Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Guess4me]

When I came to Korea, I came supplied with what little allergy medicine I could fit in my suitcase. I need to know EXACTLY a name of a good over the counter allergy medicine to look for in the drugstore. I did a search on this, but nothing came up.

Could someone tell me the Korean name of a good allergy med?

Thanks!

[Novernae]

What do you use at home?

[Guess4me]

I usually use Alavert or Claritin at home. Anything here similar?

[HamuHamu]

I used Claritin or Reactine at home (daily). In Korea I found the best one was called Zirtec, but if you go into any pharmacy and say "allergee" (hard G sound) they will give you whatever they have, and I learned over time that they all worked fine. And, they are only 2000-3000 won, so if I tried one kind and they didn't work, it really wasn't a big deal to toss them.

[pkang0202]

I'm interested too. I used Claritin back home because it didn't make me drowsy.

Anyone know any good non-drowsy allergy meds?

[seoulsucker]

The OTC stuff they sell here is garbage. You might as well drink a bottle of Nytol. I believe you can get prescripted allergy meds with a visit to the 내과, or the 이비인후과.

I just ran out of Claritin at the end of the grass pollen season last year, so I'll be making a trip to the doctor soon to get a refill.

[Vollrath]

the OTC stuff here is fine, you bozos....

claritin contains Loratadine, reactine contains Cetirizine hydrochloride, sudfed contains (guess what) pseudoephedrine, and chlor-tripolon (the drowsy kind) contains Chlorphenamine. all you have to do is tell the pharmacist what chemical you want. they don't know fug-all about american or canadian brand names--why should they? and if you simply say "allergee" they won't know what to give you (what kind of allergy? what are your symptoms? when are you affected?).. how can you expect them to understand everything if you just use one konglish word??? would you go to a pharmacist back home and say nothing but "allergy"? of course not. therefore, since you obviously can't communicate your problem effectively, just ask for the chemical compound by name. also, all their OTC stuff varies according to which pharmacist you go to i.e. one place it will be one name and another place it will be another name. they don't have (yet--and with few exceptions) the widespread "brand name" pharmaceuticals that we're used to back home.

nuff said?

[kat2]

You can get allegra, claritin, and zyrtec with a prescriptio nquite cheaply. One month (two pills a day) costs about 30 bucks. Not bad for relief. Just go to the doctor

[uberscheisse]

if you do a quick google search you'll find that OTC 'allahgee' meds here have the same active ingredients as stuff back home.

why wouldn't they?

my buddy refuses to use lopenol and insists on getting imodium shipped from back home. i even showed him the package and the fact that one pill from each package contains the same amount of loperamide, the active ingredient.

he still insists on imodium. love the dude like the retarded little brother i never had.

[HamuHamu]

[IlIlNine]

Korean pharmacists do actually know "Anti-histamine". "Alergee" is just grade-school.