Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kryten]

Well I guess I've got hay fever because I'm sneezing like crazy, have itchy eyes and an itchy throat. It's driving me nuts.

What's a good medication for allergies here.. I'm looking for specific names. Do they work? I never really had much luck with allergy meds back home, but I think it's because you're supposed to take them on a daily basis.

[English Matt]

Any antihistamine should work.....in Korea it's 항히스타민제 (Hang Heestameen jae).

[uklathemock]

You can buy Allegra here.

[pkang0202]

You can get Allegra and Claritin on prescription here.

I printed out both Claritin and Allegra pictures and I showed it to the doctor at a clinic. He asked me the usual questions like "whats the syptoms, how long, etc..."

Then 10 minutes later, I got the prescription for 30 days worth of pills.

If your runny nose is bad, I recommend getting Psudoephedrine. Claritin-D and Allegra-D has pseudoephedrine for runny nose.

[atwood]

A nasal spray will be more effective than the pills or you can take both together.

ah-pa-mist is the best I've used but not every pharmacy has it yet. Hu-lik-so naze is another and there's one more they have. All will work. They take a few days to start working.

[Kryten]

Thanks all. Pkang, I think I'll go that route. Atwood, I am sneezing quite a bit but it's the eyes are mostly the problem.. they get really itchy and red. I've never taken nasal spray so I'm guessing it's only effective on the nose, no?

[pkang0202]

[atwood]

[beeedeeewong]

How are the local Korean brand allergy products? Any positive experiences with them?

[nobbyken]

Also wash hands and eyes often with cold water; eyebrows tend to collect dust.
A regular eye-drop will help keep the eye lubricated so it may not be as itchy, the air does seems to be dry and a little polluted at times the now.

[pkang0202]

[nobbyken]

Just remembered, "Loratadine" was the one which worked for me. OTC in UK, but not in Korea. Went to the doc at the hospital for 5 minutes and got a prescription for 15.
They worked for a while, tend to lose effectiveness after a while.
My symptome started first thing in the morning, so the most effective time to take a 24hr pill was at bedtime.

Every ENT place I went said the same thing, I had low immunuty or it wasn't strong. True enough.
Moderate exercise to gently stress the body helped it become stronger so it could combat the allergens. Poor diet and lack of exercise and stretching did make things worse.
Worth getting a skin test if anyone goes to an ENT.
They can do 12 or 52-ish tests for a reasonable price. I think the 12 was less than 15k, and showed I had a dustmite allergy.

[Kryten]

I picked up Allegra-D at the pharmacy today. No prescription needed. It's already working