Singulair and medications

My 2 year old Grandson was put on Singular and Nasonex after having tubes placed in ears and adenoids removed. His nose continued to run all the time he would not nap and wake up all thru the night and I would have to plead with him to eat or drink anything, his behavior was out of control and he was irate at times , not the same little boy at all. I got online and did some research and I stopped the medications.. It has been over a week and he is his sweet little self again, and his nose is not running at all , he eats and naps and sleeps all night. I would not recommend this medication for anyone, especially a child. Concerned Grandma In Indy

My three year old daughter was on in as a baby and it was great for her asthma. I stopped it for a year and now she is 3 and has started it again about two weeks. She sleeps at least 12hrs a night and has a nap. This is someone who slept maybe 8hrs a night and never a nap. Actual the sleep is so much its kinda worrying me. I have a hard time even waking her up. What should I do?

My son is almost 4 but has been on Singulair since he turned 3. We saw an immediate improvement in his allergies and asthma and thought it was a miracle drug. That is until we started to see our sweet, outgoing little boy change into something we barely recognized. We thought maybe it was just a stage he was going through or something and didn't connect it to the Singulair until his doctor accidentally wrote his refill prescription for 5 mg. instead of 4 mg. After about 2 weeks on the 5 mg. his mood swings increased substantially. He cried for hours everyday at school. He had previous trouble with his emotions at school on the 4 mg. as well. He continued to cry and throw fits at his preschool so often that he was ending up in the principals office. At home, he became clingy and so emotional that he would cry about everything. After doing some research on Singulair, I immediately took him off the drug. Within 1 1/2 weeks off of the drug, my little boy was a different child. I thought maybe I was the only one who had noticed until his teacher came to the car and ask what happened. She said that he didn't even resemble the same child that started school. He is sweet, and calm. He can take discipline without crying and gets praise every day instead of going to the principals office. His trouble sitting still and listening to the teacher are gone and her push for us to have him tested for ADHD has ended. He is now a star student. The only difference is the removal of Singulair from his little body.

http://www.medications.com/q/taking_5_yr_old_off_singulair_how

Last Sunday I attended the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) walkathon in St. Paul, Mn. I was able to hand out hundreds of flyers to survivors of suicide and people in the mental health community. Of the hundreds of flyers that I handed out only two people had ever heard of the link between Singulair and these various side effects that we have all noticed. I received some wonderful responses and many people offered to make copies of the flyers and hand them out to everyone that they know. Several people worked in the mental health community and in pediatric offices and they were going to tell all of their coworkers about Singulair.
I also had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Paula Clayton. She is the National Medical Director for AFSP. She said that they are aware of the concerns with Singulair and their organization is going to Washington this spring to express concerns about Singulair and several other medications that are linked to depression and suicide. She also stated that if everyone could write letters to their local representatives that it would really help to raise awareness.

My son requires two forms of medications to stop the running nose, singulair and pediox. The two together were a very good combination and it did work. By eliminating the signulair on Oct. 6th, his nose is already running and he is coughing. We have tried Zyrtek and a few others I can't even remember, but none work as well. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. I will be calling his pediatrician for other suggestions, but I know she will be against us taking him off of the singulair, especially since he has had pneumonia in the past.

My son is now 31/2 years old and has been on Singulair since he was about 1 Yr. old. His pediatrician recommended this due to his allergies and runny nose. He has had fluid on his ears since age 1, at least that we had confirmed, and she thought that the Singulair combined with another type of antihistamine could dry up the dripping nose and clear up the ears. It did not clear up the ears, but it does stop the drip. He had tubes placed in his ears a year ago in May of 2007 and is looking now at his second set coming up in Mid-October of 2008. He has been taking this medication all but one summer of his short life. My husband and I have both had children, he a boy and I a girl, both 14 years old now. In comparison to the other two, our little one has been so completely different to raise. I've always seen children of "other parents" that have discipline problems with their children and wondered what might cause that type of action in such a small child. Now we have this beautiful little boy, but all we've ever known is how difficult he is to handle and how is anger, temper tantrums and stubborness have always put a damper on outings and even casual days at home. Due to the fluid on his ears, his speach was delayed and he has now really began to speak like a normal 3 year old. I have noticed within the last 2 weeks how he has really started saying things that I have not approved of, but have fluffed it off thinking that he has heard other children in his pre-school say these things, or heard it on a superhero show. Something happened today that really made me stop and think. I picked him up at pre-school like normal after work and he would not come to me. He looked slightly glazed in the eyes, totally not like himself at all. He talked very little on our 30 minute commute home, which was not like him. He said, "I hate you and you don't like me". I told him I do love him and he said, "NO". He said, "I'm bad for you and I have a dangerous heart". He then told me, "I kill you". This was so disturbing that I told my mother what he had said. She told me that it sounds so much like what she had heard on the news that I should check it out. This is how I've come to find this site. We have stopped giving this medication to our son and I am curious to see if there will be any change in his personality. Tubes will probably be placed in his ears again despite whether his nose drips again, so that is a mute issue at this point. When we voiced our concerns to his pediatrician when the information first surfaced several months ago regarding adult behavior and side effects of Singulair, she fluffed it off and told us she has many young patients on this medication with no adverse side effects. He is taking Pediox every 12 hours. I am worried that we may need a substitute med, but we have tried so many that haven't worked. He has Albuterol Inhaler and Xopenex Inhaler when his Asthma symptoms kick in, when his allergies are at his worst. He has had pnumonia 2 times, or one like run of it I should say. It's important to keep his allergies under control so he doesn't get something like this again, but his overall mental health and stability cannot be jeopardized. Since his brain has been developing on this medication for 2 and a half years, does anyone know if this has lasting effects? He is very active and has a very short attention span. He can however sit through an entire movie if it is something that he likes and he has nothing better he wants to do at home. I do not believe he is hyperactive or ADHD in the sense that he needs medication for that symptom. He can be a very loving child and he is very polite and knows his manners. He comes from a very loving home with loving siblings. We have wondered for so long how he could possibly have turned out this way, and I am truly scared to think that this medication could be the cause of so much turmoil in our lives. I will be monitoring his results.

I have a 26-month old grandson who has been on Singulair for "27 DAYS". His pediatrician knows that his immune system is already compromised due to some developmental delays. However, before he started taking his Singulair he was a very happy, funny and loving child. Within 2 weeks on this medicine we started to notice a few changes in him. He started waking up at night "screaming" and he has been sleeping through the night for at least a year now. And when his mother would go in to get him out of his crib, he would be so frightened and afraid to leave her side. It would take her a very long time to settle him down and put him back down for the night. At the same time, he started not wanting to drink his normal daily glasses of milk or eat his regular meals. He was simply a mess most of the day and would fuss, cry, bang his head and we were having a very hard time trying to figure out what was wrong with him. He is not yet talking due to his delayed speech, so he could not tell us what was going on. Yesterday, I told my daughter let's look at the side effects of Singulair since it was the only thing that had changed within the last few months. When I found this site, I could not believe what the parents/grandparents were saying about their children on this drug. We immediately took him off Singulair. This will be his second day without being on the drug. According to my pharmacist, it will take approximately 50 hours for it to get out of his little system. The pharmacist had not heard the latest that aired on the TV station, so she asked me to call her back in a few days to tell her how my grandson is doing. Parents should be able to trust the medications that are prescribed by their Pediatricians, especially at such young ages. My daughter is REALLY UPSET and has a call into my grandson's doctor. Thank God I found this website. I simply searched on "side effects of Singulair in children" and this site came up. I do believe the Lord is watching over my grandson. Thanks.

