The MoneySavingExpert (MSE) team has shared advice revealing that hay fever sufferers could save up to £10 a month on medication by switching to own-brand alternatives. Hay fever is extremely common, with cases having tripled over the past 20 years. In the UK, up to 15% of children and 26% of adults suffer from symptoms, according to Allergy UK.
Those who struggle during the summer months frequently take preventative medication, but some could be spending far too much on this. The team behind Martin Lewis' MoneySavingExpert website suggests people could save up to £10 a month by switching from branded hay fever medication to own-brand alternatives that perform identically.
Expert Advice on Active Ingredients
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society told MSE: "If an over-the-counter medicine contains the same active ingredient, strength and formulation, it should work just as effectively whether it is a well-known brand or an unbranded generic alternative. Just remember to double-check any ingredients before you buy, especially if you have other allergies. If you're unsure which product is most suitable for you or if you have any questions about ingredients or interactions, speak to a pharmacist who can provide safe, expert advice."
How to Save Money This Summer
The MSE team suggests that sticking to a particular brand like Piriteze, Clarityn or Piriton might suit you. However, people could cut costs by checking whether they could get equally effective relief for less by buying an equivalent non-branded antihistamine medication.
For example, MSE claims that Piriteze costs £11.55 at Boots for a pack of 30 tablets. Each of these pills contains 10mg of the active ingredient cetirizine hydrochloride, which is the same dose found in Saver's 89p Galpharm Cetirizine Hayfever and Allergy Relief tablets (also a 30-pack). Martin Lewis' team showed that this process of finding the active ingredient is possible with lots of leading brands.
The team compared Clarityn (£11.50 for a 30-pack at Boots) to Galpharm Loratadine Hayfever and Allergy (89p for a 30-pack at Savers) and Piriton (£7.15 for a 30-pack at Boots) to Crescent Chlorphenamine Maleate Tablets (£2.99 for a 28-pack and also sold at Boots). For certain leading brands highlighted by MSE's team, sufferers could save up to £10 a month on tablets. Given that some pollen seasons last roughly three months of the year, they could pocket £30 without sacrificing the medication that helps them feel better throughout summer.
It could be worth swapping your usual brand as hay fever medicine can stop working. This usually happens because your body develops a tolerance, your allergies worsen, or pollen counts simply spike too high for the current medication to manage.
How Long Does Hay Fever Season Last in the UK?
According to the Met Office, most people are allergic to grass pollen, which has two peaks each year. The season typically runs from mid-May through to July. It said: "[For grass pollen], the peak across England and Wales usually starts in the first two weeks of June. There are two peaks, though, with the second, lower peak occurring in the first two weeks of July, after which things tail off slowly. These peaks may be masked by how wet, dry, warm or cold it is, and the timing of the peaks very much depends on the weather during spring and early summer. Dependent upon where you live in the UK, the hay fever season will start at different times. For example, there's a later start and shorter season in the north of the UK, where generally there is less pollen. Urban areas have lower counts than the countryside, and places inland have higher counts than around the coast."
