I have found that anti-histamines clear my brain and my emotions. I've always had allergies, and they have always affected my feeling and thinking. I had to take some powerful antihistamine for a cold lately, and aftewards felt cleared in my head and heart. Anyone else experience this?

Wow...talk about weird timing. I started taking anti-histamines last nite, and went into, what has been described to me as a "anti-histamine depression".

Its amazing how some meds just do that to some people.

Yes, I know what you mean I get a "benedryl hangover".

Need a NEW OPTION

I can't take psuedoephedrine or I become a hair triggered rage-o-maniac!

No more than two doses of nose spray without warning everyone in my world that I am altered beyond my control. I simply don't use them.

Allegra works fine for me.

Pseudo-ephedrine is my friend!

It's the only thing that clears my head up. And I think it may even help my ADD a bit.

Generic Tylenol Allergy Sinus is my product of choice.

I've always noticed this, since I became an adult... even before I was clinically diagnosed with ADD. It's Sudafed for me... the little red pills. Doesn't matter if they are generic or brand name. Either way, they do help clear up the symptoms of ADD I've found... when I was in my self-medication cycle, that is. (Really, that and coffee is all I've ever experimented with. Never at the same time, either.) Poor man's adderall, I guess.

So anyway, yes... Sudafed does wonders, and has on more than one occasion "saved" me when I either ran out of my meds or for a time during my divorce when I quit seeing my doctor and quit getting presecriptions. I discovered it one morning in Chicago when I was set to give a presentation an hour after breakfast, and I felt like I had a bit of the sniffles... so I took 3 of the sudafed, and WHAM... a half-hour later I started my presentation and was probably the most coherent, confident, and focused presenter I'd ever been up to that time.

Now, I'm not a big fan of "self medicating" with stuff like this... but I definitely found relief from the symptoms for about 4 hours. And I would do it again if I absolutely needed it. Other meds besides Sudafed don't seem to have a reaction like this for me.

Correct me if I'm in error, but I seem to recall that Sudafed has a Caffien component to offset the sleepiness effect of many anti-histamines. If might be that Sudafed works for you because of the caffiene component be included with the antihistamine, or it might be that the caffiene alone would do the trick. How does strong Cuban coffee work for you? If you haven't tried it, try that. Also, there is a medication called provigil which makes sleepy people much more awake. It is used in cases of narcolepsy, sleep apnea, and also in cases of ADD - theyare experiementing with using it with ADD.

Very interesting...hmmmm

Jon

Nope. No caffeine in Sudafed. Not the Sudafed that trips my trigger anyhow:

http://www.prodhelp.com/sudafed.shtml

And I've tried the caffeine thing besides... I do drink coffee, and love the stuff, but never very much of it. And when I've had a lot of it, it still hasn't done what a couple of Sudafed tablets do to my brain... so caffeine isn't the answer. (And I drank Kona coffee nonstop for 2 weeks during my honeymoon... nice coffee buzz, but no help to the ADD symptoms.)

Remember the relationships of the various compaunds:

adrenaline
ephedrine
epinephrine
pseudo-ephedrine
nor-epinephrine

maybe some one can put together sensible family tree of these chemicals


By the way, caffeine is an alkaloid... so is chocolate, delta 9 THC, and opium. These are all natures insecticides.

I think it is interesting that people like to "consume" natures insecticides!

Unreal

Thanks for correcting me. If sudafed does not have caffiene, then what is left? Anti-histamine. I wonder what else is in Sudafed.

I have good response to Allegra, my ADD symptoms seem to subsude. Glad to know others have had the same response.

J

Plain Sudafed is a decongestant, not an antihistamine (though many of the OTC formulations combine it with an antihistamine). Sudafed is pseudoephedrine, which has a molecular structure very similar to amphetamine. (Also very similar to the natural ephedrine that was just banned in the USA.)

I can handle Sudafed in small amounts, but I can definitely tell when I've had too much!

Funny you should mention this b/c I used to take Sudafed all the time too. I was just diagnosed 2 months ago but before that I found that Sudafed not only cleared up my constant sinus problems but also seemed to "clear my head". I didn't make the connection until now. I don't take it anymore - just Strattera for me please. But it's also a little weird that since I've been on Strattera my sinuses haven't bugged me at all. I always had chronic sinusitus and (knock on wood) it seems to have stopped. I know there are neurotransmitter receptors all over your body - maybe the ones in my sinuses weren't working properly before the add meds???

Sudaphen is one of the only meds for my allergies I can take without bad repercussions. benedryl, which I take for my hives and othe antihistimines make me suicidally depressed. Found out they not only supress the bad histimines but the good ones too, hence my plummet into depression.

The antihistanine Benadryl gives me insomnia & decongestants like sudafed give me palpations.
Might consider topical nasal steroid sprays from the doctor for allergies like flonase.

I find this thread extremely interesting. I couldn't figure out why, when I took sudafed, that it really seemed to help me concentrate and focus. I thought I was just weird! Now I know otherwise! :D

Unfortunately, I, too, experience heart palpitations from sudafed as I have Mitral Valve Prolapse and the sudafed seems to aggrevate it. But what is strange is that I seem to get an "episode" for a few minutes of palpitations, etc, and then that seems to go away and then I'm fine.

Okay,confession time!!!!!!!,I too self-medicate w/Pseudoephedrine and the like.I have found not only certain allergy/cold meds but also certain diet pills to be helpful for me.I also have saught medical attention and tried all anti-depressants,Strattera,and Concerta and they just don't do for me what the over the counter's do!.I was devestated when they banned the Ephedrine in alot of the over the counter meds!,as I was and had been taking the diet pill;Metabolife356 and sometimes a few others were the sources that made my life whole for over 2 yrs!.At present I seem to just cope the best I know how and thats to try all and look for any signs of improvement from any.It is extremely frustrating,as I can see how alot of drug users turn to the life of drugs for self-medicating reasons,and It just seems to me that If alot of these people were given proper medical attention in the first place they wouldn't have to turn to the dangerous self-medicating lifestyle!!.