I just came across an article on the online "Huffington Post" by Dr. Doug Bremner, who researched the connection between accutane and depression, called "If Prescription Meds Don't Kill You They Might Drive You Crazy" He explains the link between Singulair, Leukotrienes in the brain and depression. There are numerous articles by him as well that are definitely worth reading.

Jenna M.
Parents United for Pharmaceutical Safety and Accountability

Well after reading these posts...I am very sad that I didn't read this before I allowed my 3 year old son to start Singulair! The last month he has been complaining of lower back pain. Just recently, stomach pain as well. Says his head hurts, and at times is not himself. I pick him up from preschool awaiting a very energized little boy to talk nonstop about what he did and he doesn't:( He was put on this med for allergies with Flonase and Zyrtec as needed. I took him to the doctors for this lower back pain and they said it possibly was from playing too hard or growing pains. Trusting our pediatrician I took it as that. My son continued to complain and continued to, at times, seem depressed. I took him to the ER because the last week and a half he has had fevers of 100-102. They said its all viral. I came home, looked Singulair up trying to figure out what was wrong and found all of this. I am so sad I never researched this before and continued to give this to my little boy trusting it to be good for him. Needless to say, I am making another appointment for him tomorrow to discuss other options. Thank you all for the information!

I have a 7 year old daughter. She is taking singulair. lately she has been complaining about pain in her leg it hurts when she walk. She also have pain in her arm. I gave her a pill tonight but I did not find this website until afterward. I am so glad I came across this site. She was taking zyrtec and she was having behavior problem. So the doctor switch her to singulair. I was hesitant to give her this medication. She also have seasonal asthma so I just got to find another way of treating her. I hope someone have good suggestions.

IS THIS SITE AN ANSWER TO OUR PRAYERS?

A little while ago less than two hours, after a very emotional, difficult battle with my daughter, we had yet another heart to heart to try to do better. At the end of our talk WE PRAYED for guidance to know how to help the situation. So I'm here looking for a link to her behavior fron the ADHD medication and I see someone had posted about Singulair side effects. I was floored! I have never thought that Singulair was not a safe drug. No doctor has ever mentioned any negative side effects to me regarding it. The more I'm reading about it the more in shock I am. Have I and her doctors been doing this to my daughter? My 12 1/2 yo daughter has been on Singulair for probably 10 years. She was a 28 week preemie and had severe lung issues so it was a needed medication. Her behavior has worsened the older she has gotten. Because of mostly anger issues and problems in school about a year ago she was started on ADHD medications. We are currently trying to find "the right one" . I feel so awful. Could all her misery have been caused by this little pill that was suppose to help her? Why has her pulmonoligist continued to give it to her although she has not had any serious asthma problems in years? I think I will stop all medications and see what happens. My daughter has also been on amytriptylin for about six months also for severe migraines. What do you think? Should I stop all of them cold turkey or gradually decrease one at a time? I would GREATLY appreciate any advise.
Thank you

My daughter had been on singulair from the time she was 8 yrs old until she was 14. This will sound as if I am a horrible mother but I just thought that she was a raging bitch. Without my knowledge, she stopped taking her Singulair for a few months and she became a different person. She was so sweet and loving. One night she came in my room having an asthma attack and I asked her if she was taking her meds, she admitted that she had stopped taking her singulair and I got on to her and immediately got her prescription refilled. Within a few days of taking the singulair she turned into a raging, screaming emotional wreck, a TOTALLY different person. I feel so bad that for 6 years of her life I put her on medicine that caused her to have screaming, uncontrollable tantrums, and severe mood swings that caused her to be miserable. It does seem to be the only thing that effectively controls her asthma symptoms but the emotional havoc that is causes her and the people around her is not worth the benefits. We have an appt. with her doctor to see what other options we have.

To anyone new to this site whose child is on Singulair and having problems consistent with the adverse reactions to Singulair documented on this site: take your child to the doctor as soon as possible and tell them you believe that your child is having an adverse reaction to the drug. Do not let yourself be talked into believing that Singulair does not have these side effects. Too many of us right here can confirm that it does. Even though the prescribing information for this drug has been updated to include a warning about these adverse effects, and the FDA is conducting an investigation into the safety of this drug, not all doctors are aware and some are simply unwilling to believe. If you hear "anecdotal evidence", "highly unlikely," or "I've never seen it happen" uttered during your visit, know that your doctor is making excuses for not knowing accurate information about this drug.

Doctors may attribute your child's behavior to their personality or developmental stages. But any child on Singulair should be removed from the drug if a consistent pattern of different or abnormal behavior is present. Most children do not fly off the handle for no reason, have night terrors, prolonged, violent temper tantrums, and act anxious, angry, sad, hateful, disconnected, or withdrawn most of the time. Most children do not have behavior problems that consistently leave you feeling like the worst parent in the world and completely mentally exhausted at the end of each and every day.

Tell your doctor that you want them to prescribe another asthma maintanence medication with a documented low risk of side effects. If your doctor trivializes your concerns or refuses to honor your request, FIND A NEW DOCTOR! YOU are the expert on your child, not someone who sees them a few times a year for a few minutes at a time.

After Singulair has been stopped, watch for a positive change in behavior over the course of several weeks. Make sure you have rescue medications on hand in case needed.

Most importantly, GO WITH YOUR GUT. "If something doesn't feel right, then something ain't right!"

I just started the Singular and it has helped my asthma a lot. I can't tell about the coughing because I also started it while I had a cold. But now and then even before I took singluar I would cough. Sometimes coughs are produced from various types of airborne things, many different types of things. I have a mold aggreviated asthma so that could be why its helping my instead of causing me to go nuts like it does for some. But it doesn't sound like a very good drug for children. It seems as though none of the posts coming from children taken Singular are positive. But so far it's helping me. I made it through the day without grabbing for my inhaler which was a great relief for once.

I'm starting my first day today taking my son of Sinculair after reading all the post. I'm here because I was searching for answers as to why my son's legs were hurting all the time. He is on several medications and Sinculair being on of them.. Also in the past year he has been put on antidepressants, and now maybe I'm wondering if it's necessary at all that maybe it's been the Sinculair.
My son is 10 yrs. old and been using Sinculair for 3 yrs. I'll post back in about a week if I notice any changes.

it is so good to see this! I can't believe I am not the only one suffering with Singulair. I developed what I thought was just bronchitis, and my new doctor put me on a cocktail of respiratory meds... 2 inhalers, antibiotics, steriods, and singulair. Well, I finished the course of antibiotics, and am feeling better. I stopped using one inhaler, because it made my hands shake uncontrollably (I was assured by my doc this was normal). I stopped using the other, because I thought it was making my head feel foggy and making me moody. The only medications I am currently taking are Cymbalta for my panic disorder, and Singulair.

I have been on the Cymbalta for long enough to know that I do not suffer side effects from that (unless I miss a dose). But lately I have been more moody, emotional, snippy, and having almost daily panic attacks! I can't concentrate on a thing, my mind almost feels detached. I also suffer periods of numbness in the left side of my face.

