24-Hour Claritin for Allergies

Every year I get season allergies around the end of August. I get the whole sneezing, runny and stuffed nose, dry and watery eyes, and dry lips. I usually take non-drowsy generic stuffed, but this year I am taking Claritin. Being pregnant, all my health care providers said this would be good to take. It is a class B drug so it has been tested and has shown no harm for the growing baby.

I'm not that big of a fan of Claritin though. I am using the 24-hour, non-drowsy pill, but it's not as good as they make it sound. I didn't really start feeling the benefits of it until about the third day. Even then, I have noticed that it does not work for 24-hours...not even close! I take it in the mornings around 10am, it doesn't really kick in until about noon, and then it wears off at around 8 at night. But you can't take another one for 24-hours, so you just have to deal with the allergy symptoms coming back.

Even thought I don't think it is working as well as it should, I'm going to keep taking this for this year just because I'm pregnant and I know it is safe. At least I get some relief for the day. Next year, I will be taking something else.

Update On Sep 02, 2008: Just as an added note...I haven't taken this Claritin now for 2 days and I have been exactly the same as I was while I was taking it for the last week. My allergy symptoms that persisted while I was taking it are still there, and it's not any worse. So I guess the Claritin was doing absolutely nothing for me.