i keep waking up in the middle of the night sneezing for an hour straight, itchy eyes, runny nose etc. i have tried to isolate the cause and the only thing i can think of is my sheets are a bit mildewed from monsoon season. anyway i hate to take pills, but it seems i might need some sort of antihistamine i can take on a regular basis. can anyone recommend something i can ask for at the pharmacy?

buy some new sheets, sleep on them for a night or two and see if the problem goes away...

better to find the cause than treat the symptoms

the simple and welldone (still be the drug of choice) is Chlorpheniramine but it will make u sleepy

other ,

hydroxazine HCl as atarax

diphenhydramine hcl -benadryl

get well soon

lorastine (loratadine) ... i know they havre in thailand i saw it in a thai allergy site.... doesnt make u sleepy u have to use every day for effectiveness... takes a while to start working tho.. cant remember pharmac. name look it up... but really what bambi wrote works great (Chlorpheniramine) and is short term (four hours at most)... drys u out a bit and sleepy ...good for short time allergy

atarax (is also muscle relaxant) not to use w/o dooc prescribing it is alllergy med for pregnant women and babies but problematic (we dont use it much here (in israel)

benadryl is better for bug bites food allergies (emergency alllergies)

tiffy cold med. can work in a pinch (the one with sudafed and chlortri. in it)

Agree that chlorpheniramine 4mg tablets will make you sleepy and I have used them for over 35 years when required - about every 4-6 hours for flu. Very cheap here at about 20 baht per 100 tablets.

Loratadine in 10mg tablets seems to be a drug of choice now at Thai hospitals. Private hospital cost 205 baht for 30.

And don't forget to get the mildew out of the sheets. If hot water washing is not possible, wash them with bleach and hang them to dry in direct sunlight. Sunlight is quite effective at killing mildew. Best if you use an extractor to get the most possible water out of them after you wash them and before they dry. Try to make sure they are fully dry before folding and putting away. yeah, I know it's hard in the humidity.

If you want a non sleepy antihistamine try cetizirine hydrochloride. (zyrtec).