ZYRTEC Reviews (CETIRIZINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 2.0 (1820 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare ZYRTEC with similar:
Type: Over-the-counter Drug
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Results are sorted by Date added. 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 | FDA Adverse Event Summary
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR ZYRTEC | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 1 | Allergy | My husband is taking zyrtec and I will probably divorce him. He is out of control and I can't handled it. | lunatic, irritability, aggressive. This medication shouldn't be available over the counter. | F | 28 | 6 days | 5/5/2008 | 2 | Seasonal Allergies | Extreme fatigue/drowsiness, dry mouth | I have taken Claritin for years and only decided this week to switch to Zyrtec. I decided to change after seeing several Zyrtec commercials that promised that Zyrtec works two hours faster than Claritin. The only side effect mentioned was drowsiness and I figured I could handle feeling a little sleepy if it meant that I could get through my first 2 hours of work without sneezing and blowing my nose non-stop. Day 1: By the time I arrived at work the Zyrtec had fully kicked in and I had no allergy symptoms. However I went through the day feeling like I was in a fog. I was yawning non-stop and struggling to stay focused. I managed to stay awake until about 10 pm and was knocked out until about 8 this morning. (Normally I sleep 7 hours max.) Day 2: Today, I took the Zyrtec at about 8:30 a.m., and once again my allergy symptoms dissapeared within the hour. Nevertheless by 12 o'clock I was back in bed and didn't wake up for 4 hours. The 3.5 hours that I spent awake were very ta | F | 27 | 2 days | 5/3/2008 | 1 | allergies | my 4 year old has been taking Zyrtec for 5 days and over the past couple days he's been tantruming much more than anytime in the past many months. I did a web search on zyrtec and behavioral problems in kids because he's increasingly not been able to deal with situations that he usually would be able to handle -- finding this website and the many, many comments about similar reactions to zyrtec quickly convinced me to stop giving zyrtec to my son. | M | 4 | 5 days | 5/3/2008 | 2 | year-round nasal allergies | Zyrtec (not Zyrtec-D) worked great for my allergies for 5 years. I loved it and recommended it to several people. This is the only reason I gave it a 2 because now that I've become resistant, I've tried to stop (again) and I am having horrible withdrawal. Side effects were extreme sleepiness, confusion, inability to lose weight (despite major exercise and a restricted diet), crying at the drop of a hat, anxiety, irrational anger, irritability, and other mental issues. Allergy doc said there were A LOT of neural side-effects in some people. I am an insane zombie with major anger issues on this drug but I only vaguely realize how I'm behaving. Getting off is ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE. The itching starts in hands/feet if I miss a dose (I take it at night, itching by the next morning). I did not have this symptom before zyrtec. I've never made it more than 3 days before because it is unbearable. But now I think I may be allergic to Zyrtec. Took it this morning after being off for 3 da | May be fine for some people but definitely not good for others! There are a lot of reports on this and other sites about the side-effects of this drug (even in adults) and the HORRIBLE WITHDRAWAL. If you have mental symptoms and confusion while taking Zyrtec, it is hard to realize that you are having problems. I needed major coffee to stay awake while on this drug but still wasn't functioning well. This product can be addictive...I've had 2 doctors tell me that my symptoms were zytec withdrawal. Functioning at work has been severly impaired...hopefully not to the point to wreck me career but I've been on it for 8 years so I'm worried. I didn't realize all the problems it was causing until I started to get off it. Still wasn't back to normal but noticed the dramatic and sudden change an hour after taking the last dose (which will be my last dose). Will have to try to get through the ITCH (feels like ants walking around under my skin). I hear that it lasts 16 days to several mon | F | 34 | 8 years | 5/1/2008 | 1 | allergies - indoor and out | severe anxiety and panic attacks | Initially, I felt like this was a miracle drug. I am an RN, and remembered that when my daughter took this drug as a child she became very mean, and irritable. I did not think it would