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 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 | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR ZYRTEC | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 5 | terrible allergies | Just drowsiness for the first few days. It passed and I don't think I've had any problems. Taking it for years. Excellent med and now OTC generic. | I think overall it's probably the most effective allergy med out there short of shots, steroids, etc. I have terrible allergies - dust mites, pets, etc.- and all the other stuff did nothing for me. The reactions I'm reading from small children are probably related to adjusting to the drowsiness; children can't handle that as well as adults (I have four children...). My kids were on and off of it for years and I never had problems. IMHO I think a lot of the bad experiences mentioned here are coincidental and not related to the Zyrtec. | M | 36 | 5 years | 1/16/2009 | 5 | hives | no side affects | I began taking Zyrtec 1yr ago, after Claritin stopped working for me. Besides being 100% affective in keeping my hives away, I have not experienced any noticeable effects | F | 41 | 1 years | 1/16/2009 | 3 | Allergies | Confusion, forgetting alot, talking in my sleep and sleep walking. | I've only been taking zyrtec otc for less than a week. I'm convinced my sleeping problems and forgetting things that I shouldn't be forgetting are because of the zyrtec. The first day I took it, it was in the middle of the day because my allergies were so horrible I just wanted them to be lessened a bit. Started taking them at night and now I talk in my sleep and sleep walk which I have never done. I'm also forgetting things that I shouldn't be forgetting. I can't say whether or not its helped my allergies because it was a full blown allergy attack when I first took it. It lessened my symptoms dramatically but they haven't dissapeared completely yet. I'm going to continue taking it for a while and hope for the best. | F | 25 | 5 days | 1/15/2009 | 1 | child with allergies | My 6 year old daughter started crying a lot and being very clingy, she didn't want to eat, her stomach hurt, and she was very tired. she was acting very rude. took it about 1 month. | F | 6 | 1 days | 1/15/2009 | 4 | Allergies | Well, I googled "Zyrtec side effects" because I've been really depressed and didn't understand why. I gained weight that I haven't been able to rationalize (about 10 lbs since Thanksgiving ). I've had extreme sadness and bouts of anger since Christmas. I've cried alot lately and I don't remember crying so much in the past. Today was the last straw when I yelled "I want a divorce" which I've NEVER said. I'm going off Zyrtec today and going back to Claritin and see what happens. | Zyrtec treated my allergies 100%. But these side effects are awful. | F | 41 | 45 days | 1/12/2009 | 1 | allergies | Sleeplessness. Night wakings for hours!!! | My 3 year old daughter started this medication b/c she keeps getting ear infections. The ENT's thought was that she is having mucus settle and is causing the chronic problem. After 5 days she slept great; after 6 days it has become hell!!! She usually goes to bed happily. Now she screams herself to sleep and is up for most of the night. This stuff is awful!!! I'm calling the ENT on Monday. This is not worth the side effects of a 3 year old and entire family not being able to function due to exhaustion. | F | 37 | 12 days | 1/11/2009 | 3 | Allergies | Fatigue, nightmares, visual side effects, urologic problems. | I was taking Zyrtec for my allergies. It worked on my allergies fabulously. I started having problems controlling when I would go to the bathroom. I found out antihistamines can cause that. I stopped taking it and found I had more side effects than I had realized. Stopping it caused really bad withdrawal side effects as well. Those are horrible itching, fatigue, bad headaches, and inability to sleep. I won't ever take this again. Way too many side effects. | F | 31 | 7 months | 1/9/2009 | 1 | Allergies | Severe mood swings, uncontrollable trantrums | My daughter was on the medication for 2 months before and in that time she went from a sweet happy chld to a monster. I was ready to take her to a psychologist or doctor to see what could be wrong and was looking up all kinds of disorders until we realized the behaviors conincided with taking Zyrtec. She was completely back to normal after being off the medication for a week. Be very careful before putting a child on this medication. | F | 37 | 2 months | 1/7/2009 | 1 | Fluid in ears | I experienced heart palpitations, anxiety attacks, general nervousness and a motor tic...my head just shakes for no reason. Loss of concentration, skin irritations. | Don't take this drug, there are other drugs out there like Benadryl that will do the same thing and are much safer. | F | 42 | 1 years | 1/6/2009 | 3 | Severe allergies | I have been depressed since I began taking Zyrtec, but because my girlfriend and I broke up around the same time that I started taking the medicine, I assumed that the termination of the relationship was the cause. After frustrations with being tired all of the time and remembering the same effects when taking diphenhydramine, I decided to utilize the internet to research common side effects of Zyrtec. It all makes sense now. Being down about the termination of a relationship is one thing, but not wanting to move or do anything is something else entirely. I would imagine that the medication increases one's susceptibility to depression, and when one is forced to deal with a difficult situation, depression is more likely to ensue. I have also experienced the insomnia and withdrawal headaches