Guest guest Posted July 9, 2000 Report Share Posted July 9, 2000 , 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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