Well I certainly slept better - not good really as I ended up waking up at the time I should be at work. 
I’m going to take it for a week and see if there’s much change. I’ve been doing ibprofen 800 with a paracetemol thrown in here and there so the pharmacist was very interested that I was trying this and asked me to check back with him on my results.
So I go to Wiki-up in order to explain H-2 receptor antagonists to picnurse before I see that FrillyNettles and nearwildheaven already had my back. I do know what I’m taking and why, however, I had no clue that ranitidine can give a false positive for meth on a drug screen. If loratadine doesn’t have the same possibility I’ll switch to that for a while as I recently applied for a new job that requires both a typing and a drug test.
Funny, my doctor lectured me a few years back, knowing that I’ve had allergies and asthma since, well, always, and was having asthma flare-ups, bronchitis, and frequent sinus infections. He finally looked me in the eye and said “Eva, you have allergies. Sinus congestion and lung irritation are cumulative. I bet if you treated your allergies consistently, instead of just when you can’t stand it anymore, you will have far fewer problems with sinus infections, bronchitis, etc.” So I started taking Claritin during the day (and Benadryl at night), and what do you know? He was right - I haven’t had a sinus infection or bronchitis in years, and far fewer asthma flare-ups.
And yeah, if you can buy a year’s worth of generic loratadine at Costco for under $15, why not give it a try?
Quick update since someone revived the thread. I talked to my doctor in September and she said she sees no problem with me remaining on Claritin indefinitely, but that if I was worried I could always take periodic breaks from it.
Thanks for starting this thread. I’m going to try Claritin both for the arthritic hip and the shingles itching that won’t go away.
I’ve experienced the same thing as the op only with sudafed. I broke a bone in my neck when I was 15 and it just floats there. The area has slowly gotten arthritic. There is no mistaking the change that sudafed has on my neck and other arthritic areas. I gain significant range of motion and can crack my neck after taking it. It’s not a cure because after 40 years the arthritis has built up but it’s solidly better when I take it. Fake sudafed has no effect whatsoever. I noticed a similar effect with generic claritin lately but I’m not sure which works better.
Even without this affect I’ve been so thankful for these 2 drugs. I was miserable as a kid with sinus trouble and allergies. I’d get migraines if a sinus headache got the better of me. First the sinus headache and then my neck would tighten up into a tension headache on top of the arthritis and THEN I’d get a migraine. Pure misery. Haven’t had a migraine in 12 years and that was only because I was unable to take sudafed in time to stop it. Stop the first headache and the others never followed.
Well the joint pain in my elbows is significantly less, but I stopped taking it after three days due to wanting to give blood.
I will try it again soon.
I had taken Claritin for 4 days and it helped me. I stopped taking it about 5 days ago and my pain came back. I also had sleepless nights. I took it this morning at 9:30 am and 4 hours later, I feel relief. I can lift my arms and have more range of motion. I do think it is helping. Maybe I’ll keep taking it for longer than 4 days.
Curious as to those that this is working for - is it lasting 24 hours? How long to kick in?
Also - off topic, but amuses me that there is another poster talking about fake sudafed sucking. That must be the worst drug in the history of man kind (well not bad for you, but doesn’t do shit). Seems like everyone I’ve heard from feels the same way.
Back on topic - I’d like to give it a shot for pain that might be inflammatory based. Is there an easy rule of thumb for how to know if pain is inflammation vs otherwise? I guess most common for me is back pain from hiking. I’ve tried all the OTC stuff and I can’t tell if it is working or the pain just went away on its own.
I took Claritin 24 (Loratadine) yesterday at around 9:30 am. Felt effects in early afternoon. Slept for 10 hours last night (deep, restful sleep) - unlike my usual sleepless nights. Woke up and still was feeling relief (not completely) - able to lift my arms without intense pain. As someone else mentioned, the bite has been taken off. I’m not at all sure what this means. Maybe this is a telltale sign of what the root problem may be too much histamine. I think I need to try to get to the root problem. As I mentioned earlier, after reading up of histamines, that somehow adrenaline might keep them in check. There is a lot that is still not known. If you read what Loratadine is used for - it does not include pain for joints or muscles. However, I find it odd that people prescribe aspirin and Ibuprofen to reduce the inflammation itself, but not prescribe something that actually affects the “cause” of some inflammation (histamines). I am not a doctor or medical person - I am just trying to figure this out. I am going to a Rhuematologist because I still have not been diagnosed with anything concrete. For me, it is important to delve in and find out the root cause: Is it too much histamine? Is it that my adrenaline is not keeping them in check? There are so many hormones involved in keeping the body in sync. Hopefully, I can figure out the solution to get rid of the pain completely. I don’t necessarily buy into the fact that auto immune symptoms and diseases are incurable.
