Comments on: Monday PSA: Batman Sells Out to Claritin

By: Jessica H.

Jessica H. — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:24:54 +0000

My son is 5 1/2 and a few weeks ago I also learned about the “rage in children” on Claritin. OMG! I had NO IDEA that this was possible. I have 2 children, ages 5 and 20 months; both are boys and both have allergies. My 20 month old baby’s allergies are much more bothersome than my 5 year-old’s; however, my five year-old suddenly seems to be developing allergies out of no where. He fell down outside onto the grass without a shirt on and every single place on his skin that made contact with grass became red and inflamed with welts and hives. Both chidlren have the classic dark circles under their eyes. I was motivated to go and purchase some Claritin for children because my 20 month old has had a runny-nose and wet cough for at least 2-3 months now. The mucous is clearn and he has already had a round of powerful antibiotics which did not bring and end to the symptoms. We have 3 dogs and my husband is allergic to dogs; within a few minutes of bringing the baby out of his room his nose begins to run and the cough soon follows. In desperation, I tried Claritin. It worked amazingly well on the baby but it made my 5 1/2 year-old into the HULK! OMG! You DON”T want to make him angry on Clariton. He has NEVER been a violent child but he was angry, violent, irritable, and quite frankly dangerous on Claritin. I discontinued use after about a week when a friend told me that the Claritin was the likely cause and he returned to normal within a few days. WOW! Never again will I make that mistake. Yikes! Now I am considering trying Zyrtec because he tolerates benedryl well but it puts him to sleep and that is not my intention.

By: Sean Duggan

Sean Duggan — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:10:21 +0000

@princess edamame – Thank you… I just offhand mentioned the whole “rage in children on Claritin” thing to a co-worker and found that one of our children, who’d been on Claritin for a month, had indeed been puzzlingly violent and moody. She took him off of it and he’s back to being a little angel. Moreover, she came to realize that the Zyrtec she was taking was having a similar effect in her. Now, I’m starting to wonder about my own usage…

But yeah, an offhand mention from a comic book blog led to the avoidance of some very nasty situations. Times like this, I feel like God does occasionally nudge us with inspiration.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:22:45 +0000

My husband gets stoned and giggly on non-drowsy Claritin – enough so that I’ve been known to use it as an emergency anti-panic-attack manoevre when we’re out of lorazapam.

By: The Perky Skeptic

The Perky Skeptic — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:21:36 +0000

To be fair to Claritin/loratadine, lots of antihistamines have that side effect on young children. In fact, I believe the latest recommendation is not to give antihistamines to children under six.

My son FREAKED OUT in exactly the way Princess Edamame describes when we gave him Zyrtec, but he seems to do fine on Claritin. Of course, he’s older now and may have just grown out of that side effect.

By: Princess Edamame

Princess Edamame — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:08:13 +0000

This was the Target generic version of Claritin. Just plain loratadine? I’d tell you more about what it was, but it pissed me off so badly (yup – made me angry and I didn’t even take it!) that I tossed the box and vowed never to buy it again.

By: Your Obedient Serpent

Your Obedient Serpent — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:40:31 +0000

Princess: is this plain Claritin, or Claritin-D? The “D” flavor has a decongestant, and up until recently, that was psuedoephedrine — and “Sudafed” always affected ME like caffeine does.

(and for the record, caffeine tends to make me “angry, combative, argumentative, violent, mean, and paranoid.”)

By: princess edamame

princess edamame — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:14:10 +0000

This really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. From time to time, at my pediatrician’s recommendation and direction, I gave my 4 year old son generic Claritin. And it made him Angry. ANGRY. Combative, argumentative, violent and mean. Two out of the three times I had to pick him up from school because he was out of control, I had given him Claritin in the morning. Once I saw the pattern, I talked to my aunt, a pharmacy tech, who said that was not an unheard-of side effect. In fact, it makes my cousin, an adult, paranoid. And comic book characters are shilling for this? Oy.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:09:52 +0000

Bosda:
There’s plenty of heroes with drugs as their origin/powers — it seems like every other hero in the Golden Age was taking something. But this is the first (and hopefully only) time I’ve seen a super-hero shill for a prescription drug.

Aine:
Apparently he stopped by the drug-store to get some allergy medicine on the way to the black-tie dinner.

By: Aine

Aine — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:36:11 +0000

I haven’t read this comic but could someone who has please tell me why no-one noticed how affected Robin was by his meds before the fight?

By: Your Obedient Serpent

Your Obedient Serpent — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:31:14 +0000

Ironically, ten years later, my antihistamine of choice is over-the-counter… Claritin.

(Worse, it’s the REALLY CHEAP GENERIC VERSION.)