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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Suffer From Seasonal Allergies. Taking Levocetrizine. Can I Take Phenylephrine? What Are The Contents Of This Medication?

I am suffering from seasonal allergies. The symptoms are runny nose, irritation in nose, sneezing etc. I take Levocetirizine which usually helps but some times it does not stop runny nose.Than I use Sinerest the combination contains Phenylephrine + Caffeine + Chlorpheniramine Maleate + Paracetamol . This relieves the problem. My question is - instead of this combination taking only Phenylephrine should be sufficient ? If yes is there any preparation that contains only Phenylephrine ? Thanks in advance.
Sat, 30 Mar 2013
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General & Family Physician 's  Response
Hello, Phenylephrine is added in the combination because it relieves nasal block. It does not have anti allergic action and does not help in runny nose. Chlorpheniramine in this combination is useful for seasonal allergy and is the substitute for Levocetirizine. Chlorpheniramine is more effective than Levocetirizine but it causes drowsiness.
So, Phenylephrine alone will not help for seasonal allergy. Nasal drops containing only Phenylephrine are available as nasal decongestant. Besides, Phenylephrine drops can cause sneezing as side effect & may aggravate your problem.
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General & Family Physician Dr. Michelle Gibson James's  Response
Hi, thanks for using healthcare magic

The phenylephrine is a decongestant and would relieve nasal congestion and may have a slight effect on the runny nose, however you would still need an antihistamine.
The antihistamine would help with the runny nose and the sneezing.
The older antihistamines such as chlorpheniraimine, work better but are associated with drowsiness.

In addition you may want to consider the use of a topical nasal spray such as nasonex, rynase, rhinocort,flonase or beconase. These would also help relieve your symptoms.

In persons with severe symptoms where there is minimal relief with all of the medication mentioned above, medication such as singulair may be considered. This is a mast cell inhibitor which means it stops the histamine from being released in the first place , it is used in persons with rhinosinusitis and in asthmatic.

I hope this helps
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Suffer From Seasonal Allergies. Taking Levocetrizine. Can I Take Phenylephrine? What Are The Contents Of This Medication?

Hello, Phenylephrine is added in the combination because it relieves nasal block. It does not have anti allergic action and does not help in runny nose. Chlorpheniramine in this combination is useful for seasonal allergy and is the substitute for Levocetirizine. Chlorpheniramine is more effective than Levocetirizine but it causes drowsiness. So, Phenylephrine alone will not help for seasonal allergy. Nasal drops containing only Phenylephrine are available as nasal decongestant. Besides, Phenylephrine drops can cause sneezing as side effect & may aggravate your problem.