Back to School! COVID-19 vs Allergies
Happy Friday!
As children gear up to go back to school (or even prepare for NTI), many parents have COVID-19 on their minds. PharmDToYou wants to remind you all that fall season is arriving which means many of us will suffer from allergy symptoms (if we haven’t been already). We want to make sure you know the difference between COVID-19 and allergy symptoms to help you care for your child.
Below are links to dosing tables for cetirizine (Zyrtec) and loratadine (Claritin) which includes files so you can print them at home. These are two relatively inexpensive and effective allergy medications that can be obtained over the counter for your children to alleviate allergy symptoms.
The first link for cetirizine also explains how to differentiate between symptoms of COVID-19 and allergies, though many of the symptoms overlap.
Other medications are available over the counter for allergies such as fexofenadine (Allegra) and diphenhydramine (Benadryl). These two medications also have several formulations and are typically dosed based on weight and/or age. Some indications differ as well and dosing frequency can depend on many factors. If you would like dosing for specific indications, contact us or comment below and we will be happy to help you dose these. If there is significant interest, we can make a table for these as well (they will not be all-inclusive).
PharmDToYou is happy to help you dose any other over-the-counter medication as well.
As usual, please feel free to comment and share! Do not hesitate to contact PharmDToYou through our messenger on Facebook or LinkedIn or through our “Contact Us” form on https://www.pharmdtoyou.com/index.php/contact-us/!
TIP: If you have trouble differentiating between different drugs in the allergy section since there are so many companies that make the generics, you can narrow it down by the main color on the box:
Cetirizine (Zyrtec) is often in a green box
Loratidine (Zyrtec) is often in a blue box
Fexofenadine (Allegra) is often in a purple box
Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) is often in a pink box