I have noticed a yearly trend of an up tick in knee, ankle and shoulder pain following use of OTC allergy meds. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this same problem. I take OTC Claritin and Suphedrine for my allergies. On more than one occasion I have noticed that old injuries or problems seem to flair up following the use of the drugs. Currently my left shoulder and knee are giving me fits, and both are ongoing/reoccurring problems.
To me there are three possibilities
1- There is no relationship and I am imagining things
2- I usually have my allergies problems late in the summer and fall- near the end of my training/racing season so I am beat up and the injuries flair up more at this time.
3- The meds to cause problems?
Has anyone ever noticed this? Or is anyone aware of any studies showing a link?
I am not a doctor, but from what you describe I would take a close look at the symptoms of autoimmune disorders.
Those can very well result in an out of whack immune system (including allergy-symptoms).
The autoimmune component can be exacerbated by exercise or by drugs, that generally act on the immune-system.
Not trying to scare you, but I have come across stories like yours before.
I’ll preface what I type with typing that is has been several, 5+ years since I’ve left the antihistamine world.
I can not remember anything in any of the PI’s relating to increase in pain other than back pain. I’m not going to go through my papers and dig them up but you can search online.
is has been several, 5+ years since I’ve left the antihistamine world
Selling, or using? If using, why do you no longer need them?
I suppose a little more detail might help here-
I do have tear in my left shoulder, I have known about the problem for over a year. I went nearly all of the summer with minimal pain able to do 1-2 swims a week up to about 3000 yards each workout before I need to get out. I have never really been super sore after these work out the next day. Because of my swimming background I choose no to push my luck and simply accepted swimming less- reality is I can get away with not swimming at all and do just fine. Now that I started taking the Allergy meds I have been only able swam about 2 times in the last month and each time I had to get out after only 20 min dues to pain. My shoulder pain is consistent, it keeps up at night now, and I am basically never comfortable. The pain is as bad or worse then when I first went to see the doctor about my shoulder, which was last fall during peak allergy season for me. To the best of my knowledge I have not done anything to re-injure my shoulder it has just flared up- bad.
My left knee has had IT problems on and off for some time. But again I was able to run totally pain free all summer long- zero pain in the knee with the highest mileage I have ever run. I have actually backed off the mileage a bit in the last month because of being sick, travel and races (which also may explain the pain). But I can’t help but notice that the IT pain is back and it has come at the same time I have needed to start taking meds again.
Thanks for your reply about autoimmune disorder- I will do a search and see if I think it warrants seeing an expert.
I was wondering the same as Chuck- do you not use or not work in the industry?
I wish I did not need to use. But for some odd reason I enjoy breathing. If it were not for thefact that I have a constant stream of snot running down my throat and clogging my nasal passage and my itchy eyes and lack of sleep if I don’t take the meds I would not take them. But I just can’t kick this needing to breath and sleep thing.
I did a search for Claratin and side effects and they listes in less than 2% or at least one person had reported Arthralgia, myalgia. So possibly I am one of the freaks that has this issue.
Ok I went read a bit- You have me freaked out a little
Around July 8th I started feeling run down, I ran low fever (99-100) for 3 days and felt very low energy. I still do not feel “right” I am more tierd than normal and just plain old flat and dead during workouts. I did a local sprint on the 14th was just dead during the race, I had no zip, but I just assumed it was some sort of virus I had still hanging around. But now it is 2 weeks later and while I have not had a fever for some time, my energy level is still very low. All of these are also symptoms of an autoimmune issue according to the medline plus page I read. Maybe it is worth seeing a MD on this.
sorry to hear your shoulder is acting up again 
.
Thanks, I talked with my wife last night seriously for the first time about surgery- UGGGGGGGGG!