Is depression a side effect of Loratadine (Claritin)?

31 Jul 2004

Yes depression can be a side effect of Claritin. I read this in the nurse's Drug handbook. It is listed under the common side effects along with many others. When you pick up your Claritin it may also tell you this under the side effects.

31 Jul 2004

Thank you for the information. I contacted the company that makes this drug and their contact there assured me that depression was NOT a side effect. I guess they do not have the correct facts, which could be dangerous to someone who is already subject to depression before taking the drug.

PAQ

1 Aug 2004

Interestingly enough, depression is listed as a side effect in the PDR info
http://www.drugs.com/cdi/claritin-syrup.html

... the following adverse events have been reported in at least one patient in CLARITIN clinical trials in adult and pediatric patients:
... Psychiatric: agitation, amnesia, anxiety, confusion, decreased libido, depression, impaired concentration, insomnia, irritability, paroniria. [?][?]

22 Dec 2009

i am not so sure that taking claritin can cause depression i am weening off paxil,and taking claritin the only affects i am feeling is the withdraws of the paxil.

4 May 2011

I found this to be so. I started to feel "down" for several days, for no apparent reason. When I discontinued Claritin, my mood returned to normal again!

29 Mar 2012

I can only speak from an experience I had some years ago. A coworker gave me a Claritin, and after about an hour, my vision got super clear and definative, colors became more brilliant, like I put on a pair of "super" sunglasses, but along with these side effects, I became extremely depressed. It was as if, the weight of the world was on my shoulders. It was all I could do to maintain, knowing that the pill was the reason for it all. I remember driving home that afternoon and having to pull over and just cry... yes cry! Grown male, around 28 years old, on the side of the road, sobbing for no reason! Never again, Claritin

3 Jul 2012

I took loratadine for more than two years (2009-2011). I lost my friends (they think that i'm crazy for sure) and almost ruin my marriage(thank god my wife such a strong woman, alhamdulillah).

So the answer to the question about loratadine is yes it'll make you depress, paranoid, weak, confuse, your mood swing is crazy etc. I really thought that i was going nuts, i thought that someone hocus pocus me because it felt like someone else was in your body and you cannot control whats going on in your life until i stop taking the pills for few weeks then i felt so clear for after more than two years taking it. I never thought that small tiny pill can make you want to kill yourself.

I wish i can tell the whole stories about my experiences with this medication.

I lost more than two years of my life being worry about i don't know what because of left blockage nostril.

Pardon my english.

By the way i'm 37, male from Brunei Darussalam.

21 Jan 2013

I found that I became depressed also. I don't typically get more than blue occasonally so it snuck up on me. Then I realized I didn't want to do anything I would typically enjoy and when a friend who is a physician emailed to see if I wanted to go to a concert and I said no - i justed wanted to go home, it finally registered that I was not behaving like myself. I emailed him back just to see if depression could be a side effect even though I couldn't find it on a website and he said 'STOP TAKING NOW'. He knew me too and turning down music to go home to bed just wasn't me.

6 Mar 2013

I was put on Loratadine about 1 month ago. I soon felt depressed, irritated and confused. I couldn't work out why, as I could not think of anything else that would have contributed to this. I was very short in my answers to people and snapped at everyone. I felt weak, literally sick and very down.

I also had blurred vision and severe migraines with stomach cramps.

I decided to stop taking the Loratadine and guess what. I feel 100% again!