Strongest UK OTC sinus meds?

This stuff worked great for me last year, but does require a prescription:

Fexofenadine Tablets 120 mg one daily - an antihistamine that does not make you drowsy.

Optilast .5 mg eye drops - for those who eyes swell with pollen

Beconase 50 mg - nose spray to keep the runny nose in check

Qvar 100 Inhaler (beclometasone dipropionate) for those who get bronchitis from allergies like me. 

Just to add: Beconase is actually available without prescription as well as on prescription - you can buy Beconase 50mg in  100-spray bottles straight from the shelves, or Beconase 50mg 180-spray bottles from behind the counter (or Boots do a generic one which has 200 sprays but is cheaper than the 100-spray Beconase size) .

This is random - is pseudoephedrine the stuff that makes you sleepy?  Because we used to give Benedryl to our pets as a mild sedative (car trips), but Benedryl in the UK does not contain the same ingredients & therefore is ineffective.  Will this Boots pseudoephedrine do the trick?

(sorry to hi-jack!)

Benadryl is diphenhydramine which makes you sleepy-looking at a tablet from the US.

pseudoephedrine is a decongestant and I believe is an upper in the states: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoephedrine

Hope that helps!

This is random - is pseudoephedrine the stuff that makes you sleepy?  Because we used to give Benedryl to our pets as a mild sedative (car trips), but Benedryl in the UK does not contain the same ingredients & therefore is ineffective.  Will this Boots pseudoephedrine do the trick?

(sorry to hi-jack!)

No, psuedoephedrine is non-drowsy (in fact, as it can increase your heart rate, it can keep you awake, not send you to sleep!).

However, Benadryl usually does not contain pseudoephedrine anyway - pseudoephedrine is a decongestant and Benadryl is an antihistamine... they are two different types of medicine.

In the US, Benadryl contains diphenhydramine, which is a drowsy antihistamine, but in the UK Benadryl contains either cetirizine (1-a-day and usually non-drowsy) or acrivastine (also non-drowsy), so it doesn't make you sleepy.

But, there is a UK product called Benadryl Plus which contains both an antihistamine (acrivastine) and a decongestant (pseudoephedrine)... but again, this product won't make you sleepy either .

A quick note about giving medicine to pets though: medicine licensing laws state that pharmacies can only sell medicines for use in/on humans, so you cannot buy anything over the counter for a pet because it is breaking licensing laws - you must get it through your vet instead (we had a customer really kick off yesterday because she wanted to buy eye drops for her dog and we were not allowed to them sell to her). Even if your vet tells you that you can buy it over the counter, the pharmacy is not allowed to sell it for use on animals.

Durrr, I was getting my active ingredients mixed up!  Thanks for setting me straight.

For the record, we used off-the-shelf Benadryl for our pets & my sister is a veterinary nurse, so no worries about using unsafe medication or reckless amounts.  I was wondering if there IS anything in the UK that contains diphenhydramine, but I was getting this mixed up with pseudoephedrine!  Sorry for de-railing .

I was wondering if there IS anything in the UK that contains diphenhydramine, but I was getting this mixed up with pseudoephedrine!  Sorry for de-railing .

Yes, there is, but it's behind the counter and isn't licenced to be given to animals (you'd have to try to get it from your vet) - medicines containing diphenhydramine are: Nytol sleeping tablets and some of the night time cough medicines (also Benadryl cream contains it, but the tablets don't).

P.S. I'm pretty sure that even off-the-shelf medicines are not licenced for animals - even if it is recommended by a vet, the normal human stuff still shouldn't be used on animals (although as it is off-the-shelf, sales of it can't be easily monitored like behind-the-counter products can).

I've been using Sinupret to deal with my sinus issues for several years.  It's all natural and doesn't have the dangerous side effects associated with Sudafed and other similar medicines.  It's very well known and used on the continent, but alas, I could not find a UK homepage.  Here is the US homepage so you can read about in English. 

http://www.bionoricausa.com/index.php

I highly recommend it if you can get it.  I take 2 pills and my sinus begin to drain within 30 minutes and the relief is incredible.