Do antihistamines make you tired?

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Even the non drowsy ones?

I'm having a real battle this year with hay-fever, but the antihistamines are wiping me out.

I'm not tired by day, but come 8pm I can barely keep my eyes open. I tend to wake at 6, and whilst I do love sleep I've never needed 10 hours a night before.

Does anyone else find the same?

Yes, they make me drowsy for about 24 hours.

They don't make you tired, but some types cause drowsiness

Yes, even the non drowsy ones. I've had to stop taking them unless it's really bad, I've managed on eye drops and Beconase and fortunately hardly had it this year.

Benadryl is fine for me but all the others are an absolute curse! I once fell asleep in a doctors waiting room surrounded by screaming kids.

I find fexofenadine taken at night allows me to function, normally, during the day

They make me very sleepy even ones that aren't meant to.

Yes, I had no idea why I was struggling to stay with it at work whilst taking hay-fever tablets until someone told me!

Taking them at night helps

Depends. Not everyone reacts the same way. I’m fine with Loratadine, but cetirizine does make me drowsy. Chlorphenamine, which used to be sold under the brand name Piriton knocked me out like a punch from Tyson Fury. Fine if you want to sleep on a long-haul flight, not so good if you have to drive to work & function.

Yes even the non-drowsy ones make me sleep for 12 hours.

They make me tired! I got some from the GP once and they were just as bad as OTC. I had a newborn at the time and it made it so much harder! I was like a zombie until I stopped taking them, and after that I was just normal newborn tired.

This year I started taking one late at night, just before bed, and that's really helped. It's like I sleep it off when I'm actually supposed to be sleeping.

The only other thing that sort of worked was taking half of one in the morning. It stopped the drowsiness and was effective, but it wore off by late afternoon.

When i'm in hospital having my treatment they dose you up on antihistamine first thing in the morning to combat an allergic reaction.

I sleep all through the day !

They can. Once I accidentally took a double dose and felt absolutely gross for 24hrs. Groggy yet twitchy. I did ask a pharmacist and they said don't worry it's not enough to harm you but definitely would not recommend.

Nope. But decongestants do, weirdly enough.

Yes, including the none drowsy ones. I’m yet to find one that doesn’t. I generally take it about 6 in the evening to give me a chance of not being completely out of it. Also, never take them if I need to drive the following day.

Yes. I asked the GP and she said, “well, the non drowsy ones make some people drowsy” so I reckoned I was just one of them. Then I read somewhere that the modern antihistamines which market themselves as non drowsy are actually just sold in smaller doses, they’re not much different from the old drowsy antihistamines like Piriton. Don’t know how true this is, though.

Yes! I thought it was just me, Piriteze are non drowsy but they make it hard for me to wake up and I'm dopey during the day with a need for naps!

No, only if I take the old-fashioned ones. There is absolutely no need for anyone to be taking Piriton or promethazine anymore.

No but I have been taking them all-year-around for many, many years.

Yes I take mine at night and zonks me out and mine are non drowsy.

I take a Piriton at night to act as a sleeping tablet !

Cetirizine makes me tired, especially the next day if it take it in the evening. I sometimes even take for the purpose of helping me sleep a little easier.

Dihydrocodeine, Quetiapine, Cetirizine are all on the menu for me… I exist in a zombified stupor.

DS used to find they made him exhausted. We switched to taking them before bed and no more problems after that.

(me too 🤫)

FWIW I remember reading once that most antihistamines have a drowzy effect on something like 75% of people, but that it can make the other 25% go a bit hyper?