Antihistamines?

[mothcorrupteth]

Last week I went to conference in Denver, and I found myself having trouble focusing on the talks there, but I felt really, really great the whole time, and it felt like reality was coming into better and better focus. But when I came back I started getting dizzy, consistently around 2pm. It came to me that I'd been taking some OTC antihistamines for my allergies, and that the reason I never felt tired when I had taken Zyrtec in college was because I always felt tired because I was depressed. So I stop taking the OTC stuff yesterday, and then I'm thrown into a dysthymic state, which I emerged from this afternoon. Along the way, I found a site this morning that warned that antihistamines could cause manic episodes.

Anybody else experienced this? I haven't had the chance to talk to my psychiatrist yet, but is it true that allergy meds can cause mania? It was only one site that I could find that reported this information.

 

[Darling Deedee]

I've been warned to stay away from decongestants for that reason. The pharmacist warned me, actually. Stuff like cold and flu OTC meds and the like can cause manic episodes (something to do with serotonin). Maybe your allergy med has a decongestant in it? I use chloro-triplon which doesn't have a decongestant in it... if anything it just makes me more tired.

 

[Alive again]

Yes, antihistamines have a cross over effect to mood. I get depressed on them. I alos have issues with other H-2 blockers such as Zantac, prilosec that block histamine 2 receptors and help with stomach issues.

I went to a class and this issue was discussed and I had one of those AH HA moments!!!

I use purely Tums like antacids and natural supplements for my year round allergies. I also have a mild steroid nasal inhalers (as we have to be very careful of steroids as well, they will send your mood way out of whack!). I use the inhaler only when I have to. For colds I do use sudafed containing products but not antihistamines of any sort like benadryl etc.