Talk:Cetirizine

Rewrite
If you take a look at the very sexy hydroxyzine page, you'll notice i've practically re-written the article. Same here; i'm rapidly expanding and referencing it in entirity so it's available as a medical resource for other doctors :-) James.Spudeman 00:38, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

History
The history of this article only goes back to Sept 2008. Surely there was an article on Cetirizine here before that? I remember reading it. This article doesn't list any of the side effects of the drug; it gives less information than comes with the packet. I think there's been some editing by people with vested interests here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.86.169.82 (talk) 22:21, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Agreed!, this article seems to be very truncated compared to the article i used some years ago to research why the drug is not as effective on myself as others (the reason turned out to be lactose intolerance leading to less of the drug being metabolized than normal), there is no details on common forms e.g. cetirizine hydrochloride or the route of metabolism of common drug media. Javabyte (talk) 15:06, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

GA
Sorry, but this article has not gone through the Good article candidacy process, and therefore cannot be considered GA class. Feel free to submit it for consideration, though! Best, Fvasconcellos 02:16, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

I am taking this drug, it comes with a sheet listing potential side effects etc... worth having a section on this ?

Anyone have any facts about when cetirizine is going over the counter in the US? I've heard it was this fall when Levocetitizine comes out.

Melodramatic BS sticks out like a sore thumb.
Wow, what truly bad writing crops up in this article:

This medication may be prescribed to institutionalized individuals who suffer from depression -- temporarily enhancing their emotions, including those of alertness, speediness, and even perhaps anger. Repeated usage may increase the chances of these aforementioned symptoms.....

Let's look over this in detail:

"'temporarily enhancing their emotions'"

This is nonsense. First of all, there is no specific mechanism for "enhancing emotions", temporarily or otherwise, in medicine. "Enhancing emotions" is strictly BS druggie talk -- and rest assured, I'm saying that as a druggie. Secondly, there is no reason why "temporarily enhancing" a patient's emotions would be at all therapeutic, or desirable in any way.

"' . . . including those of alertness, speediness, and even perhaps anger.'"

Bad grammar. Emotions of alertness? "even perhaps anger"?

"Alertness" is not an emotion. "Speediness" is DAMN well not an emotion.

"'Repeated usage may increase the chances of these aforementioned symptoms.....'"

Whatever that means. But a suspense ellipsis, for cryin' out loud?!? I'm pretty sure that's not Wikipedia style. Hell, five dots, it's not even a proper ellipsis.

You know what, screw it. I'm taking it out. It needs a citation that it's never gonna get, anway. Whoever wrote this drivel should be deeply and permanently ashamed. --63.25.236.17 (talk) 16:34, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Needs more content
The article never directly mentions Zyrtec, which is what the drug has been marketed as in the U.S. for years. Nor does it mention the fact that the zyrtec patent expired, and its now available OTC in the U.S. as of January 2008. Or the fact that generics will be coming soon in the U.S. Or the fact that the drug is marketed in Canada as Reactine, that generics are available in Canada, India, U.K., etc. Or any info on known side effects (sleepiness, etc.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.195.238.230 (talk) 21:17, 24 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I also found this odd. Good to hear that (hopefully cheaper) generics of Zyrtec will be available OTC soon. It's way too expensive in its current incarnation. --uana·uerba·sunt (talk) 03:23, 1 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Reactine has been available OTC on an open shelf in Canada for years. It has been available as a generic in the same way for at least several years. My memory may be foggy on the latter date, but I see that the large Canadian generic manufacturer Apotex has offered the product since June 10, 2008; see here. In the UK, I was able to purchase Zyrtec and generic versions without prescription, but from the pharmaceutical counter (that is, one had to ask for it, it was not on an open shelf), since at least September 2003. I am sure we could find the exact dates after which it was available OTC and / or as a generic from pharmacist friends with access to reference sources.--papageno (talk) 23:59, 2 January 2009 (UTC)


 * In New Zealand, I've seen it branded as Zyrtec, Zetop, Razene, and Histaclear. The last three are generics. 203.173.199.85 (talk) 00:55, 25 May 2012 (UTC)

Unsynched
The image, title, lede sentence, and chemical formula are out of sync with each other. Is this article talking about the free base? Or the mono-HCl salt, or the di-HCl salt? The chemists have agreed on the neutral free base/free acid forms, FYI. --Rifleman 82 (talk) 21:11, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Is this drug used for throat infection? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.119.114.226 (talk) 09:34, 13 June 2014 (UTC)

