Tried 5 mg Claritin chewable for my son's allergies (9 yrs old). I used the one without decongestant. He started having anxiety attacks at bedtime with horrific visions when he closed his eyes to the point where he was sobbing. My husband thought he was faking but I could tell that he was truly frightened. Since these visions started around the same time as when we started the Claritin, I tried not giving it to him for a couple of days. No complaints at bedtime. Then his nose was bothering him so I gave him a 5 mg one morning a few days later and I am sorry to say that the scary visions and anxiety resurfaced that night. Needless to say I have stopped giving it to him. I am complaining because I feel that the manufacturer need to do a better job warning parents to watch for this type of reaction. If I had just assumed he was being dramatic or faking this problem, then who knows what the consequences could have been. I wonder how many children are indeed suffering with mental disturbances from this drug and could be helped by simply discontinuing?
Consumer Complaints & Reviews
I took non-prescription Claritin - advertised by a NASCAR driver as 'safe and non -rowsy' only to discover after a bout of dizziness, anxiety and confusion that side effects DO include drowsiness! To call it 'non-drowsy' on the TV ads is misleading and untruthful.
I have suffered nightmares, disturbed thinking and great anxiety and feelings of impending doom for the past few days (and I am NOT an anxious person by nature) and didn't put the symptoms and cause together until someone suggested I Googled Loratadine and side effects - and there they all were!
I feel that the advertisements should be withdrawn, and attention to the potential psychological effects of the drug should be made clear, along with the 'dry mouth' and other seemingly innocuous side effects they do admit to?
Considerable anxiety, tremor, lost sleep, and nearly driving my partner mad with my seemingly inexplicable personality change... oh, and the drug didn't actually do much for my allergy symptoms after all that!
They went over the counter, and now I can't use Claratin. Claratin D was my life preserver. Now I have Allegra D and it is so horrible. I need Claratin D, and Im afraid to face the summer without it. It's over the counter now, and I can't pay $95 dollars for medicine every month all year long. There is no point in them going over the counter! Now their customers can't buy it because you can't buy it with insurance.
On October 14th ..I woke up and could not see out of my right eye..went to Eye Specialist Clinic ..they said Central Retinal Vein Occlusion ..nothing they could do would have to waid and see if it would get better..I still to date have almost totally obscured vision of my right eye. I also was given an MRI which showed I had had a stoke a few months previous to Oct. 14..I have been given every test available and nothing can be found to be wrong with me..I sometimes get dizzy and very nauseated. My ear nose and throat Dr. after finding out I had been taking Claritin D for several years..told me to stop taking it immediately as a drug similar to it PPA had been pulled for causing young women like myself ( I am 47 ) to have strokes with no other causes being found. Claritin D is very addicting and once you take it for a prolonged period it is hard to go on with any energy at all without it. I asked every Doctor I saw along the way while taking it if prolonged use of Claritin D would harm me and they said 'no' as long as it makes you feel better take it. I also have high blood pressure and was diagnosed and taking medication for it prior to being given Claritin D. I have also had several heart related testing done believing there was something wrong due to increased heart rate, palpatations....etc.
On July 11, 2001, I went to the doctor because I experienced partial deafness in one ear. She prescribed Claritin-D and after I took one pill, I became deathly ill. I had to lie on the floor because the bed was too high as I was unbelievably dizzy. I could not move or turn my head. When I did move my head at all, I had to vomit. I vomited voilently 5 or 6 times. I felt incredibly anxious as well. I was about to go to the hospital after about 3 hours of this suffering, when the symptoms becan to subside somewhat. I continued to feel extremely weak for about 3 days.
