Loratadine for allergies instructions for use

Loratadine

(INN) - H1-histamine receptor blocker, long-acting drug.

Loratadine is included in the list of vital and essential drugs. Approved by the FDA in 1993[1].

In 2001, it was the most prescribed antiallergic drug in the world since 1994 (according to IMS)[2].

Pharmacological properties

Long-term blocks H1-histamine receptors. Suppresses the release of histamine and leukotriene C4 from mast cells. Prevents the development and facilitates the course of allergic reactions. It has antiallergic, antipruritic, antiexudative effects. Reduces capillary permeability, prevents the development of tissue edema, and relieves spasms of smooth muscles. The antiallergic effect develops after 30 minutes, reaches a maximum after 8-12 hours and lasts 24 hours. It does not affect the central nervous system and is not addictive (since it does not penetrate the blood-brain barrier).

Drug interactions

CYP3A4 inhibitors (including ketoconazole, erythromycin), CYP3A4 and CYP2D6 inhibitors (cimetidine, etc.) increase the concentration of loratadine in the blood.

Pharmacokinetics

Quickly and completely absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. TCmax - 1.3-2.5 hours; food intake slows it down by 1 hour. Cmax in elderly people increases by 50%, with alcoholic liver damage - with increasing severity of the disease. Bonding with plasma proteins is 97%. Metabolized in the liver to form the active metabolite descarboethoxyloratadine with the participation of cytochrome isoenzymes CYP3A4 and, to a lesser extent, CYP2D6. Css of loratadine and metabolite in plasma are achieved on the 5th day of administration. Does not penetrate the blood-brain barrier. T

1/2 loratadine - 3-20 hours (average 8.4), active metabolite - 8.8 - 92 hours (average 28 hours); in elderly patients, respectively - 6.7 - 37 hours (average 18.2 hours) and 11-38 hours (17.5 hours). With alcoholic liver damage, T1/2 increases in proportion to the severity of the disease. Excreted by the kidneys and bile. In patients with chronic renal failure and during hemodialysis, the pharmacokinetics remain virtually unchanged.

Dosage

Loratadine syrup can be taken from two years of age. The dose is calculated based on body weight. The syrup comes with a measuring spoon for 5 milliliters of the drug. Children from one to 6 years old, weighing less than 30 kilograms, should be given 1 spoon once a day. Children aged 6 years and older, weighing 30 kilograms or more, are given 2 scoops of the drug once a day.

Loratadine tablets should be taken at least 1 hour before meals. The dosage is also calculated based on age and body weight. Children aged from one to 12 years, weighing up to 30 kilograms, should be given half a tablet or 5 milligrams of the substance per day, and those weighing more than 30 kilograms should be given 1 tablet per day. At the same time, attending physicians sometimes advise dividing the intake of the substance into two or three doses.

For children over 12 years of age, it is recommended to take one tablet per day.

The maximum permissible and verified dosage per day for syrup and tablets is 10 milligrams. If you do not have the opportunity to consult with a doctor, start from this dosage and try not to exceed it in any case.

Indications

Allergic rhinitis (seasonal and year-round), conjunctivitis, hay fever, urticaria (including chronic idiopathic), angioedema, pruritic dermatosis; pseudo-allergic reactions caused by the release of histamine; allergic reactions to insect bites.

Contraindications

Hypersensitivity, lactation period, children under 2 years of age.

With caution

Liver failure, pregnancy.

special instructions

During the treatment period, care must be taken when driving vehicles and engaging in other potentially hazardous activities that require increased concentration and speed of psychomotor reactions.

Contraindications and possible side effects

Loratadine rarely causes side effects, but there are cases where people have encountered certain problems: nausea, vomiting, flatulence, constipation, dry mouth, rapid heartbeat, loss of energy, dizziness, drowsiness. Contraindications include:

• Excessive sensitivity to the components of the drug;
• Children under three years old;
• Lactose intolerance (rare disease);
• Serious problems with liver function;

We recommend: Enterofuril suspension for children

Links

• [www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/meds/a697038.html Loratadine] - MedlinePlus Drug Information, US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health
• [www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/lorat.htm Claritin (loratadine) drug description] – RxList (Internet Drug Index)
• [web.archive.org/web/20080913141356/www.claritin.com/pdf/readthebox/claritin_tablets.pdf Claritin] - patient information leaflet
• [redpoll.pharmacy.ualberta.ca/drugbank/cgi-bin/getCard.cgi?CARD=APRD00384.txt DrugBank: Loratadine] — Wishart DS et al., DrugBank: a comprehensive resource for in silico drug discovery and exploration
  .
  Nucleic Acids Res
  .
  2006 1;34

Reviews

Doctors and patients consider Loratadine effective for allergies and indicate that it is well tolerated. Consumers are also attracted by its low cost and availability. The big advantage is that the drug can be purchased at almost any pharmacy.

