Many people have experienced allergies, and the symptoms of allergies are diverse, including rashes, itchy skin, fever, laryngeal edema, dyspnea, etc. In severe cases, anaphylactic shock can even be life-threatening. The principle of allergy is mainly related to the body's antigen-antibody complex combined with a series of immune reactions, some people are born with allergies, easy to allergic to a variety of substances such as pollen, dust mites, drugs, etc.

This is the first time that I've seen an allergic reaction to an allergic reaction.

The treatment of allergies requires the use of anti-allergy drugs, currently used in the treatment of allergies there are two main categories of anti-allergy drugs, one is antihistamines, the other is glucocorticoids. Paracetamol and loratadine are antihistamines, and montelukast is neither an antihistamine nor a glucocorticoid, but a drug that specifically antagonizes the inflammatory mediator leukotriene.

All three drugs can be used to treat allergic diseases, but what is different about their use? Here's how.

1. Indications are not the same

Paracetamol and loratadine are brothers in the same family, and their indications are roughly the same, and can be used for skin allergies such as hives, dermatitis, and drug rash, as well as to relieve the symptoms of allergic rhinitis, such as sneezing, runny, itchy, and stuffy nose.

Because leukotriene receptors are mainly distributed in the airways and other pro-inflammatory cells, it is destined that the indications for montelukast are mainly for the prophylactic and long-term treatment of asthma, as well as the alleviation of symptoms caused by allergic rhinitis, which is not exactly the same as paracetamol and loratadine in terms of indications.

2. The dosage is not the same

If paracetamol is the 1.0 version of antihistamines, then loratadine is the upgraded 2.0 version. Because of its low oral bioavailability and short half-life, paracetamol needs to be taken three times a day, while the upgraded loratadine has a much higher bioavailability and a significantly longer duration of action, so it only needs to be taken once a day.

And montelukast also has a higher bioavailability, also only need to take the drug once a day, greatly improving the patient's medication compliance.

3. Side effects are not the same

If these three drugs are compared to anti-allergy weapons, then paracetamol is a shotgun, although powerful, but easy to cause injuries. Because it has anticholinergic effects in addition to antagonistic effects on histamine H1 receptors and easily crosses the blood-brain barrier, it has side effects such as thirst, palpitations, urinary retention and other cholinergic receptor antagonistic side effects, in addition to obvious side effects such as drowsiness, sleepiness and fatigue.

And loratadine and montelukast are more accurate weapons, which can be considered as precision-guided missiles, so there are fewer side effects, and the side effects of drowsiness, drowsiness and fatigue caused by loratadine are significantly less small than those of paracetamol, and there is no cholinergic antagonist effect. Menlustat has mild side effects, is generally well tolerated, and arguably has the highest safety profile of the three drugs.

4. The price is not the same

Because of the strong effect of montelukast, the highest security, so the price is naturally more expensive, followed by loratadine, the cheapest is Chlorpheniramine, so you can also choose to use according to the economic situation.

In short, although these three drugs are the same as anti-allergy drugs, but there are differences in indications, dosage, side effects and price, the specific use of the recommended physician or pharmacist under the guidance of the choice of use. The last thing I want to remind you is that chlorpheniramine is one of the three drugs most often used in compound preparations with other drugs, for example, many cold medicines contain chlorpheniramine, so you must look at the ingredients when using compound preparations, so as not to cause side effects due to the duplication of medication.

For more information on the precautions to be taken when using commonly used drugs and the rational use of knowledge, please click on the column card below to get the health benefits from pharmacist Jian Fang: