Allergy Meds?

[foster]

I get pretty bad allergies around this time of year, and am usually pretty miserable unless I take something. I tried some Chinese herbal pills called Be Min Kan Wan, but that didn't work very well so now I'm going with the standard CVS allergy tablets. What I'd like to know is, from a TCM perspective are there any long-term harmful effects from over-the-counter allergy medications? As far as I know the only health risks are to people with high blood pressure, since the ephinedrine can exaggerate it. Since my blood pressure is normal and the dosage is only once a day (it's the 24-hour, non-drowsy kind) I don't see a problem with it.

Opinions?

[bakxierboxer]

I get pretty bad allergies around this time of year, and am usually pretty miserable unless I take something. I tried some Chinese herbal pills called Be Min Kan Wan, but that didn't work very well so now I'm going with the standard CVS allergy tablets. What I'd like to know is, from a TCM perspective are there any long-term harmful effects from over-the-counter allergy medications? As far as I know the only health risks are to people with high blood pressure, since the ephinedrine can exaggerate it. Since my blood pressure is normal and the dosage is only once a day (it's the 24-hour, non-drowsy kind) I don't see a problem with it.

Opinions?

Ephedrine/pseudoephedrine is pretty strong stuff.... mostly used now for asthma sufferers, and it gets hidden behind the counter because some use it to brew meth(?).

[Oso]

pseudofed is a nasal decongestant primarily

if you are wanting to try to stop the histamine reaction before all that congestion you need an anti-histamine: Claritin or Zyrtec by brand name but both are also available generic now (zyrtec fairly recently). The old standbye is benadryl but it makes you drowsy