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 |
| 4 | allergies | I took zyrtec for about a year and a half. Loved it. However, Ive had to stop taking it to have some allergy tests taken. I was violently sick to my stomach, have headaches and now cant have an empty stomach. I can only hope these symptoms go away as my activities have been SEVERLY limited. | F | 58 | 10mg 1X day | 11/6/2010 | 3 | Year round allergies | If it was the zyrtec, as my new allergist claimed, extreme lethargy, dizziness, foggy thinking, never able to fully wake up, worse depression, ADD and anxiety. | Never related these symptoms to zyrtec. I was happy that my allergy symptoms were better (never fully gone, but better than any other med) that when Dr's would suggest getting off of zyrtec b/c of lethargy/complete tiredness, I told them they were crazy; My allergies would go nuts. But now I've been off of it for 3 days and feel so much better. Almost human right now. Symptoms got worse every year I was on it. I just assumed my allergies were worse every year as I heard others in this area talk about. | F | 42 | 12 years 10 mg 1X day | 11/5/2010 | 4 | Allergies | tiredness, dry mouth and eyes, irritable, some dizzyness | I really like this product. If I don't take it early enough at night, like before 8, it will make me tired in the morning. If I take it during the day and I get very relaxed, it will make me fall asleep. Sometimes my eyes get dry and my contacts stick to my eyes so I have to be careful about that. I do get dizzy, irritable and have heart palps and I'm not sure if Zyrtec is contributing to this. It might just be anxiety. I can't take more that 1/2 tablet or it will make me very sleepy. It's not a fast acting antihistamine so if you need something fast you might try chlortab or benadryl. I take the zyrtec as a last resort if I can't get the darn sneezing to stop or if my eyes start itching. It has strong sedative qualities so take before bed time. | F | 41 | 4 years 10 mg 1X day | 11/3/2010 | 4 | Allergies and Asthma | None that I have noticed, although I do take it just before I go to bed, so I'm really unable to tell if it may cause any drowsiness. | I have moderate allergies year round, but I am severely allergic to cats. I have recently moved into a house with three cats. For awhile I was taking other allergy pills that were working okay,but I had to take them more frequently, and I was still suffering a lot of symptoms. When I began to take Zyrtec 24 hour, Nearly every one of my symptoms were reduced greatly. Before, living with cats was nearly unbearable, with the itching, sneezing, watery eyes, inability to breathe, etc. Now, I can even play with the cats and I feel fine. Just a little bit of itching still occurs, and my nose isn't always perfectly clear. One day I went just over my 24 hour limit to see what would happen, and my allergic reactions came back with a vengence, so this medicine might have to be a full time thing for me, but it's better than my other options. | F | 18 | 50 days 10 mg 1X day | 11/1/2010 | 2 | allergies making my voice raspy | extreme tiredness, yawning all day (needing a nap right after I woke up),inability to focus at work,lack of energy | I started Zyrtec at the suggestion of my doctor because I was having relatively mild allergies that were affecting my voice. I think it helped the allergies, but I have been so tired, I can barely function. Like some others, I am so glad I found this website because my doctor did not tell me/think it could be this medicine. But based on when the symptoms started, I know that this is the culprit because I am usually a very energetic person. Didn't have the negative emotions, but who knows, maybe I would have had I continued. Thanks for posting everyone. Going off--the "cure" is way worse than the "disease". | F | 48 | 20 days 10 mg 1X day | 10/29/2010 | 1 | Moderate seasonal allergies | Heart palpitations, dizziness, itching when I stopped taking it. | I only started getting allergies about 4 years ago. Most of the time the symptoms are pretty mild. My doctor recommended Zyrtec and I would take it for 2-3 days at a time when my symptoms were intolerable. 