<p> Medications and Skin Testing: Advice for Patients</p><p>1) There is NO NEED to stop the following:</p><p>Allergy eye drops (Rx or OTC) Inhalers (albuterol, flovent, qvar, advair, etc) Nasal steroids (Flonase, Nasacort, Nasonex, Rhinocort, Veramyst, Omnaris, etc) Oral steroids (prednisone, orapred, etc) Singulair (Montelukast)</p><p>2) Patients should avoid using skin lotions or creams on the day of testing.</p><p>3) Antihistamines interfere with skin testing, and therefore need to be stopped prior to testing as follows:</p><p>Allegra (fexofenadine) 7d Antihistamine nose sprays (Astelin, Astepro, Patanase) 2d Atarax or Vistaril (hydroxyzine) 7d Benadryl (diphenhydramine) 2d *Many OTC cough/cold/allergy meds contain benadryl Clarinex 7d Claritin, Alavert (loratadine) 7d *now OTC, under several brand names Clemastine (Tavist) 2d Periactin (cyproheptadine) 7d Zyrtec (cetirizine) or Xyzal (levocetirizine) 10d *cetirizine is now OTC, under several brand names</p><p>4) Other medications may interfere with skin testing as well. If a patient has been referred for skin testing and takes any of the following meds, please contact the Asthma/Allergy Team:</p><p>Antacids (Tums, Rolaids, etc) Anti-anxiety meds (ativan, valium, xanax, klonopin, buspar) Anti-nausea meds (phenergan, reglan, compazine, zofran) Appetite suppressants Beta blockers (atenolol, metoprolol, propranolol, Coreg, etc) Dizziness/motion sickness meds (meclizine/antivert, Dramamine) H2 Blockers (axid, pepcid, tagamet, zantac) Robitussin products (all) Sedating antidepressants (trazodone, imipramine, amitriptyline, nortriptyline) Sleep aides, OTC (most contain Benadryl) SSRIs (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil) rev. 4/15/09 khb rev. 8/12/14 khb</p>