described on this website: http://zyrtecsideeffects.blogspot.com/. | As an antihistamine, it performed wonderfully; my allergy symptoms were almost completely eradicated. However, I would caution users to be aware of potential side effects and be observant of any changes in one's behavior. | M | 23 | 2.5 months | 1/5/2009 | 1 | Allergies | Zytec worked well for my allergy symptoms. Worked probably better than any medication I have taken, however, it is not worth the side-effects I experienced | After taking Zyrtec the first time (a few months ago), I experienced tireness to the point of not wanting to get out of bed. I thought perhaps the symptoms might have been coicidental and tried Zyrtec again recently. After 3-4 doses, I again had to drag myself out of bed and felt depressed to the point of tearfulness. Within a couple of days of not taking the Zyrtec, my energy and mood was much better and the symptoms have not returned. I had experienced similar symptoms during the peri-menopausal period of my life, but only after taking Zyrtec have I felt as bad since that period. I take no prescription medications and took only naprosyn and a vitamin when I took the Zyrtec, so a drug interaction does not seem likely. | F | 55 | 4 days | 1/2/2009 | 5 | annafilactive fits | None | M | 50 | | 12/31/2008 | 1 | Allergies | See comments re: CYP 2D6 from November 2008. My daughter had adverse reactions | Correction -- there is no published information about the exact metabolic pathway for Zyrtec (cetirizine) so I cannot assert a definite link. However, given our experience, I strongly recommend treating this medication as falling in the category of problem medications for "poor metabolizers". I think the odds are the link between pharmagenetics (individual reactions to medications) and zyrtec problems will be found eventually. Until then, watch this drug! | F | 16 | 7 months | 12/28/2008 | 1 | "Possible" Allergies in my 3yo | Mood Swings, Defiance, Agression, Violent Behavior and Thoughts | My son has been taking Zyrtec for 3 days and has turned into an absolute demon--I am not even 100% certain why the Dr. prescribed it but I am tossing it. He is totally out of control and moody. Never again, I will always check this site before filling a prescription. | F | 35 | 3 days | 12/26/2008 | 2 | hives | weight gain, mood swings, difficult to concentrate | my 8 y/o son was given zyrtec by the allergist for hives in july . it is december and my son has gained 7 pounds in 5 months. he has lower grade average, difficult concentrating, tearful etc. i will take him off this med today and will use benadryl if needed , not on a daily basis as with zyrtec. i should have checked this before. | M | 8 | 5 months | 12/23/2008 | 2 | allergies/asthma | drowsiness, problems with attention/focus | My 7-year-old has been on Zyrtec for four years. He was having trouble in school. His reading levels were poor. This year his teacher even thought he might have ADD or an auditory processing disorder. He was going to be evaluated by a speech pathologist, and they asked me if he was on any allergy medicine. I told them yes, he is on Zyrtec, Singulair and Advair, when needed. She told me to check the side effects of these medicines. After checking Zyrtec, I read other similar reports that children were having trouble focusing, paying attention and reading levels were poor. I took my son off all medicines. There has been a huge improvement. His reading level went from a 12 to a 20 in one month. His teacher said he is volunteering answers during class discussion and is being more social. This has all changed since taking him off the medicine. His attention and focus is much better. Now that he's off the medicine, I asked him if he feels different. He told me he used to feel | M | 7 | 4 years | 12/19/2008 | 3 | Hives/food allergies | Anger, mood swings, fatigue, irritability, depression. | I started taking Zyrtec about 6 months ago for chronic urticaria (hives). Prior to this medication, I was taking Claritan, which doesn't work at all, Zyrtec completely helped with hives...but I had other symptoms...extreme aggression, mood swings, headaches, panic attacks. I now am on anxiety medication because it affected me so bad. I stopped taking Zyrtex for about a month and I felt so great, but unfortunately, my hives came back so I started to take it again and I became so tired and angry again. This could just be how my body responded to it, I am not sure. | F | 24 | 6 months | 12/18/2008 | 1 | seasonal allergies | Severe nightmares | It took 3 nights of severe nightmares and waking up crying, and unable to stop for an hour, to realize it was Zyrtec. | F | 34 | 3 days | 12/18/2008 | 5 | Hives | No side effects as of yet (1 week) except possibly a little insomnia. The insomnia might be due to having just come off another antihistamine I was on previously, though. It put me to sleep, and now, without it, I find it hard to resume normal sleeping patterns. | I have quite a lot of food allergies which caused hives to break out all over my face. I know quite a few of my triggers, but avoiding that many foods often proves impossible. Zyrtec has taken care of the issue 100%, even when I'm badly abusing my privileges. I am taking only 10 mg per day, but I will double-up sometimes when it has been more than 8 hours and l know I will be heavily indulging in "bad" foods. It is a miracle worker. | F | 24 | 1 weeks | 12/16/2008 | 1 | ALLERGIES | DRY MOUTH HEADACHES HYPERACTIVITY IRREGULAR HEARTBEAT | I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND GIVING THIS TO CHILDREN. MY DAUGHTER HAS EXPERIENCED MANY SIDE EFFECTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE MEDICINE. | F | 32 | 2 years | 12/15/2008 |