Singulair and bad dreams

My sixteen year old son, five year old son and three year old son are all on singulair for allergies. My three year old actually has asthma. They have been on the med for about a month. The singulair has been working just great so far as symptoms are concerned.
My five year old has complained of hearing people call him by name...people that were not me, my husband or his brothers. He says he doesnt know who it is but it's not us. Several times a day he says, "Mommy did you call me?" "Someone called me." He has also told me and my husband about a few bad dreams that were very vivid. Needless to day, after the second time my son complained of hearing voices, we no longer have given any of the boys the medication.AGJ Chesterfield, VA

I have an 8y.o. daughter that has been on Singulair for about 3 years now. Since she started taking singulair she has been absolutely miserable! She cries at everything, is very moody, has leg pains, wont leave my side and is tired ALL the time. She has circle under her eyes, she looks like she hasn't slept a wink in days! She has been off her Singulair for about 5 days now and she is a totally different person. She has been "happy-go-lucky" and full of herself, she has even woke up happy (which hasn't happened in I dont know how long). She was put on Singulair by our Doctor b/c she had Pnemonia two times in a row. She has Allergies and Asthma and for the past 3 years has been on: Singulair (4mg), albuterol, flovent, Zyrtec, and Flonase. That is just too much for a little girl to be on. She hardly eats at all, gets headaches. I just see such a difference when she is not on it but, what will she take in place of this? My husband also takes Singulair (he is miserable all the time), he doesnt sleep at night and is always tired. Anyone have alternative to this drug?

I aged ten years in a month. My legs lost any muscular power and I needed help to get up our 3 steps to the front door. My eyes are sore and my balance is also affected. What I do not know is how long am I going to be affected like this. I began to think that I was starting with either motor
neurone disease or Parkinson's disease.
Muscle weakness, loss of balance, bad dreams,anxiety, irritability.joint pain.sore itchy eyes and difficulty focusing on printed pages.
A., Yorkshire, England.I am 69 years old and prior to Singulaire I was pretty fit for my age.

Thank you for sharing your experiences with this medication. My 4 (almost 5) yo has been on Singulair for almost 2 years now for allergies. I've noticed over the past few months a slow change in his behavior/attitude, not positive changes. He's become an aggressive, angry child that can be set off in a split second over nothing. He's also getting worse with not wanting to go into other parts of our home alone. He won't even walk down a short hall to go to the bathroom alone - is afraid of I don't know what. Lately, he's also been obviously having bad dreams because he kicks and yells in his sleep. I've just chalked all of this up to his age. While taking a walk yesterday I ran into a neighbor that was telling me the doctors want to put her son on Singulair but because of the possible hyperactivity and other side effects she won't do it. I came home and found this site along with others describing similar side effects as my sons. As of last night, we took him off of Singulair. I'm curious to see if this is the problem. I'll keep you posted.

hi everyone my name is Katie, and my son has been on Sindulair for over 6 months now. I took him off 2 nights ago, the day I found this sight. I just cant believe how many families this medication has hurt. When my son was put on, I was never told anything about anything like this happening. I thought his behavior was due to the divorce and child custody things in his life that were going on. It did not cross my mind that it could ever be this medication. He does not take anything else at all.
Some of the things we have been dealing with are, panic attacks at night, bad dreams, aggressiveness, depression, anxiety! Fits that you would not believe. Crying all the time, very emotional. And the newest one, thinking everyone he loves is going to get killed. These are not things a 6 just turned 7 year old should be going through.
I got to thinking that I needed to get him some professional help, this is not normal! I decided to look up Singulair on the net, I did not find anything. I looked up Childrens depression, and angziat, still nothing fit. Then I found this site. Wow did it blow my mind. It fit and it felt right, if you are a mom, I think you know where I am coming from. When you know you just know! So I got him off the medication, and already I am seeing changes. The first night was not grate but better than it has been in a long time, the next day though, he woke up and smiled at me for the first time in way to long, he only had 2 meltdowns that day, when he was having at lest 2 in an hr before. So far so good, I just hope that It keeps going well for him.
Thank you for letting me tell my story!

My 3 years old daughter was on Singulair for 8 months, that was prescribed by her Pedestrian from the Asthma clinic in Canada, Quebec. Lately, some of the symptoms of adverse effects are surfacing in her, including depression, action very emotional, constant having bad dreams (which causes tiredness), crying almost whole day in the daycare, refusing to eat and drink, refusing to join her favorite activities... Her Pedestrian told us there is no side effect on Singulair when she renewed the prescription 2 days ago. Because of my doubt about that, I started research on the web and found out that the early communication was issued by FDA. Of course, I took my daughter off from Singulair right away.

I work in the drug development clinical research field. I know that nothing the FDA or Health Canada will pursue until a lot of cases on adverse events (side effects) reported to them. Please everyone, if you or your child has had developed any side effects on this particular drug (Singulair), please report to FDA at once. It got me so upset is that this drug is constantly and widerly prescribed to children, and the Pedestrians are not caution enough to tell the parents. I definitely do not want to see other children suffer the same symptoms as my daughter had.

Everybody here knows that I have been interested in trying to find out if Singulair (montelukast), which is a quinoline, ionizes and forms quinolinic acid under physiological conditions that lower blood pH. Some researchers have also mentioned that another montelukast metabolite that occurs is known to be a toxin. In other words, until someone can get blood tests that confirm what the toxic metabolic is, we are just guessing but I would bet that it is a good guess.

One of the strongest cases for that argument would be what happens to some people during sleep. There are some people whose CO2 levels rise. If the levels rise enough to cause change in pH to a more acid condition, then montelukast can possibly ionizes just enough to create minute amounts of neurotoxins that could cause bad dreams, hallucinations, sleep deprivation or a number of other neuro-psychiatric problems. Compound the effect of night after night of minute amounts of neurotoxins caused by CO2 and montelukast ionization then it would be easy to understand how depression and personality change results. There are other conditions that cause elevated CO2 levels and acidosis such as COPD.