After reading this site and everyone else's stories, I am not taking Singulair any longer! Hopefully some of these effects subside. And now I know to never let my son take it, either. I am so angry with my doctor for not warning me about these effects, not taking into consideration that I already have an anxiety disorder, and just brushing off my concerns!

hi,

My three year old son was prescribed singulair - he stopped sleeping well- and started stuttering severely. He had total meltdowns, the like of which,
i'd never seen before. We took him off the medications and the meltdowns disappeared, he started sleeping well again. The stuttering improved but he still has a mild amount of stuttering that we are treating preventatively.

My son has been taking Singular as well as Advair and Zyrtec and Nasonix for the past 6 months. He is doing so well. He has not had to go to emergency, he has not been sick, and he has not had mood swings. If you look at the prescription information that comes with Singular, you can see what the side effects can be. My recommendation is to take your child off of them if they have a side effect. I contacted my Dr. and Merck is studying only 1 case with a child that had side effects, but they did not say if this child was on other Psych medicine at the same time. The 2 psych meds that have shown a bad interaction with Singular are Phenobarbital and Rifanpin (spelling may be wrong). With all the posts I have read, very few people indicate if they are taking other medications at the same time as Singular. My suggestion is that you consult your Dr. and then send your case to Merck for more studies. If all you are doing is posting on the web, you are not solving this issue with the makers of the medication.

In response to Wewe's post, I've been wondering the same thing. Since taking my daughter off Singular almost 2 months ago, I'm seeing a different almost typical kid. Four years ago about 2 months after starting Singular my daughter was diagnosed with anxiety. As her condition got worse she was diagnosed with depression. We started to see OCD and tics so they were added as a diagnosis It was determined that it was related to strep infections so she was diagnosed with PANDAS. She was started on Zoloft and klonidine. The Zoloft made her worse. Her fears of hurting herself got so intrusive she was hospitalized. Her cholesterol was high too. The Zoloft was discontinued and Prozac was started. She's had therapy all 4 years. She also neede physical therapy due to muscle and joint pain. Now she's doing better, off Singular. Does she really have PANDAS, OCD? I don't know. She's still on Prozac, we just did a slight decrease this week. Is this medication the trigger for underlying conditions. Learned behaviors can be unlearned, but are there lasting physical effects? If a gene has been turned on, can it be turned off? I wish we knew the answers to help all of our kids.

In 2003 at the age of 31. I had been taking singulair for over 2yrs. I started experiencing muscle weakness and I got to the point I could not sit or lay down. I was extremely in a lot of pain and taking large amounts of pain medicine. It went on for several weeks. I went to the doctor because I was having muscle spams or what I thought was a ruptured disk. I had a MRI done and it didn't show anything. I was sent to a back surgeon and he checked me out and wanted me to list all my medications. I began to tell him about zyrtec and singulair. He asked me how long I had been on singulair? I told him almost 2 years. He told me to get off of it right now because it would kill me. He said the singulair was deteorating my muscles
and causing me to have muscle spasm. I had no muscle tone. He sent me to a massage therapist 3days a week for 6 weeks and I came off of the meds. The doctor told me he had at least 10 patients that had happen to them.That was a wake up call. The doctor also told me his wife was on it 6 months and started throwing up blood and took her to the ER. All because of singulair and my kids have been on it for 3 years and have not had one problem. They are 10 and 7.
My husband is a pharmacist and he had not heard anything bad about it. He filled out a card about the side effect. It only happens in 2% of people taking it.

My son, now 10...has been on singular off and on, since I don't' know how long...today was the second time he was intentionally hurting his cat. He has told me time and time again about visions while he was awake, violent ones, he argues with anyone and everyone. He has no friends at school. Last year I took him off all his medications to see why his behavior was so drastic, he got so calm, it was like a new boy, but then when he started back to public school...he had to be put back on them again, and again with the singular...
If it was not for this site..I would think my son was sick mentally. But after this...he will see his doctor tomorrow and no more singular...
When I took him off all the meds I told his doctor I was really worried about his behavior and they said it will be okay...he went right back to just out of control. Could not sleep, concentrate at school or at home. He is so smart and he is failing school..not because he is slow, but they kept saying he was add...but when I home schooled him and took him off his meds...he was so great, obdient..not perfect by no means, but just a normal boy...
I hear him right now, in the other room, fighting imaginary people...he seems to go go go..and with no sleep...the dreams in the day time I just thought were his imagination...but now that i hear about other children like him...they are to him real..just like he tells me..he also always tells me how mad he stays..he says all the time I am just angry mom, and I would say at what..he just says everything...
Thank God for this site....now i know..it is not in his head, it is just like I told his doctor...it is his medication..now I know just the one it is..
THank you all..
God Bless all the others here suffering with the same problems...it is just shocking that we as parents and patients, even after telling the doctors, are right...I feel vindicated...I will be printing this off and taking it with us to the doctors...

I just started using Singulair a few days ago. I am 54 years old and just started coughing at night only. I would be fine during the day and then never failed, at night I started to cough keeping me awake. I was given antibiotics, narcotic cough syrups but it only helped temporarily and then I went back to coughing nights only again. So as I mentioned, I started taking Singulair a few days ago because my physician thinks I have developed allergies and Singulair is noted to help night coughs. It is helping my night coughs but I still cough a few times at night and now I cough quite a few times in the day when I never use to cough in the daytime. Wondering if Singulair is worth taking as the symptoms are becoming opposite? I hate taking drugs and don't know if I should find a safer alternative? Help, anyone? Thank you

My nine year old daughter has been on Singulair for just over a month because of seasonal allergies. Early this morning she woke up with a terrible nose bleed. She has never had a nose bleed in her life before today! Could this be because of the Singulair?

Who administers this site? I posted a side effect last night after I registered and then this morning I got an email saying there was a reply to my posting and when I tried to log in, my account was inactive and my posting had been removed, as had the reply to my posting. I don't know if it is because I put a link the an online reporting tool where the FDA is compiling feedback from people/or their children who have experienced terrible side-effects. Here is the link again and I urge you all to report your cases: http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/early_comm/montelukast.htm

My son is 3.5 and has been on Singular for 2 months and just like all of the other stories about the other young children posted here, he is a different kid after being on Singular. Last night was the first night I took him off of it. All of the side-effects that are mentioned here are the same ones my son is experiencing, nightmares (screaming in the night), hyper, aggressive, reliving injuries from days past, the day care telling me that they now have concerns about how different he has been lately and the even used the term "bad behavior". They said he is hyper, he screams, not listening, aggressive. He is a favorite at day care since he is so loving, polite and kind. I know all parents say that, but pretty much anyone who has met him compliments me on how well behaved he is. I am even nervous to have people over since he seems out of control and I have found myself ensuring people that he isn't normally like this. I have taken him off as of last night and I am hoping he will get back to his old happy-go-lucky self soon. Does anyone know how long it can take to get this poison out of their system? I pray that there are no permanent side-effects.

