Zyrtec info for Medea

[Guest guest]

This was originally posted by Myra. Her comments are also enlightening..

Zyrtec was field trialed at up to 60 mg per day without " significant "

side-effects. And when it was overdosed the only thing that it did, was

make one sleeply. However when used for urticaria often higher doses are

more effective. This has been proven in double-blind studies. This is why

many people on this list are taking larger doses. Take a look at this

medical journal article. Better yet, print it out and take it to your Dr.

Hugs, Myra

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Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 1999 Nov;83(5):476-80

Use of cetirizine in dermatologic disorders.

Zuberbier T, Henz BM

Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Charite, Humboldt University, Berlin,

Germany.

OBJECTIVE: This review is written to summarize the present state of

knowledge on the use of cetirizine in dermatologic disorders, its

efficiency, and concerns regarding the safety of the drug. DATA SOURCES AND

STUDY SELECTION: A Medline search from 1980 until August 1997 was conducted.

In addition, older literature especially concerning hydroxyzine was

evaluated as well. The review considers all double-blind trials and in

addition focuses on all information regarding the pharmacology and possible

side effects of the drug. RESULTS: Peak plasma levels are reached within 1

hour after intake. Drug elimination occurs largely unchanged by renal

excretion and drug interactions are not known. Cetirizine has no cardiac

toxicity. No evidence for teratogenicity has been found. Possible adverse

events include somnolence but are dose-dependent and mostly mild. At the

dose of 10 mg no impairment of driving performance or response time was

observed. In dermatology, cetirizine has proven to be effective in the

treatment of various forms of urticaria and it reduces the pruritus of

atopic eczema. For these conditions, frequently doses higher than 10 mg (up

to 40 mg) are recommended to achieve the best benefit. In other pruritic

dermatoses, cetirizine has been reported to be helpful but, with the

exception of mosquito bites where 10 mg daily had a significant effect,

controlled studies are missing. CONCLUSIONS: Cetirizine is a safe second

generation antihistamine. It is effective especially in the treatment of

urticaria and reduces significantly the pruritus of atopic dermatitis. An

individual dosage should be chosen based on the severity of symptoms.

Publication Types:

Review

Review, tutorial

PMID: 10582734, UI: 20047559

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