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# Severe Itching Linked to Allergy Drugs
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/severe-itching-linked-to-allergy-drugs/
- Published: 2025-05-19T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T15:12:09.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5159205

FDA is warning that patients who stop taking oral allergy medicines cetirizine (McNeil Consumer Health’s Zyrtec) or levocetirizine (Sanofi’s Xyzal) after long-term use may experience rare but severe itching. The itching has been reported in patients who used the medicines daily, typically for at least a few months and often for years, according to a [safety alert.](https://www.fda.gov/media/186542/download?attachment&ref=fdaweb.com) “Reported cases were rare but sometimes serious, with patients experiencing widespread, severe itching that required medical intervention,” it says. As a result, FDA says it is requiring a new warning about this risk in the products’ approved labeling.