Zyrtec Making Child Grouchy?

My almost 3 year old son took Zyrtec last year for his allergies, and by the 2nd week on it was extremely restless and irritable and had his first and only (so far) night terror. It was very scary! I had already been reading up on the behavior changes because I had suspicions it was the Zyrtec so I switched him to Claritin the very next day and have had no further problems. This season we are sticking with Claritin and haven't had any problems.

Oh yeah, its the zyrtec. my son, however, seems to adjust after 2-3 days and get back to normal. give it to him at bedtime. although it says non-drowsy, it makes me really sleepy. It makes me grouchy too. try a neti pot. claritin has been safety tested in 4 and over (zyrtec has been tested in under 2's) but is not near as strong so may not work as well.
i've noticed that since we greened up our cleaning supplies and gone to a mostly vegetarian diet that my son's allergies are almost non-existent (they were mild to begin with). something to try.
good luck!

We had the same problem with my son. We switched to Claritin and his attitude improved a lot.

Hi T.;
My boy is 4 and suffers seasonal allergies as well. I find Zyrtec makes him groggy but works better than the other medications. A good neighbor suggested I buy LOCAL honey and give him one tsp in the am and another around dinner time. It works like a charm. You just need to make sure the honey is LOCAL being that it's made from local bees from local pollen targeting your allergy source. It acts like a vaccine. I buy mine at Whole Foods for 3.99 a bottle. Try it. Let us know if it helps. It really has helped my son a lot.
hth

Do some research online. Our friends put there 7 yr old son on it per their peds recommendation. He got progressively angrier and was having HUGE meltdowns over the littlest things that used to not bother him. He was only on it for a week. She did some research and was shocked at the side effects and immediately took him off it. Once it was out of his system he was back to his normal self. Here is the link she found. http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=19835&....

Get him off it ASAP since he's having side effects and find out what else you can give him that has different ingredients. She took him off and he deals with it like he always has, she hasn't tried anything else yet. Good luck.

Recently, we put our daughter on Zyrtec. I mentioned it to my mom, a former preschool teacher, and she asked me if it made her grumpy? She said she came in contact with so many kids at preschool who were on it that were just as grouchy as can be. We saw some of that behavior in our daughter and decided to try the generic equivalent to children's Claritin. It's worked like a charm.

Some friends of mine had a similar experience, but it was with nightmares! My daughter uses Nasonex and there seem to be no side effects for her.

Zyrtec made my son so aggressive. He was on prescription Zyrtec for allergies when he was 5. I hated it and took him off it. Now when those seasonal allergies attack, I put him on 24 hr Claritin. It does the same thing for his allergies, without the aggressive grumpiness.

We had the same problem and I found the side-effects weren't worth the payoff because she was still having allergy issues. Our ENT recommended a nasal spray (patanase) and xyzal....I'm much happier. Good luck!

Zyrtec is widely prescribed nowadays. I guess its the popular thing now.
But like anything, there are side effects. Which you can read about on the box or online.

What may work for one person,may not for another.
My Mom's Doctor for example, did not recommend that for her and her allergies for example, but something else. Because of Zyrtec's side effects. Per HER condition.

Ask your Ped for alternatives.

I know that it makes my husband grumpy b/c it makes him tired. He started taking it before bed and has improved greatly!

We found the same to be true with our three year old. His behavior was definitely more challenging on the medication. We have also used Claritin but it doesn't seem to work as well. When in doubt I use Simply Saline--no side effects and helps to keep allergies from turning into infections!!