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 | post nasal drip, mucus, congestion | My 7 year old son was taking Zyrtec and developed very bad behaviors in school, threatening suicide and others, and was very physically aggressive to his teachers. Once I realized that the bahaviors started the same time as Zyrtec, I took him off. One year later, he still has behavior problems, but they are lessening. Last week, I gave him one dose because of terrible itching. He had 2 very bad episodes at school so far. Thereis no doubt that Zyrtec triggered something in his brain. Hopefully it is not permanent. | Since my son was mildly retarded, I don't think he could express how he felt. But when asked why he felt so angry, he always said, I don't know . Something got in my head. | M | 9 | 1 years | 11/5/2007 | 4 | Pet and seasonal allergies | Tiredness | ** This drug will be going over the counter by the end of 2007 ** It has really helped for my allergies. When I'm not taking it, I'll be sneezing, breaking out into hives, or have extreme itchy eyes. The only side effect I've really had with it becoming very tired, but that is usually alleviated by taking this an hour or so before bedtime. Since this medication is going over the counter, it will be more expensive for me to buy it regularly than without my prescription. My doctor recommended a new allergy medication called Xyzal which she gave me samples but I haven't tried it long enough to form an opinion. | F | 31 | 2 years | 10/31/2007 | 5 | alergic to mold, bad on rainy days | Tired most of the day. But at least, the pain was gone. | F | 56 | 2 years | 10/29/2007 | 3 | Allergies | Itching all over, head felt like scalp was bleeding (wasn't), redness in skin where itching, total, complete chaos. Nearly panic situations during the worst of the withdrawals. Prior to stopping, lethargy, depression, weight gain. I'll take a sneeze every now and then, thanks.. | It does help with my allergies. Now on singulair and asmanex for asthma and allergies. Within 24.5 hours, itching began. Never really connected the dots to 'withdrawal' symptoms, but I have had this happen enough to know for sure it is the zyrtec. I will never take it again as a result, it is just not worth it. | M | 33 | 3 years | 10/29/2007 | 1 | Worse allergy season than usual | I went to my allergist to get a script for something other than my shots as allergy season was worse in my area than past years. I noticed a big difference within a few days, that I could breathe better, but then I realized that I couldn't eat without constantly feeling like I was either going to throw up or pass out. I stopped using it after I started getting extremely upset and annoyed over the littlest things, and not being able to sleep fully at night. I felt disorientated if I wasn't sitting 100% still. | In my 21 years of taking medicine, I've never taken anything that has made me feel the way I did when I took this, that made me feel scared, or whether or not I could make it through the day. I'll deal with having to blow my nose more often than not. | M | 21 | 2 months | 10/28/2007 | 3 | Allergies | Upon taking the very first pill i experienced a feeling of breathlessness. Having to take deep deep breaths. It got a little scary because it had only been 30 minutes or so and i didnt know if it would get worse. Also felt kinda "wired", tingly feeling, anxiety, but that was probably from the fact that i was having to breath deeply and wasnt sure of the outcome of that. Slight headache and stomach upset. | Its now been about 4 hours since taking that first pill and i still have a slight headache but the breathlessness has gone somewhat. I dont think i'll take any more though. I seem to be quite intolerant of drugs lately. Just took 5 days of Levoquin and boy oh boy!! Now thats some horrible stuff.I think if i could stay on the Zyrtec it would help but i don't like the initial feeling.Plus the reports here of it being hard to get off really put me off. | M | 48 | 1 days | 10/27/2007 | 1 | eczema itching and allergies | Unbelievable change in behavior for 6 weeks now. And it finally hit me that all of this started with the Zyrtec. We have been miserable with tantrums, aggression, problems playing with the other children in school and he seemed to not hear anything said to him. | We will go off immediately and hope for changes. I think that doctors should inform patients to stop if these mood changes are noticed. You have all given me hope. | M | 3 | 6 weeks | 10/26/2007 | 3 | Allergies, Env & cats year round | we endured her almost getting kicked out of preschool for basically torturing another child - extremely bad irrational behavior extremely bad outbursts - very unlike her - back to soy milk we went - some of the negative behavior subsided - however as she has grown her dose of Zyrtec has increased - 5 