If anyone has any data regarding their CO2 levels from sleep studies or other bloods tests, would you please send me a private message?

HI,

As with many others I found singulair to be a miracle with asthma. No more rescue inhalers. I am not sure which of my current meds is causing the very vivid, often gruesome dreaming I have been having as THREE of them show this as a side effect. I am referring to Cymbalta, Xanax and Singulair. It may be that the combination of the three is just too much and is causing brain toxicity of some sort. I started cutting down the cymbalta, and also the Xanax days ago. I found myself still waking up remembering vivid dreams that I would rather forget. I remember them all like they just happened in living color and detail, days and weeks later. At first I thought it was interesting, but now I just want to FORGET THEM, anyone have ideas???? Help!!! ( I also developed depression and anxiety after being on singulair for several years which is how I ended up with the two additional meds.

I've been taking Singulair off and on for about six months for severe allergies. I have begun having bad dreams every night. Some times they will wake me up and some times not, but regardless they leave me feeling unsettled and strange most of the day. This is the second time this has happened. This time I am stopping the Singulair for good now.

I have a three year old son who has severe allergies. He's been taking singulair for 2 years on & off just in the allergy season. He started taking, singulair again in the beginning of April. One morning he woke up and both eyes were really swollen and red, I called his doctor's office and told them i thought he had pink eye, after 2 different drops and no change I brought him into the doctor's to see if it could be his allergies, and they agreed and started him on Zyrtec. I still was not impressed with the results so i brought him back yet again to see if we could see a specialist. Instead they put him on nasonex to try.
In the beginning of March I started to see a change in my usual happy fun loving son. He was scared to sleep in his bed, waking up in the middle of the night from bad dreams, uncontrollable screaming fits that would last up to an hour, saying he wants a Boo Boo. At first we thought it could be jealously over his new brother, or maybe something at his school.
Then i found this website and everything clicked, how scary it must be for a child to have these horrible thoughts and not be able to understand or stop them. What are the people at merck thinking??
Can any one tell me when the symptoms stop. He's been off for a week and we see some improvements. But he still has these fits with almost an OCD tendency to them (mainly when he's overtired), stomach pains, lack of appetite.

My son is almost 6 yrs old. He has been taking Singular for approx 3 years, in addition to Claritin and Nasonex. This is all for his allergy to mold. His doctor started him on these meds after a 6 month episode with sinus infections leading to asthma-like symptoms. We have not noticed anything unusual about his behavior until approx 3 months ago. He started waking up every night (2-3 hours after going to bed) with bad dreams. At first he would not fully awaken and fall back asleep immediately. After a month or so of this happening most nights, he had two nights in a row where he woke up screaming and was inconsolable for about 30 minutes. We initially thought it was night terrors, but he was not scared or fearful, he was just upset/angry. He would hit the bed repeatedly and yell. He didn't know what he was upset about but would talk about how he thought we hated him, he was dumb, etc. After about 30 min he would 'snap out of it' and return to his normal self and go back to sleep easily.
At first we thought these were night terror brought on by a recent fever, but he had another episode last night. He has also been falling apart at the littlest things and getting quite violent (for a 6 yr old). He was sent to his room yesterday evening because he was complaining about the dinner his mom made (lots of complaining these days..). He had a total melt down an started throwing things and hitting the door so hard he put a hole in it.
Some of this behavior I would chalk up to normal kid stuff, new baby brother, etc. But I am suspicious about the negative thoughts, bad dreams, and instant melt downs... I stopped giving him Singular today and we will see what happens. God bless you all as we figure these things out...

Hats off to Dr. Engler. Patients need this type of support. He is a unique individual willing to tell his own experiences.

Singulair increases risk of Suicide? Don't just poo-poo the possibility

This analysis is solely the work of the author. It has not been edited or endorsed by GLG
.
Analysis By:David Engler, MD
Physician, The Allergy Clinic

Implications: It is difficult to imagine why taking Singulair would increase the risk that someone would complete suicide. After all, what does a leukotriene receptor antagonist have to do with mental health? I don't know. But doctors, ask yourself, have you ever had a Singulair patient stop taking it because it caused headaches? I have had dozens of them stop taking it because of headaches. When they attempt to try it again, the headache comes back. But the package insert says that the risk of headache is no greater than it is in people who took placebo. Try explaining that to the patient who got the headache--it's very real to them.

Analysis: The story about Singulair and suicide may be based on some cause-effect relationship. I don't know what that is, but I will tell you story of a patient I saw last week. She is a 19 year old college student, with the usual stresses of college. I have been treating her for asthma and allergies since she was 10 years old, and she had been on Singulair for about 5 years.

She was treated in the town's ER for an intentional Tylenol overdose; she took 15 of them for a headache that wouldn't go away. The usual charcoal to the stomach, with Mucomyst to protect the liver from the Tylenol went fine. While under evaluation, the ER doc also noticed she had been "cutting" her wrists and arms. She said that it relieved stress.

They asked her about the Singulair and she said it gave her bad dreams. Astutely, they stopped it. All this happened a week or so before the recent news headlines.

Is that cause and effect? No way....but remember that MRK is the same company that still denies that Vioxx can increase the risk of heart attack. Oh yeah, Vioxx. That drug would have been great as a niche drug if given to treat pain in those already at risk of a GI bleed. But, no, MRK was encouraging dentists to give it out for toothaches, and most patients in my practice who were on it had no history of GI bleed. MRK wanted Vioxx to be a billion-dollar blockbuster; had it been marketed appropriately, it may still be on the market.

So how will I change my prescribing habits? For patients who have a psychiatric history, including those who take antidepressants, I'll mention the story of this patient to those on Singulair and start asking questions to try to determine if they are brittle or fragile from a psychiatric standpoint.

