Swine Flu Vaccine Side Effects?

Photo above:  California with his Tweety Bird band-aid covering his Swine Flu vaccination boo boo

California received the H1N1 vaccine Friday morning.  So far, he has had no side effects and/or noticeable reaction to the vaccine.  However, he did have a reaction to the preservative free seasonal flu vaccine, which he got on Wednesday of this week.  His eyes became sore and red.  He also ran a fever for a brief moment.  Other than that, he had no serious reaction to the seasonal flu vaccine.  I will post an update if anything changes, but so far so good :) 

Zyrtec is Evil

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

Singulair ALERT

This is an alert to EVERYONE who has allergies/asthma, but I especially want to inform parents with children who have allergies and/or asthma(because parents are often the last to know). The FDA has updated the SIDE EFFECTS of this "miracle" drug to include:

TREMORS
ANXIOUSNESS
DEPRESSION
SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR

California was prescribed this to control his asthma at the age of 2 even though his allergist determined that he didn't have allergies. He refused to take it and I didn't trust this drug for some reason. I had no reason NOT to trust it but something inside me told me not to give it to him. I am so glad that I didn't!

Click HERE to read the news story associated with this information.