ZYRTEC Reviews (CETIRIZINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 2.0 (1816 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare ZYRTEC with similar:
Type: Over-the-counter Drug
|
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 | allergies | blurred vision, severe anxiety, sleep paralysis, headaches, nausea, itchiness | don't take it | F | 15 | 2 months 10mg | 7/3/2016 | 1 | Allergy | I suspect thus med has caused anger in my 15 yr old autistic grandson. I took him off of it and he has had a good day. We shall see. Thanks for all your comments | M | 15 | 8 months 10 mg 1X day | 11/26/2020 | 1 | Allergies | Depression, anxiety, worsening allergies, headaches, increased irritability | F | 15 | 2 years 1 pill 1X day | 10/28/2020 | 5 | seaonal allergies, digestive issues | Was told to have my son take it at night, just in case it made him drowsy, but we didn't notice any increase in drowsiness. | Zyrtec was wonderful for our son. He went from having 2+ weeks of unbelievably runny noses every time he caught a cold, to just normal symptoms of a few days. He also felt a great lift to the almost constant depression he had been feeling, and it cleared up the gastro issues he had been having as well. We took him off Zyrtec and put him on Claritin and it just didn't do the job. I see a lot of negatives on here about Zyrtec, but for our son, it made such a positive difference in his life. | M | 16 | 4 years 10 mg 1X day | 11/18/2010 | 5 | clear nasal congestion | dry mouth | excellent drug...worked much better than claritin for me..A+++ | M | 16 | 30 days | 11/7/2002 | 3 | Cold with allergy symptoms | Loopy and strange sleep patterns | I literally woke up in the middle of the night with the idea that I could time travel. This was in the first night of me taking this drug. | F | 16 | 1 days | 8/4/2009 | 3 | Year-round allergies, asthma | Itching, Weight Gain, Night Terrors, Many sleeping problems | It does help me with my allergies a lot, but the withdrawal symptoms after (severe itching, rashes/bumps) are not so awesome. | F | 16 | 2 years | 1/5/2010 | 2 | Allergies | Like being drunk. Experienced dramatic ups and downs. Extremely drowsy one hour and then drastically hyperactive the next. Very nervous and paranoid all the time. Could not think clearly. | Got rid of my terrible allergies but not the drowsiness. Made me even drowsier. The effect on my personality was terrifying. I was not normal while taking this. Basically like living through 'Alice and Wonderland' without the vivid colors. Mind often felt numb which is incredibly strange because I am usually totally alert. And I was definitely taking Zyrtec and not Zyrtec-D. | F | 16 | 7 days | 5/31/2009 | 2 | allergies | okay this is really weird but i had been taking zyrtec for about a week and it helped my allergies but i noticed when i stopped taking it about 10 days ago i got really bad anxiety, heart racing, emotional, trouble breaathing, chills i dont know if this has anything to do with not taking after i had been on it for a week but these might be bad side effects im not sure yet but it is very scary so im going to the doctor about it in a few days but if this has happend to anyone else please comment back. | F | 16 | 7 days | 6/13/2009 | 2 | allergies | headache, short tempered and tired!!! very sleepy after taking zyrtec liquid gel | not a good choice of allergy medication because it makes you very tired. | F | 16 | 2 days 10 mg 1X day | 4/18/2012 | 1 | allergies | i took zyrtec at the age of 8. i started getting heart palpitations and stopped taking it that same week, after going to doctors who all insisted they were caused by zyrtec. At 13 i had an episode where my heart was racing 250 beats per minute and i found myself in the emergency room where i was given Adenosine, which is a drug that basically resets the heartrate and causes extreme chest discomfort. Im now 16 and i've had to go to the emergency room about 5 times since then, my heart rate reaching about 260 beats per minute. All because of palpitations zyrtec was causing when i was 8. | Now i have to get heart surgery. thanks zyrtec, ha. | F | 16 | 1 weeks | 10/3/2007 | 1 | allergies | My daughter had increased negativity and low mood while taking this. When prescribed low dose of SSRI -- Major depression, Mood changes, irritability, sleepiness, inability to concentrate, personality change, PLEASE SEE RESEARCH ABOUT gene CYP2D6 which affects metabolism of this drug. | Please read up on CYP2D6 before taking Zyrtec or giving this to your children! It is the main pathway for the metabolism of zyrtec and if a person has a certain genetic variation, side effects may come on gradually and a large number of medications can cause serious drug interactions with it. About 6-10% of our population has this genetic variation which has do with the channels the medications are metabolized in the liver. Funny thing is, a side effect of one medication may lead to the prescription of the second .... and the downward spiral begins. Beware in children and adolescents! If you suspect you may fall into this genetic profile, please look to alternative allergy medications. A frightening experience. Thank goodness for good doctors, a