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 was put on Singulair about 2 years ago because of my COPD. No allergies were ever mentioned by my Doctor. This site has been a god send for me.
Since starting Singulair I have been put on Digoxin for an irregular heart beat that I never had before. I have been put on Gabapentin for leg pain and cramping in my feet whenever I put my feet up or laid down to TRY and get to sleep. I have been put on so many pain killers for back pain, leg pain, neck pain I can't even count them all. I won't take them, they make me so sick. Now I find that I wake up with a headache every morning, feeling sick..oh yes, I was given medication for nausea also. And I don't want to forget the six months of experiencing never ending dizzy spells. That was another medication to ad to the list of ALL THE MEDICATIONS I HAVE TAKEN OVER THE PAST 2 YEARS for the side effects of Singulair. I stopped taking it a couple of days ago and I woke up this morning feeling so good. Oh, lets not forget the Xanax, Prozac and Cymbalta for depression.......OMG! I'm looking forward to see how many of these medications I can toss now that I've stopped taking Singulair. I just wish I had found this site two years ago, oh yeah, I am on Advair also. I've been, lets say "in a chronic bad mood" too. Some would say a "B". I've already noticed a difference there too.

I am not a 100% sure the experience I had was due to Singulair but it appears to be. Singulair was prescribed to me for "walking pnemonia". After a couple of days on the medications I was taking, I started experiencing pain in my knees and muscles in my lower legs. My left leg was worse than my right. After 3 days, I could barely walk and the pain was severe. I forgot to take my medicine one day and the next day my knees were much better and had less pain. I just thought I was getting better but the next day when I started the medicine again, the pain came back. I remembered when my son was on Accutane he had similar knee and leg pain because of the dryness caused by Accutane. So I kept taking the antibiotic I was on and stopped the Singulair. The next day I felt much better. On the second day I hardly had any pain at all. I was curious if anyone else had this type of side effect. Most of the postings I have seen have dealt more with depression in teenagers. I am 55.

My son, Wilson, is a bright, easy-going, athletic 12 year old who has a history of asthma and allergies. After several asthmatic episodes from age one year to about four, he was prescribed Singulair. The asthma triggers seemed to be change of season or congestion from a cold, but not from exercise or physical exertion. As I recall, his asthmatic episodes seemed to decrease after he was on 5-10 mg of Singulair, and even more so with each passing year. Over the years, of my three sons, Wilson was the one to catch any virus that came around and missed more school time than both of his brothers combined. Often, he was the only one to get sick from a virus, which never passed to anyone else in the family.
About five years ago, Wilson started complaining of stomach aches. He was tested and was prescribed Prevacid on and off since then with varying success. In the last couple of years, headaches would come and go. He was re-tested for allergies and blood work with no conclusive results. About 2-3 years ago he would complain that he “felt funny…like he needed to do something.” Further conversations revealed that he was expressing anxiety. He’s a good student, has lots of friends at school, and is popular among his sports team mates. Occasionally, a teacher here and there over the last couple of years would note that he did not participate enough in class, or did not appear to be attentive. We thought perhaps he is shy. Still his good behavior, agreeable personality and diligence otherwise earned him good grades overall. He loves school and was very unhappy having to stay home when he was sick.
This past winter, he seemed to catch a virus about once every month and a half which caused him to miss 2-3 days of school. Headaches and stomach aches were common with each illness (sometimes nausea), and sometimes these same symptoms when he was not ill. He would only complain when they were prolonged or significant. Trips to the doctor did not result in anything conclusive. Again, Wilson was only too happy once he returned to school.
He claims that sometimes in school he feels like he’s in a fog and has difficulty concentrating. He gets plenty of sleep and sometimes sleeps up to ten hours during the weekend. We attributed it to adolescence and a busy schedule. He claims that this year is the easiest for him at school, and his social life with his friends is very active. His friends’ parents like him and find him to be an agreeable child. Other adults mistake his sometime mumbling answers and lack of eye contact rude. We concluded that he is just shy. He is the most hyper of his brothers, and has difficulty sitting still and constantly exclaims that he’s bored. We chalked it up to being an active boy. His grades are good in school and we never get complaints about bad behavior.
The last illness started a week ago, and he’s still out of school. The doctor said he had no significant allergy symptoms, other bacterial infections, and his blood work all returned with normal results for white blood counts, liver and kidney functioning and anemia. He can’t return to school because of his constant headaches (which cause pain in different parts of his head), nausea, constant stomach aches, no matter what he eats, and feelings of anxiety, mostly in the evening hours. He’s also complaining of dizziness, leg cramps and other muscle soreness. The notable difference in this illness is the anxiety. My husband and I take turns staying home with him, but if we left him alone for a half an hour at a time while the other was in route picking up a sibling, he became very anxious. In the past, he seemed to enjoy some alone time at home so he could play his computer games. He also becomes easily dizzy with shooting pains in his muscles. The doctor said that viruses can manifest themselves in later stages in the form of sore muscles. However, he was concerned about Wilson’s feelings of anxiety. The anxiety had not been as prevalent in prior illnesses. I finally signed onto the internet reading all the stories about other parent’s observations of their children on Singulair. My husband cautioned me about “internet diagnosing” with symptoms and stories that can be easily taken out of context in hope of self-diagnosis. I’ve always thought that Wilson’s doctors have had good judgment. Both my primary physician and allergist don’t think that Singulair has caused these symptoms, but agreed to take him off as long as we monitored any effect on his asthma.
I don’t know what to think. I want the cause of these problems to be the Singulair, because it’s an easy answer. Today will be the first day he’s off the medication. He probably won’t go to school again tomorrow. We’ll wait and see what happens…

Sorry, I can't just walk away.

When you find patents or patent applications for certain purposes, then you know that your ideas are well founded. There are several patents for using an anti-malaria drug for asthma. I would bet that somebody had that idea all the way back to the 1960's. So it is very possibly no coincidence at all that a chloroquinoline or other quinoline ring would be part of montelukast's chemical structure.

Here is one of the patents.

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It is well known that quinoline rings can be toxic to some people even very rapidly. As in this very extreme example.
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PEDIATRICS Vol. 27 No. 1 January 1961, pp. 95-102 This Article

FATAL ACUTE CHLOROQUINE POISONING IN CHILDREN
Howard M. Cann M.D.1 and Henry L. Verhulst M.S.1

1 National Clearinghouse for Poison Control Centers, Accident Prevention Program, Public Health Service, U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Four cases of acute chloroquine poisoning in children are presented. In three instances death occurred within 2 hours of ingestion of larger than therapeutic amounts of the drug. The rapid occurrence of death in acute chloroquine poisoning is probably explained by complete and rapid absorption of the drug from the gastrointestinal tract resulting in high blood concentrations which depress vasomotor function and respiration. Cardiac arrest follows and may be caused by the direct myocardial action of chloroquine, to anoxia, or to both. The similarity of the manifestations of acute chloroquine poisoning and those of acute quinine and quinidine poisoning suggests that acute toxicity may be attributed to the quinoline ring portion of these drugs.

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I don't think that we are seeing extreme examples. But we may be seeing less extreme immediate reactions or reactions where the toxicity builds up over time.

Quinoline rings are know to cause neurotoxicity. There are theories about how that happens. One of the theories is about blocking connexins which are gap junction proteins in the brains.

I don't know how montelukast could be breaking up so that it causes toxicity. Or if the problem is the how rapidly the liver enzymes can metabolize it. But there is plenty, plenty, plenty of clinical evidence that there is a quinoline ring culprit somewhere in the picture. Or some by-product of that causing problems.

Somehow it was decided that montelukast did not have the safety issues that the other drugs in the same category have. See this.

