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Antihistamines and TKIs

At this time of year, I suffer from a bit of hay fever. Claratin (loratadine) has always been my "go-too" OTC drug in the past.

So, this year I've been getting the itchy eyes and runny nose more often than other years (must be the nice weather!) so went to the pharmacist and explained I take dasatinib so needed some sort of anti-allergy medicine that didn't interact with that.

Sure enough, I was told loratadine was totally fine. Great. Except that when I read the packet insert is said :

"After oral administration, loratadine is rapidly and well absorbed and undergoes an extensive first pass metabolism, mainly by CYP3A4 and CYP2D6. Increase in plasma concentrations of loratadine has been reported after concomitant use with ketoconazole, erythromycin, and cimetidine in controlled trials, but without clinically significant changes (including electrocardiographic)."

I'm not sure whether than means it's a CYP3A4 inducer or inhibitor, or perhaps neither. I know that inducers / inhibitors can affect the plasma concentration of dasatinib.

Anyway - my questions, I suppose, is does anyone know if it's OK to take this with dasatinib and if not is there another antihistamine that would be more suitable?

Since taking imatinib (5 years this Sept) I have developed what was finally diagnosed as bad hayfever which, 2 years ago, prevented me from eating so bad had my nose become. I actually lost one and a half stone in weight during that summer and had real trouble breathing! I take Loratadine and Beconase nasal spray with no ill effects and they have helped - I still have symptoms, but not as bad. No difference to my 3 monthly PCR tests either which have remained below 0.1% constantly.. The pharmacist where I bought the first packet checked out any contraindications thoroughly when I started,and my GP did the same.

take care
Chrissie

I suggest that you give homeopathic remedies a try. The following are often prescribed for hay-fever or pollen related allergy etc.

If the reaction is mainly centred on the eyes- itchy and/or sore, red inflamed and watery- the Euphrasia (common name: Eye Bright)
Euphrasia 10% eye drops are prepared by using homeopathic remedies and show excellent results in people suffering from allergic reaction of the eyes.

Mixed pollens 30c- homeopathic remedy in tablet form for hay fever: TRY: Ainsworths Mixed Pollens,
order here: http://www.ainsworths.com/index.php?node=eShopItem&_item=refmix30

Contains grasses, cereals, blossom trees and weeds.
Needs to be taken before the season starts or two weeks before you expect to start having symptoms.

Other homeopathic remedies for Hay Fever can be found here- although this is an Australian based website you can order the same remedies and mixes from Ainsworths in London (www.ainsworths.com) who have a very efficient overnight post system:

Hey fever complex:
http://homeopathyplus.com.au/hayfever-complex/
http://homeopathyplus.com.au/hay-fever-help-homeopathic-treatment-and-ot...

Other options:
I am not a Daily Mail reader but I found this article which gives an overview of most of the available options- including alternative and homeopathic treatments- for treating Hay Fever etc.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2157014/The-hayfever-treatment...

At the risk of a backlash from those who do not like the idea of alternative/complimentary treatments- I include a link to a clinical study of Euphrasia eye drops in inflamed eye conditions of varying degrees... including conjunctivitis:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11152054

Hope this is helpful, the pollen count in London is pretty high most of the time these days and I too suffer - Euphrasia is my personal favoured remedy.

Sandy

Thanks Sandy - I'll give that a try. The way I view homeopathic remedies is that the worst they can do is nothing at all! So always worth a shot.