This may be much ado about nothing, but what if it's not? I've learned to stop drinking the drug company Kool Aid without a few grains of salt.

Thank you so much for all the information! My son was prescribed Singulair pills this fall. He has been taking them for seasonal allergies and we had no problems. These were the sample chewable kind. Then came the pills... Unfortunately I did not see the news or read the article about the side affects of Singulair. Within 4 days my happy well adjusted 10 year old had serious sleeping problems along with stomach aches. He will wake up screaming and crying and cannot tell me what is wrong. He said he had a nightmare but doesn't remember what it was about.

My husband was away on a business trip when I started him on the medicine. He came back to a very unhappy and sleepy child. I asked my son what he was scared of and he asked me to tell daddy that he does not feel safe while he is out of town. He can't sleep unless he is by one of us. He's not safe. His bedroom is 15' from our bedroom! He loves his doctor and begged that I call Dr. Becky so he can talk to her.

I could not take this anymore and started thinking about what was wrong. I went through all his activities, friends he's played with, school problems, anything! Then it hit me, effects of Singulair!

Wow, what an eye opener. Fortunately my husband did not have him take it this morning. He will not be going back to this medication. Ever!

Thank you for the information once again. I hope everyone's child gets better. Everyone wants a happy well child. No child should have to go through this. They have enough pressure as it is without the meds making things worse.

Maeri

Wow, everyone, thanks for the support. Medicdad asked that I keep him posted about how I'm feeling, and this is only day two, and I hope this isn't a placebo effect, but I do feel better already. I did cry a bit yesterday, but I didn't get carried away with my thoughts or anything, and not once did I have any inclinations to harm myself. No thoughts like that came into my mind all day, and for what seems like forever they came in several times a day, even when I was "happy". Seriously, I would be doing laundry, nothing upsetting happened, and I would think about hanging myself in the garage. And who do you confide in with something like that? That is CRAZY. I feel like I have more rational thoughts and a better perspective on pretty much everything that presents itself to me, but I don't want to get my hopes up just yet. As far as the asthma, I feel like I can breathe the same, even better, which seems odd, since yesterday. I do take advair, and I am hoping that will be enough. I also take zyrtec for my allergies, so hopefully those two will suffice in maintaining my quality of life in those areas. I am already planning to exercise this afternoon after work, which I think is a good sign, and could help my lung function naturally. So I hope that I can report that things are much improved after a week, like so many other people have posted.

My 5yr old daughter was prescribed Singulair in Early March of 2008. The first week she was on it she was marching around her humidifier completely oblivious to our presence in her room. Other evenings she would wake up crying saying she had really bad dreams or we would hear bizzare talking in her room! Talk about creepy! We have never had these issues EVER! The doctor told us that the medicine can cause bizzare dreams so we started to take it in the morning after breakfast. A few more weeks on the drug we noticed an angry, impatient and then sad child. She started saying things like I feel sad inside but could not tell us what was bothering her. She would just say I feel sad. My husband and I got really concerned and the only medication she was on was Singulair. My husband went online to look up information and saw postings. We immediately took her off and she has been off of it for about 2 1/2 weeks and is a brand new child! She sleeps at night, she has fun at school with her friends and all seems normal again. Just wanted to share our story!

My six year old son has been taking Singulair for almost three years for asthma and allergies. We have had such a hard time with him and it all started around the time he was prescribed this drug. He became very irritable, angry, hard to satisfy and generally unhappy. Now that he is six, the last two years have been the absolute worst with him saying he hates himself and just wants to die. He has stomach pain all the time and has had alternating daily diarrhea for over a year. Our pediatrician has done all sorts of tests and has referred us to a specialist. He has bad dreams every night and also complains of leg pain. He has been so depressed lately that he does not even want to go out and play after school and on weekends (not like him at all) and the teacher calls me several times a week to pick him up early because of stomach pain. I am so upset to think all this has been caused by this drug and he has suffered because of it! He also takes Zyrtec, as do all three of my sons, but the older two do not have asthma, just allergies. I gave him his last dose night before last because I just found out about the Singulair investigation. If anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated.

My son is 11 years old and my mother recently told me that Singulair can be linked to suicidal thoughts and actions. This is scary to me because my son has been taking Singulair for about three years now and I can clearly see a change in his mood. It seems like nothing makes him happy even activities that he use to love he is no longer interested in. He has become so negative and can never find the good in a situation. He rarely sleeps through out the night he complains of being hot and having bad dreams. He does very well academical in school but he does not like to participate in group activities. He had the same teacher for fifth grade that he had in third grade and his teacher mentioned to me that he is completely different and lacks motivation. I must admit even before I learned anything about the mood effect that Singulair could have on patients I was thinking of getting my son counseling to focus on anger management because it seems like the smallest thing agitates him. I don't know what to do now. I think I going to try herbal treatments at least they will be natural and hopeful lack side effects.

My daughter's last dose was Wed 3/26/08. Today she woke up in a great mood - very happy! My husband and I noticed how "euphoric" she was. We could tell she had not felt this good in a long time. She was happy, laughing, and skipping when we went out today. She even spilled a soda in the car and that would have normally started a MAJOR scene (crying, blaming others, extreme anger) and instead she was very calm about it and helped clean it up. What a surprise that was! She has not been like this for years! She actually had an appetite today and asked for food! It tears me up to think she lost almost 4 years of precious childhood to this medicine! She used to be so depressed before that my husband had suggested to her that she see a psychiatrist. We asked her about those times this morning. She said she was so depressed because of the bad dreams she had before. We never mentioned these side effects to her so it was surprising to hear her say that! I'll post again later to see if the changes continue.