"The starting point in the development of montelukast appears to be a quinoline-containing structure, likely identified as a weak random screening lead (Figure 3). The Merck group hypothesized that this molecule was mimicking the olefin backbone of cysLTs, and that the addition of mimics for the acid and peptide regions of LTD4, might improve its potency. As a first step, the dithioacetal linkage first seen in some SmithKline compounds was incorporated; this led to a compound with greatly increased in vitro potency but poor oral bioavailability. When one of the carboxylic acids was replaced by an amide, forming MK-571, the new antagonist had even greater potency and good efficacy following oral administration. The enantiomers were resolved to yield MK-679 (verlukast), a compound with better clinical effects than MK-571, but whose clinical development was stopped for safety reasons. Further structure-activity relationship studies led to the development of montelukast (16), an antagonist that appears free of the safety concerns plaguing earlier members of this series."

If we can find out why the earlier versions were not safe and how they thought fixed it, then maybe we can find out what is going on with the quinoline ring in some people.

I would be very surprised if the FDA will address our concerns. Why does it always seem like they wait for enough people to die like in Vioxx? Wasn't Vioxx responsible for thousands of deaths?

Hopefully this will prove to the doubters that there are genetic reasons for the variation of efficacy and adverse side effective when taking Montelukast.

I have several areas of concern (concerned citizen is concerned). One of the main areas is the reliability of Montelukast due to differences in genetics among populations. The cysLT1 (Singulair) receptor is a GENE. As I said before, it would be possible to predict those patients for which Montelukast would and would not be effective and those patients whose gene expression profile would cause them to have unwanted side effectives.

I have been looking for a way to give reasonable proof of that which could be used to convince your doctors that Montelukast is not for everybody. I happened to locate a researcher who had invented and patented methods for predicting drug sensitivity and efficacy in inflammatory disease. I have quoted below from his patent application. He intended to provide a method for determining efficacy and drug sensitivity for pharmaceuticals which include leukotriene antagonists - Montelukast.

Quoted from:

Methods for predicting drug sensitivity in patients afflicted with an inflammatory disease
US Patent Issued on December 12, 2006

Methods are disclosed for predicting the efficacy of a drug for treating an inflammatory disease in a human patient, including: obtaining a sample of cells from the patient; obtaining a gene expression profile of the sample in the absence and presence of in vitro modulation of the cells with specific cytokines and/or mediators; and comparing the gene expression profile of the sample with a reference gene expression profile, wherein similarities between the sample expression profile and the reference expression profile predicts the efficacy of the drug for treating the inflammatory disease in the patient.

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The field of pharmacogenomics measures differences in the effect of medications that are caused by genetic variations. Such differences are manifested by differences in the therapeutic effects or adverse events of drugs. For most drugs, the genetic variations that potentially characterize drug-responsive patients from non-responders remain unknown.
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In another embodiment, the invention is directed to a method for predicting the efficacy in a human asthma patient of leukotriene antagonists including, but not limited to, montelukast (a.k.a., SINGULAIR™; Merck, Whitehouse Station, N.J.), zafirlukast (a.k.a., ACCOLATE™, AstraZeneca, Wilmington, Del.), and zileuton (a.k.a., ZYFLO™; Abbott Laboratories, Chicago, Ill.), comprising: obtaining a sample of cells from the patient; obtaining a gene expression profile from the sample in the absence and presence of in vitro modulation of the cells with specific mediators; and comparing the gene expression profile of the sample with a reference gene expression profile, wherein similarity in expression profiles between the sample and reference profiles predicts the efficacy in the human asthmatic patient of leukotriene antagonists.

Many of the cells involved in causing airway inflammation are known to produce signaling molecules within the body called "leukotrienes." Leukotrienes are responsible for causing the contraction of the airway smooth muscle, increasing leakage of fluid from blood vessels in the lung, and further promoting inflammation by attracting other inflammatory cells into the airways. Oral anti-leukotriene medications have been introduced to fight the inflammatory response typical of allergic disease. These drugs are used in the treatment of chronic asthma. Recent data demonstrates that prescribed anti-leukotriene medications can be beneficial for many patients with asthma, however, a significant number of patients do not respond to anti-leukotriene drugs.

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The genes selected are those that have been determined to be differentially expressed in either a disease, drug-responsiveness, or drug-sensitive cell relative to a normal cell and confer power to predict the response to the drug. By comparing tissue samples from patients with these reference expression profiles, the patient's susceptibility to a particular disease, drug-responsiveness, or drug-resistance can be determined.

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7148008-description.html

The inventor's website: Hakon Hakonarson M.D. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

http://stokes.chop.edu/research/profiles/?ID=251

Our son started taking Singulair when he was 2 for severe allergic rhinitis and cough variant asthma (in addition to Zyrtec, which didn’t control all of his symptoms). He is 5 now. For the last three years, he has been an increasingly violent, difficult, defiant, argumentative, volatile child who has intense mood swings--one minute he’s laughing uncontrollably, the next he’s weeping over nothing. His doctor and therapist recommended that we see a psychiatrist to have him evaluated for bipolar disorder, which used to be unknown in children. Because he has such chronic sleep problems, the doctor also suggested we take him off Singulair (and increase his Zyrtec dose) to see if it improved his sleep issues. Within a week, he was sleeping much better and was a calmer, happier, gentler boy. He suddenly could take “no” for an answer without flipping out and trying to hurt me. We thought that we were just in an unusual, calm window that would shift either to mania or intense sadness or both, any minute. We also thought that his behavior change might be due to sleeping better. We were enjoying the rare reprieve. Over the last weekend, his springtime allergies really flared up. We gave him Singulair on Monday and by noon, he was completely out of control. I had to strap him into his car seat at one point to keep him from hurting either me or himself. It finally occurred to me that Singulair might be causing his “bipolar” disorder. Of course, we stopped the Singulair. After two days he was a new boy. Yesterday, I Googled “Singulair bipolar children” and got a few hits. I am stunned to read how similar other families’ experiences have been to ours and I feel sick that we gave this drug to our child for three years.

Hello to everyone, I just came home from a parent teacher conference for my son who is 7 yrs. old, and heard the same old thing, "he is restless, impulsive and has a short attention span". He has been taking Singulair for about 3 yrs.. Since he has started school I have had these complaints and have also been told he displays symptoms of ADHD, which ironically has been for the last 3 years. Like any parent, I question" if I am doing something wrong with my parenting, is his diet good, etc. etc.", I am also a nurse, I realize that medications are needed and beneficial in some circumstances, however I firmly believe and was taught in nursing school that medication is last resort. That being said, I have been very adament about NOT giving my son ADHD medication after doing alot of research on the different meds and their side effects. So, we started him on all natural vitamins, changed his diet some ( kids got to have candy once in a while) and started a more structured routine( the best we can since we both work) and also enrolled him in Sylvan. The teacher says there is a 50% improvement but he is still impulsive and still does not pay attention like he "COULD", again suggesting he needs ADHD meds. I came home in tears and started to do more research online to see what else can I do besides putting him on psych meds?....Then I came accross this site, I just want to cry after reading all these posts. I wonder, could this be his problem, the Singulair?.. About a year ago he use to get up in the middle of the night, 5 out of 7 complaining of nightmares, hearing things at times, headaches, decreased appetite, stomach upset, all AT TIMES, not all the time so I never thought alot about side effects of Singulair. When the school started complaining I did look at side effects of Singulair and seen HYPERACTIVITY and mentioned it to his pediatrician and she shrugged it off saying she never heard of it being a problem. She's a great MD so I listened to her because his asthma was bad when he was younger and it is now under control. But then I think maybe he is outgrowing the asthma. I am afraid to stop Singulair and him have breathing problems again but then I can't help this strong feeling in my heart that says this may have been his problem with everything else all along. We are going to stop the Singulair tonight and see what happens. If anyone else has a child with asthma any suggestions for alternative treatment would be appreciated. I already know what's out there but sometimes it's nice to hear from another parent going through similar situs. Thanks for reading, Bobbie