It is noted that the sweet syrup is readily taken by young children, who are difficult to force to swallow pills. But some people find the taste too cloying. Then the syrup can be diluted with filtered water.

The most common side effect is a feeling of dry mouth and goosebumps on the skin. People note that Loratadine tablets are of great help if they have a severe allergy to pets. After 7-10 days of use, sneezing, itching, lacrimation and cough disappear.

In conclusion, it is necessary to recall that self-medication is unacceptable. Before using any medicine, consult a doctor.

Excerpt describing Loratadine

Prince Andrei smiled faintly for the first time, but Princess Marya, who knew his face so well, realized with horror that it was not a smile of joy, not tenderness for her son, but of quiet, gentle mockery of what Princess Marya used, in her opinion. , the last resort to bring him to his senses. – Yes, I’m very happy about Nikolushka. He is healthy? When they brought Nikolushka to Prince Andrei, who was looking at his father in fear, but was not crying, because no one was crying, Prince Andrei kissed him and, obviously, did not know what to say to him. When Nikolushka was taken away, Princess Marya went up to her brother again, kissed him and, unable to resist any longer, began to cry. He looked at her intently. -Are you talking about Nikolushka? - he said. Princess Marya, crying, bowed her head affirmatively. “Marie, you know Evan...” but he suddenly fell silent. - What are you saying? - Nothing. There’s no need to cry here,” he said, looking at her with the same cold gaze. When Princess Marya began to cry, he realized that she was crying that Nikolushka would be left without a father. With great effort he tried to return to life and was transported to their point of view. “Yes, they must find it pathetic! - he thought. “How simple it is!” “The birds of the air neither sow nor reap, but your father feeds them,” he said to himself and wanted to say the same to the princess. “But no, they will understand it in their own way, they will not understand! What they cannot understand is that all these feelings that they value are all ours, all these thoughts that seem so important to us are that they are not needed. We can't understand each other." - And he fell silent. Prince Andrei's little son was seven years old. He could barely read, he didn't know anything. He experienced a lot after this day, acquiring knowledge, observation, and experience; but if he had then possessed all these later acquired abilities, he could not have understood better, more deeply the full meaning of that scene that he saw between his father, Princess Marya and Natasha than he understood it now. He understood everything and, without crying, left the room, silently approached Natasha, who followed him out, and shyly looked at her with thoughtful, beautiful eyes; his raised, rosy upper lip trembled, he leaned his head against it and began to cry. From that day on, he avoided Desalles, avoided the countess who was caressing him, and either sat alone or timidly approached Princess Marya and Natasha, whom he seemed to love even more than his aunt, and quietly and shyly caressed them. Princess Marya, leaving Prince Andrei, fully understood everything that Natasha’s face told her. She no longer spoke to Natasha about the hope of saving his life. She alternated with her at his sofa and did not cry anymore, but prayed incessantly, turning her soul to that eternal, incomprehensible, whose presence was now so palpable over the dying man. Prince Andrei not only knew that he would die, but he felt that he was dying, that he was already half dead. He experienced a consciousness of alienation from everything earthly and a joyful and strange lightness of being. He, without haste and without worry, awaited what lay ahead of him. That formidable, eternal, unknown and distant, the presence of which he never ceased to feel throughout his entire life, was now close to him and - due to the strange lightness of being that he experienced - almost understandable and felt. Before, he was afraid of the end. He experienced this terrible, painful feeling of fear of death, of the end, twice, and now he no longer understood it. The first time he experienced this feeling was when a grenade was spinning like a top in front of him and he looked at the stubble, at the bushes, at the sky and knew that death was in front of him. When he woke up after the wound and in his soul, instantly, as if freed from the oppression of life that held him back, this flower of love, eternal, free, independent of this life, blossomed, he was no longer afraid of death and did not think about it. The more he, in those hours of suffering solitude and semi-delirium that he spent after his wound, thought about the new beginning of eternal love that had been revealed to him, the more he, without feeling it himself, renounced earthly life. Everything, to love everyone, to always sacrifice oneself for love, meant not loving anyone, meant not living this earthly life. And the more he was imbued with this principle of love, the more he renounced life and the more completely he destroyed that terrible barrier that, without love, stands between life and death. When, at first, he remembered that he had to die, he said to himself: well, so much the better. But after that night in Mytishchi, when the one he desired appeared in front of him in a semi-delirium, and when he, pressing her hand to his lips, cried quiet, joyful tears, love for one woman imperceptibly crept into his heart and again tied him to life. Both joyful and anxious thoughts began to come to him. Remembering that moment at the dressing station when he saw Kuragin, he now could not return to that feeling: he was tormented by the question of whether he was alive? And he didn't dare ask this. His illness took its own physical course, but what Natasha called: this happened to him happened to him two days before Princess Marya’s arrival. This was the last moral struggle between life and death, in which death won. It was the unexpected consciousness that he still valued the life that seemed to him in love for Natasha, and the last, subdued fit of horror in front of the unknown.

