Zyrtec and allergist

My son was on a cocktail of Singulair, Zyrtec, Astellin and Nasonex. Like a miracle, his severe allergies cleared up almost immediately. Months later, behavioral changes started to surface. Extreme irritability, major meltdowns over nothing, problems in school and pulling out his facial hair including eyelashes and eyebrows. We stopped the medication in April and he improved. By mid summer, the hair pulling stopped. When his allergies started up again about 10 days ago, I put him back on the Zyrtec, because I was certain the Singulair was causing most of the problems. Within 3-4 days, the emotional outbursts started, panic attacks that never happened before - he said he couldn't breathe. Now the hair pulling is back. Everyone thinks I want to blame medication for his problems, but I am certain that Zyrtec has something to do with these problems in addition to Singulair. We have taken him off Zyrtec 2 days ago. We have a dr. appointment in 2 days and we will discuss all of this with him. In the meantime, his allergies are back and he is miserable. I would rather him be physically sick than mentally at this point.

My husband suffered for a full year with constant burping--not reflux, not heartburn, just air, like colic. He was so bloated that it was painful for him to sit. He went from doctor to doctor, and even to a GI who suspected Celiac's. He also had a feeling that his throat was constricted, and once went to the emergency room, afraid that it might close up. The doctors found nothing.

He has a severe dust allergy (it causes hives, no respiratory symptoms) that was diagnosed last year, at which point he was prescribed Zyrtec and Singulair. He mentioned the prescriptions to every doctor he saw (this is in New York, not the boondocks, btw), and every one said it can't be the Zyrtec or the Singulair. It should be noted that we eat all natural foods, no white flour, no white sugar, so we knew there were no artificial additives that could be causing his reaction. My husband even tried cutting out dairy, then wheat, then all gluten, for over a month.

Finally, about five weeks ago, he told a cousin about his mysterious symptoms, and she asked if he was taking Zyrtec. He said yes, and she said he should try going off it because she'd had a similar problem with that drug. He did, and within four days, the burping and bloating stopped.

Because his itching was uncontrollable with Singulair alone, he decided to try taking one Zyrtec, thinking it might not hurt. Within 24 hours, the burping and throat swelling was back intensely.

The doctor switched him to Allegra. He took one and it helped him. He took a second pill two days later, and the burping reaction started. The allergist confirmed that people who have this "rare" reaction to Zyrtec may also have that reaction to Allegra.

If you are suffering from these symptoms, go off the Zyrtec as soon as you can. I wish someone had told us so that my husband would have saved himself a year of suffering.

I was prescribed Zyrtec a few years ago for allergies. I also have MPV and need to take Atenolol, I will need to take Atenolol for the rest of my life. My cardiologist recommended I stop taking Zyrtec because it can give you an irregular heart beat. When I tried to stop it I got very bad withdrawal symptoms, chills,heart racing, insomnia, itchy skin. I thought I was going crazy, so I took one Zyrtec as soon as I took it 15 min later the symptoms stopped. The next night I decided to try and cut the pill in half and only take 5 mg, that was ok for 3 day's then the symptoms returned. I had to take the other half of the Zyrtec and then the symptoms went away.
I can not believe that I have to find a way to wean off Zyrtec. I am very annoyed that they do not list on the label that their could be withdrawal symptoms after taking Zyrtec for a while. I am not giving up I am going to continue and try to wean myself off the Zyrtec, hopefully I won't have a heart attack in my attempt to get off this drug. If anyone has a successful way to wean off Zyrtec please post it. Thanks and I hope this helped someone who was thinking of taking this drug. STAY AWAY FROM IT..

I have a 10 year old son. When he was 2 the doctor put him on Zyrtec. I felt like it made him mean and very depressed. He had many outbursts and was not himself. I told the doctor and he looked at me like I was crazy. I took him off it and within about 3 days he was back to himself. When he was 6, the allergist wanted to put him on it again. I reminded him that I thought my son didn't tolerate it well and again he looked at me funny. We tried it for 4 weeks and my son was awful. He would sit in a ball on the couch and cry and cry for no reason. I got him off and again within 3-4 days he was back to himself. Since my experience I have had several CLOSE friends go through this similar experience. In fact my close friend just took her child off Zyrtec after me telling her our experience. Her son has been on it for 3 years. She has noticed a dramatic difference and after being off it for 5 days he said "Mommy for the first time I don't feel like bugs are crawling on my skin." If you have any intuition that your child is having any affect from Zyrtec you are right. Go with your gut and GET THEM OFF IT. There is other medicine out there!!!

I can't believe what I am reading. My son, who is 10 now has been on this med for 5 years now. The same amount of time that he has been dx with ad/hd. He started a new med for adhd this past summer and was doing wonderful, at the same time I had run out of Zyrtec for a couple of months and was giving him Claritin instead. Well we got a Zyrtec prescription on Oct. 1 and since then his behavior has went down hill. I thought that the adhd med had just stopped working, now I am wondering if it is the Zyrtec. The time the med seemed to stop being effective is the same time we had the Zyrtec filled. I am taking him off of it immediately. He has been angry, smart mouthed, disrespectful. Doesn't listen to anything I say. This summer and even until last month was wonderful. He did what I asked the first time, I didn't have to repeat myself, and he was calmer and nicer. I can't wait to see if this is the cause of a lot of his problems.

My 5 year old daughter has been taking Zyrtec now for about 2 months. During this whole time, she has been angry, aggressive, irritable and very anxious. She has been purposefuly doing things to provoke my anger/concern, including punching her sister, slamming the fridge door on me, and even hitting herself. She NEVER did this before taking the darn stuff. I am taking her off of it immediately. It makes you think why the god-darn good for nothing allergist didn't tell me about this possibility! My poor daughter. I can't wait to have her back!