Non drowsy antihistamines are making me drowsy

[Kasterborous]

I was prescribed ceterizine for hay fever on Monday and they are making me sleepy and drowsy. They are supposed to be non drowsy ones. Do I need to give them a few days for the drowsiness to wear off or try a different one?

Are you taking any other meds that could be affecting how they work?

Cetirizine makes me drowsy too OP (and dd as well so guessing it's genetic). Loratidine works better for dd...

No the only other meds I'm on is a nasal spray and eye drops for hay fever and an inhaler for asthma but I'm not taking any other oral medication.

Thanks for that probably I think I might have to ask them to change them for me.

I find they all make me drowsy to different degrees. Ds2 & dd1 seem to be able to take anything.

The one that works best for me makes me the most sleepy! Benadryl allergy relief - acrivastine. Cetirizine doesn't work for me that well - taken today and still hayfevery.

You don't need a prescription for loratidine or acrivastine, they're both available over the counter. Benadryl has the licence for acrivastine I believe so you can only get it in Benadryl packets (check the package as Benadryl also do cetirizine in similar packaging). Loratidine is cheap as chips from Tesco/Asda etc

I get them from GP as I've got a prescription pre payment certificate so I get them for 'free'.

They make me drowsy too, but do work better for some allergies (especially if i have nasty insect bites) than loratidine. Loratidine works for me for hayfever, but makes me very slightly drowsy too, so I tend to take them before bed.

If you read the product info in the packs of any of these nondrowsy antihistamines you will see it says "may cause drowsiness"!

oh cetrizine makes me drowsy too - i have to take loritadine

Its a one a day isnt it?
Try taking it at night before you go to sleep so you sleep off the worst of the symptoms

I take my cetirizine at night, but am worried that they may have messed my sleep patterns as I tend not to sleep well these days if I don't take one!

Cetirizene wipeed me out so i was like a zombie and couldn't get out of bed. It was only when I had to stop them for a blood test I fully realised how they made me feel.

I went back to Loratidene and Avamys spray

Yes they wipe me out too and I take them before bed. I stick to loratidine now- much better

I wouldn't be able to take it at bedtime as would need to be able to wake up if DD needed me.

I always remember being given some antihistamines by the hospital they said to take one or two at bedtime. So I took two. I tried and failed to get up for work the next day, and literally slept until 5pm that day managed to eat something then slept all night. Basically I was knocked out for 24hrs.

I managed to get them changed by my GP. She was surprised that cetirizine had made me drowsy, don't known why. When I read the leaflet it said it can affect one in ten people like that. Got Fexofenadine instead.