affect me this way. I have a history of sinus problems and have had sinus surgery. I was taking Claritin D 24 hour with a lot of success in the past, but lately found that I was having more sinus infections. I thought that the Claritin D 24 hr was causing too much dryness, and led to increased mucous collecting in my sinus cavities. So, I thought I would try Zyrtec D 12 hour to see if it helped keep my sinuses draining better, and thus help prevent infections. I knew it had recently become available OTC, and my physician had recommended it in the past. However, I never took it because of the experience I had with my youngest daughter when she had taken it as a child. At first I thought I had found the wonder drug of all drugs for allergies. But, after taking it for two weeks I began to have anx | F | 52 | 15 days | 4/28/2008 | 3 | seasonal allergies | tiredness | F | 44 | | 4/27/2008 | 1 | seasonal allergies | Oh my goodness! I read through the other side effects from people listed here and I thought they were writing about me. I have had unusual anger issues to the point that my husband didn't know me, depression, highs and lows, dry mouth, not necessarily suicidal but I didn't care if I lived or died. But the worst is stomach pain! I am going to stop taking this stuff to verify that this pain is truly coming from Zyrtec. I have had on and off stomach acid for several days, but after being up last night till 3am with unbearable stomach pain I decided to research symptoms and side effects of this drug. I take it with food so I dont think the pain is from taking it on an empty stomach. I have never experienced stomach acid problems. It's as though I have swallowed a red hot poker. I have breast tenderness much like a women's menstrual cycle might produce, puffiness, etc. Some of the side effects of this stuff are like having PMS from hell! I am going to stop taking it today and hope for bette | F | 45 | 2 weeks | 4/26/2008 | 1 | Allergies | Malaise, exhaustion, confuses dreams, depression | Symptoms are listed at < 2% of population taking the medication. Am I just that lucky? | M | 51 | 1 months | 4/24/2008 | 1 | allergies | Instant change of mood to TOTAL RAGE & ANGER, especially with conflict. | It is about 24-36 hrs after I stopped taking, am restless and cannot sleep. Had bad dreams when I could sleep. Same side effects (irritability, rage, restlessness, insomnia, and an extreme sense of urgency on insignificant things) I had from prescription drugs (Levaquin & others) for sinus infection. Heart hit harder (not severe), somewhat faster at times, but when I stopped taking it my heart felt like it wanted to jump through my throat. Did not put it all together until I finally reasoned through after it got repeatedly BITTER in my relationship due to my dramatic mood swings. Reasoning was easy, first I had to accept there was a problem. My girlfriend telling me I was irrational did not help but she was correct. It was tough to accept what was going on, I would just fly off the handle over nothing/everything. I seemed “fine” until the slightest insignificant conflict, such as not agreeing on dinner. I was not fine, I was a powder keg with a short f | M | 47 | 2 months | 4/23/2008 | 1 | spring allergies | breast tenderness, heart racing, trouble sleeping | I took one pill yesterday around 8:00 p.m. I had trouble falling asleep because my heart kept racing and the heart racing kept waking me up if I did fall asleep. I noticed when I got up this morning that my breasts were tender. I don't usually have any of these problems so I decided to google side effects of zyrtec and found this website. No more for me. | F | 42 | 1 days | 4/22/2008 | 1 | Outdoor Seasonal Allergies | Depression, weakened reaction, mental strain, inability to focus, feeling extremly out of it, ect | I had taken Zyrtec last year for spring allergies and it worked well for that, but i had forgotten i stopped taking it due to these side effects. So a year later my allergies were kicking in again and i bought a bottle of the newly over-the-counter drug. after taking it and heading off to school i began to feel very out of it; in an almost dream like or sedated state. With this very strong feeling i felt terribly depressed and even feeling a little suicidal, dizzy, mentally strained and an overall "zombie-like" high feeling. I could also not focus one bit on my school work and felt psychologically lost all day long. however it did work pretty well for my allergies, but i really would not want to spend another day on Zyrtec. terrible drug, how the hell is this over-the-counter? take this crap off