The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is adding a new warning for two commonly used allergy medications after some users reported experiencing severe itching after discontinuing the drugs.
Some patients who stopped using cetirizine, known as Zyrtec, or levocetirizine, known as Xyzal, suffered severe itching, the FDA said in a May 16 safety alert.
“The itching, also called pruritus, has been reported in patients who used these medicines daily, typically for at least a few months and often for years. Patients did not experience itching before starting the medicines,” the agency stated.
Of 209 cases identified around the world, 197 were in the United States. Two of the patients had been taking both of the drugs; the rest had been using one or the other….