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 |
| 4 | Chronic Hives | I've had chronic hives for the last 3 or so years, and the zyrtec has been a life-saver, however - in the last 3 years I have lost my libido and a lot of my creative instincts. And by lost I mean gone. I have zero interest in sex or poetry, which is weird. I feel like I'm on antidepressants. The only thing I can think of that would cause this is the zyrtec, which is the only medication I take. | I would be very curious to know if zyrtec has this effect on other people. | F | 36 | 3 years | 3/20/2009 | 4 | allergies - grass/pollen | My 10 year old daughter has been on Zyrtec for 3 years it worked wonderful, finally a cure. As soon as it went over the counter it no longer works. I have her up to 20 mg a day, allergy nasal spray, allergy eye drops and 2 benadryl at night that subsides her symptoms just a little. I must note that my daughter has NEVER exhibited such behaviour that other posts are stating. Every child has tantrums, mood swings and bad behaviour simply because they are children, that is what they do. From personal experience, this medicine had no bad side effects on my daughter. No side effects such as drowsiness, negative emotional behaviour, seizures or any other effects. I believe the overall drug changed as soon as it went over the counter thus it no longer works. | Overall zyrtec has been a wonderful medicine but no longer effective once it went over the counter. In fact when it was a prescription she was on 5mg once per day,it worked perfectly and now when using the OTC she is up to 20mg and it doesn't work. | F | 36 | 3 years | 6/12/2008 | 4 | Year-round Allergies Food and Envio | Slightly drawsy - take it at night just before bedtime | My 8 yr old has been or Zyrtec (RX) for about 3 yrs (now on the over the counter). RX worked much better. It works wonders on her allergies, and other than being a bit sleepy she has NO side affects what-so-ever. I've never noticed any behaviour changes. In fact, she is actually MUCH improved because now she actually gets a full night of sleep with her allergies under control. Without Zyrect she used to wake up several times each nite itching and sneezing. We tried all other meds before Zyretc and nothing worked for her as well. She also doesn't have any of the "withdrawal" sympthoms that some people describe--after reading some of the reviews and I took her off Zyrtec for awhile. But with nothing else working well on her allergies (she has both indoor and outdoor allergies) I had no second thoughts about giving her Zyrtec again. | F | 36 | 3 years | 8/12/2008 | 4 | Hives and Seasonal Allergies | Extreme tiredness, memory problems, hair loss, inability to concentrate, depression, moodiness. | F | 36 | 3 years | 4/19/2006 | 4 | Allergies | extreme irritability, anxiety, quick to anger, strange dreams | Allergy symptoms (runny nose, itchy eyes, scratchy throat) started to subside within the first few hours and were completely gone within 3 days. It is the first March in almost 10 years I have not had any allergy symptoms. I had been using benedryl, but it made me tired and a little "spacy". Claritin would work sometimes, but when seasonal allergies were bad, it didn't really work. I have had ear infections, conjunctivitus and had miserable allergies. The disadvantage, is Zyrtec seems to be making me a little crazy. I have been very irritable since I started taking it. I have to weigh my sanity vs. my allergies. I am hoping I can control the mental aspect, and have Zyrtec control the allergies. I am hoping for the best. | M | 36 | 15 days | 3/17/2008 | 3 | hives | I am always drowsy, walking around like a zombie. cannot concentrate on work. My head feels heawy and hursts. | It does take away the rashes totally. How long should I take, i do not know! | M | 36 | 21 days | 6/2/2005 | 3 | Cat Allergies | After reading this forum, I am now completely convinced that my fatigue every day is being caused by this medication. I am also finding it hard to lose weight, and also find myself more irritable than usual. I started taking it daily because my boyfriend has 2 cats and whenever I go over to his house, I have a rediculous allergy attack. I will probably just take this medication when i know I will be going to his house and not daily like I usually do. | It works but the side effects are not worth it. | F | 36 | 7 months 10mg 1X day | 2/16/2012 | 3 | runny nose, post nasal