So, yesterday, my allergies were awful. I couldn’t stop sneezing, my right eye was watering constantly, and I was just a snotty mess. I didn’t have any allergy medicine with me, but my partner did. I took it and it cleared up my symptoms within 30 minutes! It was awesome! I usually take Zyrtec, but she had Claritin D 12 hour. I knew that the “D” part of the Claritin was basically just Sudafed and when I was younger, it would make my heart race. I was desperate though and didn’t want to leave work and get something else. I figured that maybe since I’m older and bigger, it wouldn’t affect me as much.

Boy, was I wrong!

I took it around 11am. By noon, I was tearing up at little things that were sad, but nothing I’d teared up at previously. Example- I’ve got a student with a really horrific past and I know all about it. He talks to me sometimes and we can sort of chat through some of our emotions. Yesterday, it was just getting to me! Another example was that another kid was crying because no one believed he had a YouTube channel and that made me a little teary when normally I’d tell him that it’s okay, you know what’s true and what isn’t and send him on his merry way. I made it through the rest of the school day without actually crying, but as soon as I got in my car, I just lost it. I cried all the way home, but it wasn’t sobbing crying, it was just tears leaking out of my eyes. I had zero control over my tears and it was weird.
I got myself together and went inside my house where I kept falling asleep sitting up on the couch, which isn’t like me at all. Then, around 8pm after my son went to bed, I just lost it. I was so depressed and I couldn’t stop crying. My husband is the one that pointed out that I’d taken a different medicine today and I looked up the side effects and drastic mood changes weren’t listed on the official side effects list. I looked into it further and found people describing EXACTLY the same things and feelings that I had from the same medicine- specifically the 12 hour release one. I felt like I was losing my mind! I hadn’t felt that bad since I was a teenager. Fun fact- I took the regular Claritin regularly as a teen. That could very much explain much of my teenage depression.

24 hours later and I’m back to normal. It’s run it’s course and I feel as sane as I usually feel.

It’s so frustrating that that wouldn’t be listed as a side effect! I also read that Claritin was originally developed as an anti-psychosis drug, but was found to clear up allergies really well. So it was marketed for that instead. I don’t know how much validity is in that claim, but found it interesting anyway. *shrugs*

tldr; I took allergy medicine, lost my mind, and now I’m better.

Moral of the story- when you feel like junk, just go home.