Sweetfeather, can you also share what, if any other, symptoms are helped by taking Atarax? You mention sleep improved, and ADD symptoms. Are you also saying it helps your brain fog?
Great questions, ourfullhouse! Can I butt-in for a sec? Zyrtec is a metabolite of hydroxyzine (kind of a first cousin, if you will). Like most antihistamines, it has the potential for drowsiness. Interestingly, though, it also helps with anxiety, but we’re not supposed to use it for that (or it loses effectiveness for that, more accurately) after about 4 months. Having said that, we are Zebras, and I am curious if it may help brain fog purely by its antihistamine effects on our vessels (histamine makes them dilate. Antihistamines help get more oxygen to our brains, I would think, by preventing some of this dilation.) I believe that is how mast cell medication helps our orthostatic problems, too.
Hydroxyzine can sometimes cause over sedation, if mixed with other drugs (like my beloved xanax). That’s not a great combo for brain fog, I think. But hydroxyzine helps a little bit with pain control, too, especially when mixed with opioids (if you can tolerate those . Love that. The only reason I reached for Zyrtec first was because hydroxyzine can cause tardive dyskinesia (head rolling, lip licking, weird tics…). Miss Optimistic thought, “Oh, great, I’ll be one of the folks to get THAT!” (Like my teens aren’t already embarrassed by me. ha).Again, mast cell patients usually love it, though. For now, I’m personally sticking with Zyrtec purely because it is “good enough” for me. I’m looking forward to hearing about your response to it, both right away, and a year or so later… 🙂 Diana