It has been 18 days since my 9 year old daughter has taken Singulair. Our daughter had been taking Singulair for approximately 2 years. It was in the last year that we started to notice some behavior changes and mood swings that were so often unprovoked. We were somewhat concerned and thought like so many other parents that it was a phase. Then in December 2007 she came home from school with a tummy ache and had several episodes of vomiting. She seemed better the following day, but we took her to the pediatrician to be sure that this was a virus. The stomach pains continued, and then anxiety attacks began. Over the next month she began to wake up each day with stomach aches and we began more visits to doctors and more testing. She had abdominal X-rays, CT scan, mekel scan, GI consult and endoscopy. All were ok except she did have some small amounts of acid in her stomach. She was treated with Prevacid with really no significant changes. As weeks passed she missed more and more school, she just could not make it through the day. She had intense separation anxiety, and developed OCD about being sick again and vomiting, fears that she may stop breathing; fear of dying and the list goes on. She was refusing to ride the bus to school, and was having more and more panic attacks that would last for hours. We finally took her to a psychiatrist after we had done every test we could possibly do and all were normal. She woke up with the fear and anxiety, and fell asleep each night the same way. The doctor said she had "OCD" which she believes was triggered by the fear from vomiting. "This was the first time she had vomited since she was an infant.” She was treated with Lexapro, and Klonopin. The symptoms worsened over the next few days even with the new medications. After many calls to the doctor we were finally advised to have her admitted to a children’s psychiatric hospital for closer evaluation where higher doses of medications could be administered. She was there for 4 horrible days with slight improvements. Over the next few weeks the medication did begin to help some and she was able to make it through school each day as long as she was able to call me a few times a day for re-assurance. I thank God each day for her wonderful teacher and staff that have helped us through this. They all have known her for 3 years and knew this was just not her character at all and she was truly struggling. She was always known as "Smiley" to everyone because she always wears a grin. We began therapy with a psychologist as well and she has good and bad days. Then we heard the news about Singulair and I began to trace back other issues she had with focusing in 2nd grade and how things just seemed to progress from there. It all happened so gradually that I would never have put two & two together. She is showing improvements every day with personality, mood, attitude, fears, and the "OCD". She told me today that this was the best day ever!! I have made all the Doctor's involved aware of this information and the progress she has made in the last 2 1/2 weeks. Her doctor did cut her meds in half this week as well. Thanks to everyone that has posted their nightmares as well, and we will pray for you and for full recovery for all those that have suffered.

My husband and I have been increasingly worried about our 11 year old son lately. He had been becoming increasingly unhappy and difficult. He was in the school play, one of the things he loves most, but had no enthusiasm or energy for it. He seemed apathetic about many activities he had always been eager to participate in. I kept thinking maybe he was just tired and too stressed out. It seemed like almost nightly he was sinking into anger and depression. We were walking around on eggshells trying to prevent him from spiraling into one of his angry moods where he would just shut down and say he didn't care about anything. The happy, cooperative, well-adjusted kid we had always known was gone.

Three weeks ago we began to talk about the fact that maybe there was more going on than just adolescent angst. We were beginning to believe some kind of professional intervention might be required.

Two and a half weeks ago our local paper ran the story about the Miller family whose son committed suicide while on Singulair. My son had been taking Singulair for three months.

The same day the newspaper story ran, my son had another tough morning When I went to bed that same night, I found two “suicide” notes from my 11 year old on my pillow. (He had not seen the article.) In one he asked for a gun or knife for his birthday so he could kill himself. In the other, he told me he had been thinking about killing himself since February.

My life for the past month has been filled with conversations and appointments with the suicide hotline, the pediatrician, a psychotherapist, the school social worker, the mother of the boy who committed suicide, the FDA, etc. etc., filling out forms and writing notes and observations.

My son had just recently finished his last bottle of Singulair. I had not yet refilled the prescription, and we have no intention of doing that. The turn around in my son has been extraordinary. My incredibly exuberant and joyful son is back. I did not realize until the past few days how much light he brings to this house and how far away he had faded. But everyday, as the drug leaves his body, his beautiful, loving, affectionate, helpful happy self returns. We just kept thinking for so long… I guess this is normal for a 6th grader. It must be adolescence. It is an incredible gift to see the cloud lifting.

I worry a great deal about the children who are not as severly affected - whose parents are thinking, as we did, maybe this is just typical for kids this age. I am incredibly grateful that my son was finally able to articulate some of the horrible feelings he had inside, and that the article appeared when it did to give us some clue as to what we were really dealing with.

My daughter took singulair for a number of years because she was asthmatic and the doctor recommended that she takes one each a day. At 13 she started acting differently and I thought it was just growing up and being a rebellious teenager. I later found track mark on her arms and she was hospitalized under suicide watch. She was not allowed in school until she had numerous therapy sessions. On top of everything she was giving topamax to control her anxiety and depression and now missed so much school that she has graduate a year later.

Oh my gosh, I am just shocked after reading these posts. I am taking my son off of Singulair immediatedly!!!! I knew I wasn't crazy!! My son was on Singulair for over 2 years and it was awful. He was so hyper and uncontrollable. He couldn't control his temper. He had headaches everyday. He was put on it due to severe allergies and asthma. He is on other medications as well as allergy shots. I kept telling the doctor that I think the singulair was causing his bad behavior problems. He was just so hard to handle. He couldn't sit still for anything. The teacher couldn't get him to sit still in his chair. It just wasn't normal behavior for him. The teacher even thought he had ADD!! I didn't accept that however. The doctor just thought I was crazy and told me that Singulair wouldn't cause those symptoms. She said it actually would work opposit that and cause him to be sleepy. Well I took him off of it anyways and he did get pretty sick. His asthma acted up ect. But he eventually felt better and his behavior improved drastically. He wasn't so hyper and he could actually sleep at night and wasn't so scared at night. Just within the last week he has been pretty sick due to allergy season, his asthma has been bad and the doctor told me to put him back on the Singulair. So I did he has been on it for four days now and he is HORRIBLE.. It was an instant change. My husband and I can't control him and he can't sleep at night and has headaches every day. I am so glad I found this sight. I am taking him off immediately.
Thank you all so much for your comments. This medicine should be outlawed. I don't care what the doctors say. By the way my son is 9 years old. I certainly had no idea that it has caused suicide. I am so sorry to you all that have experienced such horrible things. Come to think of it my son used to say he hated himself all of the time when he was on this medicine.
God Bless You All

Previously posted 8 year old son w/ suicidal ideation and depression...I'm seeing comments about "inattentive." I've been saying my son is ADD for years....How many of you saw this possible side effect? Off of Singulair for 14 days now....behavior unbelievably improved.

I am starting a new post in the hopes that others will see what I am trying to say about the delayed reaction in those that took Singulair for allergies.

If it is consistent that Singulair does not stop allergy symptoms immediately, then the pathways that eventually stop allergy symptoms involve a change in the mast cell function, development and migration (or some combination).

