Suffering from terrible insomnia the past few days since I stopped my seasonal allergy zirtec use. I noticed some of you are also talking about GERD which I was diagnosed with a few years ago, I would also have terrible hives on my feet, palms, and either on thighs or waistline. So I was thinking there was a connection with GERD, allergies, hives. My GERD has seemed to have mostly gone away over the years, treat it once in a while with Zantac, but this insomnia thing is unreal 2 hours sleep per night, unable to even nap later in the day. And the itching has begun.

Male, 36 10 years ago, I started having uncontrollable itching while attending college. If memory serves me, it went on for at least a couple weeks. Usually the palms of my hands and bottom of my feet would itch, or sometimes my thighs or chest, but it would itch so intensely that it was really debilitating. I started taking Bendryl and it would help for a few hours and then the itching would come back with a vengeance. I would also get really red wherever I scratched and it would stay that way for a while. So, I went to see my doctor (PCP) and he said, "Here, try this." I think we may have tried one other med first, but then settled on Zyrtec or cetirizine. I have taken it faithfully since then. If I missed a dose, I would know immediately. After roughly 36-48 hrs without it in my system, the itching would start to come back. About 6 months ago, I made a huge dietary change, and now eat a lot of raw and organic foods, fruits and veggies, etc. and have eliminated alcohol, cigarettes, meat, milk, soda, recently caffeine and sugar, etc. Now, to aide in the healthy new lifestyle even more, I decided I would go off my prescription meds, which were Dexilant for GERD/acid reflux and generic Zyrtec. Yesterday was my first day with no Zyrtec. No itchiness on Day 1. Today, on Day 2, itching is back in full force. I refuse to take it again regardless of how long this goes on for, thanks to reading other peoples comments. I need to rid my body of all these toxins, and never look back. Their are natural remedies that involve food, plants, herbs, etc. for almost every ailment out there, but they often require lifestyle changes. So, people go for the quick fix, but at what expense? Do some research folks and make positive changes in your life.

I have taken one 10 mg Zyrtek every day for at least 10 years to help ward off allergy related Vertigo. Recently, I have started again to research Vertigo and allergies, just to see if any new information might be out there to help me. My husband was taking a vitamin/mineral product and begged me to research the founder and the product and just to try it for 30 days to see if I felt better (less Vertigo) and could possibly wean off the Zyrtek. I did do some study and convinced myself that $150.00 spent was nothing, if I could find some relief. So I first started on full doses (goes by body weight) of this vitamin combo product for 2 full weeks. I didn't get any Vertigo, but I don't always get it daily anyhow. So I wasn't sure if I should give credit to the vitamins quite yet. After two weeks, I continued the vitamin product and I took the Zyrtek every other day for two weeks. No problems, no Vertigo and now at the 4 week mark. This was scary GOOD for me. I still felt it was too soon to give these vitamins full credit. So now at 4 weeks, I had to reorder the vitamin products (they come in 30 days supply) and then weaned to Zyrtek every third day. I have done this now for a week and feel fine. Definitely no hives as a lot of folks, no insomnia, only one partial day of just a little Vertigo, but gone the next day. So I am ending 7 weeks now. I will continue on Zyrtek every third day for 3 more weeks, then I'll do one full month of Zyrtek (along with the vitamins) just on Sundays and Wednesdays. If all goes well, this should put me into the beginning of October, in which I will simply stop the Zyrtek completely. I could probably wean sooner, and just might do so, but so far, with no weaning side effects and mostly, no Vertigo, slower is better, and is working for me. If you are interested in the vitamins, please google search Dr. Joel Wallach first. Here a good youtube link you can listen to him speak:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxEAm4Cv2uo.

And for his products, here is a link, if you end up interested. Its the "Healthy Start Pack" for 159.00 that I am using.

https://missywholesale.my90forlife.com/shop/index.html?view=Products&Category=Products

Also, here is a great article that has given me some great understanding on allergies, and basically the effects of sugar on allergies. I will be cutting back my white sugar intake for a few months to see if this also assists in eliminating the Vertigo.

http://www.kingmaker.net/allergy-efa.htm

p.s. my husband takes these and has completely weaned off of his cholesterol and high blood pressure meds completely. He also lost some weight. (30 lbs)

Good luck, and I hope this helps someone......

