Q. I started taking Zyrtec for allergies and find it is incredibly difficult to stop. Within 48 hours of not taking a pill, my entire body slowly but surely becomes unbearably itchy. It impacts my day-to-day life.
The itching disappears like magic as soon as I take another pill. There needs to be more information on this available to the public, given the popularity of this common over-the-counter antihistamine.
A. We completely agree. After badgering the Food and Drug Administration about this problem for years, the agency finally added information about withdrawal itching (they call it rebound pruritus) to the prescribing information for cetirizine (Zyrtec) and levocetirizine (Xyzal) in 2017.
Doctors reading that information before writing a prescription might heed the warning. As far as we can tell, though, the OTC packaging does not warn patients about this possibility.
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In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of King Features, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, or email them via their website: www.PeoplesPharmacy.com. Their newest book is “Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them.”