Am I addicted to Claritin D?!? Help!

[Pinkdragonfly5]

Hi. I've been taking Claritin D for aprox. 2 years. I want to wean myself off, because the one time I decided to quit cold turkey, I failed miserably. I began taking the med because of chronic congestion and swollen nasal passages. It was a miracle. I could breathe with my mouth closed and I actually got my sense of smell back. The constant sinus headaches were gone. I kept taking it because there were so many good effects. Then, my blood pressure began to get higher and I noticed some skipping heart beats that were "fast" & took my breath away briefly. When I tried to stop the med, by the end of the day, I was exhausted, runny nose, chills, sneezing and the sinus headaches were back. I was so miserable, I went ahead and took another Claritin D and I was "all better". I am scared to be on this stuff. I want to be off of it. I need to know how I can wean myself off or taper off slowly, so the "withdrawal symptoms" do not happen. Is there a way to do this? I need a plan to follow. (By the way, I'm taking the 12 hour version=one tablet every 12 hours). Please help, if there's any advice out there, I'd be eternally grateful :)

[vandrews22]

Thank you so much for your advice! I, too, am going to try kicking the claritin-d habit! Ran out yesterday and didn't get to a pharmacy on time for a refill. Have been on it for yrs. Stopped the 24 hr pill a while back and cut down to the 12 hr. Felt good about that, but would love to completely kick this habit. I'll try the sudafed in stages so that I can cut back on the symptoms I have without claritin-D -- stuffy nose, feel like I can't breathe well, and foggy head. Makes it terrible to focus at work -- easier to grab a pill! But, I'm 52 yrs and need to cut this out of my life, once and for all. Glad to hear there are others struggling w/ this problem, though I hope other posters have found success in giving up this drug.

Thank you!

[TUDrewser]

Also 2 years late, but found this on Google and thought I'd offer up what I'm trying.  I also have been taking Claritin D for several years.  When I miss it, I get headaches, can't breathe, etc.  Went to the pharmacy last night and for the first time was told by the pharmacist that it wasn't good to take every day.  She asked if I was getting symptom X Y and Z if I didn't take it and listed everything.  Said by not taking it I would be way more congested simply because of rebound...more congested than if I hadn't taken anything.  She explained that Claritin D has the same amount of pseudoephedrine as taking 8 Sudafed and she was right...240mg, Sudafed are 30mg each.  She said I could start by taking 6 Sudafed instead in order to wean myself off.  Once I was good there, drop down to 4, then keep going.  Once I was completely off, I could start taking just regular Claritin for the allergy part.  So started today on the 6 sudafed...here's hoping.

[gymbruh2009]

i took clariton d for too weeks and got swole!my mussels got bigger i had better sex and didn't even take my protein! this is a miracal drug and i think every guy who is looking too get swole shuld be taken this drug.. i swear it raises your testosterone. Ask me and I will show you picks.

[Karrde]

I know this is almost a year after your post, hopefully you have been able to stop taking it.  I have had the same issue, I've been on it for almost 5 years now, not abusing it, but taking it every day.  At one point I tried to stop, and my body would break out with "invisible" rashes, the best way to describe it was it felt like the area had been bitten by fire ants, but when looking at it there was no discoloration or bumps.  I spoke to my doctor and she prescribed me Claritin D...the irony was beyond measure.  This past month though, I have been able to cut back on the Claritin D, by taking regular Claritin, I don't have the "rashes", but the flu like symptoms are very present.  I know that if I get a pack of D, they will be gone, but I am doing my best to suffer through it.  It is a hard road to manage, but I feel your pain and I know exactly what you went through.

[Adixxiechick]

I took claritin d for years. Then, to my surprise, I stopped caffein and no need for sinus medications.  Weird, isn't it, but I checked on the internet, and caffeine can cause problems.

[teapot1945]

I have had similar issues. I ran out of claritin and decided that I would see what happens without it. 2 weeks later and it has been hell. The first day without it, it felt like I had a million cats stuffed in my face. Days after I would have redness and itchness in my eyes. A pimpled developed in my nose and my nose became irritable.

The past couple of days I have had a day with extreme body itching, followed by hive like pimples forming on my face. I also have some dry mouth and muscle soreness. Not only that my blood pressure is high and i have weird chest pains.

It is crazy to believe how much my body relies on this medicine. I went to the doctor and he told me to immediately get back on claritin, after I told him that i was trying to ween myself off. I do not know what to do help

[bikinon4now]

I am in the same boat as you were last year. I started because of allergies and have all the same conditions and anxieties as you.  I am not sure what to do either.  I am a bit older, very active and in what most would consider great shape.  I feel so much better overall when I take Claritin D but I cannot stand feeling like I have to take something to feel better.  How did this situation work out for you?

[Paxiled]

Thanks -- since I never took it I didn't know if it had the pseudoephedrine in it.  I know natural ephedra isn't addictive, is pseudoephidrine, a synthetic version, addictive?  I thought the only problem was that it's being used to make meth.  I know a lot of asthma sufferers were really angry when ephedra and ephedrine-based remedies got hard to get because of that -- I remember when we started to have trouble getting plain old natural ma huang, which is pretty mild and benign.

