Zyrtec and medicine

I have been taking Zyrtec for about a month to treat my seasonal allergies. I have noticed about once a day a shortness of breathe and my heart is beating very weird. I thought this was all in my head but now I am not so sure. Has anyone else experienced this? If so did it stop after stopping the medicine?

I began taking Zyrtec 2 months ago. It controlled my allergy symptoms very well, but I noticed increasing fatigue and depression. I became a "couch potato" barely able to get through my day. I began having suicidal thoughts and gained weight...probably due to the lack of activity. In the last 2 days, I have gone back to my old allergy medicine (Allegra) and am feeling like myself again.

I really did not notice any side effects with the Zyrtec alone. I have allergies to mice (which I work with in my job). The zyrtec really helped when I took it once a day at first. It stopped the sneezing and I did not feel funny (nothing I can think of). Then the zyrtec seemed to stop working after 12 hours, so I felt like I needed to start taking more of them. At one point I was trying to take 3 a day, almost like I was weirdly addicted to them? I went to the doctors b/c I knew something was wrong, and they put me on Zyrtec and Singulair cocktail. The Singulair has made me feel nausea, I have had extreme diarrhea, lower back pain and headaches. I think I want to try to stop taking all of the medicine and see how I feel! I don't know how bad the zyrtec is, but I know the Singulair made me sick!

My 2.5 year old son was on this for a little over a week. We noticed him start to have rapid eye blinking and head twitching every other minute or so. Took him to ER, doctors said possible pink eye even though there was no redness or discharge in his eyes. Followed up with his pediatrician and was told no pink eye but possible reaction to Zyrtec and to discontinue the med. Also advised that it takes up to 6 weeks for medicines to be completely out of the system. Pediatrician is also scheduling appointment with neurologist in case this "tic" doesn't go away in a reasonable amount of time. I wish I'd known about this site and others prior to giving my son this medicine recommended by a doctor. There should be a warning label on every bottle of medicine both prescribed and otc to direct people to websites such as these or a 1-800 number to advise about any and all potential side effects.

my 8 year old son was taking singulair and zyrtec for 6 years. I forgot to give him his medicine for a couple of days and noticed how mellow he was. I started thinking about it and realized that it might be the medicine. He was 2 when he started taking singulair and zyrtec so i thought this was just how a boy was supposed to act like, i have four daughters too. He has always had trouble in school just barely passing each grade, his teachers all told me to have him tested for adhd and i knew in my heart he did not have that. the last few months have been really bad with his attitude, yelling, wining, hitting his sisters, and talking back to me like i am a piece of crap. I am so glad i forgot to give him his medicine, he does not take anything anymore. I hope that when all the medicine is out of his system he will be even better.

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!!!!!

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!

Started taking Zyrtec after following the advise of my pharmacist. BIG MISTAKE!! I have never had symptoms of depression before. After one week on the medicine it took everything in me just to make myself get out of bed. The last day I took the medicine I felt that there was nothing to live for and everyone would be better off if I was gone. Never before had I ever thought about suicide. Until then. It took about three days with no Zyrtec before I started feeling this "blackness" lift off of me.

I'm glad my friend sent this link to me. My son was diagnosed with asthma almost two years ago. He was put on Singular and albuterol inhalers. He stayed with that for about a year. We didn't at the time have any health coverage and could no longer afford the Singular. We started giving him Zyrtec about three months ago. My son, he's 7, started going into these rages about this time last year and we had no clue as to why. We chalked it up to his age and being a boy. The raging has now stopped but he's still combative and lashes out easily physically. He's never been one to act violently before he was diagnosed with asthma. I'm now wondering if this is due to the medicine. After reading these posts we'll be taking him off the Zyrtec and trying something new.

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.