5 weeks ago I started having bad dizzy spells and hives and my doctor diagnosed allergies and said that since I was so out of it I needed to take the Zyrtec until they cleared up. The dizzy spells went away after about a week. I would take the drug for several days and then skip a day to see if the allergies had gone away yet. Every time, I started itching again, so I thought the allergen was still around and went back on the drug. Several days ago, the dizzy spells came back along with a pounding heart that would last for hours. I'm very fit and physically active so this seemed really weird. Went back to my doctor who told me that palpitations and dizziness could both be side effects of Zyrtec and gave me a new prescription. I didn't even try the new prescription but my dizzy spells are gone already so I assume this bout of allergies is over. My heart rate is also getting closer to normal. I do still have a little itching, but looking at what everyone else has to say, I'm now convinced that this is due to stopping the Zyrtec and not to an allergy. | F | 38 | 5 weeks 10 1X day | 10/28/2010 | 4 | Allergy induced asthma | I am pregnant so it is hard to know, I have been tired but it could just be pregnancy. | I had a cold in June that I could not get over. I had an extreme cough that kept me up all night. Around this time I also became pregnant. Doc. gave me prednisone 1wk and I felt better and also an albuterol inhaler telling me I suddenly had asthma. I was okay for a month but the cough never really left. I still coughed a lot during the day and often needed albuterol before bed (although it made me jittery). I started needing the inhaler 3 times a day. He prescribed prednisone for 1wk and daily use of Flovent Diskus. I was feeling pretty good and did not need albuterol. After 2wk sample ran out I went to pharmacy and found it was $96/mo. after insurance. I looked up alternatives and found it was category C risk during pregnancy (more experimental than most drugs). Went to my OBGYN and he suggested Zyrtec (only cat. B). I have been on it almost a month and have only used my albuterol once (when I had taken my dose late). I do get a little congestion in the morning which is normal for me and common for pregnant women. I have a productive cough and it is gone before I'm up and about for the day. I am sleeping much better at night and am overall much better off, although Flovent worked too, I feel better about the lower risk. | F | 28 | 1 months 10mgy 1X day | 10/19/2010 | 1 | asthma, wheezing, hives | My 2 y/o son is taking Zyrtec at advice of allergist. We tried Singular, but he had anger side effects with that medication. Since starting Zyrtec, my son has gone from sweet boy to anger-man. He hits himself, he throws things, he constantly says, "I can't, I can't!" He woke up last night screaming in fright (hasn't done that in over a year). He's just so negative. After reading comments here, I'm taking him off. | As an aside, I had chronic idiopathic urticaria when I was younger (still comes back every now and then). To keep it under control, I took a combo of Tagamet (yes, the stomach acid medicine) and Claritin. My doctor said there is a secondary ingredient in Tagamet that works like Benadryl, but without the sleepy side effects. It might be worth discussing with your doctor if you are trying to find a non-itch solution. | M | 2 | 3 weeks 5 mg 1X day | 10/19/2010 | 1 | allergies (cats, dust, ragweed) | exhaustion, feeling wiped-out, nightmares, irritability, unexplained anger, weight gain, difficult swallowing, thick congestion | I have never felt so exhausted. I took 5 or 10mg at night and on weekends I easily slept until 5pm. On weekdays I could barely get out of bed, let alone hold my head up at work. I just couldn't get enough sleep. I found myself so irritable, even enraged, didn't feel like myself at all. Yet, nothing "bad" had happened in my life. My allergist thought I was crazy during the 30 day check-in when I explained the exhaustion and crazy dreams, etc. I am going back to Alavert where I have no side effects. | F | 32 | 35 days 5 or 10mg 1X day | 10/19/2010 | 1 | allergies | Always felt exhausted. Generally, everything seemed overwhelming. | Decided to stop taking zyrtec this week because I was tired of feeling exhausted all of the time. Could not wake up in the morning. After 4 days without zyrtec, I felt much better, but now I am experiencing itching all over. I guess zyrtec prevented this itching, but I am not sure it was worth it. Looking for another solution. | F | 56 | 3 years 1X day | 10/17/2010 | 1 | Seasonal Allergies | I have been giving this medication to my 5 year old son for his symptoms associated with his seasonal allergies.. after a month of taking the meds I noticed he started sleepwalkin and then later got depressed and at times would tell me "mom, i'm just sad!" I really didn't put it all together until i came across this website.. he will stop taking Zyrtec as of today!!! | M | 5 | 90 days 5ML 1X day | 10/15/2010 | 1 | seasonal allergies | Took at night for the first few days, and it seemed to help, kinda. But i was also give flonase and singulair. I stopped the flonase and singulair and continued with zyrtec, i forgot to take one that pm so i took it before work, i was "dingy" all day, felt off balance and just not right and i was SOOO sleepy, i had to leave work early and go home!. Thought ok, i will take it at night