Reviews for ZYRTEC350 ratings: (age 12 or younger)Edit Filter | Clear FilterCompare 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.) |
More on ZYRTEC: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR ZYRTEC | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 1 | allergies | visual, auditory and tactile hallucinations | My 9 year old son was on Zyrtec for 7 months. When placed on Amoxicillan for two weeks for a sinus infection, he began to experience hallucinations. The doctor thought it might be the penicillan and never mentioned the zyrtec. Had an EEG which was normal. When I realized the side effects of zyrtec I took him off immediately (5 days ago). However, he just had an "episode" again tonight (lasts about 10 minutes). Has anyone had a child experience this??? How long before the side effects go away? | M | 9 | 7 months | 4/17/2007 | 2 | seasonal allergies(spring only) | My 6 year old son took Zyrtec for two spring seasons since he experiences severe allergies to spring pollen and grass. The drug did wonders in clearing his allergies, but caused him to manifest behavior problems. When he first started taking Zyrtec in late March when he was 5 years old (right when seasonal allergies begin), his teacher started calling me from school telling me that he was breaking down, crying easily, and throwing tantrums. She said that if she didn't know him from the previous 7 months in her class (when he wasn't on Zyrtec), that she would have thought that was just the way he was. I did not make the connection, and so the poor kid spent 3 months screaming at school. The end of summer came, and I took him off his allergy meds. All is well at school, and then March rolls around again, and I start him on his Zyrtec. Sure enough, I get a call from the teacher (different teacher, by the way) reporting the same exact behavioral problems. This teacher, who is excel | M | 6 | | 4/10/2007 | 2 | seasonal allergies | To all parents of young children--my 6 year old experienced the SAME behavior problems on Zyrtec. I contacted his allergist today, and he said Zyrtec crosses the blood-brain barrier (as do most anithistimines), and therefore could defintely cause behavioral changes. His allergist prescribed Allegra for children (which is NEW spring 2007), and Allegra DOES NOT CROSS THE BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER!!! Will start this in a few days with my son...hopefully will work! Good luck, and get your kids off this terrible medicine! | M | 6 | | 4/10/2007 | 1 | sinus infctns due 2 seasonal allerg | 6 year old daughter has been on Zyrtec off and on due to seasonal allergies since she was 2 1/2 or 3 years old. We recently started up again (been about 2-3 weeks now). She has been completely irrational and out of control emotionally. Extreme meltdowns at the least bit of disappointment. As many parents before me have mentioned, my child acted as if possessed. We too had started checking into psych coucil thinking that something had to be going on with her. She experienced extreme rage that was scary to us. If we would start to ask her to do something like put her bike away etc she would start screaming I know I know I am a bad girl and you hate me and on and on and on. There was no consoling her. She also developed what has appeared to be an involuntary tic with what started as rapid blinking of her eyes. Now she appears to be winking rotating from eye to eye. I just today found that numerous studies have shown that a rare side effect is orofacial dyskenesia which is invol | Has not adequately been proven safe for children. Parents do your research before adminstering to your kids!!!!!! Watch for involuntary facial movement. It is not fare that our children have had to endure disciplinary action due to side effects of a drug that I feel should not be prescribed to children. | F | 6 | 3 weeks | 4/10/2007 | 1 | Allergies | I can't believe that I am not the only one who has experienced this. This is both reassuring and disconcerting at the same time. I actually got very emotional when I started to read all of the comments, especially, those parents with 4-5 year olds taking these meds. My 4-year-old daughter has been taking Zyrtec for the past four months. A wonderfully sweet child transformed into this terribly-aggressive and noncompliant pre-schooler. Further, she became extremely emotional, aggressive towards me, my wife, and her brother, and catatonic at times. She started tantrums, talking to herself, destroying her toys and her room. In fact, she started a new daycare two weeks ago because she was dismissed from her previous pre-school because of uncontrollability. We immediately dismissed the notion that our daughter should be tested for ADHD. I feel so bad for our daughter because we also have taken so much from our daughter in attempts to correct her behavior -- toys, early bed, no snack | I agree with others that this information needs to be more readily available. My wife and I have had many sleepless nights worrying about our daughter. We really have to find a way to get this information out to others!!! | F | 4 | 4 months | 4/9/2007 | 1 | allergies | My daughter has allergies and was prescribed zyrtec to replace claritin after having pneumonia twice in two months. I was told to give her the Zyrtec at night because it can cause drowsiness. I usually did that but occasionally when someone else would keep her overnight, they'd forget and give it to her in the morning. Her behavior was terrible -- aggressive and unpredictable and she's usually very sweet. I couldn't rule out the fact that she was with someone else when this happened. For the last two weeks, I ended up giving her the Zyrtec in the morning because we forgot one night and just got off track. My daughter's behavior has been awful -- to the point where her teacher even asked if she was taking something that might make her behave so differently. I decided to see if I could find