I don't know where to begin with what this drug has done to my family. I did not put this together until I saw it on tv last night. Two weeks after my five year old started taking Singulair he sit down on the couch with me and said "mommy I think something is wrong with me and I said why do you think this and he said I don't know I just feel so sad all the time". I cried for weeks and went to his peds with this and they told me to put him in therapy. That is only the beginning of what I can describe as a road of hell. He would lay down in the floor and just cry and we would ask him why he is crying and he would say I don't know I just can't stop and we have spent many many night up all night with him crying over no reason. He also started having panic attacks. My whole family has been in therapy and then last night I see this on the news I went and looked at the date the medicine was filled and it was exactly two weeks to the day after Shawn started taking Singulair. I can not tell you how I felt last night. I didn't sleep at all. Needless to say I have taken him off of the medicine.

Now he has not taken it in three days and I can already tell a difference in him. He hasn't mentioned dying or feeling sad he has been sleeping all night and he hasn't said anything about bad dreams. He hasn't had had any crying fits for no reason and he seems to fell better more energetic.

Without repeating what everyone else is already describing all I can say is Thank God!! My step son has been on Singulair as long as I can remember (6 years?)and his anger has been just what everyone describes. Before he could even form sentences he would lay down on the floor and repeatedly bang his head on the floor concrete, carpet, grass it didn't matter. He was diagnosed with ADHD about 4 years ago but his father and I were both desperately against medicating him because we didn't think this was the problem and no one was asking any questions or looking for other answers. He has now been put on 3 different meds for the ADHD and when they don't work they just keep upping the doses. He has since been committed to a hospital 4 or 5 times now for his anger and suicidal threats. HE IS 7!!! He doesn't even know what suicide is he just knows he doesn't want to be here anymore. The other night he pulled a knife on his mom out of the clear blue. They were laughing and playing, he went to the kitchen for jello and came back with a knife!! I don't know if Singulair is the cause but it sure sounds like it and I only PRAY we have finally found an answer and that everyone finally sees what his father and I have been screaming for many years now. Hopefully this will open his mothers eyes as well as the doctors. I PRAY with everything in me this has no long term effects. Also, looking back I realize he has always had problems with bad dreams. From the time they put him on Singulair he has not once slept through the night without wanting to join his daddy and me in bed. He is afraid to even go to bed without daddy. When I think about all the nights I wouldn't let him sleep in bed with us because I thought he was old enough to sleep alone at 7 I literally cry for what he must have been going through. Please let this be the answers to our prayers!!!

I've been blown away also. My son is 10 years old and was originally diagnosed with RAD (Reactive Airway Disease) when he was about 3 and has had allergy and mild asthma issues since. When he was 5 he was put on Singulair, Nasonex, and Zyrtec. My son has always been a beautifully happy child, but the last few years have been extremely emotional for him. He gets depressed, he's extremely hard on himself and is ultra-sensitive and scared about everything. He has never been frightened and was a baby that loved his room and always slept really well. Now I think that I understand why he’s been afraid to sleep in his room alone. Ever since he's been on Singulair he complains and complains of bad dreams. I can't believe that I'm hearing that he's been taking this medication like clock-work for 5 years and all of his problems may be related to this. His allergies are not severe and nor has his asthma ever been - but I was told constantly that he needs this medication. This is unbelievable - I've stopped giving Singulair to him and have made an appointment with a new allergist.

I have been crying for almost 24 hours now. I cannot believe what I am reading and hearing about Singulair. My son has been to hell and back again and again. I cannot say for sure the Singulair is the culprit. But after reading all of the other stories on this website, I am convinced it is a strong possibility.

My son is 11 years old. He has severe allergies and asthma. He takes many, many medications for this including Singulair. He as been on Singulair for about 8 years now (my best guess because he has been on it for sooooo long.)

My son was diagnosed with ADHD in pre-school. He has taken many medications for the ADHD, but none have ever done any good at all. We thought some of the medications even made things worse. Now, I'm not so sure.

After exhausting all the ADHD medications, our pediatrician sent my son to a psychiatrist and a counselor. The psychiatrist put him on 2 different antipsychotic medications. Again, neither one did any good and seemed to make matters worse. The psychiatrist sent my son to a psychologist to be tested for Asperger's. For those of you who don't know Asperger's is a high functioning form of autism. The psychologist ruled out Asperger's by diagnosed ADHD and Anxiety Disorder. He did not prescribe any medication.

For some unknown reason, I've only given my son the Singulair off and on for the last year. My son had the best year in school ever. However, his pediatrician was still not satisfied. He sent him to see another psychiatrist at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. We were told he is believed to have more than one disability. He is believed to have ADHD, Aspergers, Teurettes and a possible 4th medical problem that has not yet come to light.

We are scheduled to see a neurologist at Children's Hospital on the 15th of April to rule out any medical reasons for his tics. We see the psychiatrist again on the 18th of April.

I am so tormented by this recent news. Has all of these problems been caused from him taking the Singulair for so long? Although he has had his best year in school yet, he still has a lot of problems. Are the side effects of the Singulair permanent.

The other side of the coin is this: It is also very scary to watch my son not be able to breath. Asthma can also be life threatening. What is a parent supposed to do.

Also, I now don't know whether to keep these appointments that are coming up. I hate so much to put him through more. He has endured enough doctors and tests to last him a lifetime. However, what if it is not the Singulair and there is help out there for him that I am not aware of.

Please if anyone else has had a similar experiences e-mail me. I would love to hear from you.

God Bless everyone who has been through this kind of hell.

I have a 12 year old son who has been on Singulair off and on since he was 10 years old. It wasn't until he started taking Singulair on a daily basis in 2007 that I saw a change in his personality. I thought it was due to him starting Junior High. He has always been a loving and mild manner kid.

He started having strong mood swings. Yelling, crying, back talking and being very rude and hateful. Then he would go through periods of depression. He wanted to sleep all the time. Wouldn't come out of his room for days.