the shelves. | M | 18 | 1 days | 4/22/2008 | 5 | allergies | Hives on my neck and scalp base. Very itchy could not figure what was wrong until I read all the comments. Does NOT say that on the bottle!! They should disclose this!!! | Take allegra..... | F | 58 | 8 days | 4/21/2008 | 2 | common allergies | tired, not motivated, weight gain (even though I doubled my cardio), weak, depressed, lack of sexual drive. | I never put these symptoms with Zyrtec, but after reading these responses, I feel both good and bad. Good because I may have an answer to feeling so tired/weak. Bad because I just purchased 5 months supply. | M | 42 | 1 years | 4/21/2008 | 1 | seasonal and food allergies | My 5-year-old son was experiencing seasonal allergies and also hives, we think from berries, and the doctor prescribed him with Zyrtec. We didn't notice any major behavioral issues but he did begin periodically to have what we thought were night terrors - wide-eyed, screaming nightmares so vivid that it was increasingly difficult to wake him. We stopped the Zyrtec when the hives and summer sniffles went away, and the nightmares stopped, too. We still didn't put it together until last week, when spring allergies started and we resumed the Zyrtec, and the night terrors began again. | We call this drug "Nightmares in a Bottle," at least for our child. What a terrifying experience, for us and him. Please spread the word to parents. | F | 42 | 2 years | 4/21/2008 | 1 | seasonal allergies | My wife says the will divorce me if I take any more. | It works o.k. on the allergies but- It makes you too critical of others and makes things blurt out of your mouth that you would not normally say. | M | 49 | 15 days | 4/21/2008 | 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 | 5-yr-old daughter has allergies | Mood swings, irritability, tearfulness, fatigue, sleepiness. | My 5-yr-old daughter has seasonal allergies and we tried OTC Zyrtec for the first time. It worked great on her allergy symptomms, however her behavior changed and I couldn't tell why until weeks later a friend of mine told me about her daughter's experience with Zyrtec. My normally happy and sociable daughter was cranky all the time, and would have meltdowns similar to those of a 2-year-old. She was crying non-stop on some days, and just seemed overall miserable and depressed. I have stopped giving her Zyrtec 2 days ago and am hoping to see improvement soon. I am glad I stumbled upon this website and read all the comments. I'm not alone!! | F | 5 | 3 weeks | 4/20/2008 | 5 | Multiple allergies | Extreme itching if went 36 hours without a dose | I have been taking allergy medications for 40 years and went through several cycles of immunotherapy. Zyrtec was very effective (about 95%) in treating allergy symptoms and preventing recurring sinus and ear infections. In fact, I told anyone that I talked to with allergies that Zyrtec was the best thing since sliced bread. However, I was very concerned about the withdrawal effect (extreme itching) and felt the drug might somehow be affecting my immune system. I originally only used the Zyrtec seasonally, but for the past 2 or 3 years have used it year-round because of the itching I experienced when I stopped using it. I have developed some arthritis, dermatographia and gained 35 pounds since I have been on Zyrtec. All I know for sure is that I can attribute the withdrawal itching to Zyrtec. Since Zyrtec has gone otc it is an added incentive to get off of it. I tried going cold-turkey but went nuts with the itching. I am using Claritin which causes me headaches and drowsiness | M | 49 | 7 years | 4/19/2008 | 2 | seasonal allergies | temper tantrums, irritable, | My 7 year old has spring allergies every year. We have used Claritin but last year noticed it was not working as well. We tried giving it to him, under doctors advice at the 18 hour point which did help. This bothered me, giving a child so much medicine each day. We tryed zyrtec this week. Today markes day 3 and I will not be giving it to him again. Yesterdy I noticed he was very irritable, unable to focus on his homework and cranky. Today he has had several temper tantrums and can not play with his friens. I am so glad I found this site and realized that Zytec may be the cause. I see that some have had trouble coming off the medication so before I give it to my child again I will stop now and go back to Claritin. | F | 44 | 3 days | 4/19/2008 | 1 | Allergies | Extreme fatigue and drowsiness | VERY effective, but side effect of fatigue was not worth it. Used twice and I will not use this again. | F | 33 | 3 days | 4/19/2008 |