GOD BLESS YOU –
May 23, 2025 – FDA warning over a new crippling side effect of allergy drugs taken by more than 60 million people worldwide. The FDA says it has received complaints from patients who suffered from severe itching after stopping the oral allergy medicines cetirizine and levocetirizine – sold under the brand names Zyrtec and Xyzal. The itching, also called pruritus, has been reported in patients who used these medicines daily, typically for at least a few months and often for years.
Patients did not experience itching before starting the medicines.
Pruritus in its most severe form can cause skin damage and open sores, with patients reporting distress and difficulty sleeping.
Health officials said the cases were ‘rare but sometimes serious, with patients experiencing widespread, severe itching that required medical intervention’.
As a result, the government agency is revising the prescription cetirizine and levocetirizine prescribing information to include a new warning about this risk.
