beware of zyrtec.

the label says, "take one tablet BEFORE BEDTIME," for good reason. if you wake up in the middle of the night, say, three a.m. with the cats doing laps across your head and your sinuses suddenly full of solid snot (so clogged indeed that you know you'd make zero progress with the flonase inhaler, your first line of defense against your body's hypersensitivity to everything from dust mites to animal dander to common tree and grass pollens) from all those spores drifting in the open window off the flowering pear trees-- WHATEVER you do, do NOT take a zyrtec. at least, if you do, do not expect to be ambulatory and coherent before noon.

me, i've been downing very strong coffee and careening around the place, missing colliding with walls by merest breaths since 11. because I have to teach today. I've got to get my head back in the game. I need to ransack and turn my house inside-out in cleaning frenzy-- because only two days left, and I can't afford to be a zombie for an instant longer.

incidentally, check out this compelling descriptor: "In ZYRTEC studies, side effects were mild or moderate, including drowsiness, fatigue and dry mouth in adults, and drowsiness..."-- anything jump out at you? actually, I edited it kind of unfairly to emphasize a point-- it does go on to list other side effects "in children," but still, I think my point holds. and, remind me again, what the difference is between drowsiness and fatigue...