He complained of Headaches and Stomachaches all the time. He said he had bad dreams and he couldn't sleep.

He even told his dad at Halloween he wish he could be like his costume (which was a skelton) DEAD!! Hearing those words come from my child's mouth broke my heart. Knowing that he could feel such sorrow and pain.

It wasn't until I read the Singulair article that things started making sense to me. I can't believe as a parent that I was giving my child a medication that could have caused him to take his own life. You could imagine how I feel right now. I stopped giving the Singulair. I'm hoping that he will go back to the loving and happy kid he was before this medication took over his body and mind.

And it's not only my son...My nephew who is 6 has been on Singulair for 2 years and he has become very emotional. He has outburst of anger and he is very short tempered. He has bad dreams and cries for no reason. I shared the information with my Sister-In-Law and she stopped the Singulair as well.

I hope my story helps all you parents that haven't heard the truth about Singulair yet. Be Safe!

My Child was taking only Singulair for several years for asthma and after going to a pediatric allergist, she was put on Pulmicort Respules, which is an Inhaled Corticosteroid. She was experiencing some anxiety and bad dreams, but she was also still having symptoms. Her nighttime awakenings are almost non-existent now and she is able to run and play like a normal child. She is also having no more anxiety! The doctor told us that these drugs control the inflammation in the lungs, and that's why kids have asthma attacks. All of these inhaled steroids are safe and tested in children, so I feel comfortable giving it to her every night before bedtime. The allergist told us that inhaled steroids alone will control all asthma and wheezing and there is no need to use Singulair. You may want to look into this type of medication instead of Singulair

I thought I had a very adverse reaction to Singulair about 2 years ago. I had constant thoughts and dreams of loved ones and pets dying, anxiety and fear of things I had never had fears of like driving and heights. I had extreme stomach aches and shakes. I could not sleep at night. Eventually I stopped taking this and a couple other allergy medications. The physical symptoms started to wear off, but not a day goes by that I don't have a sense that life is finite and a little bit of anxiety kicks in. Each day gets better and better but it does leave a lasting effect. Now news comes out that Singulair may indeed be the culprit. On one hand I feel vindicated but on the other I feel a lot of anger. With all the other allergy meds out there, why not just take it off the market? If there is a law suit to get this drug off the market, count me in!

(stomach cramps, sleeplessness, depression, anxiety, bad dreams, shakes, constantly tired)

We have the group called Americas Watchdog, we are taking on Bayer for the heart medication called Trasylol, and we would be very interested in hearing from anyone with problems related to Singulair. My e-mail is *******

I have three children who were all taking Singulair and also Zyrtec. My oldest, 11 year old son has been on these medications since he was diagnosed with chronic Asthma at age 3. The aggressive behavior, bad dreams, leg cramps (growing pains, we were told),head aches and stomach aches were all explained as age appropriate for a 3 year old boy. As he grew older, he would say he wished he or one of his siblings were dead. Yes, the Singulair
along with a Flovent inhaler controlled his Asthma wonderfully. We have never had to take him to the ER. However, after hearing in the News about the Singulair, I have done a lot of research. I have not given him either of these meds for a month now. He does still use the Flovent. After not having any Asthma attacks for about a year now, we were hoping he was out growing it. So, I guess it was good timing. And then the trees started blooming and the pollen is everywhere. Son gets congested, coughing up lots of thick, green mucus. I treated him with Children's Mucinex mini-melts, benadryl, and sudafed. It helped that it was Spring break and I could treat ever 4 hours. He needed the nebulizer a total of about 6 times for the entire week. Today, he was mucus free. As for his behavior, he still acts like a typical 11 year old boy, but has been less aggressive and mean towards his siblings.
My daughter age 10 has been on Singulair and Zyrtec for unknown allergies off and on for about 5 years now. They did seem to help, but once again we had unexplained behavior. At age 5 she told me she wanted to kill herself. The school counselor said she must have heard it on TV.Bad dreams, headaches,mean to brothers (above the normal sibling rivalry thing), mean to me, leg cramps, stomach pains,itching all over. Many times, too many to count, she would be moody and go into fits of rage. When asked what was wrong, she would cry and cry that she didn't know. Been off for a month, and less rage. Actually playing nicely with younger brother. Recently, the pediatrician ran a lot of blood tests. Daughter complained that she hurt all over and she ran a low grade temp for 3 weeks. (less that 99.7) All tests came back fine. Last Monday, the fever went away and the aches are gone.
Now for the last, my 7 year old son has been off and on these two meds for about 5 years for severe allergies. Again, they did help. He did not react as badly as my other two children did. Leg cramps( which he still has nightly, just might be growing pains),headaches, and bad dreams are the only three I can think of right now. Anyhow, after hearing about the boy on the news, I got scared. Plain and Simple. My husband thinks this is a bunch of nonsense and everything can be explained. The Singulair was costing us a hundred dollars a bottle for a month supply for one child.
I am still watching my children very closely,especially my asthmatic. I still haven't told the pediatrician that I've taken them off the meds.

My 9 year old daughter has been on sigulair since she was 5. She just recently started having trouble with concentration and behavior. She is always sad and cries alot .She is an honor/gt student but just recently has been having trouble with her school work.She has also begun to hurt her brother and talks about how she wishes she was dead.We are really concerned and she began counseling. Her nuerologists says it could be depression but im thinking i should take her off singulair.She has had headaches,stomach pain,depression ,mood swings and weight gain.

