
- 1 to 2 tablets (25mg to 50mg) for adults every 4 to 6 hours
When I had Benadryl, it worked wonder for me. I hate to say it but man, I like that stuff. The effect is really fast. The only downside is, it makes me drowsy. I guess if you are insomniac, this is the drug for you, haha. Anyway, I can’t have it during day time though because of work, where my allergy is active. So I switch to Claritin. It works but not as fast as Benadryl. I’m not sure about the 24 hour window. I normally take it in the morning before I go to work and by late afternoon, my allergy starts to act again. I ride my motorcycle to work and I hate it when I have to raise up my visor and rub my itchy nose. Benadryl works well but only advisable to take it before going to bed. The bad thing is, if I take Claritin, I can’t take any other allergy medication for 24 hours. Maybe I need something that will only work for 6 or 8 hours.
Your dosages/information for the two medications are switched… Claritin is the Loratadine and Benadryl is the Diphenhydramine.
ooops… thanks for the correction. I was drugged up with Benadryl when I posted this article, lol. It’s now corrected.
Well that just sucks if I can’t take any Benedryl before bed because of Claritin already taken in the morning. Like you said, the symptoms can easily come back in the afternoon, which means Claritin doesn’t really last 24 hours. I’m pretty miserable at night. My mouth is dry and I have problem breathing through the nose. My tongue, eyes and the roof of my mouth itch like crazy. Yet I know I can’t take any Benedryl because of the “24 hr” restriction from Claritin.
Maybe I should talk to my dr. and see if there’s any way out. I so want to have Benedryl at night and Claritin in the morning (it doesn’t make me drowsy at all).
Thanks for the helpful drug facts.
I’m very affected by pollen allergy. I tried Aerius and Reactine but it’s not very effective in my case. I bought Benadryl and Claritin this morning and I’ll try it. Somebody told me that I CAN mixt the two so I’ll take Benadryl at night and Claritin daily.
Sorry for my english if there’s any misunderstood, this is not my first language because I’m from Quebec (Canada) and there’s not a lot of site and forum in french for this problem.
You CAN take benedryl and claritin simultaneously. see wikipedia.
Claritin comes in a 12 hour dose. You can take benadryl right before bed, and a claritin first thing in the morning
Thank you for the simple breakdown; much appreciated.
Those randomly generated advertisement comments always blow my mind. I was about 2/3 of the way through reading that entire thing thinking i had lost my mind before i realized it was an advertisement.
I’ve tried both products. I’m really not sure whether the Claritin works or not, being that it takes sooo long to work, in the mean time Ive done other things to alleviate my symptoms. On the other hand benadryl works great, but knocks me out and i wake up groggy and regretful i took it….. It takes me a while to get back to normal
Claritin isn’t meant to be taken as an on the spot antihistimine. your suppose the follow the dosage and take it every day and and after a week or so you stop having the allergies. benadryl works on the spot cause thats what its for. you cant compare the two drugs at the one standard when one isn’t meant for that
is there anything else other than claratin or benedryl that will reduce excess saliva production?