Depending on the severity of your condition, Hay Fever may
end up being a relatively expensive disease with its chronic nature and
pharmaceutical symptom management.
Let’s say you take a daily Claritin, Loratadine, 10mg 24 hr
antihistamine is taken daily. For a box of 30 tablets, the regular price ranges
about $19.89 at Target (and most drug stores). We can round this to about $20 a
month for just a daily Claritin tablet and $240 a year.
Now let’s say you have multiple members of the family also
taking this medication for their symptoms as well, this price will only go up
and possibly double. But of course no medication is perfect and works for
anyone. If you have congestion and decide that regular Claritin is sufficient
and you need a decongestant, Claritin-D may be a more suitable choice, but with
an added price. At Walgreens you can buy Claritin-D (120mg pseudoephedrine with
5mg loratadine antihistamine) 12-hour decongestant with 30 tablets for $29.89.
The rounded cost for a day’s use of this drug will then be about $2. This would
be $60 a month, and $720 a year if used two times a day, every day of the year.
Claritin-D, and other decongestants,
such as Sudafed and Allegra-D are pose additional obstacles because you have to
buy it over the counter which is an inconvenience.
Like I said before, Claritin or Claritin-D may not be the
drug of choice for a particular user, others may prefer Allegra, Allegra-D,
Zyrtec, and generic brands. However these are usually range around the same
prices give or take a couple dollars.
Not only can these medications be expensive, but the other
interventions taken by many allergy sufferers add up as well. These include
things such as immunotherapy and lifestyle changes.
Immunotherapy prices tend to range on a variety of factors.
These include length of therapy, type, and whether or not insurance will cover
it. In the US, the average cost for immunotherapy ranged from $1,480-$2,500 for
six years of therapy. This averaged to about $800 for the first, and most
expensive year of therapy, and then dropped down to about $200-$300 dollars a
year after that. This is an interesting consideration considering the outcomes
of therapy hopefully mean eliminating drug usage for several years and when
comparing this to some of the prices above this may be the more fiscally
favorable choice.
Lastly, lifestyle changes do have a great financial impact
on the hay fever sufferer as well. In previous entries. This includes using the
air conditioning instead of opening windows, use of more cleaning products, and
a higher quality of filtration system which may all increase electricity and
gas bills. A common recommendation to those with hay fever is the use of a HEPA
filter. The Envion Therapure Air Purifier for a Medium Room (26x8”) at target
is sold online for $139.99. This only works for a room that is about 100-300sq
ft. room, which means that multiple may need to be purchased to fulfill the
needs of an individual with multiple rooms.
In conclusion, Hay Fever can add up to be a pretty expensive
condition to have and something to keep in mind when choosing treatments. However a combination of one or many
may be necessary in order to ensure an improved quality of life which is
priceless.