caring therapist, and the internet. | F | 16 | 8 months | 11/2/2008 | 1 | Allergies | See comments re: CYP 2D6 from November 2008. My daughter had adverse reactions | Correction -- there is no published information about the exact metabolic pathway for Zyrtec (cetirizine) so I cannot assert a definite link. However, given our experience, I strongly recommend treating this medication as falling in the category of problem medications for "poor metabolizers". I think the odds are the link between pharmagenetics (individual reactions to medications) and zyrtec problems will be found eventually. Until then, watch this drug! | F | 16 | 7 months | 12/28/2008 | 1 | Asthma and Allergies | I've been taking this for 5 years. At first I thought it was amazing, my asthma didn't bother me anymore, and neither did my allergies. Last year, I've been experiencing drowsiness constantly, ticks (turrets), never clearly awake, head in a fog, couldn't focus, depression, either really happy good behavior, or really low depressed behavior. | Nothing good about this drug overtime you get more and more depressed and moody. | F | 16 | 5 years | 11/18/2009 | 1 | seasonal allergies | started off great, less itchiness, sneezing, coughing etc. I would have some trouble falling asleep and would wake up a lot at night but nothing terrible. about 3 months in I noticed that it wasn't helping my allergies anymore and was making my anxiety worse. every night for a week straight I wouldn't fall asleep until 4-5am because I would be extremely paranoid and I would even hallucinate. I didn't take Zyrtec last night because I'm so sick of not getting any sleep and don't want to risk developing any other problems and I really hope it goes well. I have a headache and some stomach pain right now and am a bit itchy, but the itching is not severe. | F | 16 | 3 months 10mg | 7/3/2016 | 1 | over active histamine response | Anger. Unreasonable, aggressive and uncooperative behavior | My 15y/o son started taking 24 hr Allegra prescribed by his pediatrician for an over active histamine response causing periods of extreme itching especially after showering. He took it for over a year without a problem and it worked well. The pediatrician suggested seeing an allergist who suggested switching to 24 hr Cetirizine, which is generic Zyrtec. My now 16y/o started taking 24 hr Cetirizine in Feb 2015. We saw an unbelievable change in his personality with escalating anger and finally rage. He was frightening, distructive and uncontrollable. After discussion with healthcare providers we discovered the change in his behavior coincided with starting Cetirizine. We stopped the 24 hr Ceterizine and restarted the 24 hr Allegra immediately. Within a day we saw his behavior retuning to baseline, which is typical teen behavior but the without the extreme anger and volitility. We did not tell my son why we were changing the medication but he was in favor of the change because he felt he did not get adequate symptom relief from the 24 hr Cetirizine. Our family is still recovering from our two month ordeal. Stay away from Cetirizine. | M | 16 | 2 months 10mg 1X day | 5/14/2015 | 1 | Seasonal allergies | Paranoia, panic attacks, anxiety attacks, verbal and motor tics, depression, intrusive thoughts, sadness, lethargy, headaches | Awful!!! | F | 16 | 96 days 1 a day 1X day | 5/30/2021 | 3 | hayfever symptoms | Itchy toes, others I'm not sure about. It also isn't absolutely successful in stopping hayfever symptoms, mine were only reduced. | I've taken a generic version of Zyrtec for about 3-4 years, often missing doses and only taking pills when I felt symptoms coming on, so I can't be certain of the links between it and my experiences. I also take it far more regularly in winter than in summer. I found many negative reviews about Zyrtec a couple of days ago, and many side effects described were eerily similar to what I've experienced these past couple of years. Bad temper, mood swings, depression, insomnia and sleeping too much were things I noticed in the colder seasons, which I used to always pin on just being a teenager/the weather etc. It's currently winter where I am, and to test my theory, I stopped taking Zyrtec yesterday. Today, I feel different, anxious, I woke up much earlier this morning than usual, and I think I have itchy hives on my toes, which I used to always take Zyrtec for after noticing it. I'll update this review later on. | F | 17 | 3 years 10mg 1X day | 7/16/2015 | 3 | allergies/ sinues problems | makes me constantly lazy and lethargic, heavy tiredness, horrible insomnia, mood swings, always hungry | it works for me but the side affects really bring me down. i am thinking about asking about something else. | M | 17 | 1 years | 7/29/2007 | 3 | Tiredness, Somewhat Depressive. | I was perscribed this for post nasal drip and i took it at night around 11 PM. I woke in the night, which never happens to me, at 1AM 3AM 4:30AM and 5:00AM. Each time this happened I began to get ready like it was 6AM and i was going to school. When i went to school my friends said i was really quite kind of like i was depressed and i never ate today which obviously isnt good. | M | 17 | 1 days 10 MG 1X day | 10/13/2011 |