Astelin (Azelastine)

Fighting children allergies

Fighting allergies seems like a constant battle for some parents and children, especially when kids have hard to control allergies.

Many parents are already working to control indoor allergies, limit exposure to outdoor allergens, and have tried most of the available allergy medicines, including:

Allegra (fexofenadine) Clarinex (desloratadine) Claritin (loratadine) Singulair (montelukast) Zyrtec (cetirizine) Flonase (fluticasone) Nasocort AQ (triamcinolone) Nasonex (mometasone) Rhinocort Aqua (budesonide) Astelin (azelastine)

If some combination of these allergy medications for your child aren’t working, a newer allergy medication might be worth a try, such as:

Veramyst

Veramyst (fluticasone) is a once-a-day steroid nasal spray that is approved to seasonal and perennial (year-round) allergy symptoms in children who are at least 2 years old.

Unlike other steroid nasal sprays, Veramyst is also approved to treat seasonal eye allergy symptoms in children who are at least 12 years old. The fine-mist delivery system also seems to be a little better tolerated by kids than many other nasal sprays.

Headaches and nosebleeds were the most common side effects of using Veramyst.

Xyzal

Xyzal (levocetirizine) is a newer allergy medicine created by removing one of the enantiomers or parts of the chemical form of Zyrtec, with the plan of making it more effective and having less side effects. It is approved to treat seasonal and perennial allergies and chronic hives in children over age 6, teens, and adults.

Xyzal is also available as an oral solution, but is still just approved for children over age 6.

Patanase

Patanase (olopatadine) is an antihistamine nasal spray, similar to Astelin, that is approved to treat seasonal allergies in children who are at least 12 years old. Like Astelin, the biggest side effect that users complained of was a bitter taste following its use, which may limit how much kids will use it.

Patanase...

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