Generic Name: Cetirizine
Brand Name: Zyrtec
Zyrtec Drug and Medication User Reviews
It caused me Fixed Drug Eruption. Many areas of my body got pigments and I didn't understand first time because no such side affect mentioned anywhere.
I get early spring and late summer congestion, no runny nose yet post nasal drip that feels like I am drowning in my chest. Zyrtec worked so good. I have no drowsiness. I don't take it continuous usually just a couple of days maybe a week at the most until next bout. No side effects what-so-ever.
I took 1 of these at about 5 pm. My nose was cleared by about 8. BBUUUTTTT!!! I woke up the next day with regular heart palpitations (Flipping and pounding) they lasted the entire day! I had some dizziness and depressed mood as well. Won't take again.
I take this for seasonal allergies such as sneezing runny nose. I only take it as needed. Luckily for me my allergies are only bad around this time of the year. I try not to take it everyday if I don't need it. I noticed with the 10 mg dose that after 24 hours the effect seems to be wearing off. But I try to space my dose out to 48 hours so I take it every other day. I've read a lot of the reviews with people having various side effects but for me I've never had any problems with itching or having it caused me to have some sort of mental depression or any mental anxiety or any issue like this. The main side effect I noticed from this medication is that it makes me sleepy. For example when I take the dose I'll sleep for at least 8 hours the next day. And then maybe even nap some more the next day. Generally I don't sleep a lot or very well so I don't mind this side effect. I've been using this medicine for more than 10 years. I would tell people that they should be careful with it because it can interact with alcohol and if you take a dose it's still in your body for up to 48 hours from a single dose. I've tried other allergy medications but generally they do not work as well as this one and some of the other medications make me feel sort of well how can I say wired. And they keep me up so I prefer Zyrtec. Another thing I noticed about this medicine is that when I take the tablets it seems to bother my stomach a little bit. I don't have any pain or anything but I noticed some what loose stools. but I've switched to what we call a syrup version that's available in my country and I've noticed that this problem seems a lot less with the syrup that I was with the pills. So anyone who notices the loose stool I would recommend to try to syrup version if it's available for you. I know it's not available everywhere but I really feel like they should make it available. My opinion the syrup is better than the tablet but both work very well for allergy problems especially seasonal allergies.
My child had been taking this daily for 2 years. It had helped with his allergies BUT it also caused side effects such as anxiety, depression and intrusive thoughts. He was a mental mess thanks to this drug.
Used this otc because of a tick bite. I was prescribed OTC by my doctor. I was on it for 35 days. I am trying to wean myself off of it. When I don't take it I break out in hives. I now have itchy burning skin headache and it feels like something is crawling on me. This is terrible. I went from 10 mgs to 5 mgs. I am going cold turkey. My itching is awful. I googled the side effects of this OTC and see that a lot of people are having some of the same symptoms.
I began taking Zyrtec in the spring. It was very effective with relieving my allergy symptoms. I began spotting and bleeding irregularly around the same time. I did not attribute this to the Zyrtec at the time. I stopped Zyrtec over the summer and the spotting and irregular bleeding stopped. I began taking Zyrtec again in the fall when my allergies returned. As soon as I began taking the Zyrtec, I began spotting and bleeding irregularly again. I stopped taking Zyrtec and the spotting stopped. I havenâ??t had this issue since stopping Zyrtec.
I have taken Zyrtec off and on. Never consistently until recently trying to remember to take it daily..especially with COVID-19 as I wanted to keep any allergies at bay.... but today I woke up with yellowish eyes. Apparently Zyrtec can cause severe liver problems and jaundice. Yeah.. no thank you. Now to figure out to heal my body from the damage Zyrtec has done.
Beware - once you start taking Zyrtec regularly, you are likely to experience addiction and be unable to stop it without significant withdrawal side effects. I have noticed that 24-48 hrs after taking Zyrtec, like clockwork, I experience extreme and uncontrollable itching and hives all over my body. (I never suffered from hives in my life until taking this drug.) This, of course, seems like an allergic reaction and makes you take more Zyrtec. I am extremely upset that the potential for significant withdrawal symptoms is not listed as a known drug effect. Johnson
I was happy that this product worked on my allergies but it came with a cost. My joints, legs, neck felt like I was 50 yrs older than I am. I walked like an old lady. After reading reviews I stopped taking it. Now I am uncontrollably itching everywhere. My hands, feet, scalp. It's horrible. I also gained 25 pounds on it. I won't be using it again. Nightmare. Gave me nightmares too.
After being on zyrtec for 3 years I decided to stop taking it to see if I could cope with my year round allergy to just about everything. After being off zyrtec for about 3 days I began getting itchy bumps all over my body and the feeling that I couldn't breathe. I thought I was just having an allergic reaction being hyper sensitive to whatever the medication had been blocking all those years. I decided to wait it out. After suffering for 2 more days my husband did some Internet searching and found to our horror that this was a side effect of the drug. So we went out, bought the smallest amount we could so I could taper off 4 days later still bumps, still itching. It is unbelievable that this information was not given to people and that doctors are pushing it on their patients as mine did. Something needs to be done about this. Thanks to zyrtec I now know how a junkie must feel.
When I was first given Zyrtec it was a few years back and at the time I was also on xanax for anxiety so I thought the extra anxiety was just where my xanax wasn't working; well about a week ago I started taking zyrtec again after being off for 2 years. Here's where it gets interesting; my doctor had taken me off xanax the same day I was taken off the zyrtec. So I started again last week and today I woke up with a massive panic attack after feeling depressed for the last few days. Praying this stops. I don't want to be back on xanax again.