mg chewable each morning. She struggles not with drowsiness; but performing fairly simple tasks - and when failing that completely sobbing meltdowns. | I have said some of the same things "Where has my daughter gone?" "Please give her back" "Please go to bed and wake up as my sweet little girl" My daughter is 6 now, has been on Zyrtec 3.0 years for year round environmental and cat allergies. When she was 4 she had her tonsils removed - we thought she's be able to stop her medications - not true - she was worse with her behavior after that surgery - which at the time we switched her from her usual soy milk to cows milk - allergy tests showed only intolerance not allergy to milk - we endured her almost getting kicked out of preschool for basically torturing another child - extremely bad irrational behavior extremely bad outbursts - very unlike her - back to soy milk we went - some of the negative behavior subsided - however as she has grown her dose of Zyrtec has increased - 5 mg chewable each morning. She struggles not with drowsiness but performing fairly simple tasks - and when failing that completely | F | 6 | 3 years | 10/24/2007 | 1 | allergies | Weight gain, extreme moods, I became very angry very quickly (not my usual temper), I was not quite in a fog, but I wasn't all there either. | I gained 10 pounds in three months, I was tired all the time, and my family kept asking me what was wrong. They said that I always seemed unhappy. After thinking about it I realized that I wasn't unhappy, but I wasn't happy either. It was a strange mood kind of hard to explain unless you' ve been there. I wouldn't recommend this drug for anyone. | F | 3 months | 10/24/2007 | 5 | year-round allergies | none | Once had to go off it for 10 days for a thyroid test of some type and experienced really bad itching everywhere. My doc said he couldn't explain that, but within months the drug became recommended for hives. Now I'm afraid to ever stop it, but it really does help my allergies. | F | 50 | 5 years | 10/19/2007 | 5 | Allergy symptoms leading to asthma | fatigue, weight gain, feeling nervous and "fluttery" when I first wake up. | I went through a series of perscription allergy medicines until I was perscribed Zyrtec. It stopped my onset asthma because it controlled my allergy symptoms. My body does not react as strongly to the side effects, so I am thankful for that. From what I read, this should be a "last resort" medication for children when uncontrolled symptoms are causing a serious health problem. My side effects list also says that it should NOT be given to the elderly. But for me, Zyrtec halted the development of asthma, and the side effects are tolerable in my system. | F | 49 | 1 years | 10/19/2007 | 4 | occasional seasonal allergies | Side effects: Feeling a little "out of it", sleepy, dry mouth, typical "old school" allergy side effects. Also, this weird thing with my heart that seems to skip a little when I go off the med - but that may be because I take Zyrtec-D (has pseudoephedrine in it) | Zyrtec-D works for me for about 3 days at a time - I generally don't take it for longer than that and not very often (maybe 3 days out of a month I'm having sinus and allergy issues, like now). I think it is a strong medication. I wouldn't give it to children. | F | 41 | 6 months | 10/19/2007 | 3 | Severe allergies:grass,mold,pollen+ | Not sure if they are side effects but after reading this. Anxiety, some OCD tendencies, weight gain, tired, lazy, upset easily, "out of it"-stopped taking 1-2months ago and lost almost 25lbs w/o trying-have tried while on zyrtec and never lost weight | It worked great for my allergies but after recently trying Respa A.R. samples from my doc to help with post nasal drip I switched off the zyrtec-if the comments on this page are correct it explains A LOT of ABNORMAL health issues and behavior I felt while on zyrtec | F | 27 | 4 years | 10/19/2007 | 4 | Seasonal Allergies | A touch of anxiety upon initial usage | 10mg daily, Works great, it does take a bit of adjustment, however the pros outweigh the cons. Also prescribed Elestat (which suprisingly makes me feel a lot more strange than the Zyrtec) and Nasonex (this stuff works great). If you have seasonal allergies I would definately recommend this combo, only problem I notice is a touch of eye redness/itching (but rarely during the day). This is definately not for kids, and for sure exaggerates any existing conditions. If you are taking a bunch of other meds and already have psychological problems/tendancies you should lay off the pharms. | M | 25 | 30 days | 10/17/2007 | 3 | bad allergies/prevent ear infection | My son is having rapid cycling mood changes, to the point of non-provoked violent outbursts, anger and not being able to get him up in the morning, to at the snap of a finger, sweet as pie. He also is ravenously