Now, I am sure that Zyrtec works well for SOME kids, but let me tell you about our experience with Zyrtec. The last time (which makes the 4th time) that California was in the hospital with pneumonia (click here to read about his last hospitalization), he was prescribed Zyrtec to be taken on a daily basis for so so called "allergies".
He was prescribed one teaspoon daily, which I quickly noted was too much for his age and weight, so I gave him 1/2 teaspoon as prescribed on the label of Zyrtec. Everything seemed to be fine. I did notice that he began to have nightmares twice a week. These nightmares started to increase in frequency and severity until he began having them EVERY night; 5 or 6 times a night. He was inconsolable and was unable to wake from his nightmares. They were very aggressive nightmares that seemed to border on hallucinations. During the day, his behavior changed. He was extremely hyper, seemed to be manic at times, angry and aggressive.
All of this seemed to peak after he had been taking Zyrtec for about 5 or 6 weeks. I felt so badly for him. It didn't seem like he was the same child. Then I realized that it was the Zyrtec. I stopped giving it to him and he immediately went from having 5 or 6 nightmares each night to have two or three. He has been off of it for over a week now, and he is sleeping soundly through the night. His behavior has greatly improved during the day as well. He is the sweet little boy that I always knew.
This was written to alert other parents to the side effects of Zyrtec (and maybe other allergy meds also). If your child has been having nightmares, lacks focus, seems hyper or manic, angry, depressed, aggressive etc - please consider that his/her allergy medication might be causing these problems, especially those of you using Zyrtec. It is so incredibly sad to know that Califiornia was suffering through all of these side effects and behaving in ways that he couldn't help for 5 or 6 weeks. I was in tears many nights, but I am glad that I finally figured it out.
Go to askapatient.com to read about the horror thousands of other parents and children have experienced while taking Zyrtec: link ---> Ask A Patient
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6 comments:
Well, I am a 36 year old woman taking 5mg of the stuff and feel like I am going insane. I am so glad I found Ask A Patient and your blog post. Please leave this up to help other parents. Awful drug!!
I am so happy that you made it over here to read about Zyrtec. We don't want anyone to go through what our 4 year old went through!
Please let us know if you switch allergy meds and how that works out for you. We decided to get an air purifier and forget the allergy meds:)
Wow! I had never heard such a thing. Thanks for sharing.
Glad I found your posting and ask a patient -- my seven-year-old daughter's behaviour became very moody and aggressive after her Dr. upped her Zyrtec from 5mg to 10mg -- literally overnight! Now I'm considering taking her off Zyrtec altogether and seeing how we do with just her inhaler (she has asthma). Thank you again for the useful and comparative info. Best wishes!
My son has asthma also, that is why they decided to put him on Zyrtec...even though he really doesn't have allergies. We have been doing well with just the air purifier(we keep it on all day and night)and his preventative inhaler...and giving him Albuteral at this first sign of a cold or virus.
I loved your article – it was some great information. I think you and your readers might be interested in another article I found on Medical and Dry Eyes.
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