To the original poster:

I know this thread is old but I was wondering how you are doing with quitting Zyrtec? I'm experiencing the withdrawal symptoms that thousands of people are posting about on the web. It's been a week now and I still have the hives. It goes away when I take ZYrtec. I've been weaning myself off it. I wasn't even taking it everyday, I took 10 mg every 2 days. Now I'm down to 5ml every other day. I am miserable. The hives are so itchy. I know it's not something I ate because nothing has changed and I live a paleo lifestyle. I'd like to get allergy tests but that would mean coming off the Zyrtec cold turkey which I just can't handle. I get the insomnia too but I'm more bothered by the crazy itching, it's driving me nuts. Good luck and please post how you're doing.

Be cautious about Quercetin or other plant-based supplements with hives. You could be salicylate sensitive, and that 's in skins of fruit and most plant matter. Peel your fruit, never take aspirin or pepto-bismol. Many with hives have a hyper active auto-immune system, and no allergies at all. Once the system is triggered to release histimines, it just keeps going, sometimes for years. Triggers can be stress, viruses, foods, hormones (for me, a combination of all of the above will do it). Over time, the mast cells will settle down, but it may take months. I'm trying no nightshades, wheat, dairy, berries, eggs, most fruits. Basically down to rice and greens and beef. And boatloads of antihistimines.

(My answer is a collection of advice for sleep, not for the hives)

I would take 5HTP instead, as it converts to serotonin and then melatonin. The serotonin, if not in balance, will elevate and make you feel de-stressed. The melatonin is a neurotransmitter that your brain needs in certain balanced amounts, and I like to let the serotonin turn into that naturally by taking 5HTP so that it has it in balanced amounts.

If you are fatigued all day but wake up at night (after 6:00) it is one of many signs of adrenal fatigue. I would see if you had the other signs and symptoms and then work to balance it out, perhaps by buying a good adrenal complex formula.

Make sure you turn out/dim your lights when it starts to get dark out. This tells your brain/hormones to start producing melatonin and to get ready for sleep. If the lights are on, your hormones think it's mid day and try to keep you powering through it. I completely covered up my bedroom windows so that streetlights don't pour through. It's so dark you can't see you hands in front of your face. I bought a nightlight for the washroom that is so dim it is like moonlight.

Don't work out at night, and don't consume any coffee or stimulants after 4:00. I can't sleep because of stress sometimes, and I take some GABA, which is actually a neurotransmitter, but I take it in small amounts and it calms me right down. l-tyrosine helps with emotional and psychological stress, and I take that sometimes too. I also take magnesium (actually, it's a good quality cal-mag by inno-vite) before bed which relaxes the muscles. Then I just close my eyes and try to fall asleep, I think of lying on the beach and listening to the shore at night. I imagine that it is pitch black and I just kind of drift to sleep. Sometimes I just imagine a white, lit candle, the flame undisturbed by the air. Or, you can count breaths, or instead of counting, think of which breath it is "in... out," and sometimes I just do some relaxing deep breathing... these ensure that you relax and you don't start thinking of what you have to do tomorrow and all that stressful stuff.

There are other things you can take to wind down before bed, like passionflower or valerian root. There are lots of complexes you can buy in the health food store that combine herbs, amino acids and minerals to relax your body and mind for sleep. Everybody is different, so keep changing it up to see what works. I actually tried a homeopathic one called "insomnia" and I found I fell asleep eventually, but it gave me some really crazy dreams (not in a bad way).

Zirtec (UK name for Zyrtec) did help me sleep, but it gave me a huge appetite and sugar cravings. So for me it was very much worth stopping it. I am getting a lot fewer allergic symptoms on a low-ish carb, grain-free diet. (Less stress is also helping me sleep better).

I was taking 2 Zyrtec for a while just to help me sleep through the night. But feeling like a zombie throughout the day was not how I wanted to live, so I cut back to one, then went to none (no melatonin either). There were some sleepless nights in the beginning, but my body was having to get used to falling asleep on its own so I expected it.

Have you tried taking Allegra? It's over the counter now.

Have you thought about trying other anti-histamines? What about optimizing your sleep environment further and removing allergens? (What are you allergic to?)

Can make you feel drowsy. Its an anti-histamine which blocks the effects of histamine. When histamine is blocked you won't get the allergic reaction like sneezing and hives. so you will get the hives if you stop taking. What exactly are you taking it for - hay fever? A natural anti-histamine is quercetin. Need to find out what causing reaction and eliminate it.