Levo version
From what souce is there a claim that the levo version of the drug has fewer side effects? -Grammaticus Repairo (talk) 15:58, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Drowsiness?
In the article it says that cetirizine lacks sedative side effects common with older antihistamines, but I bought a carton of it and on the back it clearly says "Drowsiness may occur". Should this be mentioned? Can someone tell me whats going on here? --74.234.131.185 (talk) 19:01, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

it says so as a limited liability if it does occur in combination with other drugs Markthemac (talk) 22:52, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

hi, i am not a sick person so i dont take a lot of medicine, and i take this cetiricine not daily, only when my allergy comes out. i just want to confirm if this affect loosing memory i mean like memory gap? coz since im taking this cetiricine i observed this memory gap is developing in me. im now 33years old i started taking this medicine since i was 28yrs old. can u send me some answer regarding on this? csolis2003@yahoo.com thanks in advance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.97.224.8 (talk) 07:49, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Synonyms
Is there any particular reason that "MERCK" and "Glaxo" are listed under synonyms for this drug? I'm pretty new to all this so I don't want to just remove it without checking first. Romulus267 (talk) 21:17, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm just gonna take it out, if someone has a problem they can revert it. Romulus267 (talk) 00:35, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

Dependancy
"Daily dosage of this medication is generally not required, but the medication can still result in dependency." I looked all over the net for anything that said this medication results in some kind of dependancy with no luck. Gonna go ahead and remove it. Romulus267 (talk) 01:52, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

Monohydrochloride OR dihydrochloride?
According to the IUPAC name this is a dihydrochloride. However, according to the "formulae" this is a monohydrochloride. One or two HCl? --Jü (talk) 17:03, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Levocetirizine usage in this article?
Hi! It seems that the given image for cetirizine is that of levocetirizine, while the IUPAC name clearly states the racemate. It also seems that the CAS points to the levo version. Since cetirizine is sold as the racemate, and L-cetirizine is enantiopure, shouldn't the image for the racemate be used here and the levo version reserved for L-cetirizine? W n C? 08:21, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

Who made this drug ?
I can't find anything about the drug's origins.. Which company / country developed it ? where was it first available ? things like that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.101.79.240 (talk) 09:33, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Withdrawal Symptoms, updated 2018 Feb
As someone who tried going off of Zyrtec several times, and a couple times accidentally missed a single dose, I discovered that I couldn't stop taking the medicine without severe itchiness and pain. I know that Wiki can't use some types of personal research or whatever, but there are several websites documenting this withdrawal symptom: http://zyrtecwithdrawal.blogspot.com/ http://www.consumeraffairs.com/rx/zyrtec.html Just wanted to point this out, in case someone wants to add a section on it. Unfortunately, whoever makes Zyrtec (I think it's Johnson & Johnson now) doesn't seem to care or want to do any testing on this. 98.69.175.53 (talk) 14:42, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

I can concur with the previous poster -- there are massive withdrawal symptoms, including itchiness and unstoppable sneezing. Others have experienced the same, according to https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2013/05/06/cetirizine-zyrtec-withdrawal-unbearable-itching/. GuyPaddock (talk) 11:44, 15 September 2017 (UTC)

Here is a reliable source. Other antihistamines are OK, only levocetirizine and cetirizine cause this problem.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5124431/

ee1518 (talk) 17:42, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

Rhinovirus section - what??
Hey - I'd classify myself as being a pretty average person in terms of understanding things in this subject area (biology, chemistry, medicine) and...I'm sorry, that section leaves me knowing absolutely no more than I did before. I'm completely confounded. All I took away after reading that section was "cetirizine does something when you have a cold and it has something to do with mRNA and certain proteins". It would be nice if someone with expertise in the area could expand on what this actually concretely means in simpler terms.--Newbiepedian (Hailing Frequencies) 22:28, 8 September 2012 (UTC)


 * To be honest, it seems like more of an advertorial for a single study's results. Will edit.
 * Trxi (talk) 03:10, 11 December 2012 (UTC)

Antagonist or Inverse Antagonist?
74.64.35.226 (talk) 19:11, 26 May 2016 (UTC)There seems to be contradictory information as to whether Cetirizine is an H1 receptor antagonist, or an H1 receptor inverse antagonist.

On the page for antihistamines, Cetirizine is explicitly called an H1 receptor inverse antagonist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antihistamine

Yet in this article, it is referred to as a "racemic selective H1 receptor antagonist."

Which is it? Or are the terms "racemic selective H1 receptor antagonist" and "H1 receptor inverse antagonist" synonymous? If so, this should be pointed out / explained.

Thank you.

