Zyrtec and medication

Just started my six year old son on Zyrtec again. The dr. said he could take the adult pill now 10mg. The last few nights he has wakened with terrible nightmares/night terrors. And after reading these posts i remember taking him off for the winter (he was on the liquid 5mg) and i remember him always itching his arms and legs. i remember giving him oatmeal baths. Now i know it is from stopping the Zyrtec. I am calling the doc tomorrow about these nightmares. He was also on Singulair 4mg for 1 1/2 years then one year ago was upped to 5mg. Within one dose we noticed he was very depressed and cried easily. After a week called the doc about it, stopped it then had our son back in a few days. Will Never give Singulair again and now stopping Zyrtec. All these meds are so scary. A part of me feels these meds are created because it is a HUGE business. They have side effects then you have to take other meds for those side effects and it is a never ending circle i feel purposely created by pharmaceutical companys to make money. And we are all suffering because of their greed. Shame on them

My 2 year old daughter was prescribed zyrtec 24 hour infants formula and after giving it to her once it caused her to pass out and be unconscious for 30 minutes and was non-responsive. She was rushed to the hospital and is ok. She was only given the .5ml as prescribed and this was given the night before this occurred. It was an adverse after effect from the medication.

I will NEVER give my child Zyrtec again. This medication is not safe in my mind.

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.

I have been on Zyrtec for three years (Every day) haven't noticed mood swings in myself? My mother also takes them every other day and is not particularly moody. Although she has trouble sleeping which she attributes to the menopause But if i don't take one within 24hrs I get very itchy and hive up..now that I'm breastfeeding I've just noticed my daughter is very irritable..and am beginning to think it's related to the zyrtec. I'm changing to claratyne in the morning to see if there's a change..very,very interesting and scary reading all the side-effects!!

My son was getting in trouble with his new Kindergarten teacher almost every day. He went from being a bright, well behaved little boy to being labeled a troublemaker with learning issues almost overnight. At school he was crying all the time, poked another kid with a pencil, threw something at another child and wouldn't listen to his teacher. He had been in a very structured Pre-K program and we had never had any issues like this with his behavior. During a lengthy conversation with his teacher, she mentioned that he didn't behave this way every day. He actually had some days when he was "very good". I was at the end of my rope. When we asked him why he was doing these things he told us, "My brain told me to and I couldn't stop." Scary thing to hear from your 5 year old. After talking to my mom about the problems, she suggested that I look up the side effects of Zyrtec and I found this site. Many things matched up with what the teacher was telling us. The fact that he had some good days at school makes sense because he was only taking it on the days he needed it for seasonal allergies. Because he took it right before bed and the side effects would wear off by the time we picked him up from school we weren't seeing the full effect of what this medication was doing to him. We haven't given him Zyrtec for over a week and he hasn't gotten in trouble a single time at school! He's been much easier to put to bed at night and much more pleasant to be around in the evenings. We will never give him Zyrtec again and will be MUCH more aware of possible side effects from medicine.

My 5 year old daughter was started on Zyrtec about 10 days ago (Dr.s orders) and WOW... not good. We can not see any changes in her allergies but her moodswings are way off. Last nite she told me "daddy that clear medicine I take now, makes me feel busy and funny". When we ask her why she is acting rude and being ugly, she says she doesn't know. She has been taking Singlar for about 2 months and Nasonex for about 1-2 years. HELP!!!!!

My daughter was taking a deadly cocktail of Zyrtec, Advair, and Singulair. She was on these medications for three years. At the time we thought that it was fantastic that her severe asthma and allergies were finally under control. After about six months of being on the medications we saw her slowly decline into a state of depression and withdrawal, she had constant headaches, she couldn't sleep, she was no longer interested in any of her friends or activities. She went from a loving and sweet girl to an angry and bitter person. In 2003 she committed suicide. Six months after her death reports started to come out about the links to Singulair and depression and suicide. Perhaps it was the combination of the three drugs in her case. If we would have had any idea what the effects of these drugs were we would have taken her off of them immediately! Please spread the word about the dangers of Singulair, Zyrtec, and Advair. Go on to the other sites and read what people have been posting and you will be shocked. The Singulair survivors are banning together to try and get this medication pulled. Do what you can to spread the word!

I was taking Zyrtec every day for the last 3-4 weeks. It is the best OTC medication for my mild, but annoying allergies. I stopped taking it yesterday for the first time and had the worst migraine with nausea and vomiting that I've ever experienced in my life. I didn't take it again today. I'm feeling a migraine coming on, and would rather take the Zytec than go through that experience again.

My daughter who just turn 7 has been on and off Zyrtec for the past 6 months. This last time it finally clicked... She was on it for about 3-4 weeks and I notice her mood changed and she was now very angry at anything and started hitting her sibblings and throwing things at me out of anger. She also was waking up at night either with bad dreams, or couldn't sleep. My husband and I realized that this all started about the time we put her back on Zyrtec. Two days ago, I took her off it and the next day she was an "Angel" compared to before. WOW what a difference. I did notice today (day two) she was sneezing more and didn't feel as well physically. So we are not out woods yet.

