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 |
| 2 | Allergies | My son had been taking the Zyrtec 10 mg chewable for about 2 years. We recently switched to the liquid about three months ago. We have noticed some severe behavioral problems. He is extremely disagreeable, very moody, has outbursts daily and often seems very angry. He almost seems depressed. Often just minutes after an episode he will have a very calm and apologetic attitude. He has always been recognized by his teachers and other adults for his good behavior in the past. He has not been sleeping through the night. He's extremely tired in the morning and talks of very vivid dreams or even nightmares. He's also having great difficulty focusing both at home and at school. I was in the process of having him tested for ADD before learning that many children on Zyrtec are experiencing the same symptoms. It seemed to worsen these past few months when we switched to the liquid formula. Not sure if there is a connection. We have immediately removed him from the drug. | M | 8 | 2 days | 1/21/2008 | 2 | hives | weight gain, mood swings, difficult to concentrate | my 8 y/o son was given zyrtec by the allergist for hives in july . it is december and my son has gained 7 pounds in 5 months. he has lower grade average, difficult concentrating, tearful etc. i will take him off this med today and will use benadryl if needed , not on a daily basis as with zyrtec. i should have checked this before. | M | 8 | 5 months | 12/23/2008 | 2 | Dust mites, animal dander | Serious behavior issues. 8 year old daughter was prescribed singulair first and we went off that because of extreme mood swings. Tried zyrtec next, it wasn't as bad as the singulair so we continued it. Issues at home started increasing, lots of crying, anxiety, and physical anger issues. Her reaction to everything was so extreme. 3 months after starting zyrtec, her report card came home. Where she normally had +'s in behavior, she had -'s now! Teacher commented about her being distracted and not getting work done. Extremely unusual for her. | I believe it worked well for allergies, not sure as it may have been the work we did in the house to try to minimize dust and dander. Am planning to cut her dosage in half and see if it helps. | F | 8 | 3 months 10 MG 1X day | 6/13/2014 | 1 | Allergies | night mares, stomach cramps, nose bleeds | We will find out in the next couple of days, but I think the Zyrtec has caused ulcers in my son...I won't recommend this. | M | 8 | 1 days 5 mg | 8/21/2017 | 1 | Seasonal Allergies | My 8-year old daughter took it for terrible allergy symptoms during July '09. She bacame anxious and said "I don't feel right in my body". She wouldn't sleep alone -- she made a "nest" on the floor in my room and wanted a big light on, not just a nightlight. | A friend at work told me about the side effects recently and that was when I realized my daughter had the personality problems during that period. Her behavior is back to what it was. | F | 8 | 15 days | 10/11/2009 | 1 | environmental allergies, ASTHMA | My son's behavior over the last 2 years have been worrisome to say the least...to the point that we have scheduled appts with child therapist. It is like he is constantly surrounded by a bubble of negative energy..moody, slight OCD, anxiety, facial ticks, etc. We constantly try to keep positive energy around him..He has had thoughts to hurt him self. A friend of mine who I totally respect and is very "science oriented" she would never rely on blogs..told me about her son who was on zyrtec and she took him off of it because of the behavioral changes he has experienced. it got me thinking. I was reading all of these blogs and felt like I could have written any of them. I plan to start to wean my son of Zyrtec immediately!!!! | M | 8 | 2 years | 9/7/2009 | 1 | Allergies | My 8 yo daughter took Zyrtec once, ONCE and FAINTED at school the next day. A whole 5 mg of the stuff did it!! It was very unsettling to receive a call at work from the school nurse saying your daughter has fainted. She was eating cheese sticks for lunch and fell back as she lost consciousness. School staff were concerned she could have choked on food parts in her mouth or throat. The sad part of it all (as if the fainting was not enough) is the only reason we gave her Zyrtec was because the local pharmacy didn't have Benadryl strips when I went out on Sunday night to buy some. I'm back w/Benadryl. And will look into natural remedies as well. | Am now further convinced the FDA is really not on the ball, big pharma is out for profits ONLY. | F | 8 | 1 days | 9/16/2009 | 1 | runny nose, allergic cough | Facial tics (squinting), aggression, night terrors, depression, overly emotional behavior, halucinations, totally zoned out at school | This medication almost ruined