some link between aggression/irritability in young children and zyrtec. I am so grateful to have found this site. We will go back to Claritin today. | F | 4 | 6 days | 4/9/2007 | 1 | allergies | My 5 year old daughter has been taking this for years. She has been having emotional meltdowns. I will tell her to brush her teeth or get dressed and she will start screaming and crying. This can go on for up to one hour, she can not stop. When I ask her why she is acting like this she says she doesn't know. Lately she has talked about wanting to hurt herself. She says that we hate her and don't love her. This child is so loved and gets lots of attention. We had even made an appointment with a therapist. My husband mentioned her medications and when I googled on side effects of zyrtec I found that we are not the only ones going through this. I have contacted my daughters doctor and we are stopping the zyrtec! | F | 5 | | 4/7/2007 | 1 | Allergies | WORST MEDICINE EVER. I am so glad that I found this website, although I had to search google to find it. I have been giving this to my 5 yr old daughter and I will stop immediatly. She has been crying when she goes to preschool for no reason. She has been having temper tantrums and just so moody. I feel so bad that I've been punishing her for her bad attitude, taking away cartoons, early to bed, taking away toys, etc... She tells me the reason she cries is because she is afraid that her grandma isn't going to come back and pick her up. I was so confused by this. She has been in preschool for over a month and hasn't ever felt this way. She didn't go to school on a Monday due to having the flu over the weekend and I took her that day to the doctor to deal with the allergies she has been having. My husband takes Zyrtec and it has worked well for him, so we started my daughter on it. I started on Monday evening. On Wed morning at preschool is when the crying started. This has been happenin | F | 5 | 2 weeks | 3/28/2007 | 1 | Allergies | Irritability, aggressive behavior, loss of appetite. After a couple of days on the drug, we had to take our son in for extreme drunk-like behavior. He walked around with a limp all day and was slurring his speech. At the time, I was thinking the worst, like a brain tumor or something. At the recommendation of his pediatrician, we took him off it for two days then started him back on it at half the original dose. He was walking and talking better, but we still definitely noticed increased irritability and moodiness, as well as having problems getting along with his friends, and he would cry at the drop of a hat. I felt like I was always disciplining him over his behavior, when all along it was the effects of this drug. Then we took him off it completely for about 3 days, and he got a rash all over his body, but his temperment was back to normal--we got our sweet, calm son back! | DO NOT PUT YOUR CHILDREN ON THIS DRUG!!! | M | 3 | 1 days | 3/5/2007 | 4 | mold, cat allergy | 6 yr old son - irritability, screaming at me, severe mood issues. When asked what was wrong, he would scream at me "I don't know". | My son also has asthma and has been taking zyrtec along with singulair and pulmicort. Works great for allergies. (I have another son on it as well) Originally taking every day then decreased to as needed w/cat & mold exposure. However, at the end began experiencing behavior/mood issues. When took him off of Zyrtec noticed a significant difference in his behavior. Switched allergy/pulmonolgist drs and he said not to give it to him. His behavior over all has improved drastically. My 3 year old doesn't seem to have "issues" because of zyrtec. | M | 6 | 3 years | 2/5/2007 | 1 | Eczema | My son just turned 9, he started taking Zyrtec when he was 7, his teacher kept complaining about his behavior, he can't remember anything, he looked so lost in the school. He can't sit still, he can't focus on the classwork. His teacher suggested me to talk to the doctor because his behavior just like ADD, I made a research and found this website,I was so shock that Zyrtec will affect the child's behavior so much. I decided to reduce the medicine week by week, now my kid was very good in the school, he remember everything, He completed every sigle classwork/homework. I really think all of the doctors should give the parents warming before the children starts taking ZYRTEC. I feel so sorry for my son. | So many parents has no idea what will happen when their child start s taking this medicine, Please consider not to let the kid take this medicine........... | M | 9 | 2 years | 1/27/2007 | 1 | allergies | My seven year old daughter became very emotional and irrational when her dose was increased to 10mg. She began taking 5mg when she was three and it worked well for several years, but it had started to be less effective (more drainage that interfered with sleep). My sweet girl became a moody, argumentative, mean girl. It was scary. | I stopped the zyrtec immediately after reading about similar side effects on this web site - thank you for making the connection for me. I had thought that maybe the higher dosage was interfering with her sleep and making her super grouchy. After stopping zyrtec, she was back to her normal self within about 10 days. She will never take it again. | F | 7 | 4 years | 1/23/2007 | 1 | ALLERGY | Within three days of starting this medication, my child developed PINK EYE (a lesser known side effect of this medication). Within four days of starting this medication, my child developed a STUTTERING problem! We pulled him off this medication!!!! | Watch your child closely if they are prescribed this medication!!!! | M | 2.5 | 6 days | 1/8/2007 | 1 | Allergies | My daughter was given this for her allergies and congestion. Her behavior was "off the charts" crazy. I became so afraid of the way she was acting last night that I almost called the after hours emergency line. She was very jittery and thirsty but