ZYRTEC Reviews (CETIRIZINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 2.0 (1816 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare ZYRTEC with similar:
Type: Over-the-counter Drug
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Results are sorted by Age from youngest to oldest (reviews with no age reported listed first). Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 |
More on ZYRTEC: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR ZYRTEC | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 1 | to reduce fluid in ear | My once pleasant and polite 6 year old daughter turned into a she-devil. She began having attacks that were almost panic-like. She absolutely could not control herself. We did not immediately make the connection to the medication as she had been taking it for approximately 6 weeks prior to these symptoms. We started with behavior modifications and nothing worked then something clicked and I looked into drug side effects and was relieved to see that maybe it really wasn't something that she could control. She has extreme night terrors and completely freaks out. She cannot be controlled at these times. She also has been very mean to her younger sister and cousin. You cannot talk sense into her. She has been off the medication for 4 days now and last night was the first night in 2 weeks that she did not freak out when she woke up in her bed. She did wake up but only once with no behavior problems. I am hopeful that as the medication leaves her system our daughter will return! | F | 6 | 6 weeks | 4/20/2008 | 1 | allergies | Became anxious,bit withdrawn, had irrational thoughts and worries. Nothing we did could stop the worries or disprove his thoughts. He said his brain would not stop even thought he knew thoughts were silly.Would melt down crying about worries.Would obsess over worries (Symptons of OCD.) | Worked on nasal problem.Unfortunaly did not notice small changes when he was on 5mg1 week and was increased to 10 mg for 1 week.This sent him over the edged. When medicine stopped behavior improved.But now left with phsycological effect. Feeling frustrated and helpless as a parent to see your child go through this and think they are crazy. | M | 6 | 1 weeks | 5/23/2007 | 1 | Allergies | Inconsolability, mood swings, nightmares, sleeplessness, aggressive behavior, anxiety, resistance to following directions, dazed behavior, hyper sensitivity, fatigue. | My 6 year old son came off this medicine after 3.5 years after I read these reviews here. In less than 2 days, he became a changed child. He no longer has the negative behavior traits that has been plaguing him for YEARS. No med. professional could get a grip on why my child was behaving the way he was. I'm so glad to have my sweet little boy back. You can just tell he feels SO much better being off of Zyrtec and his behavior shows it. I can't believe how quickly he changed coming off of this. He will NEVER take this medicine again. | M | 6 | 3.5 years | 7/10/2007 | 1 | sinus infctns due 2 seasonal allerg | 6 year old daughter has been on Zyrtec off and on due to seasonal allergies since she was 2 1/2 or 3 years old. We recently started up again (been about 2-3 weeks now). She has been completely irrational and out of control emotionally. Extreme meltdowns at the least bit of disappointment. As many parents before me have mentioned, my child acted as if possessed. We too had started checking into psych coucil thinking that something had to be going on with her. She experienced extreme rage that was scary to us. If we would start to ask her to do something like put her bike away etc she would start screaming I know I know I am a bad girl and you hate me and on and on and on. There was no consoling her. She also developed what has appeared to be an involuntary tic with what started as rapid blinking of her eyes. Now she appears to be winking rotating from eye to eye. I just today found that numerous studies have shown that a rare side effect is orofacial dyskenesia which is invol | Has not adequately been proven safe for children. Parents do your research before adminstering to your kids!!!!!! Watch for involuntary facial movement. It is not fare that our children have had to endure disciplinary action due to side effects of a drug that I feel should not be prescribed to children. | F | 6 | 3 weeks | 4/10/2007 | 1 | Son was taking it for allergies | My son (now 6) had serious behavioral problems to the point of being suspended 15 times from kindergarten. He had always been on zyrtec since he was a baby and had behavioral problems since then also. Stopped the Zyrtec and have not had a problem since. | It had gotten to the point we had him seeing a therapist, did behavioral testing etc. Then I stopped the Zyrtec and he doesn't have the problems anymore. He had a VERY bad temper, would not listen to anyone, very defiant, very hyper. I stopped the Zyrtec and there was an almost immediate change in his behavior, back to a normal rational 6 year old. | M | 6 | 4 years | 7/22/2004 | 1 | seasonal allergies | My daughter started taking zyrtec when she was 4 1/2, she had trouble sleeping (always waking