Composition and release forms

Loratadine tablets and syrup contain the active substance and additional components:

• Corn starch;
• Lactose monohydrate;
• Magnesium stearate;
• Fruit flavors in syrup;
• Sodium starch glycolate.

The product is available in the form of tablets and syrup:

• Tablets of 10 milligrams are packaged in wafers. The package contains from 10 to 30 tablets. The volume of the box depends on the duration of treatment;
• Syrup is a colorless liquid with a faint fruity aroma.

The shelf life of the drug is 3 years. It should be stored in a dark place inaccessible to children at a temperature of no more than 25 degrees. It is forbidden to use Loratadine if the expiration date has expired or the storage rules have been violated.

Overdose

Occurs when the drug is used incorrectly or for a long time or when the dosage is incorrectly selected.

If the permissible dose is exceeded, the patient may experience undesirable side reactions in the form of:

1. Headaches.
2. Nausea, vomiting.
3. Dizziness.
4. Cramps.
5. Severe weakness.
6. Tremors.
7. Increased excitability (more often diagnosed in children).
8. Dermatitis, the appearance of skin rashes.
9. Changes in the color of urine, the appearance of frequent and painful urges.
10. Extreme thirst, sweating.
11. Tachycardia.

The most common symptoms are headache and tachycardia; if such signs appear, it is recommended to consult a doctor and undergo gastric lavage. It is permissible to carry out forced diuresis (inpatient procedure) and other manipulations aimed at reducing intoxication of the body.

“If the above symptoms occur, you should urgently contact a medical institution; at the initial stage, you can take sorbents.”

How to enhance the effectiveness of the drug

The cost of Loratadine is on average 108 rubles. Prices range from 11 to 323 rubles.

One of the features of an allergic reaction is the body’s adaptation to a medicine that has been used for a long time. It stops responding to treatment, so antihistamines should be changed periodically.

The cause of most allergic processes in the human body is histamine. It is found in mast cells and is inactive when there is no threat. But during certain events that are regarded by the body as dangerous, histamine “wakes up” and is activated.

It is able to act on the upper cell receptors. Different receptors have different effects. The most common are H1 receptors, which are located in the cells of vascular walls, smooth muscle fibers and the nervous system. With their help, smooth muscles contract, produce mucous secretions in the nasal cavity and bronchi, and constrict and dilate blood vessels. When histamine is released, all these functions are disrupted.

The drug Loratadine is a new generation antihistamine. It stops the release of histamine and prevents its effect on receptors, thereby preventing the development of an allergic reaction. The product also reduces capillary permeability, reduces tissue swelling and eliminates muscle spasms in the bronchi and blood vessels.

Most often, people experience seasonal allergic reactions to pollen. Such a disease is difficult to eliminate, because plants surround us everywhere, and you can only prevent them from entering the body by going to a place without plants (which is extremely difficult).

To enhance the effectiveness of Loratadine, it is recommended to adhere to a number of rules:

• Regularly carry out wet cleaning of your home;
• Ventilate rooms as often as possible;
• Install mosquito nets on window openings and periodically clean them under water;
• Wash your face as often as possible;
• Take a bath or shower twice a day;
• Try not to go outside in the hottest sun. The best time for walking is after the rain;
• Do not visit places with many flower beds and other green spaces;
• When you come home from the street, change clothes and wash your face and hands;
• Do not eat the fruits of allergenic plants (citrus fruits, strawberries) and do not take herbal medicines containing them.

In most cases, pollen allergies occur due to improper metabolism and slagging of internal organs. An allergic reaction is very often the body's response to other diseases, so to eliminate it, the root cause must first be treated.

Analogs