My poor 6 yr. old daughter has been taking this awful medicine since December. She has been complaining of stomach pain, headaches and not being able to breath. I called my doctor a few weeks ago to see if it could be from the Singulair she was on.. they told me "probably not". During her dance class she had to sit down because her stomach hurt so bad. I was writing everything down that she was eating (we have an appt. w/an allergist in 2 weeks.) .. thinking maybe she has food allergies now. She is constantly trying to clear her throat and telling me she felt like something was still coming down her throat. Until I found this site, I had no idea why she was behaving this way. I started putting blankets down on my husband and my floor because of her "bad dreams". This little pumpkin has always been an awesome sleeper, but at least 3x's a week comes running down the hall crying about her nightmares. I walked into my docs today with a print out of Merck's own website listing the side effects of this horrible med. She looked at me and said "you get the credit for diagnosis on this Mom!".. Praise God He led me to this website! My poor daughter will playfully start to feel better now that we have taken her off this junk!

Thanks for all these posts! My 4 year old daughter has a history of allergies which have in the past led to sinus infections and bronchitis. We used Xopenex and Pulmicort with the nebulizer along with Vazobid and Delsym and cleared up the bronchitis during Christmas 2007, but her pediatrician suggested her taking Singulair as a preventive medication for her allergies. This medication has turned our household upside down. She has taken it every night for 3 weeks and the side effects are the same as others have posted.......aggressive behavior, severe defiance to simple tasks, nightmares, stomach cramps, wetting accident at school (first time ever), weight gain, bruising, and vomiting. When told "no" she replies with wanting to kick me and tells me she doesn't want me as a mom anymore. The devilish behavior is intolerable. She was never like this before she started taking Singulair, and I am so thankful that I found this website quickly enough to put 2 and 2 together, and I am taking her off of it TODAY!!!

My six year old daughter started taking Singulair for winter allergies about 1 year ago. After a couple of months she woke up seeing floating bubbles. These were very real hallucinations. We were back and forth with specialists for about 6 months. After she was taken off of the Singulair in the spring, the hallucinations gradually went away. We did not notice the connection. She has been back on the Singulair for one week, and last night she woke up seeing ants crawling on the bed and on her. I am stopping the medication and contacting the doctor. I would really like to know if anyone else has had similar problems.

I know this sounds ridiculous, but I completely had a paranoia attack and thought someone close to me was stealing from me, which makes absolutely no sense at all.

I also had vividly bad dreams, and I can't usually remember my dreams.

I feel "keyed up" and not in a good way.

I now have to take the day off and try to calm down, close the blinds, lower the lights, and drink tea.

This is not a good medication.

I found this website by mistake and OMG i think it was mean't for me to find this. I have a 7 year old who has been taking SINGULAIR for 2 years. I never pin-pointed his behavior to his medicines(Singulair,Zyrtec,Nasonex). I feel terrible if this is why he has been acting out the last couple of years.He has been disruptive,aggresive,doesn't follow directions,complains of stomache aches,wets the bed,says he doesnt feel good. He has trouble sitting still and blurts out answers in school.We trusted our PED and assumed he would give us any info on bad side affects. I wished I would have checked into the a long time ago I feel terrible if this is what has been causing all this negativity.He also has "bad dreams" and has circles under his eyes that his allergist always said was "allergic shiners". I stopped giving him SINGULAIR a week ago but I havent noticed any big changes.Could anyone tell me how long it takes for this medicine to get out of a 7 year olds body? Thanks a concerned mother....

Thank goodness I found this site!!! I was starting to think I was going crazy! I have been taking Singulair for a little more than 3 weeks, for my allergies. It works wonders on allergies, but I have had several side effects, that I hadn't realized were side effects until reading this site.

I have felt very tired, yet anxious at the same time. I've been very moody, almost to the point that I feel angry all day (which is very unlike me). I have also had strange aches and pains, along with itchy skin on my feet and under my arms. I have also had very vivid dreams. Strange, bad dreams, that last all night long. When I awake I feel like I haven't had any sleep.

I am going to stop taking Singulair today!

I have been on Singulair for about 2-3 years during which time I have lost a considerable amount of hair. It is quite noticeable. My hair hairdresser said "this is not good" the last time I got a haircut. I also have bad dreams, fatigue and irritability. I want to try something to replace the sinulair for asthma, but am trying to avoid steroids. Any suggestions? Would appreciate any information on a class action suit if the hair loss is not reversible when discontinuing product..

In late March I went to my Doctor for allergy Meds. He prescribed Singlair. Within two weeks I began feeling as though I had an upper Resp infection (I did have one). My Doctor put me on Levaquin an antibiotic. Then I began feeling as though something was crawling all over my face,& my face began to burn. I went to the ER one week later & was informed that I had Pneumonia. Along with the antibiotics I was still taking Singulair & albuterol inhaler & Allegra D & Histanex cough medicine. I have had Pneumonia 2x before but this time was 2x as bad. It lingered on for over a month. Then I started to smell really bad odors kinda of like a sweaty locker room. I called my Dr's office his nurse thought it was weird & never heard of it before. Then I lost my sense of taste & smell. Finally I went to my Dr on 5/17/07 he informed me that if my sense's doesn't return in 3 weeks to notify him & he would order a CT scan. The scan was ordered & was negative. I still have no sense of smell or taste. Dr's nurse thinks it is psychological. I went to ENT Dr was given a steroid which didn't work. My Dr also asked me to try nasonex nasal spray but that doesn't work for me. Now it is August 1st & my senses have yet to re-surface. Although I can taste sweet, bitter & sour but couldn't tell you what it is I am eating. I also suffered pains in my legs & feet, was really exhausted & had bad dreams.
Please reply if anyone else is or has suffered the way I have & continue to suffer.

My daughter has been on singulair for about a year now and she just turned 3. I discovered in about January that all through the night she would make weird noises with her mouth because her mouth is so dry. Then came the disturbed sleep. For the last two months she would wake up in the morning crying because her legs would hurt so bad. She wanted me to carry her everywhere. She could never keep up the other kids because she was physically exhausted. Then came the tantrums and crying. She just started biting, hiting and being mean to anyone around her. She also started not being able to remember her numbers and colors. I took her off of it a week and a half ago. The last three days her mood has improved and her memory seems better. The only thing that has not improved is her dry mouth. Hopefully that will improve with time.