up in the middle of the night and coming into our beds), she would have extreme horrible tantrums, disagree and argue over the smallest details. | She started taking zyrtec under an allergists care when she was 4 1/2. The doctors never mentioned any possible side effects in children. So when she all of sudden started with the extreme horrible tantrums and the mood swings we thought it was just a phase. She is 6 now and has been off of zyrtec for 1 1/2 months, and we have noticed a change almost immediately. Her tantrums are very few now and can be controlled with a simple time-out. | F | 6 | 1.5 years | 10/24/2008 | 1 | allergies | 6 yr old son- became depressed wanted to hurt himself and others | M | 6 | 12 days | 3/7/2005 | 1 | hay fever | After the first dose our daughter was having violent outbursts and behavior and also had a depressed affect. We are taking her off a.s.a.p. Thankful to have found this site and put two and two together. | F | 6 | 2 days | 6/7/2006 | 1 | allergies | My son took this in past and then a few months ago restarted it for allergies-horrible side effects-headches, eye aches, belly pains, crying, rash nape of neck, sore throat, acting out, ect. I had him to the doctor 3 times, the ER 1 x and for a psych eval. I took him off it thanks to this site and there is a dramatic change-able to get him to school w/o crying, tantrums ect. Please how can we get a warning for this med- [email protected] | Please consider this med a source of any problems you or your child is having. I wouldn't have believed it if i did not see it first hand. | M | 6 | 3 months | 4/10/2006 | 1 | allergies | I am trying to take my 6 year old son off of zyrtec due to negative side effects, he has been on it for one year and every time we try to stop , he breaks out in terrrible abdominal hives and persisitent itching.It is as if his body is now dependent on it. He never experienced hives prior to the zyrtec use and I feel it is just another bad side effect we were not warned about. | M | 6 | 1 years | 6/30/2005 | 1 | Seasonal Allegries- children's dose | dramatic behavior changes, tantrums and rage, inability to focus | We started seeking drastic medical care, blood tests and therapists for the rapid change in our child. Unfortunately it took us almost a month to correlate the possibility. Within 4 days of stopping the medication, she was herself. I am not saying that this is a "bad" drug, but warnings should be given, especially with an OTC medication. And based on the numerous accounts, I am one of the many parents that have suffered through this. | F | 6 | 4 weeks 10 1X day | 7/19/2014 | 1 | Seasonal allergies | Frequent anger and murderous rage from a gentle, loving kid. | I attributed my son's marked personality change to problems at school. It took weeks for me to make the connection to Zyrtec. He was back to normal as soon he stopped taking it. | M | 6 | 1 years 5 mg 1X day | 10/20/2015 | 1 | Seasonal allergies | Frequent anger and murderous rage from a gentle, loving kid. | I attributed my son's marked personality change to problems at school. It took me a while to make the connection to Zyrtec. He was back to normal as soon he stopped taking it. | M | 6 | 2 months 5 mg 1X day | 10/21/2015 | 1 | allergic asthma/hives | My poor baby was on zyrtec AND pulmicort (inhaled steroid) for about 3 years (from 2 1/2 until age 6) and we had such worries about his behavior. He had been a happy, easy baby and, after starting preschool (and having his first allergic/asthmatic problem, resulting in us starting these meds), he CHANGED. We never associated the meds with the problem...went to child therapist even....and we noticed some improvement in behavior as he grew (and we understand now, as his body got bigger and the dosage stayed the same...making the side effects a bit less potent). Finally, the Dr. suggested taking a "summer off" the meds to see what would happen (medically not behaviorally) since he had not had any asthma issues in a while. So, the summer when he was six, we weaned him off. We didn't make the connection yet but, he gradually became such a delight....we attributed it to maturity..and he started first grade like a new boy! THEN, he got a cold and had some mild asthmatic compl | I cried when I put all the pieces together...and had a talk with the Dr. who denied that what I was describing was possible. We consulted with antoher DR. (our pediatrician) who supported our decision to keep him OFF the zyrtec completely (we use low dose of benadryl for the hives...hassle to dose every 4 to 6 hours but, he does not react to 1 t. and it does the job!) and the inhaled steroid only when he is sick (and we know to expect some behavior changes). | M | 6 | 3 years | 11/18/2009 | 1 | seasonal allergies | moodiness,aggressive behavior,sleeplessness,irratable, inability to concentrate,rash on the back of neck | My son has not been himself for three weeks, he has been so irritable, angry and aggressive. He has had difficulty sleeping and has had some very serious problems in school with friends and his schoolwork. I only wish I had thought about a possible connection with Zyrtec. Today is