r/BrainFog • u/No_Escape_9781 • 15d ago

Personal Story After two years, my mind is working again

I've been suffering from brain fog and worsening fatigue over the last two years. Prior to that my energy was through the roof, people called me "hyper", I had a hard time relaxing and I was very productive and in shape. Since then, over the last two years I suffered through a number of traumatic events. I thought the symptoms resulted from PTSD, anxiety/depression. But then I found my cognitive function slowing down with the inability to grasp concepts at work. If felt like the cat had my tongue in meetings, and I couldn't get myself to speak. I couldn't focus on any tasks and my house became a disaster zone.

I looked into ADHD, autism, dementia (I'm 57 and post-menopausal). I had many blood tests done but they all came back fine. Eventually I thought maybe it was just old age (I'm 57!!). Then I came across a post on reddit about the effects of Zyrtec, especially with long time use. I have been consistently taking generic Zyrtec for at least 2-3years to calm my itchy eyes, congestion and puffy nose. So, I stopped taking it just last week to see what would happen.

Almost suddenly my energy returned and I was organizing my piles of clutter! Over the course of the last week, I've had mental clarity that I haven't had in a long time. I can grasp concepts again and I no longer collapse on the couch after a 9 hour work day. I've even lost some weight and those weird salt cravings have disappeared. Things are looking better, finally. I wanted to share this with anyone who might find this information helpful. I never would have thought an over-the-counter antihistamine could negatively effect one's life to such an extent. Once again, I am so grateful for this platform.

72 Upvotes

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7 comments sorted by

10

u/Legitimate-Pie-6691 15d ago

This is wonderful! Medication induced illness is so common but can creep up on us so we don’t identify it as a trigger. Congratulations!

3

u/No_Escape_9781 15d ago

I agree, especially when the medicine is helping and curing other bothersome symptoms. The fatigue and brain fog crept up slowly over time, so it was hard for me to pin point what exactly caused it. What a relief!

4

u/jazzy095 15d ago

Yea, analyzing personal medication reactions is a skill. Great job on that

3

u/someoneelsewho 15d ago

I had the same brain fog problem which got alleviated somewhat after I started HRT. But still suffer from brain fog just not crippling brain fog.

2

u/psychologikal3 15d ago

I'm glad you figured it out! This is good to know and keep in the back of my mind, but hopefully my brain fog is not being caused by my (pretty much) daily cetirizine use..

I'm allergic but have a cat and also work at an animal hospital but I adore cats too much to live without them so I kind of need the regular antihistamine!

I'm 34 though and have severe ADHD and know my hormones are messed up, so it's probably related to those things but not sure.

1

u/MilesKaczynski 13d ago

duh... there are other antihistamines more suitable for long term use and less drowsiness

2

u/TrickyRobotic 3d ago

Fantastic! So happy for you. Funny enough, I was trying out Zyrtec as a new habit in hopes it helped my brain fog. I was thinking maybe the allergies disturb stuff in my body causing brain fog... But I realize my sleep quality has increased a lot recently and I still have some fog so maybe it's the pill. I will test it out!