Posted on 01/24/2008 5:25:38 PM PST by Dysart
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Starting Thursday, allergy sufferers can find the most-prescribed allergy medication available for over-the-counter sales.
Zyrtec is the brand name for cetirizine and is approved to relieve allergy-related sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, and also, itching from hives.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it for sale without a prescription in November.
Dr. Rajan Merchant from Woodland Healthcare said it is the same formula as a doctor would prescribe.
"The efficacy is the same; the dosage is the same as the prescription strength. But the reason it is going over the counter is because we have enough safety data that confirms it is usable as an over-the-counter medication," Merchant said.
Merchant estimates Zyrtec will sell for between $20 and $25. That mean some consumers may be paying more now for the drug than they did when it was covered by insurance. But a generic product may soon be available.
(Excerpt) Read more at kcra.com ...
Good stuff, but boy, does it make you sleepy.
It makes you sleepy?? I’ve been taking it for yrs and really like it because it has zero side effects for me.
But of course people are unique and drugs do interact with our individual chemistry accordingly.
I tried it once for a couple of days and felt like I’d been pole-axed.
Is that good or bad?
This is great! Zyrtec works the best for me of all the allergy stuff on the market. Hope the generic is out before ragweed season this year!
My wife has taken it for years without the “drowsy effect”.
Just damn! I was counting on being able to get all I wanted for my meth lab.
I'm guessing not desirable. Poleax:A medieval battle-ax consisting of a long shaft ending in an ax or a combination of an ax, hammer, and pick.
I always thought to be poleaxed was to be rent asunder.
Didn’t have the drowsy problem, but my wife says it made me “difficult to live with”. Too bad too, because it was the only thing I’d tried that actually worked on my symptoms.
They’ll keep them near the hard candies.
And does Benadryl™ wake you up?
That would be an over-the-top compliment compared to how I can act.
That’s a weird thing about antihistamines, one kind may work wonders for some people and do absolutely nothing for other people. That’s one reason why so many have been developed, I guess.
How does this stuff affect blood pressure?
Doesn’t effect my blood pressure at all. The effects and others some are reporting here I’ve had with benadryl....stuff makes me climb the walls.
Re: Viagra, I asked the pharmacist if I could get it over the counter.
He said I could if I took two...
Zyrtec will not affect blood pressure, but the "D" formula will raise BP.
“He said I could if I took two...”
Hey, my daughter promotes Viagra...
I’ll bet you can do beautifully without it, but...
do ya want some samples? (The candy bribe didn’t work)
;)
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