Common and Off-Label Uses of Antihistamines

Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café—Making the Most of Powdered Milk in Your Food Storage, the 3rd volume of articles from the Prep School Daily blog, is now available on Amazon.  With over 130 family-friendly recipes using powdered milk—without a hint of that powdered milk taste—your family will have no idea there's a crisis. 

Disclaimer.  I am not a licensed health practitioner.  This is just another post on an item you might wish to have available if needed so that a physician can treat you and your family as best as possible.  No medication, including those available over the counter, should be taken without consulting a physician.  Information shared here is for educational and entertainment purposes only.  It is not medical advice nor a substitute for licensed medical care.  A qualified, licensed physician or other medical provider should be consulted before beginning any herbal or conventional treatment.


As I conduct research before writing articles for this blog, I check several of my off-grid medicine books.  And I am constantly surprised to find that some topics, ones that I find common and important, are not addressed at all in these books.  How could treating poisonous spider bites not be mentioned?  And yet, only one of the four books covered treatment and expected outcomes.  Well, that author happens to live in an area where those spiders are common.  So do I.  Authors of these other books probably don't ever deal with poisonous spiders.

Sometimes a topic just escapes a person.  The physicians writing these off-grid medicine books are covering a whole lot of territory.  It's easy to miss something.  Like I realized yesterday when I was adding links to related posts for some of my articles I thought might be helpful to my readers.  I was trying to add a link for antihistamines.  And there wasn't an antihistamine article to link to.  ?!?!?!

Obviously, that needs to change.  So here we go.

Antihistamines are a class of drugs that block the release of histamine from cells.  Their primary usage is in treating cold and allergy symptoms.  They do not cure colds or allergies, but only the symptoms.  They make people feel better.  If you or someone in your family suffers from seasonal allergies, you'll want to stock plenty of what works for them.  As far as what works best for drying up runny noses, physicians generally agree that Benadryl,  Zyrtec, and Ephedra all work well.

However, these over-the-counter antihistamines have other uses, many of which are quite valuable for prepping.

Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) is the most valuable of all the antihistamines from a prepper standpoint. It is used as a mild sleep aid and in treating anxiety and mood swings, such as might occur in the initial days of a collapse.  It is used as an anesthetic, especially for people allergic to lidocaine.  It is an active ingredient in creams and sprays for treating allergic reactions and bug bites and stings.  And it is very cheap, like less than a penny per pill when bought in the big bottles at Sam's.  It's used in so many ways that I devoted an entire post to it.  Don't skimp on storing Benadryl. 

Ranitidine (Zantac), which as you may recall was taken off the market a few years ago due to concerns about carcinogens, is an antihistamine that was commonly used for treating heart burn, GERD, and peptic ulcers by reducing acid production in the stomach.   It was used in conjunction with other medications in treating Helicobacter pylori ulcers.  It was also used in conjunction with Benadryl as a second line treatment for mild anaphylaxis.  (First line is always epinephrine, and ranitidine and Benadryl aren't going to save someone with a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction.  But in a disaster, you work with what you've got.)  With ranitidine there was an increased risk of developing a Clostridium difficile infection.  Ranitidine was generally regarded as safe to use in pregnancy but not for nursing women.  Ranitidine was available in the United States over-the-counter in 75 mg and 150 mg tablets; 300 mg tablets were by prescription only.  While most people will have discarded any ranitidine they had at home, some will have saved it for a rainy day and that's why I've included this information.  Like all medications, it would only be taken under a physician's direction.

Cetirizine (Zyrtec) is very similar in action to Benadryl, but has the advantage of not (generally) causing drowsiness.  It is especially suited for runny noses, hay fever, hives, and dermatitis.  It is usually only taken once a day.  The off-label, or alternative uses, include treating mild anxiety.  Like ranitidine, it is considered safe in pregnancy, but not for nursing a baby.  In the US, cetirizine is available over the counter in 5 mg and 10 mg tablets; 20mg tablets are available by prescription only. 

Mormon tea, Brigham tea, and squaw tea are all names for the Ephedra genus of plants that grow in the Western US.  They are related to the Chinese ma huang but do not have the ephedrine content of the latter.  This is one of the precious few plants in this country that can be successfully used as an antihistamine.  It is very slow growing, and the only way to get it is to buy it online or go out into the desert to get it.  If you know me IRL, you can come pick all you want here.

Links to related posts:
Benadryl  
OTC pain relievers
Antacids
Cough and cold medications
Anti-nausea medications
Brigham tea, Squaw tea, Mormon tea 


For further reading:
Dr. Cynthia Koelker, Armageddon Medicine.
Dr. Patrick Jones, The Homegrown Herbalist, pp 103-05.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranitidine
https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-12065/cetirizine-oral/details
https://www.medicinenet.com/cetirizine-oral_tablet/article.htm  07.16.19