Evil with a capital "D"

Here's my take on Zyrtec. If it is prescribed for you or anyone you know, pay careful attention to the possible side effects. The only warning on the Zyrtec website is that it may cause drowsiness. But Zane took it back in October and experienced hallucinations and terrible mood swings. We quickly discontinued its' use. In fact if Lora had not tipped me off in her comment on that post we probably would have endured far worse and for longer. But once she mentioned that it gave her nightmares I did some research online. I came across this website and found multiple stories from parents that went something like this:

"Fits of irrational responses (screaming, hitting, rage), twitching, nightmares, sleep walking, extremely emotional"

and this:
"nightmares, mood swings, hallucinations, crying outburst, bed wetting accidents, facial twitches"

There are countless other testimonials given, both good and bad. But the bad is really bad. Kids being kicked out of daycare for biting and just being uncontrollable. Some even going so far as being diagnosed with ADHD or Autism. But once they discontinued the Zyrtec all things returned to normal.

Now of course we decided back in October to never give it to Zane again. The reason it has come up again is because I was talking to my friend the other day and she mentioned that her 4 year old was doing much better in school and at home, behaviorally. And that he was sleeping better at night and just back to his usual, sweet self. For the previous 4 months he had been a completely different child. Easily upset and irritable, acting up in school and waking up during the night. Come to find out he started taking Zyrtec when school started and they just thought all the problems were a result of school. Perhaps it was just too much for him. Well when they saw the changes after discontinuing the Zyrtec they knew that wasn't the case.

Of course she is kicking herself now and as a parent that's hard not to do. She thought she was doing what was best for her son's allergies. She has vowed to research any medication prescribed to her kids from here on out, before giving it to them. I have to agree that that is our job as informed patients and parents. It's so easy to trust our healthcare professionals but we can't rely on them alone. We have to be our own advocates. So I too, vow to do my own research. After everything I've read about Zyrtec, it's just too scary not to.

Now I want to emphasize that Zyrtec probably works well for plenty of people and without any side effects at all. I just wanted to share my experience with it, as well as my friends'.

And to make matters worse, check out what I got in the mail today...