Zyrtec

[marydell]

So a couple months ago I switched from benadryl to zyrtec for my nightly antihisthamine, because I was having crazy asthma and needed a stronger medicine. Perhaps coincidentally, I've been more and more exhausted and depressed since then.  Today it occurred to me to check, and a little noodling on ye internet tells me that apparently some people get depression and fatigue as side effects of zyrtec. YIKES.  Since I'm already on two tired making pills (for blood pressure) and on two possibly-depression-causing drugs (singulair and depo-provera) I think I will stop taking the zyrtec RIGHT now.  I can't believe I didn't check up on the side effects...I always read the package insert for prescription drugs but since this is OTC I was all like "la la la, friendly drugs for healthy people!" 

The good news is that after a month of no-wheat and no-oats I really am not having any asthma attacks, so I can safely skip the zyrtec, even though I have no benadryl in the house (besides the kiddie stuff).


Edit: Ye gods I put an apostrophe in "besides" 

Comments

[txanne.livejournal.com]

I boggle. I didn't know food allergies could cause asthma.

I was on Zyrtec for a while, but it didn't do anything at all. Or...wait...oh, I was in grad school and a bad relationship at the time, so a slightly bigger black dog would have gone unnoticed.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Yeah, depression is fairly normal for me, but this has been oddly persistent, and is not presenting a clear root cause. Normally I am mildly depressed for a month or two, then it gets worse and I start analyzing it, then I unearth some thorn or other, and then I feel better. This time there is no thorn, so I begin to suspect the chemicals.

Food allergies can cause SO much asthma, if you have allergic asthma as opposed to some other kind. Also eczema. That particular set of things is called atopic syndrome and it is teh suck. Particularly when a person is, as I am, allergic to chocolate. I can cheat on most of my no-no foods but I have to completely avoid chocolate or I end up with much worse asthma. WOE

[txanne.livejournal.com]

WOE AND ANGST, but it's better than dying. I never thought I'd be grateful that my asthma is exercise-induced.

I'm glad you're thornless right now, at least.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

No fresh thorns, anyway. The usual ones are well-worn enough to mostly not cause trouble, unless I do something crazy like visiting my family for more than 48 hours. :)

The chocolate thing is much easier now that I've gotten a legal separation from my uterus.

[slrose.livejournal.com]

The kiddie stuff is fine for adults; and it works faster.

Right now I'm off benadryl until the heat is over, as it lowers heat tolerance. :-(

[marydell.livejournal.com]

The kiddie stuff is fine for adults who can tolerate that horrible horrible taste! I have no idea why Charlie thinks it's so yummy--BLECH. But yeah, I'll use it if I have a problem overnight.

I didn't know about the heat thing - thanks for the heads up. Because it is SO HOT here and I don't tolerate it well in the first place.

[readinggeek451]

Yikes! I'm glad you figured it out. Like everything else, reactions to allergy medicines are idiosyncratic. Zyrtec made me groggy. I used Claritin successfully for years. A friend of mine uses Zyrtec without problem, but Claritin makes her groggy. *shrug* Go figure.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

I'm not certain yet that I've found the culprit, but I'm definitely much less tired today. I managed to drive to work without having any caffeine first, which hasn't happened for quite a while.