Day 6

Last night I had a hard time falling asleep again.  It took me probably about an hour and a half to fall asleep. I had another bout with nasal allergies in the middle of the night, blowing my nose for a half hour or maybe a little less.

Upon waking, I sneezed quite a bit.  The rest of the day, however, was sneeze-free.

Today has been largely normal.  I think it’s pretty safe to say at this point that I will not be getting the severe “itchies” that so many people have complained about while getting off antihistamines after regular use.  I’m so pleased.  I must say I was quite worried about that possible symptom.  My scalp and the insides of my elbows itched very mildly on and off throughout the day.

Still not much appetite, and had a bit of evening nausea.

Still clearing this cold out of my system–ears are popping, throat is still a little irritated, and nose is partially plugged, although I can still breathe out of both nostrils.

Day 5

Last night, I fell asleep quickly but didn’t manage to get enough quality sleep.  This was partly due to my cat and roommate; but also partly that I had a bit of an allergy attack in the middle of the night, complete with a very itchy, runny nose.  It only lasted maybe 30 minutes to an hour.

Today, February 20th, wasn’t bad, all in all.  A little mild scalp itchiness, and a little on the insides of my arms at the elbow creases.  In the middle of the day, I felt a wave of shakiness akin to the feeling of caffeine jitters, though I hadn’t had any caffeine.  I felt a bit weak as well while the shakiness was occurring.  It passed within a couple of hours.

I had no nausea, but I also had next to no appetite–I had to remind myself to eat.

My nose remained half plugged up today, but I didn’t sneeze at all.

In the evening my lips felt hot and slightly irritated.  They felt tender and had the sensation of swelling, but they didn’t look swollen.  I also at one point (while writing this post, actually) had a sudden wave of dizziness come over me, but it only lasted a few seconds.  It could have been the withdrawal, but it could also have been due to the fact that my ears are in that annoying phase at the end of a cold where they keep plugging up and then popping.

Other than these mild symptoms, I felt pretty good today.

Introduction

Hello.  I am a 28 year old woman who has been taking Zyrtec nearly every day for over 10 years for airborne allergies, such as dust and mold.  Being from coastal Northern California, I have lived in lots of older houses with lots of mold.  Before taking Zyrtec, I constantly had allergy symptoms from living with such pervasive mold: runny and/or stuffy nose; frequent sneezing; itchy eyes, nose, and throat; etc.  I would go to the doctor often thinking I had sinus infections, as sinus problems run in my family.  They would always send me home with samples of Zyrtec (this was when it was only available by perscription), saying I was just having a bad run-in with nasal allergies.  They worked like a charm–within an hour or two, all my symptoms were gone.  I would take them until they ran out (usually in a few weeks), quit for a while, and get more when my allergies flared up again.

Finally, when they became available over the counter, I started taking them every day.  I have been doing this for several years now (I can’t remember exactly how many).  I took one 10mg dose of the Target brand generic Zyrtec (cetirizine dihydroclhoride) every night before bed with no apparent problems.  If I forgot to take one now and again, I would always wake in the middle of the night with my nose itching and running like crazy; so I made sure to stay on the medication constantly.

Occasionally, I would still have “breakthrough allergies” while taking Zyrtec.  One day, I searched the internet to see about the possibility of me developing a tolerance to the regular dose.  Upon searching, I came across several blogs and forums discussing people’s experiences with trying to quit Zyrtec.  Their experiences were often severe, ranging from extreme itchiness all over their bodies, to swelling of the throat, to nausea, dizziness, and weakness.  This alarmed me–I had never thought of Zyrtec as anything but a Godsend.  After reading these people’s experiences, I decided to try quitting myself.  My current house has far less of a mold problem than previous places, so I figured I’d like to see how bad my allergies really are, and if it’s really necessary for me to be taking medication every day.  I generally like to avoid taking medication when possible.  Also, being of childbearing age, I’d rather stop taking this now then find out I’m pregnant and try to detox while also having pregnancy issues.

This blog will detail my experience with quitting this drug.  I can only hope for an easy detox…

Day 4

Last night, I had a hard time falling asleep.  Once I fell asleep, I slept fine, but I lay awake for the first 2 hours I was in bed.

Today is the 19th, day 4 of my Zyrtec detox.  I have sneezed a bit, and still been slightly itchy.  Nose is halfway plugged.  All in all, I felt fine this morning.  However, around 1pm I started feeling nauseated and a bit woozy/dizzy.  This could be due to the fact that my cold is clearing out of my ears, but who knows?  I’ve had a few bouts with vertigo in the past and always suspected the Zyrtec had something to do with it…  I hope this feeling goes away soon.  I have a passionate hate for nausea and dizziness.

I noticed a few unexplained green and yellow bruises on my legs, one of which was 1″x2″.  I played a video game sitting in a somewhat uncomfortable chair for several hours yesterday, and I’m thinking I may have bruised due to the way my legs were laying against the arms of the chair.  That being said, I normally don’t bruise easily.  In fact, I can’t remember the last bruise I had.  I usually have to get hit pretty hard for one to show up.  This is weird.

By the late afternoon, I had a wave of giddiness come over me.  I felt nearly manic, which is very out of character for me.  I must say, it was pretty fun.  I just laughed a lot and cracked a bunch of silly jokes.

 

Days 1-3

Let it first be noted that I do realize correlation does not necessarily equal causation, but I have decided to record all unusual feelings, sensations, or symptoms I happen to experience over the next few weeks.

I was sick with a bad cold this week, so I figured it would be a good time to stop taking the Zyrtec.  When I’m stuffed up, the allergens can’t find their way up my nose and make me itch and sneeze.  The night of February 15th was my first night without a dose.  I was already sick and feeling pretty lousy, so I didn’t really notice any bad symptoms the first day (16th).  The second and third days (17th-18th) I noticed some slight itchiness in my scalp, and occasionally on small areas of my arms, legs, and back.  It registered as a slight tingle.  I scratched sometimes, but successfully ignored a lot of the sensations.