I was taking two 24-hour Zyrtec capsules per day, one in the morning and one at night. I found that I could not take them when on a high dose of prednisone (4 and 3 pills a day) because I was anxiety-ridden and confused, but I started Zyrtec again when my prednisone dose dropped to 2 pills a day on day 9. The side effects were still bad, but bearable. I figured it was the combination of prednisone and Zyrtec that was causing the problem, but when I finished the prednisone I still reacted badly to the Zyrtec. I told my doctor, and he switched me to Allegra. I'm suffering no side effects now. Starting yesterday, I'm experiencing some mild itching, but I've been able to ignore it. I've been having cilantro smoothies for breakfast for over three months. I can't tell if it's helping. And that's where I am after six months of Grover's!

I've been advised by my dermatologist and by a contributor to this forum that any type of alcohol opens the blood vessels near the surface of the skin (hence the nice warm flush) which allows more blood and thereby more histamines to the skin which aggravates the GD rash and itching. Very unfortunate! It was further explained that heat also bringing blood with histamines to the surface of the skin, such as a hot shower, warm clothing or warm bedding.