I asked this question for a reason. Are allergy symptoms stopped immediatedly. My question below:

I have a question that will help me continuing looking for information. I can understand that in the case of asthma that Singulair would provide immediate relief. If it is used for seasonal allergies or other allergies without asthma, does it work right away or does it take a period of days or weeks to be effective? If it takes time, could you tell me how long it took in your situation?

My thinking was going in the right direction if the answer below is consistent of everyone or most.

about 2 hours ago on Apr 11, 2008 by catherineevans, #7045
My granddaughter was put on Singulair for allergy symptoms without asthma. Itching, red eyes, terrible congestion, etc. dark circles under her eyes all the time. When we first put her on this, we didn't see any consistent results for 2-3 weeks, then it seemed to 'kick in.' I don't know if this helps. By the way, she was 9, now she's almost 12 and was immediately taken off when this story came out 2 weeks ago.

Then after seeing one response, I gave my reason for asking.

I asked this question because I have a theory of how montelukast really works for allergies as compared to how it works for asthma.

Asthma is a hyper-sensitive state that gets going because the mast cell has a receptor (the leukotriene receptor that Singulair blocks) that sends a signal along a pathway that causes lung tissue to have that extreme response - the wheezing, the airway constriction.

On the mast cell is another receptor the histamine receptor that causes the secretions that make our noses runs and and stuff up. This is not the same immune response as the asthma response. When I saw a post that somebody's doctor said that Singulair is an anti-histamine, NO it is NOT.

So if Singulair does not block histamine immediately and your child's allergies did not go away immediately, then maybe Singulair is working through some other means such as changing normal mast cell homeostasis.
I know that this seems like "what does this mean?" I am really writing this hoping to God that there are people reading this site that know what I am talking about.

Thank you so much for responding. Your answer actually told me what I wanted to know and confirmed my hypothesis. More answers will help. I hope others respond.

PLEASE respond about the length of time that allergies disappeared if you took Singulair for allergies.

Both of my children are taking Singulair. My seven year old son has been on the drug for 3-4 years and we've noticed no problems. However, I am becoming very concerned about our three year old daughter. She was put on Singulair in November/December 2007 along with the other allergy medicines that she was already taking: Nasonex, Rynatan and Zyrtec. However, our allergist took her off the Rynatan and Zyrtec in mid-March and replaced them with Singulair. Since then, the child will not go to bed as she has in the past. She tosses and turns for an hour or hour an a half EVERY night. I've considered that maybe she needs to do away with the afternoon nap BUT she is still restless even if she hasn't had a nap that day. She is also doesn't want to get up in the mornings. We practically drag her out of the bed. This is very unlike her. She used to wake up easily every morning with a smile on her face and ready to go. Now she's a grump throughout the day and cries easily. My husband and I have decided to take her off the Singulair and see what happens. We already know that she is sensitive to some medications. We had an experience with Levalbuterol and Pulmicort (nebulizer treatments) in February that was scary. The pediatrician wanted her on the treatments 2X a day for 6 wks. The child was out of her mind on these meds. If someone had videotaped her and covered her face, I would not have know that it was my child. These meds. changed her entire personality. She took the treatments for 4-5 days and we decided enough was enough. As soon as we stopped the meds. she was back to her old self. She WILL NOT take them again unless there is absolutely no other alternative. I've decided that I've got to be more vigilant about watching for possible side effects of medications.

My son is 8 and he has been on singulair for at least three years, maybe four. When I heard about the side effects a few weeks ago, I stopped his medication right away. I have since learned that it should be tapered off, but won't put him back on to do that. He had so many of the depression, I hate myself, everybody hates me, facial tic, stomach ache symptoms . . . Now he is almost two weeks off of singulair and he is throwing screaming fits, kicking, threatening, uncontrollable for up to two hours and more! Is this a side effect of coming off of the medication? Has anyone else had this experience? Please email me at amy-weaver4@sbcglobal.net - I'd really like to hear if anyone else has experienced these symptoms. Thank you! Amy

This is the beginning of day four with no Singulair. I can still breathe, but I switched from one puff of Advair per day to two. I decided to look Advair up as well and was dismayed to find similar negative experiences with THAT drug. Hopefully for me eliminating one is enough, because I know that I need something to be able to breathe. So far yesterday was the best day emotionally, I felt a sense of calm several times throughout the day, and didn't need to be occupied with busywork to distract myself from my own thoughts. I don't have stomach pains anymore, which like most of the other symptoms I never attributed to Singulair, my head and heart just feel much "lighter" if that makes any sense. I don't feel sad, or anxious, or suicidal. I feel like I have some focus back, not completely, but a lot more than last week! I also feel like I am better equipped to handle upsetting information instead of feeling overwhelmingly sad about everything. I had my boyfriend read some of these posts yesterday, because he has been trying to accomodate my behavior for a while now, and he pointed out not only some of the obvious side effects, but there was a post about hand and joint pain, and I was constantly asking him rub my hands. I hope that sharing will help others if they are feeling anything similar, and if it's possible to stop Singulair and still breathe okay that they should try it. It is a synthetic chemical and none of us really know exactly what the short-term and long-term effects of any of these medications really are. I mean, Thalidomide was great for pregnant women who suffered from morning sickness in the '50's. Vioxx I'm sure helped many people with painful arthritis. It's only later do we find out the negatives to taking these drugs. I hate that illegal drugs are so very frowned upon in this society but "medicine" from your "doctor"is okay. Doctors nowadays I think are overwhelmed with their caseload and they read the same pamphlets that are handled out to us, laypeople, and recommend these pills to us. Drug company representatives spend a trememdous amount of money on free lunches and mugs and mouse pads and of course, if it's passed by the FDA it must be a-ok! so why not? Many patients come in ASKING for a particular drug because it is advertised on TV!!! Hard alcohol and cigarette commercials are banned, right? So how it is ok to peddle pills to us? I so many times wanted to ask my doctor about Lunesta because I couldn't sleep, and Cymbalta because "depression hurts everywhere AND everyone" and I was in so much psychological and physical pain but something told me that I didn't want to keep adding to the list, I wanted to be healthy enough someday to take some medications away! So I suffered with insomnia and debilitating depression hoping someday I could get better on my own. I wonder how many other people out there on medications who have complete faith in our healthcare system are doing more harm to themselves than good?

In response to Concernedcitizen with regard to the additional medications prescribed, we never got that far, but we were close. My son, as I've mentioned on here before (sorry for the repetition, but I think it's important), was about to be diagnosed as bipolar, which would no doubt have led to a whole host of other drugs.

Also, I totally agree with concernedcitizen with regard to not necessarily blaming our doctors. We should expect them to listen to us and take our concerns seriously, though. My son's first pediatricians were dismissive and condescending. We switched doctors and when I handed the new doctors a printout of all the posts from this site (back in 2005), they looked skeptical, but guess what? They READ it. And, my son's primary pediatrician has since told me that he's taken several kids off Singulair based on our story and the posts he read. The research provided her by concernedcitizen is INVALUABLE. If enough doctors see this stuff they'll start to question it and at least look at some of these children differently. Rather than throwing a prescription for Ritalin at them or stuffing them full of wellbutrin/abilify/lithium/klonopin/cymbalta/ they might think, "Hey, this kid's on Singulair...maybe we should try taking him/her off for a while to see what happens."