She also has been taking Singular for several years and I have been reading more about that medicine as well. I am not sure if needs to be taken off that yet, and will do an experiment. The timing isn't the best since school starts in just two weeks, but it might be worth it to have a happy child again.

On a side note, last year in school, they diagnosed her as having social anxiety. She is "extremely" shy and closed off in school. It would take her hours to do her homework which should have taken about 30 min. I am curious if stopping singular would help clear her head and make her less anxious. (She was on Zyrtec as well during that time).

This would be such an answer to prayer if it works. My two sons are so much happier than my daughter and I always wondered why. This may be the answer!

I have been taking zyrtec for 5 days. I bought a kitten and have mild allergies to cats. I thought this medication would keep the allergies at bay, however the side effects are not worth it. I would rather the runny nose i think. The headaches and fatigue are awful. I feel very unwell. I wont be taking it tomorrow or ever again

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 started using Zyrtec recently after my niece received it from her doctor as the solution to her allergies. (We bought it at the drug store). My allergies are skin related where i walk and feel a deep itch in my thighs and anywhere else i have tight clothing. Also when i work out - i have itch deep skin. This is under the surface and very uncomfortable especially when you are walking/working out. Leads to confusion etc. I had never used any allergy medicine before but decided just to see if i would feel any different.

Anyhow, I started using Zyrtec the other day and almost immediately, I started fighting with my boyfriend - everything i was angry with him about came out. It was helpful but also i was very mean in my approach. I also started getting back pains around the spine area - not in the spine but around it and could not sleep until i took an ibuprofen. Today i experienced left shoulder and back pain. That was it for me and whats funny is that i took the lowest possible doze. So i am not touching that medicine again. I am a 36 year old woman. Its a strong medicine and something is strange with it (changes moods etc). I will have to change the medication for my niece before she goes through the side effects.

I was really relieved to have found this information. I thought I was loosing it! I am 38 and was having bursts of rage, crying for nothing... could it be menopause? NO! Unfortunately these are not listed for physicians as side effects so my doctor friend then just thought I was nuts.
The vivid dreams were a more positive side effect for me, but seeing things while awake wasn't quiet as fun. So, I'm off the Zyrtec.
I know people are saying we sound crazy, but bottom line is not all medications are for everyone. And we should know about these potential issues so if they do arise we know its the medication and not something else.

VERTIGO!
I've had bouts of it in the past but nothing like this! Falling down, unable to drive, to the point of vomiting. I thought it was from allergies (which are bad but if I'm taking the Zyrtec... as well as Nasonex and psuedofedrine... and I am not getting better... what was I thinking?). Went to the doctor who gave me a 3 more medications and exercises and told me to continue the Zyrtec. Then, after starting the other medication and feeling better, I took Zyrtec before bed and my symptoms got worse again! Thankfully I realized what was provoking it.
I contacted Pfizer to see if they were collecting additional information to fine tune the side effects info they have now.

Hi everyone! I came to this part of the website because my son has been having the same issues with Singulair. In some of the other posts, I noted that some people on the Singulair post said Zyrtec did the same thing to their kid.

I found out today that Singulair contains aspartame and I am wondering if Zyrtec does too. Aspartame could be the link in the behavioral issues. I did a google search and here is what I found: http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-side-effects.html

Also, I called Merck, the maker of Singulair today, and they are sending me for free a 17 page FDA report on the drug. The representative told me that it was reported in the study that there was behavioral side effects and named just about everything my son has been displaying. I reported my child's effects to them and I also went online to FDA.gov and reported the side effects to the FDA. The more people that report the problems, the higher likely hood the FDA will review the drug and possibly pull it. I believe there was a medication from Merck that was pulled last year that was causing some type of heart problems. Again, unless we report the effects, no one will do anything.

I suggest you call the manufacturer of Zyrtec and find out what the study showed.

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.

I THINK YOU ALL SOUND SCREWED UP

My 8 year old son has been on Zyrtec for 4 days. For the last 2 days I have found him crying in his bedroom, he can not explain to me what is wrong other then he does not feel right. He says when he looks in the mirror he does not see himself, his vioce sounds funny to him.
I am taking him off Zyrtec. It is the only medication he has been taking.

My 10 year old daughter was prescribed Zyrtec for cat/dog/other allergies in the spring of 2004. She had severe emotional outbursts, to the point we were considering doing counseling. She was angry, arguementative, extremely tired and suffered from insomnia. We took her off when her allergies subsided. ALL of her behavior issues have been non existent. We didn't realize until this month when she started it again that her behavior changes coincided directly with taking the medication. We have our daughter back!