drip | I expereinced slow, steady weight gain with a very large appetite. Tried to cut back on portions and couldn't lose (and I'm a registered dietitian!). My dog died , so after a few weeks I decided to try and stop taking Zyrtec. All of a sudden I was able to lose weight and I didn't have such a voracious appetite. It's been great and I would never take it again, unless my allergies were very bad and even then only for a few days. Next pet will have to be hypoallergenic, because I am not taking it on a regular basis ever again. Feels too good to be thinner again! | F | 36 | 2 years 1 pill/day 1X day | 4/8/2011 | 3 | eczema | Extreme anger, extreme irritability,excessive crying. | I wouldn't take it see if you can try something else. Be careful. | F | 36 | 21 days 10mg 1X day | 3/16/2016 | 3 | allergy to cold air | irritable, very tired in the evenings | Worked fairly well for my allergy, but my family asked me to stop taking it since I was so grumpy! | F | 36 | 14 days | 12/9/2009 | 2 | Allergies | Depression | I began noticing that I was unusually troubled about life's typical issues. I felt that nothing in my life was good and there was no hope for anything in my life. Everything was gloom and doom. I had been taking zyrtec for about two weeks so I decided to stop for a couple of days to see if it helped. It did! I am so glad to not feel that way anymore. It did help my allergies so it is unfortunate that I can't take it! | F | 36 | 2 weeks | 7/6/2009 | 2 | Allergies, seasonal | Irritability, crankiness in my 3 year old after one week of taking zyrtec. iritability, crankiness and decreased sex drive in my spouse after one week of taking zyrtec | Rather deal with the Benedryl Sleepiness than the crankiness and irritability. Not sure if the side effects would snowball and get worse over time, either. | F | 36 | 7 days | 3/30/2009 | 2 | year round allergies | My 7 year old has been on Zyrtec for 4 months. What I had started to think of as behavioral problems might very well be attributed to this drug....He has become angry, depressed, out of control, incredibly aggressive and argumentative. I did not know people were having these kinds of side effects so I would never have suspected his behavior and nightmares could be caused by this so called miracle drug. Also, these behaviors did not appear immediately upon starting Zyrtec, it has been more of a steady increase and intensity of symptoms. I read parts of this site last night and decided not to give him his dose. He used Claritin instead--it actually dried up his eyes, something zyrtec had failed to do. | I was not 100% satisfied with zyrtec even before I found out about all of these other unexpected possible side effects. It did nothing for his runny nose and eyes but did seem to decrease the frequency of the "flare-ups". | F | 36 | 4 months | 4/26/2007 | 1 | Allergies: cats, ragweed, molds etc | Depression/PMS, fatigue, loss of libido, trouble waking up in the morning, feeling robotic, loss of motivation, loss of creativity | My story is very similar to a lot of people's who have posted on this board. I stopped taking Zyrtec last week to let things drain after a bad cold, and since then I am like a new person. (Thank goodness, no withdrawal symptoms.) I started taking Zyrtec in 2000 and there are a lot of things I am just now realizing must have been side effects, because they started soon after I started taking it: a depression diagnosis, not being able to write or have new ideas, and increasing fatigue that had me falling asleep at the wheel and in meetings, religious services, and more. I lost a job because I could not get up on time while taking Zyrtec. I blamed a lot of this on "my depression" (trying to be responsible and "own" my problem) or on getting old (I'm 36!). Like most people on this board, I would rather have an itchy allergy nose than be the sleepy, depressed robot I've been for the last 6 years or so! | F | 36 | 6 years | 9/21/2007 | 1 | Allergies to pollen | Muscle and joint pain. Iritable mood. | When I first started to take Zyrtec it worked great on my sllergies. But after a few weeks I started to develop serious pains especially in my neck, shoulders and chest muscles. The pain was on par with or worse than when I had a serious muscle pull. I did some research and saw that Zyrtec could have these side effects and stopped taking it. Within a week the pains subsided. After I stopped taking it I also realized that