antihistamine worsened depression?

[swgrl09]

I've been feeling pretty glum lately ... gained about 15 lbs over the past year and a half, feel lethargic, tired all the time. It got to the point where I almost called my MD to ask if it was the lexapro. My diet is normal, thyroid is normal, blood work normal, and I have actually been exercising a lot more than I used to. So this has been really frustrating, especially because the first time I was on lexapro I didn't gain any weight at all. I actually was able to lose it!

I started weighing risk vs reward of the med, and it helps so much with my obsessive thoughts and anxiety like nothing else has. I did not want to go back to how my anxiety used to be. So I analyzed what else could be affecting me that I could change without changing the lexapro.

Then something clicked. I have been on xyzal (a prescription antihistamine) for about 2 years while I adjusted to allergy shots. It's supposedly stronger, as the OTC ones stopped working for me. I looked into it, and turns out xyzal has common side effects of fatigue and weight gain. So I experimented the past two days with not taking it (my allergies are ok from the shots so far) and I felt like I had so much more energy - it was unbelievable! I woke up before my alarm! I felt less depressed too.

It could be psychological/"reverse placebo" effect, so time will tell if this makes a difference. I thought it was weird that although lexapro made me tired the first time I was on it, it did not affect my weight at all and definitely didn't make me THIS tired. It's been slowly increasing over the past year and a half. Once I started thinking about it, my depression "came back" not too long after I started the xyzal ...

Anybody have similar experiences? This is odd, but I am hopeful it is the xyzal and not the lexapro that has been affecting me so much! Fingers crossed I figured it out ...

[MyNameIsTerry]

It seems that fatigue is the biggest side effect of that med.

The interesting thing is that you have experimented with going 2 days without it. It's got a half life of 8-9 hours so even using the basic pharmacokinetic calculation, 5 half lives to get it to <5% (clinical significant is above this) would put it at 45 hours (5x9). Another 2 half lives and the rest of the active drug would be done too.

It's interesting that is reaches it's steady-state after 2 days. This puts it pretty close to the standard calculation, so it might be a guide to go by.

Each half life sees it drop 50% of the current dose at that point e.g. at 1 half life it is at 50%, 2 half lives 25%, 3 half lives 12.5%, etc. So, it's a drug that clears pretty quickly.

There is a Moderate interaction between both meds but not involving fatigue. The post marketing reports for this med also show up depression too.

It sounds like you have cracked a big problem here.

[pulisa]

Well done on working out the real culprit here! Many supposed "benign" medications can have these debilitating side effects which are obviously not given much prominence on the packaging...I hope that your energy levels improve and that your weight gets back to normal after stopping the anti-histamine.

[swgrl09]

Thanks Terry and Pulisa, I mean I hope I have figured it out because that would be a huge relief. I'd much rather go off my allergy med than my anti-depressant at this point. We always assume they don't have side effects, and even can be told they are "non-sedating" but the actual paperwork tells a different story.

This morning I am feeling more awake even though I got less sleep last night. I think my body is going to have to adjust to sleeping without it.

[pulisa]

How is your grandmother doing? I really hope she is making steady progress. I'm sure the worry can't be helping your sleep patterns though.

[swgrl09]

Thanks so much for thinking about her and checking in. She is making steady progress. They just moved her out of ICU and she can walk/eat on her own now, so that's been great news. She's got quite a recovery ahead but I think she's out of the worst of it. And it has affected me for sure, along with the death in my family too. I'm trying to take it in strides.

---------- Post added at 10:45 ---------- Previous post was at 10:27 ----------

Interesting research today ... Apparently histamine works to suppress appetite, so by taking antihistamines long term it can increase your appetite. I honestly have had a huge appetite the past six or seven months, if not longer (can't remember) to the point where I was making myself nervous about how hungry I was. The things you learn...

[pulisa]

You must be relieved to find all this out but annoyed that something as supposedly harmless as an anti-histamine could have caused these issues. Just goes to show that no med is "gentle".

I'm really glad to hear that your grandmother is doing so well. What a huge op she must have had and how resilient she must be to undergo such trauma in her eighties and come out the other side. You must be so pleased xx

[MyNameIsTerry]

Swgrl, your grandmother is a tough one, I bet she is keeping the doctors & nurses on their toes! I remember you saying she came over via Ellis Island so she must have a hell of a lot of stories about her life. It reminded me of The Godfather Part II with a young Vito going through the immigration & medical checks.

This antihistamine is one I don't know of but when I was reading about the side effects it did mention it was an active element of Cetrizine, or something like that. My mum takes antihistamines a lot (skin problems caused by her blood pressure meds) but she insists on Loratadine because it is non drowsy. She has always said Cetrizine is a drowsy one. So, I looked at two of them in the supermarket today and one said it was an unlikely side effect whereas the other said it was a possibility.

I was surprised to see such a long list of side effects on yours, and some side effects were on a par with what we dread with antidepressants!

I hope your grandmother continues to make an excellent progress and is back home soon. I also hope you continue to feel better. If you feel fine, maybe you don't need so much sleep now? I remember gregcool and his olanzapine, he was sleeping a lot and was ok when it was reduced and the sleep hours reduced. It was knocking him on his butt by the sounds of it. Perhaps yours has been doing the same?

I bet getting the weight down will help with your mood too.

[swgrl09]

Thanks for the kind thoughts about my grandmother. She is moving to a rehab facility for a few weeks, another good step.

I think you're right about needing less sleep, Terry. I got about 7 hours last night and on the med that would leave me tired. But I woke up energetic, no grogginess, and did a workout! What? Never would have done that before. I am feeling much more positive. I see my allergy doctor today, so it will be interesting to bring this up with them.

---------- Post added at 08:39 ---------- Previous post was at 08:35 ----------

I think the relationship between xyzal-zyrtec (cetirizine) is similar to that of lexapro-celexa (escitalopram- citalopram). So it is a mirror image of the other, a more concentrated version? I may not be understanding that correctly though.

[Buster70]

Hi , really interested to know how you got on with the anti histamine thing , I've been taking one with citirazine in for a few years it started with my dog making my asthma worse then I realised they helped me sleep , spoke to doc about them and he said if they help you sleep carry on with them apparently they are given to hyperactive children , trouble is if I don't take one in the evening now I barely sleep and feel awful the next day but right now I feel aweful anyway , has made me wonder if they are keeping me in the state I'm in and did they react with citalapram when I tried that four years ago and had a really bad reaction to it , tempted to wait until things improve at home then go cold turkey on everything no diazepam , no anti histamines , no sleeping pills see if things get better or worse not much to lose right now , thanks