Allegra Children's 12-Hour Allergy Relief Oral Dissolve Tabs, Orange, 24-Ct

Okay. So, our 3.5 yo daughter has anaphylactic food allergies so we see a pediatric allergist. She also has some mild, run of the mill, seasonal/environmental allergies...like live oak, pollen, etc. Children's Chewable Allegra is the ONLY antihistamine we will use with her. It's been wonderful for us. Our daughter is NOT good with taking medications, even liquids, and she takes this chewable as if it were a piece of candy...that easy. It tastes amazing too...I tried it first. I'll go into all of this below.... A few things to note.....please keep in mind that I am NOT a doctor, I am only relaying our experiences and what we have been told by our Pediatrician, Pediatric Allergist, her colleagues, and her staff.... Claritin and Zyrtec have a side effect in common.....personality changes (Singulair also has a very small chance of this side effect too though we have not had to use that medication so far). This is because both of these medications cross the blood-brain barrier. Personality changes with these two medications happen in children more often than most are aware. Both medications caused major personality changes in our daughter. She was extremely grumpy/moody, angry/aggressive, and extremely emotional (not typical for her). She even told us "I don't feel like myself" several times - to hear that from our 3.5 year old was absolutely heartbreaking. It was terrible. The Claritin was tried for seasonal allergies. It was stopped after personality changes and temporarily replaced with a decongestant until the stuffies were gone. The Zyrtec was tried to relieve a persistent case of viral hives brought on by a very nasty cold...her first cold or sickness ever (she is never sick). The Zyrtec was even worse than the Claritin. We hung in with the Zyrtec for a month. Stopped for a week to see if the hives had been suppressed long enough to be gone for good. They were not. They came back. And there was NO way we were doing Zyrtec again......in comes Allegra..... We found they had a chewable and that's what the doc said to try. It has been WONDERFUL. I have my daughter back to her sweet, happy self. The taste is so much better too. Zyrtec was similar, with Citrus flavor, and it tasted good but it left a pretty nasty aftertaste. The Allegra is Orange Cream and tastes way better than Zyrtec with no aftertaste. It's awesome! The only drawback is that the Allegra chewable is a 12 hour, so it's taken in the morning and at night. But that's a small concession and one I'll happily take. Allegra does not cross the blood-brain barrier and thus there are no chances for personality changes (as told to us by our pediatric allergist and pediatrician). Thank G-d. Our pediatric allergist told us that, concerning suppression of hives, Zyrtec is the strongest, Claritin is in the middle, and Allegra comes in third. So, it took almost 48 hours for the Allegra to get in her system well enough to make the breakthrough hives go away and stay away. After that 48 hour mark, they were suppressed. They are still suppressed (this is all recent). So, even though the Allegra is 2 times a day, it works well once in the system and it tastes really good without the aftertaste. It dissolves very quickly after you crunch on it too. And, it's much easier to break in half (our daughter likes to do two halves). It doesn't really crumble like the Zyrtec did. Our daughter is super picky, so the fact that she takes this without any fight or questions is wonderful. Doc said once the hives are suppressed for a while, she can go to half a pill every 12 hours or any combo that maintains until they are gone for good without antihistamines. Bottom line....if your child has struggled with seasonal allergies, food allergies, hives, or anything requiring an antihistamine, and you have had issues with personality changes or mood issues with Claritin and/or Zyrtec...Allegra is what you need. ***The medication DOES say ages 6 and up. We were directed by a physician to give this to our daughter. You should ALWAYS seek medical advice from your physician before trying this. For reference, our daughter is 3.5 years old and is 44 pounds and her pediatric allergist directed us to give her one full pill in the AM and one in the PM. Please speak to your physician before making any decisions. I am only offering our experiences with what we have gone through. Hope this information has been helpful! Good luck!*** ****UPDATE**** So, we started our daughter on the Children's Chewable Allegra mid February of 2019. Today (22 April 2019) she is no longer on this medication - though we do keep a box on hand at all times just in case. We were able to stop the Allegra a little over a week ago. Her case of viral hives has NOT returned, thank G-d. Just as a side note, she had what's called Traveling Hives. They were small, almost like a gnat or flea bite. It would be one small spot; or sometimes three or four small spots in a tight group. I initially thought they were bites. We live in the Deep South (cars are lime green/yellow smothered in pollen every stinkin' day here) and we are outside a lot plus, we have an indoor/outdoor cat so we have to watch out for the rogue flea. I would rub some Benadryl cream on the spot(s) and they would go away only to look over 5 or 10 minutes later and see another spot somewhere else on her body - or see her scratching. These weren't what most think of as hives. They were NOT full body - they weren't large, angry red splotches. So at first, we weren't aware they were actually hives. It wasn't until I reached out to a fellow food allergy mom and sent photos; and she suggested hives. Next came a confirmation from her Pediatric Allergist. Just. Ugh. Anyway.....the Allegra was AMAZING...and will be our Go-To if this ever happens again. I saw some reviews about a nasty aftertaste. This is NOT our experience. Our daughter is a SUPER picky eater. If it's the least bit nasty or bitter (even an aftertaste) she will refuse it and the jaws of life wont be able to pry her mouth open. I took a whole pill to taste. It was yummy and I experienced NO aftertaste whatsoever. What our daughter preferred to do was to have me break the pill in half (easy to do by hand) and she would chew up the half and then she takes a sip or 2 of milk and then she takes the second half...again followed by a sip or 2 of milk. Perhaps this eliminated any hint of aftertaste for her. But, if there was an aftertaste...she would have VERY loudly let me know about it, lol. She never once complained. As far as dosing - she will be 4 end of May this year. She is VERY tall and slender. She is taller than every single 5 year old we know. She weighs 44 pounds, and a full pill was fine for her twice daily (as directed by her pediatric allergist). She took one full pill around breakfast (with milk) every morning and the second full pill right before crawling in bed at night (always with her milk lol). It never hyped her up nor made her sleepy. One thing to note - she is VERY sensitive to any medication, like Daddy. So, we did notice a slight increase in grumpiness at times toward the end of the course. Her big brother would do something and it would agitate her a bit more than normal. Nothing huge. We stopped the Allegra a little over a week ago and after 24 hours of no Allegra, that little bit of extra agitation vanished. It could have had nothing at all to do with the Allegra, or it could have. This will NOT stop me from immediately giving her the Allegra again if its needed. It appeared the last week or two out of the 2 months she was taking it. Another side note....for the every day seasonal (more like year round down here lol) allergies [pollen, live oak, etc] she takes Flonase (prescription - though I think it's the same dose as the OTC)....one spray in each nostril once or twice daily depending on how bad. We do that right before bed every night. If it's bad, morning and night - still one spray per nostril morning and night. It seems to keep her "environmental" allergies under control. Like I said, she is very sensitive to medications so that may be why it works so well alone for our girl. The Allegra we will only use if hives are an issue again; or unless directed to use it again by one of her doctors. I stand by my original review - The Children's Chewable Allegra is WONDERFUL! If you have experienced mood/personality changes in your child (or yourself) after using Zyrtec or Claritin (or even Singulair) then this is the antihistamine you need to get! Again, good luck and I hope this info has helped you!****

