Antihistamine and alcohol

[famlam]

Help … just given 17 year old ds half a dose of cetirizine as his hayfever is bad tonight but then realised he has had a couple of tins of larger. Is this going to be harmful… mixed info when I look online …

It’s fine. I have to take multiple allergy meds all year round and drink.

He should be fine, might make him a bit dizzy etc but that's all.

It won’t be a problem at all. It might just make him sleepier than he usually would be after the antihistamine. But nothing more than that. He certainly be harmed in any way.

I’m puzzled as to why you are ‘giving’ a 17 year old hay fever pills - surely at 17 he just gets his hay fever meds himself when if/when he feels like he needs them? By that age I wasn’t having medication dished out by my mum! And why only half a dose?!

Don’t let him drive, but it’s really not a big deal. I take a full dose daily, plus additional mild antihistamines as needed and still have the occasional drink. It’s only my really heavy duty antihistamines that I absolutely would never mix with alcohol.

but again, no driving. No heavy machinery. Don’t do anything with knives. Just be careful until you know how he reacts.

That makes me go to bed immediately
Loratidine is better

It won't harm him and is only of concern if he's about to drive somewhere or operate machinery. But as PP said, why are you "giving" him medication? And also, half a dose is really not going to help him much, if at all. It's a weird thing to be concerned about, for a 17 year old, when you don't seem to be worried about him drinking.

While old style antihistamines could be problematic with alcohol at high doses due to their sedating effect there's really no reason it should be an issue with cetirizine.