I am Happy to report My 5 year old son has been off Singulair for 12 days and there is such a difference he is not as angry,upset,as a matter of fact he's my little boy again Our problem with this Med was his vivid nightmares and sleepless nights from fear- He has improved so much we are sleeping thru the night and NO reported nightmares I am convienced that Singulair put my son through the ringer It's nice to see my happy,polite,full of energy son back from this horrible "nightmare" Has anyone else stop this med and see an improvement please post your changes Good Luck

I think I maybe just figured out the answer to these symptoms you guys are describing, with mood changes and nightmares?

From Merck Frosst website:
The team finally chose quinolein as the basis for their compound, because it has affinities with the LTD4 (leukotriene) region.

Quinolein - elsewhere it has been listed as a seratonin inhibitor...

Also, is Quinolein related to Quinine (a malarial treatment that causes nightmares and psychotic symptoms?)

What do you all think?

Doctor prescribed Singulair for our 4 year old son because of mild asthma: cough after exercising. He had been taking the medication for about 4 months. During this time previously friendly, active boy turned into a terror: hyperactive, aggressive (hitting, throwing things at people, yelling, screaming), tantrums, very irritable. He started waking up at nights telling he has had bad dreams. We are glad we linked such a drastic change in his behavior to Singulair. Haven' t given the stuff for a week now and slowly things are getting back to usual.
What made me unhappy was that prior administering Singulair I consulted to pediatricians - one in the US and another in Europe. Both assured the side effects are very rare, the medication is absolutely safe (!!!!!) and the best one so far!!!!! However, the doctor in the US told me I should give the medication about 3 - 4 hours before sleep as child might gate 'little too active'.
It was not worth giving the drug because of the side effects that were so tough on a child and were very difficult for me, my husband and child' s nanny to take care of, we simply did not understand what is going on with our child.
I am very thankful to this site.

My son is 61/2 yo, and i am telling you i have a wonderful little boy. I have notice with his behavior, i just assumed oh he is just a boy. My son starting taking singulair 3 years ago. I get phone calls from school at least once a week now. His grades are A/B'S. The director of his private school suggested i get him tested for adhd. Well i told her she needed to be tested! I was at the end of my rope on March 8, 2007. Something told me to google singulair for side effects. I don't know why it just hit me to do this. When i started to read all of these stories, i began tio cry. My son's symptoms are bad dreams, can't sit still very hyper! The school was telling me to change his diet, well my son is a very healthy little boy. HE eats very well, and he doesn't eat alot of junkfood. He has been complaing about cramps in his legs, and i also notice him putting his fingers in his mouth alot. He bites his nails alot, which these things started happening in the last year. He has been labeled at his school as a bad litlle boy. As his mom I WILL AND I SHALL TURN THIS SITUATION AROUND FOR MY SON!! I AM GOING TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GO AGAINST THE COMPANY THAT IS SELLING THIS DRUG TO THE DR'S. I KNOW THESE DR'S KNOW BY NOW THAT THIS DRUG IS BAD FOR OUR CHIKDREN. DON'T MISUNDERSTAND ME THE PILL DID TAKE AWAY THAT BAD COUGH THAT HE HAD FOR A VERY LONG, BUT THE SIDE EFFECTS ARE HORRIBLE. WELL I STOP GIVING HIM THE TABLET YESTERDAY, SO I AM GOING TO WAIT AND SEE WHAT CHANGES TAKE PLACE. IF ANYONE WANTS TO CONTACT ME, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DO SO. MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS dmi5262000@yahoo.com. PLEASE TAKE YOUR CHILDREN OFF THIS DRUG. WE AS PARENTS MUST DO OUR PART TO PROTECT OUR BABIES.

My 20month old son was prescribed Singular for his allergies. What a mistake that was having it take it. I thought for the first couple of weeks he had the flu or something, but then that seemed to "get better" and then he started showing signs of not sleeping during the day and at night. I reread the pharmacology pamphlet from Singular and then realized he was having problems sleeping, vomiting, irritable. My son used to love his sleep, he started dreading it. I don't know if he was having bad dreams, but that was also in the pamplet. I called the pharmacist and they said it would take 3 days to clear from his system. I feel so much better reading this blogs and realizing it was from the singular and I would never give him that poison again.

in the morning.. i wake up with alomost a hangover i am stiff and achy espiecially after excercise... i always get sore throats and im always coughing. Constantly tired and have mood swings:( I often have really bad dreams or nightmares ones that stick in my mind all the time.. im struggling to concentrate at college! It stops me from having ashmatic symptons when i excercise which can compensate for some of these negatives

My son quit singulair "cold turkey" after 6 years of use,
but his athsma was mild. I would agree that those with more severe athsma should be careful when stopping singulair,
have a good emergency back up plan and talk to your doctor. My son's athsma actually improved off singulair though. I think everyone is different, so definitely be careful. I really believe that those expiriencing stuttering, ticks adhd and bad dreams and behavioral problems may already be predisposed to some pschyciatric disorder, the singuliar seems to bring this out and amplify the problem. My son will be evaluated for bi-polar disiorder, but already has been diagnosed adhd and tourettes. I would recommend that anyone with these problems with singulair discontinue and consult a good psychciatrist or psychologist about these behaviors, it probably is not all the cause of this med, just made worse by it.

I wrote about my 8yr old son in April/06, a beautiful, sweet and easy going child who turned into an anxious, worried boy who was plagued with nightmares & "bad thoughts". The only change in his life was that he had started Singulair a couple of months before. After reading this web site, I immediately took him off it. I am happy to report that he is surely, but slowly coming back to himself after being off of if for 3 weeks.