The Spoils of Ziirtec
This is mentioned in the 2nd episode of The Spoils Before Dying and I was wondering if anyone knew if this drug was also called that with two Is. Ranze (talk) 11:31, 23 July 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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Adverse effects compared to PLACEBO?
Wikipedia says:

"Commonly reported side effects of cetirizine include headache (16%), dry mouth (5.7%), drowsiness (5–20%), and fatigue (5.6%), while more serious but rare side effects include cardiac failure, tachycardia, and edema.[9]"

But what was % for placebo users? For example if headache (15%) for placebo, then there is not significant difference.

And how Cetirizine compares to other antihistamines?

ee1518 (talk) 17:46, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

Questionable sources (withdrawal)
While I cannot rule out that cetirizine withdrawal occurs, the scientific evidence for this is more than weak. Two of the three linked sources are non-scientific and should be regarded as single-case reports at best. The cited study of Ekhart (2016) claims a "causal relationship", but in my opinion fails to apply sound scientific methodology that would prove a such causality - indeed he offers an overview of 12 single cases, but no systematical, robust empirical analysis. Its the old matter of correlation does not cause causation.

I suggest to delete (or radically reduce) the withdrawal section until we get actual evidence. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.196.71.214 (talk) 22:52, 24 June 2018 (UTC)

I deleted the withdrawal section. Ekhart (2016) claims a causal relationship between cetirizine and withdrawal symptoms, but to infer causality, it is not sufficient to present single cases only as done are in the study. Also, the journal describes itself on the homepage as pay to publish: "Upon acceptance for publication, manuscripts submitted to the journal will be subject to an article processing charge (APC) at an introductory price of US$1,095. Adis Open Access enables you to make your journal article freely available to anyone, in exchange for payment of the APC." (https://www.springer.com/adis/journal/40800). The other two deleted sources were non-professional non-reliable health websites that also just presented single cases form which no clear causality could be inferred. No other cases of cetirizine withdrawal are found in the medical literature. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.196.34.227 (talk) 20:33, 6 September 2018 (UTC)

Veterinary
"Zyrtec (cetirizine) is an antihistamine approved for use in humans to treat allergy symptoms. In veterinary medicine it’s used in both cats and dogs for the same indication...and more." Why not include a section on veterinary uses? MaynardClark (talk) 22:12, 24 August 2019 (UTC)
 * - if you think it should be included, and have relevant references to support your edit, then just go ahead and add the information Fortnum (talk) 22:48, 24 August 2019 (UTC)

Weight
Does taking high doses (40 mg/daily) hinder/affect weight loss? I’ve noticed that I’m having a harder time losing weight since I’ve started taking this medication. 71.76.244.107 (talk) 14:28, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

10mg
Can these be broke in 2 half’s ? 2604:2D80:9608:6C00:60E8:ACD:F9ED:BB45 (talk) 20:08, 19 February 2023 (UTC)

Copyright problem removed
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Inconsistency
The second paragraph says, "Compared to other second-generation anti-histamines, cetirizine can cause drowsiness." The second paragraph of Pharmacodynamics says, "Cetirizine crosses the blood–brain barrier only slightly, and for this reason, produces minimal sedation compared to many other antihistamines." Which is correct? Qkyz (talk) 08:11, 19 August 2023 (UTC)

Cross-article/source inconsistency for Drowsiness
This article has these sentence which I have a problem with:"Compared to other second-generation anti-histamines, cetirizine can cause drowsiness. Second-generation antihistamines that do not cause drowsiness are fexofenadine, and loratadine." In that paper, the paragraph of interest is:"There is a much lower risk of sedation with the second-generation H1 receptor antagonists than with first-generation agents such as chlorpheniramine.[44] Objective single-dose studies of astemizole, loratadine and terfenadine, reviewed extensively by Simons,[69] have demonstrated an incidence of somnolence and impairment of CNS function similar to that of placebo when manufacturers’ recommended daily dosages are followed. In fact, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified astemizole, fexofenadine, loratadine and terfenadine as nonsedating.[70]" The issue is that the articles for loratadine and fexofenadine both do list drowsiness as a common adverse effect, per their monographs ( and, respectively). Does the FDA calling it nonsedating despite there being evidence of sedation (albeit less sedation or less incidence of sedation) make it so? Moreover, the implication that cetirizine is the only second-generation antihistamine that causes drowsiness is false. Per the source it uses on that sentence, azelastine is an example of another second-generation antihistamine with a high incidence rate of drowsiness.

As of now, this article says loratadine and fexofenadine are nonsedating, but both of those articles say they are sedating. I suggest changing it to say something like:"Among second-generation antihistamines, cetirizine is more likely than fexofenadine and loratadine to cause drowsiness."

Any suggestions?

Kimen8 (talk) 12:10, 27 January 2024 (UTC)