Small break from meds questions

yes, its normal to feel better if one takes a break from treatment for a while

the reason is treatment usually makes one have herx reactions or activates the immune response in some way, so when you take a break from treatment it allows these type of reactions to diminish - and then you can feel better for a while

there was a study done in-vitro ( in the lab in a test tube ) that found Claritin had some mild activity against borrelia - but this was much less than its derivative desloratadine - and the concentrations used in that trial were around 50x higher than the normal dose for humans - so its unlikely that Claritin alone will do very much to fight the actual infection

its quite possible that the antihistamine effect is providing some relief either from general mast cell activation ( something that some lyme suffers have a lot of issue with - but not all of them) - or the allergy induced symptoms from the cat - and therefore making you feel slightly better.

more generally - its not usually an issue to take a break from treatment for a few days if you need to get something done - or just need a break from the treatment reactions.

all the best

ref mast cell activation syndrome

i am not very familiar with is but the basics are~:

mast cell activation is quite difficult to get a definitive diagnosis

for some people its very obvious - specific triggers cause flares in symptoms - these can be anything from fatigue, pain, brain fog, POTS type reactions, or basically anything an overstimulated immune system can generate

triggers include
-chemicals
-fragrances
-stress
-mold / spores
-foods
the list goes on

for others its more subtle

most people are either diagnosed by a functional medicine doctor or have figures it out for themselves
mainstream doctors are generally not well versed

others here will have much more detailed information as they have lived experience of dealing with it - whereas as far as i know i do not have the issue