Zyrtec vs claritin

[supermom13]

My son started ticcing march 25th, My son been on zytrec for a few months and really does help calm his tics by 90 percent but his behavior  was getting alittle roudy so we switched to Clartin.  Weridest thing with clartin his tics are horrible. 

Any reason why that is? Isnt zytrec and claritin the same?  And why does my son stop ticcing on allergy medicine anyway? 

Are his tics allergy related.  My nuerologist said not related. 

[Sheila]

Hi supermom13, thank you for sharing your interesting observation about how your boy did onZyrtec versus Claratin. I hope he is doing better right now.

First, yes -- there is a very big connection between allergies and tics for many people. Neurologists usually don't look into this.

As for your son doing better on Zyrtec than Claritin, while they are both antihistamines, they have different ingredients. I'm not sure which children's product you used, but below is an example of the difference. It could be that the Claritin was not as effective for him, but also possible that the ingredients, such as aspartame (Nutrasweet) set him off. Or something else in the product such as a number of artificial colors (not good for tics!) especially in the grape one, among other ingredients.

Please see below and consider if it helps answer any questions . Please let us know what you think!  Sheila 

ZYRTEC CHILDRENS

Active Ingredients: Cetirizine HCl 5 mg (in each 5 mL) (Antihistamine)

Inactive Ingredients: anhydrous citric acid, flavors, propylene glycol, purified water, sodium benzoate, sorbitol solution, sucralose

CLARITIN CHILDREN'S

Active ingredients: Loratadine 5 mg (Antihistamine)

Bubble Gum: Aspartame, carmine, citric acid, colloidal silicon dioxide, flavor, magnesium stearate, mannitol, microcrystalline cellulose, sodium starch glycolate, stearic acid

Grape: Aspartame, citric acid anhydrous, colloidal silicon dioxide, D&C red No. 27 aluminum lake, FD&C blue No. 2 aluminum lake, flavor, magnesium stearate, mannitol, microcrystalline cellulose, sodium starch glycolate, stearic acid

[supermom13]

Been on zytrec but we lessening dose in order to calm his behavior but doesn't have same effect on tics.