Why Do Different Allergy Medications Work On Different People?
February 26, 2010 by admin
Filed under Allergy Questions
An example of what I’m asking would be why does Claritin not work on a patient (me) when Zyrtec (which acts on the exact same H1 histamine receptors) successfully clears the allergies?
Well they must deliver the medication differently or one of those companies would probably sue the other for patent infringement.
I was allergic to a binder used to hold an allergy pill together. My body reacted more to the crap in the pill than it was cured by the medication in the pill. Sometimes it’s something small like that.
Allergies are tricky. Originally back in cave man days the response of the body was to protect the body from dangerous foreign invaders. Today, we have a more controlled and safer environemnt. Most times the body does not encounter horribly dangerous encounters, as it did back then. The allergy response seen today, starts with a trigger, such as hay, peanuts, dust etc, the body encounters this substance and for unknown reasons, the body sees this harmless substance as a dangerous threat. These allergy triggers are not harmful to any person, however the allergic response is the dangerous factor. The chemicals and hormones involved in the allergic response are designed to protect the body by atttacking the harmful intruder to the body, such as years ago when the invading substances were truely harmful to the body. Today, the triggering mechanisms for the response are not harmful to the body, so the chemicals and the hormones that are released when the body encounters these triggers, actually work on the body and cause the allergic symptoms, that may vary from a rash, sneezing, watering eyes, difficulty breathing et al. So the reaction of the allergic response depends on a couple factors. The first factor would then be, how dangerous the body for sees the allegic trigger to be. If the body identifies it as slighly harmful it will not have the impact of response that the response would be , say as though the bodys immunity forsaw the intruder as vitally threatening. So the amount of the response is the first factor. The next factor is the persons overall health and fittness. If a person is active and otherwise healthy, often times the chemical response of released chemicals/hormones can be rid fairly effectively. If the person has health concerns, risks, poor immunity, not rested, etc the body may not clear itself as easily of the biproducts from the immune response. Some allergies, many today, are psychosomatic. That is many people tell themselves that they are sick, or allergic to things and the brain reacts accordingly, when they come into contact with the trigger element. The brain can really react to many thoughts, because it is a hormonal response.
So then, because of the complexity of the allergic response, the factors leading to one, and the factors recovering from one leads to why some react to medications effectively , some do not and many can recover without anything.
There is a huge difference between routine allergies that cause sniffles, versus an anaphylactic response that can be life threatening. One should not take any chances with this type. One should carry an epi pen (epinepherine hormones) to stop an immediate anaphlactic shock/response…this is commonly seen with those who have allergies to bee stings etc.
The best advice is to maintain good health. Sleep well. Eat well. Excercise well. Avoid anything that may trigger these events. Think poisitively, and if you cannot keep it under control, seek medical assistance from a qualified professional.
Best of health!
i dunno but only 2 -3 allergy meds work on me.
I find Claritin works for me. A friend of mine likes Reactin. It depends on the person’s physiology and the particular allergy. Different medicines work differently on different people. All depends on the particular problem and physiology.
People react differently to different drugs.