[Pinkdragonfly5]

Thanks for your replies. I don't take more than I'm supposed to, or crave it. I have just taken it for so long.  I didn't want to because I think my blood pressure and elevated pulse were related to it. Also, sometimes, it feels like my heart sort of "turns over" in my chest & takes my breathe away. When I quit taking the med altogether, I had a runny nose, chills, fatigue and basic flu symptoms. It went away after I broke down and resumed the Claritin D. My doctor is the one who recommended it in the first place, and saw no reason for me to get off of it. He just prescribed me a blood pressure pill instead. I'm only 42. (Today, is my birthday, lol, ugh!) So, I've scoured the Internet for information. There's always someone out there with a similar dilemma. Not this though. I don't want to rely on a blood pressure pill, so I can take Claritin D, so I can breathe through my nose. I have neti pots, so I have an alternative. I'm just ready to be free of this. I'm scared. I don't understand why a doctor would want to pile on more pills instead of advising how to taper off safely. I appreciate your response do much. It explained the differences to me clearly. You are right though, I need a plan. The dr's plan was to add more meds. I want off of all of it. Oh, just incase, I'm not overweight, I don't smoke and I don't really have any high blood pressure factors in my life or family history. I think it's from the "d" in Claritin. From your response, it looks like I'm physically dependent on it, not addicted. Since I posted my question, I've started to taper. The flu symptoms are almost unbearable today, day three. I don't have any energy, but at least I've only taken one a day of the 12 hour Claritin Ds. The only thing I've noticed so far, is that instead of having a pulse of 101 as normal, it has been a steady 72-78. I am happy about that. Now, I'm hoping my heart will work normally. I can't believe I'm the only person who has had this problem, of getting off Claritin D. I'm still in a state of shock! Thanks again, for your kind response.

[Cheriberi124]

I just quit Claritin D myself. I took it for 2 years consistently, but had a long relationship with it during many previous allergy seasons. I had done some pretty cool research and learned about how histamines work in our systems after I told my doctor that I wanted to get off my allergy meds.  I've been dealing with depression and I believe that Claritin D is the culprit.  (Antihistamines are known for causing depression) Anyway, I won't bore you with the details, but I will say that in the heart of ragweed season, I am allergy med free and plan on staying that way.  If you want to do the same, then you may want to Google histamine intolerance, start taking at least 2000mg of vitamin C a day, and change up your eating a bit-(GREAT Info on that when you find a good histamine intolerance website). Good luck to you.

[nursegirl6572]

Claritin preparations contain the stimulant pseudoephedrine, which is often used in the production if Methamphetamine.  I believe most (if not all) pharmacies now keep Claritin behind the counter and regulate purchases like they do with Sudafed.  People can experience w/d symptoms similar to those that a Meth user would.  Just FYI.

[Paxiled]

I think some clarification is necessary here.  Addiction is a medical term, and you can only be addicted to an addictive drug, such as heroin.  I've never taken Claritin, so I don't know what's in it.  Some sinus medications, for example, used to contain amphetamines, which are addictive, while most switched to ephedrine a while back, which isn't but now that's mostly gone as you can make amphetamines from it.  Addiction is a physical attachment to a drug and a need to continually take more to get the same effect.  The fact is, not everyone actually becomes addicted to addictive drugs, but there's the world for you, individuals don't have the same experience.  I doubt Claritin is addictive, but anything can become habit forming, and habits are very hard to break, and some non-addictive drugs are very hard to quit, such as antidepressants.  So this is just clarification, because this board often has issues about addiction but it is really a very specific thing.  There are many people habituated to many things that are not addictive, and that makes a lot of difference in how difficult it is to quit.  If you're habituated to Claritin and it has nothing addictive in it, you can just stop taking it and switch to natural sinus remedies and see if you get acceptable results that way, or try to find out if you have food allergies or whatever and try to deal with the cause, which is basically an overactive immune system -- many people get this in our society from taking too many antibiotics, for example, which weakens the immune system, and we're exposed to an intense amount of pollutants in modern society, which also has an effect.  Anyway, hope this helps a bit and doesn't confuse us even more.

[nursegirl6572]

Do you abuse it and take more than the recommended daily dose, or are you just taking it every day and finding it difficulty to stop taking it?

If the first, that would be an addiction, which comes with mental cravings, abuse of a medication (taking it for reasons other than what it is for), taking MORE, seeking a high, etc. If the latter, that's physical dependency, which is different from addiction.  Dependency is a physical need for the drug, and without it, w/ds will occur, but there is none of the mental cravings, or taking an excessive amount.

The reason I ask is, your path will be slightly different moving forward if you are addicted.  That would involve aftercare in the form of psychological counselling, possibly NA/AA meetings, all to prevent relapse.  If you're just having trouble stopping the Claritin because of the w/d-like symptoms you are feeling, then you just need help formulating a plan to taper off safely.  That's going to have to involve your doctor, especially to keep an eye on your BP, pulse, and such.

Definitely make an appt with your doc so you can start formulating a plan to get off the Claritin D.  Let us know how you're doing, ok?