Used in varying doses for years for allergies and inner ear problems. Did not make any conncetion between this medication and depression/anxiety symptoms. Stopped taking it completely for a while. Felt really good. Didnt think about it being the reason until seasonal alllergies started up again and I suddenly felt really down, anxious and like i wanted to cry. Took one this morning and felt the side effects kick in right away. I will stick to my nose spray. Its too bad because it does work very well.
I've been taking Zyrtec since high school for indoor/outdoor allergies. It was really helpful for my allergies, although I still needed to use a nasal spray to get rid of everything. Anyway, the withdrawal that people are mentioning is REAL. I don't know how or why it isn't anywhere on the packaging, but the itchiness is horrible. I have eczema, and tried to go off of Zyrtec before for an allergy test and had the worst itchiness of my life. For me, the itchiness feels like underneath my skin is itchy. No welts, no hives, just the overall feeling of itch. I went back on it thinking that it was allergies (I live in a major city, where smog, pollen, etc. make those without allergies - have allergies). My allergist also didn't know Zyrtec withdrawal was a "thing" either!! There are some articles out about how to cut down and they work, so I wanted to share it on this forum. You take your Zyrtec, cut it in half, and take a half dose every day for 5-7 days, then you move to taking that half dose every other day for 5-7 days, and then finally quit cold turkey. I did the half dose for a week, and then have stopped taking it. I'm having little to no itchiness (it's also spring allergy season, so that doesn't help - I've been putting local raw honey in my tea and honestly think that's helping), and I hope this helps others come off of this medication. If I had known this I wouldn't have started taking it, but I will be thrilled to finally be done with this drug!
I am a nurse who has been taking this for seasonal allergies and I wanted to write my observations on Zyrtec. I noticed depression in mood, weight gain, sluggish bowels and some urinary retention. All my seasonal allergy symptoms did not subside to my satisfaction. When getting off Zyrtec you may experience uncontrollable itching that you didn't have before taking the med, I'll tell you how to get off it without the itch. Start taking 10mg Claritin each night for two nights, then cut Claritin in half to 5mg and take for three more nights then stop taking Claritin, that takes the itch away and Claritin doesn't have the withdrawal itch. Once you stop Claritin and Zyrtec you will quickly lose any weight you gained and mood should improve. Hope that helps.
I have took zertec for spring allergies and the days that I would have to cut my grass, because I get severe head pressure and pain from the histamine my body would produce. It seemed to work. I didn't take it every day because it is kind of expensive to me. A family member told me I can buy it at The Dollar Tree for a dollar a pack so I bought it and started taking it every day during the spring and fall allergy seasons. I would take it right before I leave the house. I have to drive around to different jobsite for work. But I couldn't drive any more. It was so hard. I was so confused. I could not dare even turn my head, only look straight ahead. I would seem to get better once I finally made it to the job site, and felt ok. Also I was having chest pain or pressure which seemed to be related to constipation.and then my knack started to hurt all the time. Tight and pressure. Also I would fall asleep right after supper every night, about 6 ocklock. It was like I was drunk and passing out. I forgot to take it one Friday and I felt so good, i was normal again..aturday I took it and I was miserable again. So I decided to stop taking zertec and I feel so good . I feel ten years younger. No kneck pain or chest pressure. No confusion. I see more clearly and think more clearly. No more constipation. Zertec is a powerful drug. Be careful. If you take it try stopping for a while. You may forget who you are or were. I did.
I am doing this because I am currently trying to get off of zyrtec after taking it daily for many years, as prescribed by my dr. DO NOT TAKE THIS. Withdrawal from this drug is total hell. I don't know how to stop taking it. I cut my pills in half and took that for 2 weeks. Then I started every other day. Now my pills are gone, and I have hives and massive welts all over my body. I feel like my skin is bubbling. It itches and burns so badly. I can't sleep. It's hard to work. I look like a junkie or something. If anyone can help me, please let me know. I no longer have health insurance, and I have a hard time trusting doctors anymore.
WOW after reading up on this med here ...I quit after 2 pills ! So scary that companies can put product on the market for over the counter use that can do things like people have encountered!
While helpful to alleviate my sinus pressure, this drug had terrible side effects. It started when I was hit with a debilitating dizzy spell right after taking the pill for the first time. This was only 4 days ago. The dizzy spells continued, with bouts of nausea. Later, I went into a tail spin of depression. I was unable to get out of bed, exhausted, sad, crying, and had the worst feeling of hopelessness. I quit taking the drug after only 3 days. Today, I am somewhat my old self, but would never take this again, or recommend. I basically spent 3 days in bed wishing I would die, that I will never get back.
I experienced persistent backache, headache, sleep problems, extreme fatigue, lethargy, zero motivation,depression,weight gain and INTENSE sore muscles especially neck, shoulders and back. I didn't realize it was this medicine until I forgot to take it two days. I felt like my old self and my body stopped hurting. A light went on and I thought that maybe the med was causing my issues...so i decided to do an experiment by taking it the next day...and woke up hurting, tired, and foggy and miserable... I'm done with this medication. I will be telling my ENT Dr about my experience. Perhaps he'll caution his patients when advising them to take it. I'm just so glad I figured it out. I think Zyrtec should add these other side effects to their list.