USES: This medication is an antihistamine which provides relief of seasonal and perennial allergy symptoms such as watery eyes, runny nose (rhinitis), itching eyes, and sneezing. It is also used for hives.
Tell your doctor if you regularly use other medicines that make you sleepy (such as other cold or allergy medicine, narcotic pain medicine, sleeping pills, muscle relaxers, and medicine for seizures, depression, or anxiety). They can add to sleepiness caused by cetirizine.
As mentioned, allergies occur when the body's immune system reacts to normally harmless substances that do not bother most people. This reaction is partly caused by the release of histamine from certain cells in the body. Zyrtec blocks histamine from binding to histamine receptors and causing allergy symptoms. Since histamine is responsible for many of the symptoms of allergies, blocking it can be helpful. It is important to note that antihistamines (including Zyrtec) do not help treat nasal congestion caused by allergies, since this symptom is not due to histamine.
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