the first day I did not give him any and I am hopeful I will notice a difference soon, I will never give him Zyrtec again, I will look into alternatives. | M | 6 | 3 weeks | 6/5/2009 | 1 | Allergies | My 6 year old son changed into a completely different little boy. His allergies cleared up but he showed signs of aggression,anger,and sadness. | Once I found out his behavior at school had drastically changed I was determined to figure out the cause. Then I realized it all began when he started on Zyrtec. I am so thankful for this site because I realized my son wasn't the only one experiencing these side effects. Now he is back on Claritin which isn't as effective as Zyrtec in clearing up his allergies, but I don't have to worry about crazy side effects. If you plan on giving your child Zyrtec, please keep a close eye on them for any changes. | M | 6 | 20 days | 6/15/2009 | 1 | Chronic Allergy | irrational escalation over small issues turning into rage and tantrum, followed by anger at self about not being able to stop the conflict. Inability to stop chewing lip, Periodic (negative) obsession with looks, "heads too big, face too long", low self esteem, depression "I have no friends". Rage/tantrums stopped within 24 hours of stopping medication, depression/obsession within days, lip licking - may be unrelated - took about 30 days to cease. | The kids have been hapily OFF the prescription for about 90 days. Product does a good job of alleviating allergy, but in my opinion the manufacturer is criminally negligent in not disclosing the potential side-effects for smaller children. Does not seem to affect all kids the same, but when the side effects manifest themselves it's heart-breaking. Prescribed to both sons, 6 and 8. The 8 year old seemed to have no problem with the medication. The 6 year old went through a year of progressively more frequent and more irrational arguing and escalation. Then would feel angry at homself over not being able to control it. On an instinct we decided to stop medication to see if it helped. Impact was immediate. He is still a headstrong kid, but he is rational, feels good about himself, and feels in control of hios emotions. Kills me to think of how much confrontaion we could have avoided and the unneccessary emotional conflict it put on my 6 year old. I didn't find this site until after we had stopped the medication, was amazed at the fast impact, and was looking to see if this was a published side effect. Overnight, with cessation of the medication, the tantrum behavior that had built up to almost weekly clashes has been gone for the 90 days since we stopped the dosage. I can hardly find the words to describe my contempt for the manufacturer for not warning consumers to watch for this potential side effect. I hope someone sues them into bankruptcy. | M | 6 | 12 months | 5/6/2009 | 1 | allergic rhinitis | complete 180 in behavior in my normally sweet, good natured 6 year old son! Irritability, inability to concentrate, disobedience, inability to control emotions and what he says. ADHD like symptoms. | My husband and I noticed our son acting wild and a bit disobedient over the summer, but attributed it to running amok at day camp all summer. Our son started 1st grade last week and after being e-mailed by the teacher on a daily basis and getting called for a conference already due to his inability to concentrate, hitting other children and his general irritability and bad behavior, I started doing a little research. Thankfully, I found this site! At first, we thought he might have developed ADHD, but then I started thinking about when his behavior changes started. They coincided with when he started taking Zyrtec! I stopped it today, after confirming with our pediatrician that Zyrtec is the likely culprit. Beware! | M | 6 | 60 days | 9/4/2008 | 1 | child with allergies | My 6 year old daughter started crying a lot and being very clingy, she didn't want to eat, her stomach hurt, and she was very tired. she was acting very rude. took it about 1 month. | F | 6 | 1 days | 1/15/2009 | 1 | Allergies | I posted here almost a year ago that my son was experiencing horrible bi-polar type violent episodes since taking Zyrtec. We took him off Zyrtec the day I found this site. At first the behaviors subsided within 24 hours of stopping the medication. Slowly, over time and now a year later, the same behaviors are back in full force again and he is on NO allergy meds, except for occasional Benedryl. He's has been recently diagnosed with ADHD and is on Ritalin, that's not helping much. He is soon to be tested for bipolar disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. He's not had any Zyrtec in almost a year. My 6 year old, first grade son has said he wanted to kill himself. He's been in therapy over a year. | I firmly believe that the Zyrtec did permanent damage to my sweet bright, little boy's brain. He is now classified as "special needs". DON'T GIVE THIS DRUG TO YOUR CHILD, AND TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW DO NOT GIVE THIS TO THEIR CHILD! I fear my son will never be the same. I believe Zyrtec poisoned him. | M | 6 | 7 months | 8/10/2008 |