Finally, I wanted to put it out there that while kids may show mild side effects in the beginning (so mild that they can be dismissed in one way or another) I, personally, believe that with this drug side effects intensify over a period of time. My son, for example, was highly functional on singulair in the beginning and it completely eradicated his asthma and allergy symptoms, so it was great. Over time the side effects were more numerous and increasingly intense. Finally it got to the point where we couldn't dismiss it as bad behavior anymore, it was just completely outrageous behavior and my instinct told me it HAD to be the singulair. So these case studies that look at kids over a 24 week period are useless. In 24 weeks my son was fine. 52 weeks? Totally different child.

Definitely use the info provided on here, it will help not only your child, but other children as well.

Is anyone else interested in how many other medications that children or adults who took Singulair started taking after they were prescribed Singulair? If so, would you mind posting what the medication was and what kind of doctor prescribed them?

See comment by cheflette:
about 18 hours ago on Apr 05, 2008 by cheflette, #6727
Concernedcitizen, I REALLY appreciate the hard work you've done looking for how montelukast affects the brain. I think you're making an important point here. Everything we put in our bodies affects other parts of our bodies and I think these research companies forget that sometimes. You can't fundamentally alter a bodily function and expect the rest of the body to ignore it.

The scariest thing to me is that rather than removing the antagonist (in this case, Singulair), doctors will prescribe yet another drug. So many of these children are on a multitude of medications. What a mess.
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"We have no indication that anything about the mechanism of Singulair is consistent with these events (OH REALLY, YOU MEAN THAT YOU CANNOT FIND ANYTHING AT ALL THAT IS POSSIBLY CONSISTENT???)," said George Philip, director of research and product development, according to AP. "But because suicide is a life-threatening event we thought it was important to provide this information in the product label."

In a statement released by Merck, they state that in their own analysis of trials of more than 11000 patients, there was no associated risk between them taking the drug and an increased risk of suicidal thoughts.

My 8 yr. old daughter has been on Singulair for the last year (only in the Spring and Fall when her allergies/asthma are triggered by environmental factors). She started having huge personality changes when we restarted the meds at the end of Feb. The changes continued to get worse to the point that I was beside myself with worry. Saw the news report on Singulair and took her off of it last week and went to the dr. on Monday. He says that it may take up to 3 weeks to have the effect of the drug out of her system, but I am already seeing huge changes...She is back to being the wonderful, happy go lucky girl she has always been. The anxiety has just left her...She was worried about things that have never happened like being left at school or karate and about my office catching fire and me not being able to get out...

Please if you have any doubt as to what is happening with your child, talk to the doctor about it...I can't believe the trauma my child has gone through and that fixing it was as simple as stopping her medications!

My 9 yo daughter has been off and on Singulair for several years trying to get her athsma and allergies regulated. She has been put on zyrtec, and claritin and it has been a constant battle with her. She has been in and out of children's mental health facilities 3 times in the past year and has been diagnosed as having ODD (Oppositional Defiance Disorder), Mood Disorder, Depression, Severe ADHD, Bi-Polar as well as ADO (Adjustment Disorder) and emotional disorder, just to name some of the diagnosis she has had. SHE IS ONLY NINE YEARS OLD. Due to ALL these other diagnosis, she has been on and off so many different medications that I cannot help but wonder if some of these diagnosis are due to her taking the Singulair. When she was taking the SINGULAIR, she could not sleep at night, she complained about her stomach hurting all the time, she was very angry, emotional, and cried very easily for no reason at all. I have not given her any SINGULAIR since I first heard about all this stuff two days ago and can already see a difference. The fact that these people are doing this to our children infuriates me and something needs to be done!!!!!!!!

Our son was put on several medications 9/07 due to bad asthma and allergies. Since then we saw his behavior begin to go down hill. He would complain of stomaches, not want to go to school, became increasingly more irritable and has mood swings. He was a good student and we have never had a problem with him attending school. Since 9/07 we have taken him to a total of 10 different doctors. Pediatricians, therapist, allergy doctor and three licensed psychiatrists. Everyone said that we were crazy when we suggested that this behavior was linked to the medication. The psychiatrist diagnosed him with anxiety disorder along with school phobia. This has been a nightmare. I finally took him to an acupuncture doctor as a last resort because the doctors wanted us to put him on Prozac for the anxiety. Our family doctor has even suggested he is Bipolar! The acupuncture doctor has recommended a diet change and some treatments with her so that we can remove him from all his medications. I am so glad that I listened to my instincts and did not put him on the Prozac. I was so upset when this story aired about the Singulair. We have been trying to get the doctors to listen to us since 9/07 about the possible link. They still deny the connection and advised us to not remove him from the medicine. But for once I am going to handle things my way and we have already seen a difference in his behavior. We will keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. My heart goes out to everyone that has had similiar experiences. These doctors should listen to the parents instead of assuming we are all trying to blame behavior problems on medication.

My grandson was put on singulair when he was 2 years old due to severe asthma. He fell out a 2 story window at 2 years old. His behavior became more and more aggressive as time went on. At 3 years old, he rode his bike toward a car and said he wanted to know what it feels like to be dead. At 4 years old he tried to plug a broken cord into an out let to see if he could get electricuted and die. He has obviously been to counceling and diagnosed with ADHD and on more medication for that.
Let me add that his father was shot and killed, and his mother was incarcerated twice for over a year each time. He has lived with me since he was 8 months old. He has been through a lot in his young age, so most of it has the potential to be explained away by this.
However, if there is any chance that singulair has caused or increased any of his problems, you can bet I will take him off it to see if there is any improvement.
I'm a nurse, so I know that there are side effects with all medications, and that some people encounter the side effects and others don't. I don't think that singulair is a bad choice for everyone, in fact, it has been proven to be very effective, and as long as there are no noted side effects, or possible side effects. why would you worry. If there are questionable side effects-you certainly can't ignore them! The only true way to find out if your childs problems are due to singulair is to try to take it away-maybe only temporarily.
My instinct tells me to pull it-if there is no change in behavior with him off the medication, I'll consider putting him back on it if necessary for his asthma.

If reading these posts aren't enough for you, please look at the US version of this website. http://www.medications.com/se/singulair It's just awful!!!! My family suffered for 6 months while my son was taking Singulair. He's been off a month, and is back to his normal loving self again!!!!

My daughter who is ten has been taking singular for two years. My uncle and my mom had both told me about the recent report. I was outraged. Since I didn't see it myself, I got online to check it out. I am so pissed off. My daughter has at times seemed to be depressed, my husband and I just thought it was a phase. She was never consistently depressed, more of an up and down thing. And she was fatigued from time to time. I never made the connection to Singular. I mean seriously it's an allergy medicine. And I always read the label. Never once have I ever seen a label say " may cause depression, or suicidal thoughts." I immediately took her off of it. Her last dose was 3/27/08. I noticed a difference almost right away. With in a day or so she seemed to be happier. I am so pissed off at myself and the doctors. of course I would have no way of knowing singular could cause this. I guess as a mom I feel like I should have know. I feel horrible!! Never once have they ever said anything of these reports. The FDA will be hearing from me. They hand out the medications like candy and have no idea what it really does to people. I just PRAY that my daughter, my nephew ( who was also on it for quite some time) and all these other kids out there have no lasting side effects from this medication. God Bless you all I will be praying!