from now on, started the next night, i had nightmares all night, i had people chasing me, i woke up SO tired. Tried the next night, more nightmares..... took it for about another week, nightmares EACH night!!! think i would rather have a stuffy nose and itchy eyes than nightmares, i gave it up!! | F | 47 | 2 weeks 10mg 1X day | 10/12/2010 | 4 | chronic idiopathic urticaria | My 6yr old daughter had to start taking zyrtec eveyday to control her chronic urticaria, as time went one her behaviors just have gotten worse. To the point we were thinking about taking her to a pshyc dr. Don't know what else to do I have taken her off for a few days now and the attitude is already getting better. But I had to give her benadryl to keep her from swelling. Which they told me not to give her that cause of the alcohol in it. Does anyone out there that has Chronic Urticaria know anything that helps, without the deppression/anger issues. Please help, thanks! | F | 6 | 8 months 5mg 1X day | 10/6/2010 | 1 | ragweed allergies | Pediatrician recommended to give our 3 year old son for his allergies. Finally, he slept through the night without coughing fits and congestion. However, this medication took my sweet-natured boy and turned him in to something unrecognizeable. Very naughty behavior, total defiance, hitting, throwing, lack of appetite, infrequent urination... Within 3 days of his first dose I realized what the cause of his behavioral changes were and immediately removed him from this medicine (and tossed the remainder in the trash). Very shortly thereafter he was once again my loving son. I sure hope that the makers of this drug read these observations and determine a fix. It's a real shame when something that is supposed to help you can change you in to something completely unrecognizeable. ps: called the pedicatrician's office and they were aware of the possible reactions and noted in his file that my son can not have this medication. | F | 3 | 3 days 1 tsp 1X day | 10/5/2010 | 1 | Allergies & Allergy Induced Asthma | My 6 year old was switched from Singular to Zyrtec when he was having too many problems with his Allergy Induced Asthma. Soon after we noticed a handful of changes in him. First we noticed that he was starving all the time, then he started to be moody all the time as well, throwing fits, being mean, rude, yelling, etc. We are taking him off of it as of today to see if my happy, polite, well behaved 6 year old comes back. That was the only thing that changed 3 weeks ago and I cant imagine there being any other cause. | M | 6 | 3 weeks 5 mg 1X day | 10/5/2010 | 1 | seasonal allergies | I had a bad case of hives from spring seasonal allergies. I had tried Benadryl (worked, but made me very tired) and Claritin (the 24 hour dosage only lasted about 12 hours). I gave Zyrtec a try. One five milligram pill at 6 am and I was completely wiped out for the rest of the day. I felt like I had taken an entire bottle of Percocet. The next day, I was about 50% better, but still not myself. The Zyrtec did help with the itching, but I couldn't believe how awful I felt after a single dose of an over the counter medicine. I got a shot of Solu-Medrol at the doctor's office and threw away the remaining Zyrtec. | F | 40 | 1 days 5 mg 1X day | 10/1/2010 | 5 | No side effects, only that it takes about an hour and a half to kick in. | I started with an uncontrollable itch all over my body, after taking ZYRTEC, I have been just fine, I only take it when needed. | F | 40 | 1 years 30 MG 1X AN | 9/30/2010 | 3 | seasonal allergies | Exhausted, shakey and very irritable. | Every time I take this drug to dry me out (when the Nasonex isn't cutting it) I feel like a zombi. I'm exhausted, shakey and very irritable the next day -- snapping at everything and everyone. I just want to scream. I need to find an alternative as this is not worth the relief I get from the nose drip! When my young son was on this he was also very irritable. Doing much better on Xyzol. I may need to look into that for myself. | F | 46 | 5 days 10 mg 1X day | 9/30/2010 | 4 | dustmite allergies | Realizing that my son, age 15, has been experiencing sleepwalking, and it is getiing worse. He almost walked out of the house at night, and he has become frightened to sleep lest he sleepwalk again. | We are not going to take it for 30 days to see if it makes a difference. | M | 15 | 365 days 30 mg?? 1X day | 9/29/2010 | 4 | Seasonal Allergies | drowsiness | Since reducing my dosage to 5mgs per day I haven't felt the side effects listed before and, I still don't have horrible allergy symptoms. In short the lesser amount of Zyrtec is just as effective as a whole pill but the side effects are mostly gone except drowsiness for about an hour after waking. | F | 39 | 6 days 5 1X day | 9/21/2010 Patient History |