hungry all the time. Eyes dialated, says no one loves him, says he hears "a bear growling in his head". We are trying get him assessed by a psychiatric doctor for bipolar disorder or some other explanation for his extreme behavior and moods and help. After reading this forum, I am taking him off TODAY, however he suffers from chronic painful ear infections. This medicine is the only one that has helped him and we've tried them all. His doctors say it can't be the Zrtec that is doing this to him. I don't know what to do now...:-( | M | 5.5 | 6 months | 10/16/2007 | 3 | allergies - pollen, dust mites, cat | dizziness, fatigue, weight gain | i was checking the web for side effects of zyrtec because of the almost daily vertigo. I was shocked at the MANY postings related to weight gain. For the last two years, I have expressed my dismay to close friends and family re: unexplained weight gain - despite sensible diet (approaching restrictive at times) and INCREASED exercise. I attributed this to my changing (aging) body. After reading this site, I realize that the weight gain may have another explanation. I am ending my use of this drug today, and will post again if i notice a change in the next six months. Unfortunate, really, because zyrtec controls allergy symptoms very effectively. BUT - tiredness, dizziness and, now i learn WEIGHT GAIN!! You cannot imagine (or perhaps some of you can) how mystified and unhappy i have been over this change in my body. I gained twenty five pounds in two years, with no significant change in diet (vegetarian, MANY fruits and vegetables) and a very deliberate increase in exercise. | F | 47 | 4 years | 10/15/2007 | 3 | Allergies | No side effects while on drug. Terrible after-effects. If I'm one hour late (over 24 hours) taking the pill I get severe itching/burning over entire body. I've tried to stop taking it and have had these symptoms continuous for a number of days now. Based on what I've read, it may be many more days until I'm over it. Complete misery. | Best drug I've found for relieving allergy symptoms. Too bad you can't stop taking it without major suffering. | M | 35 | 6 months | 10/9/2007 | 2 | allergies which induced asthma | anxiety,inability to cope with frustration, not eating/excessive eating, fast emotional meltdowns, hives when missed dose, excessive thirst, now a kidney stone in a 7 yr old | My son is almost 8 and has been on this since age 4. We felt we had no choice as his allergies were contributing to emergency room level asthma episodes. It did help with that tremendously. But at what price? We have another child w/out allergies, very easy going. This little boy is very touchy emotionally, will rage over small things, has been in occupational therapy in school for 2 years for anxiety, etc etc.Will not eat for time periods and other times will eat excessively--not just "treats" but things like chicken cutlets. Also, having trouble concentrating on schoolwork, hard to read his writing. When we rarely forget to give it to him, he gets hives which we blame on allergies. Now he has a kidney stone, I have a bad feeling this may be related--has anyone else's child had this? I will be getting him off of this as safely and quickly as possible. | F | 43 | 4 days | 10/9/2007 | 1 | allergy dog/cat | vomiting right after and screaming fits. Notice a runny nose. | can't believe all the comments I feel the same way, noticed my daughter was not the same screaming banging her head staring off into space. When stop using ZYRTEC she will scratch til she is covered in blood. Tonight I looked up side affects after I looked at my shoulder her face and her PJ's,'s, all covered in blood. After reading I am feel awful, and can't believe this. At night she will lie in bed and whimper and whine all night long. | F | 1 | 2 months | 10/9/2007 | 1 | Allergies/Eczema | My daughter (21 months) was prescribed Zyrtec about a month ago for allergies. She's a very happy, sweet, loving child with the normal toddler challenges, but never anything unusual, nor aggresive. Well, that had all changed in the past month. We just kept telling ourselves that it must be the terrible two's - but this was bad, she would cry at the slightest thing, she almost stopped eating, she'd wake up crying at night and it would take hours to console her. She became aggresive (slapping, biting) and she was never like that before -- it finally hit me last Friday when she'd bit another child at daycare really hard that this just can't be normal and I can't say why I thought it, but that night I wondered if it could be the Zyrtec - it was the only change in her normal diet - so I went to web and typed in "Zyrtec & Mood Swings" and found this site - what a relief. we stopped her Zyrtec and by late yesterday (2 days later) she was back to her sweet self again. I'd rath | F | 2 | 30 days | 10/8/2007 |