Herself has started sneezing and I’m having the odd sniffle, so I’m guessing that this year’s Six Months Of Cetirizine has started down here in 47.
In other news, the above medication is available in generic bulk packaging at very attractive prices from Amazon.de
I once forgot my prescription antihistamines,so bought a pack (not quite the same) from a pharmacy in France. They were about 10 times the price as the same thing available in supermarkets in the UK
It starts as early as January depending where you are, here is the Tarn in February with the cyprès and now right across the south we’re red more info here 
funny how things work out… my brother found something for his cat… here in our local pharmacy… at a small price compared with UK… and they had something for his foxes too, I think… whatever… being a cheapskate, he was thrilled to bits and almost bought their whole stock.
It’s like so many things… swings and roundabouts…
Yes my family used to find stuff for the dog cheaper in France
Thanks very much for the reminder about this folks!
I don’t suffer too badly from hay fever but up until recently (of course!) I’ve been bringing back from the UK the kind of Piriton that makes you sleepy as none of the others work (and I have quite a problem with insect bites). Can’t remember the active ingredient but I’d better find a local supplier 
Chlorphenamine it is always worth chatting to a doctor or pharmacist though and I find a local cream or lotion as well as something oral helps
In the past, I would take the packet/box/paperwork… whatever… and my pharmacist would look carefully… check his records and supplies…
sometimes he would shake his head vigorously and offer me the French stuff, explaining why it didn’t have a certain ingredient…
sometimes he would smile broadly and carefully go through the list of ingredients on the French stuff to show that it was just the same… with a different accent… 
Good idea Stella - now why didn’t I think of that? 
He might well shake his head… if an ingredient is not “good” in France… but there’s generally a good alternative and, if not, your Doctor will prescribe something which works for you, but perhaps is not sold over the counter …
I use Dymista, my doctor gives me a yearly ordonnance and I just go along and get some when I need it. Lots of salt water nose/sinus washing too which works as well as most of the chemical products on the market
I am always the one that gets bitten.
I find that Cinq sur Cinq Tropic works very well. Not cheap of course, but anything that works is good news.
I used to use Apaisyl Gel, but have now found Sedermyl, piqures d’insectes is better for me.
When I was in hospital with my asthma crisis, the kine told me about Respimer, which is a squeezy bottle you fill with their saline solution to wash out your nasal passages.
It works very well and is also good for thick throats in the morning and postnasal drip.
Of course, it is not available on prescription.
I use a big syringe (perscribed by an ENT doctor) same principle and available from pharmacies for a couple of €, lots of pressure and flow for a good clean!
You can’t actually describe it as pleasant, but the effect is wonderful.
Pharmacies are heavily protected, and supermarkets can’t sell the range of drugs that a UK person would consider normal.
It annoys me when I have to spend €2 on a pack of paracetamol that would cost 32p in Morrisons. But I have learnt to appreciate the central position pharmacies have in keeping small villages alive. And running a small business with qualified staff in France is not easy, or cheap. So I have stopped complaining,
I fully support local pharmacies and am a big fan of the 400mg ibuprofen tablets that can be had for €3 for a dozen.
However, I am yet to find a pharmacy around here that does generic cetirizine as they all seem to stock the branded stuff for €€€ a packet of 7 tablets.
This shows a generique… perhaps you could ask the pharmacy if it stocks this… or else buy online…
French chemists let you buy 2 packs of 7 tablets of cetirizine at a time at 4 euros something a packet, super weird.
In Spain it comes in packs of 10 apple flavoured tablets you suck.
I buy mine in packs of 200 in Germany, for peanuts.
Ahhhh see I am in absolute horror at the 400mg Ibuprofen tablets. It is such nasty stuff, particularly if OD’ed on, and people have been using 200mg tablets for years and years I just see it as a disaster waiting to happen as majority of people used to popping 2 tablets as usual and as paracetamol. We ended up wiht a packet and I’ve written all over the box 1 TABLET ONLY.
I used to have have TERRIBLE hayfever (lie in bed in the dark with a cold cloth over my face every afternoon for weeks). My sister sent me the really strong ones from the UK when I first got here and then I went to the pharmacy and got given some homeopathic stuff called Rhinallergy. The first year I was popping them all day long for months and it didn’t provide a cure but it became bearable. Second year a greatly reduced amount of tablets, for a shorter period, ditto third year after that it was only the odd one on bad days. These days I honestly barely need to have one - maybe a couple of days at most. I’m sure it helps that I live here now rather than in the Aude with all that wind blowing the pollen around but still!