my mood had been severly affected. I was ready to leave my wife and a long planned vacation was almost completely un-enjoyable. These symptoms too ended when I stopped taking Zyrtec. However, the pains from this drug never fully went away and my doctors are trying to figure out if the chronic pains I am experiencing are related to the use of Zyrtec. All blood tests are normal, but since I took Zyrtec I have had no weeks when I have been fully free of aches and pains. Similarly, my mother-in-law recently started to take Zyrtec and is now saying that she is experiencing | M | 36 | 4 weeks | 11/4/2008 | 1 | year round allergies | My son has been taking it for 2 1/2 years! He had all of the same things that many of you are saying. He was having severe ANXIETY attacks and fits of rage. Our pharmacist rettired and we talked to the new one. He said he has heard of these complaints and told us to stop. I would rather he have allergies than the HELL our family has gone through. NOW I am convinced, we need to do something to get this stuff off of the market! My wife and I have been on it as well, and we have been severely depressed. We thought that it was from the situation with our child who had been happy now being in therapy, but since we have stopped taking it, we have started to feel like a cloud is being lifted off of the whole family!!! | Yes it works for allergies, but the side effects are far worse!!! Does anyone out there know of a good allergy meicine for kids. Claritin makes my son sick. PLEASE HELP!!! | M | 36 | 2 years | 9/16/2007 | 1 | allergies | Aggressive behavior and irritability in 5 year old son. He would become upset over small issues. | My 5 year old has taken Zyrtec on and off with colds and allergy symptoms over the last year. We always thought his aggressive behavior and irritability was due to the fact he was sick during the time he was taking the medicine. (He also takes Singulair, Nasonex and Pulmicort.) This makes it hard to determine what med is causing his problems. He is experiencing a very difficult allergy season now and his 5mg/day dose was not working as well as it once had. My pediatrician recommended increasing his dosage to 10 mg/day. I checked the internet to make sure this was appropriate for his age and came across this website. We took him off Zyrtec 2 days ago and have already noticed a significant difference. I am so relieved and what a joy to have my son's happy personality back! Now we just have to determine what medicine will work for him without the side effects. Any suggestions? We do have appointments with an ENT and allergist over the next two weeks. Hopefully we will get some r | F | 36 | 1 years | 3/28/2007 | 1 | severe allergies | you name it, thank goodness I tried it on myself PRIOR to giving it to my 3 year old. Moms and Dads, do a trial on YOURSELF, prior to administering to your kids. | go holistic, especially for the kids, try EFA's, magnesium, lipase enzymes, and probiotics.....it works most allergies are nutritional deficiencies | F | 36 | 2 weeks | 4/25/2006 | 1 | Allergy | My wife experienced an extreme mood swing. | We woke up this morning and my wife was complaining about her allergies and asked me to go the store and buy some zyrtec. So I did and when I got back home I gave them to her and she took one right away. I made the family some breakfast, set the table and served everyone. We were having a nice conversation with our daughter and everything was fine and we finish breakfast. My wife asks me to get the laptop to figure out where we should live since we're moving soon and so I bring it over to the table. After setting it down I say "well let me put the dishes away real quick first." She frigging flips out saying I'm obviously just trying to establish my dominance by ignoring her and doing whatever I want. She proceeds the flipping out and throws my clothes on the ground and yells at me to get out and she's had enough of me and a couple other expletives. I'm a little disturbed but I know my wife and she isn't like this. I decide to leave and let things calm down. Thank god I made the connection right away and found this website. It's now posted as a link on my facebook account to warn others about this possible side effect. | F | 36 | 1 days 10 1X day | 2/26/2011 | 1 | allergies | foggy and exhausted | I can't find an allergy medicine that doesn't cause me to want to sleep all day. | F | 36 | 1 days 10 mg 1X day | 4/15/2010 |