When I initially called pharmacists, Merck Frost and the allergy Dr, I was told that it was "highly" unlikely it was the singulair. Well, they were wrong it was the singulair. He was taken to our family doctor, who strongly believed it was the singulair & brought out a big thick medical book with some post market side affects in children that described my son ..."hallucinations, bad dreams, restleessness". As an added precaution we took him to see a pediatrician who was also going to re-evalute his asthma. His assistant told me that I was the 3rd mother recently to describe those side affects in their child since being on singulair. The pediatirian was also aware of these side affects in many children. Our family doctor & the pediatrician both estimate it will take a good month for the drug to clear his system. As a result of this experience, we are also taking him to a child psycologist to clean up the residue of this whole experience. While, he is almost himself again, the whole experience was quite frightening for him and doesn't want it to ever happen again.

I am reporting this to the Canadian Drug Adverse reaction Agency. I encourage everyone else to do the same in their country. Perhaps this isn't as "rare" as they say.

My son is now 6 and was on Singulair for 4 1/2 yrs, since age 18 months. After finding this site I immediately took him off of this medication 6 months ago. He was having so many of the effects listed. Everything from easily upset stomach to "leg heaviness/discomfort", aggression, ADHD type symptoms, frequent skin rashes, telling me he only had bad dreams and not good ones, tantrums. We have also been unable to completely toilet train him. He still wets his pants during the day frequently unless reminded constantly. I have seen some mention of this on the site. All of the other symptoms and behaviours I just thought were normal "boy" things until he started Kindergarten and it was brought to our attention by teachers they were not. When I read this site I realized that nearly every entry seemed to describe my son.
We saw a decrease in aggression and a "settling down" almost immediately after discontinuing Singulair & bathroom accidents decreased & leg/stomach complaints ceased, but still having the bathroom problems w/physical causes ruled out. I am afraid that, after so long on this Medication, the remaining problems we have may be ingrained and habit now. We are still struggling w/school behaviours, etc. After about 6 school conferences w/teacher and principal, etc in Kindergarten we are also checking for ADHD. It scares me to realize that all of this could have been triggered by this medication and I have no way of knowing if the problems will continue. Has anyone else had their child on this med so young for this length of time and had the above problems? If so, how long did it take to resolve the problems after discontinuing the medication (or has it resolved)? I am still seeing improvement since discontinuing the medication but it seems very slow. All of the information on this site makes me wonder how many of the kids out there on meds for ADHD take or have taken Singulair.

i am so glad to have read this. my daughter is 4 and was recently put on singular for her chronic sinuitis and allergies.....she started itching uncontrollably for days...and her moods were horrible..she could not sleep and when she did sleep it was a very restless sleep with bad dreams..she became very agressive...it was weird so i was told by the doctors that it was not the singular but after reading this i see i was right! i just want my sweet little girl non-itching back!!
i stopped the singulair!

Singulair was a BAD BAD BAD choice for my children. I wish I had never agreed to give it a try. I have three children who were put on it for their allergies to take with their zyrtec that did not seem to be able to keep up. The Doctors all assured me singulair is a very safe and effective drug with very little if any side effects.

Well over the years we have had the stomach pains, vomiting, ear infections, loss of appetite, bad dreams, behavior issues, explosive aggression, unable to focus for long, muscle and joint pains, hair loss, unable to sleep at night because they are restless and cannot settle but unable to wake up in the morning, acting angry about nothing all the time. I was laying beside my son one night because he was sick and I could hear his heart beating so fast like it was going 100mph. He could not settle and when he did he was jerked awake by bad dreams. I gave him a singulair just hours before for his allergies and cough.

The Doctors still tell me singulair does not cause these kinds of side effects. Funny it all stopped when we stopped giving the medicine to them. Now they are eating so much now like they were starving all this time and need to catch up. They sleep like rocks and they are just turning out to be nice children to be around again. And the purple bags under their eyes that the Dr's kept telling me were caused by allergies are disappearing. I am thinking it was caused by not being able to rest. The laughter I hear in my home is like music to my ears. We don't have angry outbursts anymore. The older children tell me they feel so much better now that they are not taking that medicine anymore. My smallest told me his tummy does not hurt anymore. It used to hurt every night but not anymore.

I will never allow my children to take it again. This stuff is like poison to us. The Dr can keep it! I just hope giving this to them has not caused any long term health issues for them that we have yet to find out about.

Merck needs to run a new study on this medicine. I wish the FDA would yank it.

My daughter is 4 years old and has been on Singulair for asthma for 1 to 1 1/2 years, with a break during the summer months. Her symptoms have been progressive. Starting first (and almost immediately) with inability to go to sleep at night, then waking up multiple times per night with bad dreams, next itching all over and stomach aches, and now increasingly aggressive/bullying behavior. She is normally a bright, outgoing child, but her outgoing nature has turned more and more destructive and aggressive. Last night she kicked her twin brother in the face. (No, he wasn't hurt) Her daycare teachers have complained over the last three months that she's bullying others and sometimes intentionally throwing things at others. Now it has progressed that she's out and out refusing to do things when she's told by her teachers (basic things like get a plate, sit down, and each lunch). She rolls her eyes when given instructions and is not looking people in the face. Toys seem to break "by accident" with her much more than either of her two siblings. At home she has made our family life miserable a lot of the time. Discipline seems to do no good. She says she doesn't know why she does these mean things and does not learn from her mistakes. She's starting to see herself as a "bad girl" and shame on me, so was I, until we started wondering about the Singulair. Be warned, for us it all added up over time. With kids this age you tend to assume it's just part of their growing independence, but we finally realized this isn't normal. We stopped her Singulair last night and are waiting to see if there's a change in her behavior. Thanks to all the parents that have written in.

My son had bad dreams and flu like symptoms the day after he had singulair.Earlier too he was put on it for chronic sinusitus and his long term cough was gone. I am no longer going to continue thiis medicine