# Is my kid a mutant? (Med side effect question) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 11, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407 "2006-05-11T18:46:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407/1 "2006-05-11T18:46:32Z")
Both of my kids were just switched from Claritin to Zyrtec for their allergies, as Claritin was having the same apparent effect as a sugar pill might have done. **Dweezil** has has a signficant improvement of his symptoms. **Moon Unit** had to be taken off the stuff after 2 days because of a paradoxical reaction: the stuff is supposed to make you sleepy. It had the opposite effect with her, triggering major insomnia for 2 days. So - no medical advice wanted here, we’re handling that aspect with appropriate medical personnel, I’m just curious to see if anyone else here has seen a reaction like this in themselves or others. Google doesn’t turn up much (except for the version that includes a decongestant, which doesn’t apply here). ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407/2 "2006-05-11T18:55:13Z")
That happens with some kids and antihistamines. You’ll find a warning about it on bottles of Benadryl and such. Nope, your kid isn’t a mutant! ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407/3 "2006-05-11T18:58:37Z")
I don’t think she’s a mutant, just a minority. My kids both take Zyrtec and have been doing great for several years. We actually switched to giving it to them at night a couple months ago as we finally realized it might have been making them sleepy during the day time. The night time cough medicine that makes most kids sleepy makes my 4yo girl hyper. And it’s one of the possible side effects noted on the bottle. It’s the cold medicine that has the “D” in the name, I can’t think of the medicine name right now…well, maybe it’s the “DM” one… \ ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407/4 "2006-05-11T20:06:10Z")
Well, those two are fine, but I’m not so sure about that Ahmet. (Unless you really _are_ Gail in which case I assure you I’m only kidding. And thanks for the vault releases.) ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407/5 "2006-05-11T22:54:24Z")
Every person has their own unique side effects to medication. For example, when I take Ambien, I get _wired!_ I get amped-up by some antihistamines, too. Caffeine (esp. cola) tends to put me to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407/6 "2006-05-11T23:10:30Z")
[Your kid almost certainly is a mutant](http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/mutations.html#append_1)- the average human has something like 50-100 mutations, most of them in “junk” DNA. But people do have all kinds of side effects from medications. Benadryl is supposed to make you sleepy- it just doesn’t, for me. ---
**Author:** ![Morelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Morelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morelin)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407/7 "2006-05-12T01:04:45Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > Every person has their own unique side effects to medication. For example, when I take Ambien, I get _wired!_ > I get amped-up by some antihistamines, too. Caffeine (esp. cola) tends to put me to sleep. Midol gives me fevers. Thank god I don’t get cramps anymore. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407/8 "2006-05-12T01:52:57Z")
Lots of variation in reactions, even in the same individual from one time to another. I’ve had antihistamines make me sleepy and I’ve had them keep me awake. No predicting. From what I’ve read, children and the elderly not uncommonly have quite different reactions than young or middle aged adults do. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407/9 "2006-05-12T01:57:48Z")
> [@Morelin](#): > > Midol gives me fevers. Thank god I don’t get cramps anymore. Midol gives me pretty much every side effect on the Midol package! Thing is, i’ve taken those active ingredients in other drugs before, so it’s not a reaction to the drug, it was a reaction to one of the excipients! I still don’t know which one - it hasn’t happened since with anything else, but I avoid Midol at all costs! I also get migraines if I take the placebos in birth control packages, but no migraines if I skip them. Which is why I switched to Alesse 21 from 28! ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407/10 "2006-05-12T12:57:23Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#): > > [Your kid almost certainly is a mutant](http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/mutations.html#append_1)- the average human has something like 50-100 mutations, most of them in “junk” DNA. > > But people do have all kinds of side effects from medications. Benadryl is supposed to make you sleepy- it just doesn’t, for me. OK, so she’s a mutant, but the odd antihistamine reaction isn’t a symptom of it 😃 I’d actually heard of the paradoxic reaction to Benadryl ( **DaddyTimesTwo** , that’s probably the ingredient in the “nighttime” cold medicine you mentioned, may be labelled dipenhydramine) - in fact the first time we gave Benadryl to **Dweezil** it didn’t make him sleepy. It just didn’t occur to me that the Zyrtec might behave the same way. Benadryl doesn’t make _me_ sleepy either, just turns me into a foul-tempered zombie Brains… braaaaiiiiiinnnnnnssssss. Needless to say, I don’t use Benadryl any more. **KGS** - bizarro. Hey, at least if you need help sleeping, you don’t need to see a doctor, just run down to the 7-11 for a Big Gulp! ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2006, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407/11 "2006-05-12T15:44:07Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > I also get migraines if I take the placebos in birth control packages, but no migraines if I skip them. Which is why I switched to Alesse 21 from 28! I never got any side effects from the placebos in birth control packages, but I just don’t bother to take them any more. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407/12 "2006-05-13T14:22:55Z")
**Moon Unit** might be a mutant, but you probably won’t know until she’s taken more drugs. If it’s possible to have a paradoxical reaction to a drug, odds are about 1 in 3 my mom will. She says it’s something that her doctors make notes of in her charts since it happens so often, and her regular doctors (you know, the ones who don’t fob her off on a nurse on a regular basis) over the years have warned her of what the paradoxical reactions might be so she can watch out for them. Some people are just like that. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407/13 "2006-05-13T18:00:28Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > **Moon Unit** might be a mutant, but you probably won’t know until she’s taken more drugs. …Some people are just like that. Hmmmmm… you may be on to something. When she was 3, she had amoxicillin for some illness (ear infection?) which made her, for the entire 10-day duration, psychotic. 2-4 violent tantrums a day. Started the day she started the medicine, stopped the day she stopped it. So I shouldn’t be too surprised the Zyrtec had an odd effect. She’s just plain wired differently. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-kid-a-mutant-med-side-effect-question/356407/14 "2006-05-13T18:05:30Z")
Weird reactions in children is pretty common. I had an eye operation when I was about 8 or 9. Due to a reaction to the pre-med I apparently started fighting with the theatre staff while supposedly anaethesised. Several doctors have mentioned that this is common in surgery with children.