mostly just very strange, agressive, angry behavior. She was throwing stuff, yelling, screaming, mumbling strange things to herself. It was like she suddenly became another child. It was very scary. I couldn't get her to go to sleep despite the fact that she had skipped her nap and she was exhausted. She is still in bed this morning after finally falling asleep around midnight. Hoping she will be back to herself when she gets up... we will certainly not be using this again for her allergies. That was horrifying. | I personally take Zyrtec for my allergies and it works great for me. Little or no side effects and really drys up my congestion. I cannot believe the difference in side effects for children taking this medication. I have two other friends who also give this to their children regulary (and have done so for years) and do not experience these same effects. So I personally think that it can vary quite a bit from child to child. I personally will not give it to my daughter again. | F | 3 | 1 days | 12/21/2006 | 2 | Allergies | Aggressive behavior, disorganized thinking, increased anxiety. When my son stopped taking it he developed hive like spots all over his back, which lasted for about 10 days. | Our son is diagnosed with a mood disorder, so at first we did not recognize that he was having a negative reaction to zyrtec. In retrospect we now realize that completely destabilized while taking this drug. Fortunately, the damage was not permanent though it took him about about two weeks without zyrtec to return to his prior state. The manufacturer appears to be aware that this type of reaction can occur. If you look at page 11 of the 14 page document issued by the manufacturer Pfizer you will see a list of psychiatric symptoms associated with this drug. The company states that zyrtec is unable to cross the blood-brain barrier and affect mental functions. This may be true but it appears to me that the drug affects the body's biochemistry in some other way that does extend to the brain. Bottom Line: NO ONE WITH A MOOD DISORDER SHOULD TAKE THIS DRUG. It may destabilize a person to such an extent that serious harm could occur. | M | 7 | 4 months | 12/16/2006 | 1 | allergies | My daughter started taking this for ecezma and allergies. She also has ashtma. I took her off the singulair and pulmicort too. She was a monster! My son who is 6 was on all these as well. I thought I was a bad mother and had mentally ill children.Then one day it occured to me to research these meds and was shocked to find out it was not just us. My kids are finally returning to normal.I worry about their ashtma but I couldn't take another day of it.I have tried to take my daughter off the zrtec before and the itching is unreal for her already bad eczema.Last night was her last dose!We will have to make it this time and get rid of it. What is wrong with these doctors giving this garbage? They should have to live with the kids that take it! | F | 3 | 9 months | 12/11/2006 | 1 | allergies | My daughter started taking this for ecezma and allergies. She also has ashtma. I took her off the singulair and pulmicort too. She was a monster! My son who is 6 was on all these as well. I thought I was a bad mother and had mentally ill children.Then one day it occured to me to research these meds and was shocked to find out it was not just us. My kids are finally returning to normal.I worry about their ashtma but I couldn't take another day of it.I have tried to take my daughter off the zrtec before and the itching is unreal for her already bad eczema.Last night was her last dose!We will have to make it this time and get rid of it. What is wrong with these doctors giving this garbage? They should have to live with the kids that take it! | She said she was hungry every second of the day even after eating a big meal. | F | 3 | 9 months | 12/11/2006 | 1 | Allergies | dry, sore throat; coughing; irritability. | My son was prescribed Zyrtec for "allergies", for one month he'd had a nighttime cough and his tonsils were enlarged. It did not help my son's sore throat and coughing, instead I believe it aggravated his throat further. His behavior changed for the worse, biting me and grinding his teeth in anger, which could be because he wasn't feeling well but after reading comments from other parents of young children, I wonder if the Zyrtec caused the change. I've taken him off the med, and he is sleeping much better and is acting better. | M | 3 | 1 months | 12/10/2006 | 3 | Alergy | My son is on both zyrtec and singular. He was checked by a ped. phyc., speech theripst, and attends occupational therapy. We adopted him and he had hypothyiriodism and a deformity of the throat. After a toncil and adnoidectomy he began the meds to help with bad allergy and asthma symtoms. This child has become more and more valcanic in his behaviors. He has such a sweet character yet finds himself explosive and trigger happy with the responces that show extreme irritability. I Prayed last night in utter dispare as to how to address his needs. I saw myself doing a web search on the meds. Not only does this zyrtec show these effects but singular is no less a culpret. | Now I stand very concerned about withdrawl. I will print out this and the singular search I did. Why did all my conserns about these drugs fall on deaf ears all this time? I was asured that these drugs were o.k. over and over. | M | 5 | 3 years | 11/16/2006 | 2 | allergies | I have taken Zyrtec for years with no problem. I am 28 years old. My now two year old has been taking it since around 10 months. Around 18 months, he started exhibiting aggressive behaviors, such as hitting, biting, kicking, etc... His preschool teachers says, "He's not being mean; it's like he can't help it." I have now stopped the Zyrtec (as of yesterday). I am so upset to know of these possible side effects in toddlers/young children. I hope this solves our problem! | M | 2 | 1 years | 11/3/2006 |