This is an interesting post because it’s in line with what I learned about (my) migraines. If I don’t address the original trigger then no amount of pain medicine matters. My migraines start with a sinus problem that triggers a neck tension headache that ultimately triggers the migraine.
My dentist has been struggling with arthritis in her hands. I went to her three years ago, and she was in a lot of pain. Her hands were all deformed. She was using copper bracelets and magnets and whatever alternative cures she could find, because arthritis drugs did not help. I thought she was going to retire soon, because she was so impaired.
When I saw her last week, she had no copper bracelets or magnetic patches and was pain free. I asked what she did. She told me one of her patients talked to a surgical nurse who told her to take Claritin for arthritis. It cannot be any other allergy medicine. It has to be Claritin (loratadine). And she started taking it, and now her pain has been minimized. She says she feels great.
You’re making an assumption regarding anti-histamines as the cause of this and thus dismissing it.
I experience the same thing with pseudoephedrine. I’ve known this for years. When I was 15 I snapped off the 5th spinous process in my neck. Over the years my neck has become increasingly arthritic. Sudafed by itself reduces the pain substantially and increases range of movement. It’s not a “sorta feels better” effect it’s a significant improvement on my quality of life.
The effect is so profound that I use it to stop a migraine headache in it’s tracks. I use pseudoephedrine as little as possible to avoid any side effects but it is a godsend drug for me. I can remember the day I first took it for a horrible sinus headache. It was a life changing event. It was years later before I realized what it did for my neck.
That’s awful, sorry to hear about that. But it’s great that pseudoephedrine helps you like that. Do you (or your doctor, or anybody you’ve talked to) have any idea how it helps? Is it a vasoconstriction effect?
Doctors just shrug. I’ve seen other references to relief using it on the net. I wish they could figure it out and make something that works without raising BP. I’m very stingy with it.
It’s a bit off-topic, but I thought I’d contribute.
I had trouble with chronic canker sores in my mouth my whole life. I always had three or four large painful ones going at any time.
Once I was having trouble with hives, and my doctor put me on Claritin. The hives went away promptly and after awhile, I noticed that my lifelong canker sores did, too! I tried going off Claritin to see if it was just a coincidence, and the sores promptly came back.
So now I take Claritin (actually, the Costco equivalent) every day and the canker sores stay away. Who knows, I might also have some sort of joint pain too but the Claritin is keeping it at bay.
I’ve been taking pretty much continuously since it was released. It’s not addictive. Since moving up north, I stop it when snow-fall season commences. (I also buy the cheapest generic versions I can find; usually at Market Basket; 10 tablets for $2.)
You can, if things get bad, take a 24/h Claritin in the AM, and a 24/h Zyrtec in the PM. IANAD but was told by several docs that this is fine, and have done this for years.
Another weird off-label use for loratadine is with cancer patients on chemotherapy. One of the undesirable side effects of chemo is it attacks fast-multiplying cells such as hair, fingernails and blood cells. To combat neutropenic infections, chemo patients may receive neulasta, which is a “colony stimulating factor” that helps restart production of red and white blood cells. Sadly, this can be uncomfortable and cause pain in the large and/or long bones.
Claritin is more useful at managing that pain than traditional NSAIDs. I’m assuming that some cancer patient with allergies stumbled across this.
Hello all,
I've had 5 back surgeries and have had chronic pain for about 20 years. Last summer (2018) I had a two month reprieve from my pain without an explanation. This spring I got a cold and started taking meds and suddenly my back pain went away. This is when I made the connection to antihistamines and pain relief. I started taking loratadine daily and my quality of life has changed exponentially. To anyone that is suffering with chronic pain, I say try it. If you get relief you win, if you don't you are no worse off.
Good luck!
So I googled “Claritan D helps with pain” and this thread, which seems to be largely from 2013, was really the only thing that came up. But it’s good to find a few other people who’ve notice the same thing I have.
I have psoriatic arthritis. I tried Humira last year and while it took away the pain it also made me really sick. I was off of it for about year when my pain finally returned. But I noticed on days when I took a Claritan D, the pain largely went away.
What I couldn’t figure out was … is it the antihistamine or the D that was having a positive impact on my pain? Or was it both?
If it’s histamines causing my pain and swelling then it’s likely the antihistamine. But I’ve also read animal studies that show that pseudoephedrine may reduce inflammation by inhibiting TNF-a production.
To find out I’m going to have to conduct an experiment on myself and the next time my pain flairs up, just try the Claritan without the D and see what the results are. Because Claritan D, which can raise your blood pressure and negatively impact your heart, probably is not a long-term solution.