my daughter's life. I had no idea this drug was the cause of so much of our misery until I found this site and took her off of it (very slowly to avoid the horrible itching that always happened when we skipped a dose). Try to find an alternative to this drug. We use Nasalcrom with no problems so far. | F | 8 | 5 years | 2/12/2008 | 1 | Seasonal Allergies | Nightmares, daytime hallucinations, hyper activity at times, lethargic at other, anti social behavior, depression, voices. | My son took this drug for 6 months when he was 8 years old. It did help his sneezing, coughing. But the side effects were bizarre. He talked about seeing a 'devil boy' inside a 'ghost boy' who sat in his class in his place while he watched. He talked about hearing voices in his head telling him to do bad things. He talked about having dreams during class. And the nightmares were very vivid. My son always has been such a happy go lucky kid, his sudden dark mood swings and aggressive behavior were really out of character. If he were older I would have been looking for some sort of substance abuse issue. As it is, the 'substance' might have been actually provided for him by us unwittingly. Once we took him off the med he is doing much better at home. His nightmares are gone and he is 'singing' around the house again. Unfortunately his cough and sneezing are back, BUT we'll take that over the nightmare the family went through | M | 8 | 6 months | 7/25/2007 | 1 | allergies | HELP!!! My 8-year old son completely changed during the 9 months he took this drug. First his handwriting completely disintegrated until it was completely illegible, then he gradually became more and more hyper, reclusive, stopped playing with friends, couldn't pay attention in school. During the last few months he took it, he became increasingly irritable, until by the end he would frequently erupt into violent rages, during which he would say crazy things about dying, say he hated everyone, etc. He couldn't handle the smallest disappointment. Also, his hyperactivity escalated until it was off the charts. We had to pull him out of the gifted program at school. He really has become a totally different child; he used to be happy, sweet, sunny, with tons of friends, calm and gentle-natured. We've stopped the drug as of two weeks, ago, but he's still not recovered. Can someone tell me PLEASE HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE HIM TO RETURN TO NORMAL. | Please e-mail me if your child has experienced anything similar. He's acting like a crazy person, but I can't believe any type of mental illness would just suddenly appear like this. His irritability and temper when he doesn't get his way are making our lives very difficult. Any information would be appreciated. | M | 8 | 9 months | 6/24/2007 | 1 | seasonal/pet allergies | Rage, hyperactivity, night terrors, loss of handwriting ability, complete personality change. | My 8-year old son discontinued the medication 12 weeks ago and he is still having outbursts of rage. Has anyone else had side effects continue for weeks or months after stopping the Zyrtec? Please e-mail me; I am frantic with worry. | M | 8 | 10 months | 9/3/2007 | 1 | allergies, congestion | depression and extreme emotional sensitivity in my 8yr old son | he was back to normal when he stopped taking zyrtec | M | 8 | 3 weeks | 5/21/2003 | 1 | allergies | weight gain | my son started taking it 6 months ago and gained a lot of weight. Initially I thought I would just give it to him for a month in spring to help him with his allergies. Then when he stopped taking zyrtec, he suffered and was very irritable. But now I am going to take him off of it any way. I wish he never took it. | M | 8 | 6 months | 8/18/2005 | 1 | allergies | My 8 year old daughter is, by nature, a little scattered and high mental energy. She was put on zyrtec by her allergist, in combination with allergy shots. We stopped the zyrtec last week when the discount mega-bottle we'd bought a few months ago ran out. Well, suddenly, we had our daughter back. She had become obnoxiously rude, unable to focus or sit still for any real amount of time, had difficulties getting to sleep, had frequent temper tantrums, argued incessantly, and generally became nearly intolerable to be around--honestly, I had thought about getting her a psych evaluation and entering into family therapy. Last night, 4 days without zyrtec, I found her quietly engaged in an art project, listening to music. We had spent the first non-aggressive, non-shouting, non-totally hyper weekend we've had in months. I am SO GLAD we stopped this horrible drug. Please, if you suspect your child's behavior has changed, take them off the zyrtec. It isn't worth it. Severe allergies are truly m | F | 8 | 160 days 1 tab 1X day | 8/9/2010 | 1 | Allergies/sinus infections | My daughter took this medication for allergies - at the advice of our pediatrician. She is an easy, mellow kid. Her behavior changed dramatically - like PMS - moody, prone to quick and sudden anger, anxious. It was extremely worrying. My husband suggested it might be the zyrtec. I thought that was unlikely, because it is so commonly prescribed for children far younger than mine. I finally stopped giving it to her - totally out of desperation. Within 48 hours, she was back to her old self! | F | 8 | 10 days 10 mg/day | 2/19/2012 | 1 | My 8 year old daughter became severely depressed on this medication. She could not stop crying, could not think of anything happy, and wanted to quit school because she was too afraid to walk out our front door. She is normally full of life and love, but described her heart on this med: "when I normally look through my heart everything is happy, but lately when I looked through my heart, everything was black". We thought she was going crazy and I cried at the loss of my sweet child, but then sat up in bed in the midst of this and realized the only thing different in our lives was the fact that she had started taking this med. When I did an internet search and discovered similiar anecdoes here, I was saddened for this drug's affect on many other children, but at peace because we found out what was wrong with my child. | F | 8 | 7 days 10 mg 1X day | 1/12/2012 | 1 | Runny nose and itching eyes | My normally challenging child -- high energy, silly, rambunctious, etc., began to react with screaming at everything that he didn't like as soon as we started him on it. Yesterday, he absolutely melted down in a grocery store - screaming, growling, kicking, etc. He's never been a model for correct behavior, but he's never been an ANGRY child like this before. He will not be getting another dose. | Zyrtec has provided me with one of the most horrifying, humiliating experiences of my life. I feel horrible that my son had to experience this. I note that there are many people who did not connect their negative behavior with the drug and have suffered years because of it. What a shame. | M | 8 | 14 days 10 mg 1X day | 4/19/2012 | 1 | seasonal allergies | shakiness, anxiety, uneasy feeling | my son has been taking the chewable form of this medicine on and off for about a year under his pediatrician's advise. I used to combine a pseudoephedrine syrup for him before sleeping because his problems with the stuffy nose would not go away with the zyrtec. zyrtec only seemed to help relieve the itchy nose, coughing and sneezing but not the sinus problems due to the allergies. As I started him on zyrtec for this spring season I suspended the use of pseudoephedrine because the pharmacist told me not no combine anything else with it, eventhough I never seemed to have problems of interactions between the two drugs. I continued giving my son the zyrtec pills at night before bedtime. however two days ago, he started feeling anxious and shaky in school with an overall feeling of being uneasy. the school nurse checked the side effects of the drug and told us this might be one of them. after checking this website I found important information on side effects for children and I am definitel | M | 8 | 1 years | 3/28/2006 | 1 | asthma triggered by allergies | My 8 year old son has been taking Zyrtec for nearly 4 years. During that time, we have struggled with him concentrating in school and learning to read. We even had him repeat kindergarten and attend private reading tutoring for 1.5 years ($4760!!). We were about to invest $2500 in a private neuropsychological evaluation to see if he had a learning disability or ADD. Almost two weeks ago, I discontinued the Zyrtec in preparation for allergy testing. In that time, his teacher and reading tutor reported a measurable leap in his attention span and reading performance. We saw it at home too. Similar experiences posted to this site has confirmed my suspicion about the connection to this amazing turn-around and the cessation of his Zyrtec. It's the root of all evil. | Question any medical professional or change in your child's behavior if Zyrtec is involved. | M | 8.5 | 4 years | 11/7/2008 | 2 | allergies and asthma | irritability, lack on focus, sensitivity, runny nose, headaches | My daughter was on singulair and zyrtec for about a year and a half before I started to realize that it was negatively affecting her grades at school. She was unable to remember things from day to day, concentration seemed to be an issue, and at home I noticed her becoming more irratable and sensitive. Once I realized that the medicine could be the cause of the symptoms, I discountied both. Things have improved in all areas. Before taking these medications, my daughter did not exhibit trouble in school. | F | 9 | 1.5 days | 12/9/2007 |