If you've taken Singulair or Claritin D (12 hour), what were the side effects?

Question

This is my second year teaching at an elementary school, and I've been having pretty bad allergy symptoms since I started. I went to the doctor yesterday, and she prescribed Singulair to be taken at bedtime, and told me to take the 12 hour Claritin D in the mornings.

Well, this morning at school, I started having extremely bad hot flashes and sweating really badly. I started feeling really emotional (almost crying), and the muscles in my right arm started burning. My legs felt a little bit weak. I just felt shaky in general. My heart was racing.

Since both medications are in my system, I'm not really sure which one could have caused these reactions. My gut tells me it's the Claritin, since the side effects didn't start until this morning around 9, and I took the Singulair last night around 10.

Have any of you that have taken those medications had any similar side effects?

Answer 1

The only problem I have had with Claritin D is it puts me to sleep. It's by far the best allergy medication I have ever taken - the others just don't work for me. Unfortunately, these side effects could be caused by either. I think you'll have to experiment to see which is not working for you.

Answer 2

I had hot spells and muscle pain as well as severe headaches and agitation when I took Claritin (D?) almost 12 years ago.  My doctor switched me to Allegra-D and those side effects, with the exception of the headaches (though they weren't nearly as bad) went away.  Eventually, even the headaches went away.  For some people, Claritin works better, for others, Allegra, or some other meds work best.  Unfortunately, it's a trial and error situation.

Look at the information that you should have gotten with your prescriptions.  They should list known side effects, and it's rare for two medications to have the same set.