Works really well. We don't leave home without it.

Being individually packaged and dissolvable, these are very handy to have in my purse or a pocket for when I might need them. However, in breaking them apart, the foil does have sharp corners, which I trim with scissors before putting it in my pocket. I am an adult but find this children’s dose to be sufficient as a maintenance dose when going outside. And if my allergies are really bad, then I just take two of these to get up to the normal adult dose. I do want to warn you that they taste good when they first start dissolving, but taste nasty at the end when the medicine gets exposed. So I tend to only let them dissolve part away in my mouth, then swallow the rest of it before it gets dissolved too far.

Our child has to take Allegra twice a day and was previously on the liquid form. We tried these tablets to see if they cleared up his hives any better and they seem to, however he does not like the taste. 🙄 We tasted them and thought they were fine and they dissolve really quickly in the mouth. Of course 4-year-olds never agree with what adults say so back to the liquid we go. 😑

Arrived timely. Good product. Work as stated.

My Dog suffers from nasal allergies which also causes his ears to itch and burn and they leak with smelly discharge. But with Allegra these symptoms all went away. No more sneezing and runny nose and no more itchy smelly ears. His ears are now pink and clean and no longer red and irritated. We are still trying to figure out what he is allergic to but in the meantime we had to stop these allergic reactions because it was inferring with his and my way of life as well as our sleep. My vet suggested he take 30 mg twice a day (my dog is 11 lbs) and I wrap it inside a piece of cheese. I just wish it was less expensive. I take the adult Allegra and it is so much cheaper and don't understand why the Children's version is so pricey.

Great Allergy Relief

Have trouble swallowing pills. Children's liquid Allegra seems to work almost as well as pills and I don't have to deal with swallowing pills.