Singulair and nausea

My 9 year old son started Singulair 5mg about 8 months ago. Shortly after, he started to occasionally complain of stomach pain and not being hungry. About 2 months ago, they changed the dosage to 10mg. He now has chronic diarrhea and severe weight loss. We stopped the medicine about 2 weeks ago, but he's not "back to normal" yet. He's never had any digestive problems before. The doctor's recommending endoscopes, and we're at our wit's end.

I have been reading all of these posts and have another question. I hope that someone can help. My daughter, 8 years old, has been on Singulair since she was 4. She is normally a very happy girl with a wonderful disposition. For the last year or so, she has been having trouble getting herself to sleep at night. She says that she hears things in her head such as ringing or "noises". A few hours before she knows it's bedtime, she cries and when we ask her why she's crying, she can't give us a reason. We initially thought that she was crying for no reason because she didn't want to go to sleep. I remember reading about the side effects of Singulair causing mood swings, etc., but her's are not violent mood swings. Just very emotional and has a hard time coming down from the "episode". I'm at a loss...I have not talked to her doctor yet about it, but have told her that we will make an appointment this week to discuss it with him. My husband suggested that maybe it sounded like she was having a panic attack or anxiety attack. I hate to label her as that at such a young age. My mind now goes back to the side effects of Singulair and maybe this is to blame. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! Concerned Mom

Is heart racing one of the side effects? I have problems with edema which are worsened by Singulair and Zyrtec. Vivid Night terrors depression, anxiety are standard also made worse. Headaches extremely high blood pressure and nausea. I have been off the singulair for a month. I am Zyrtec Free as well.
I too will rely on my inhalers. This drug should not ever be prescribed for children.

I spent the weekend reading about the development of Singulair. The early studies recognized that the first phase of the acute asthma response bronco-constriction was probably not caused by leukotrienes. They identified histamines and prostaglandins as the probable sources. I don't think that changed because the Singulair literature states that it should not be considered as a treatment for that. Leukotrienes were a source of inflammation caused by eosinophils and mast cells present in greater numbers (than normal) in airway tissue. So, it was beneficial to find a way to decrease that.

The cysLT1 receptor was identified as source of the signals that tell the cells to produce leukotriene. The receptor, a gene, consist of 337 (they think) amino acids. They modified a compound that would bind to that receptor thus blocking the cells ability to produce leukotrienes. This compound is very specific. It was formulated to bind to the "model" receptor. This compound will not even bind to cysLT receptor sub-types. (That is the good thing.) There is an enormous amount of research that discusses the genetic variability of the chemical reactions that occur in the leukotriene (calling it this for simplicity) pathway. We are also seeing that a number of researchers would like to use gene profiles to predict whether patients will respond favorably to different asthma/allergy drugs. ALL PATIENTS HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW IF IT IS INHERENT THAT SOME PEOPLE WILL NOT RESPOND TO SINGULAIR OR RESPOND ADVERSELY.

There are many studies from the 1998 era that conclude that montelukast is not effective for everyone. Those researchers stated that it can be predicted that those people who are going to respond favorably will do that within the first 14 days or so. That conclusion would be consistent with a genetic component for efficacy and safety of Singulair. Those doctors concluded that those who did not respond within that time frame should not take Singulair for fear of harming them. That makes good sense.

The Italian researchers wanted to know if there was more going on than blocking leukotrienes in the action of montelukast. They set up a "test tube" study regarding montelukast, the cysLT1 receptor, and some t-cells that they selected. Why? Researchers always have something on their minds. They observed the death of these particular t-cells.

Montelukast is a quinoline. We basically know of quinilines and quinolones as compounds that were invented as broad spectrum antibiotics. They work because they interference with bacterial DNA so they cannot replicate themselves. Montelukast is a quinoline modified to bind with the cysLT1 receptor (a gene) and prevent that gene from activating. That's consistent with what a quinoline/quinolone does.

So what does montelukast do in blood plasma if it does not bind to the receptor because of genetic mis-match? (If montelukast does bind, then a chemical reaction has occurred and the liver will break down the by-products. Montelukast metabolized in 10-12 hours.) What happens if it doesn't bind? How long before it breaks down? Does it produce toxic by-products?

I want to know what happens to lymphocytes such as t-cells just because montelukast is a quinoline. Maybe nothing but what's up with the Italians researchers? I want to know if montelukast has the capability to interfere with lymphocytes who can clone themselves. That could be a good thing under circumstances when these lymphocytes are causing inflammation. But it could be a bad thing in the case of normal individuals with no problems.

I want to know if the bad side effects are due to the fact that the body has to break down and metabolize a quinoline that did not bind to the receptor for which it was created. The side effects of Singulair are strangely similar to what is observed in the quinolones such as levaquin. I have not as yet been able to compare montelukast as a quinoline to levaquin as a quinolone. I am hoping to find something on these categories. There may be no reason to worry that they cause similar damage. But frankly, I think that there is. There is some terrible chit happening to some people. The scariest is the neurological damage.

All of these questions would be in the everybody pharma knows to ask category. I don't know where the answers are. I haven't found them as of yet. Maybe there are no answers. We have to remember that Singulair and Vioxx were released in the same year. They have continued to be drugs under the current executive management of Merck. If the Vioxx marketing promoters had their ghost writers, why not the Singulair marketing promoters. The genetic component appears to be widely accepted but we haven't heard one thing about even that.

I think that it is sad that maybe the marketing of Singulair as one stop shopping for asthma/allergies may have destroyed the original concept. I really think from reading the original work that they knew that they couldn't engineer a drug for one size fits all. Everybody gets harmed when information is withheld.

Shame on the allergist who yelled at the mother who wanted to discuss issues. Does he know exactly who is allergic to Singulair and who isn't? Get him a dunce hat. Just because Singulair is marketed for allergies does not mean that you cannot be allergic to it. See the power of Madison Avenue? The ad agencies focus group these drugs to death. The ad agencies cleverly craft the product information. A good piece of legislation would be to prohibit consumer drugs ads.

Here is some perspective for you all. I take Singulair and do well on it and in ACTUAL studies it has one of the safest safety records. Understand that post marketing reporting does not mean there is a correlation between the event and the product. Throughout the life of a drug the companies must disclose any report of side effects reported to them REGARDLESS of causality. A popular antihistamine that is OVER THE COUNTER also has suicidal thinking/behavior listed in its post marketing section. However, just because patients who had reported having these thoughts while taking the product doesn't mean it was a result of the product! Maybe they had a depressive personality and were also on multiple other medicines to treat that. You must look at the "Adverse Reactions, Warnings and Precautions" sections of package inserts to see the side effects that were actually seen in studies. You can die from ulcers derived from over use of aspirin or ibuprofen. Decongestants can throw off your blood pressure and these events are documented in actual studies! Listen to your bodies when taking any med. If you feel differently report it to your doctor.

These are all drugs people, there are potential side effects. There are also side effects to those "natural" over the counter remedies that are not nearly as regulated by the FDA or studies by the drug companies.

To anyone out there who has experienced side effects to singulair timed to when you started it, talk to your doctor, stop taking it and see if it goes away. Same advice for any product prescription or over the counter medicine. Side effects can be a combination of many factors (what other meds are you taking?) But understand for many people this product is the safest and most effective treatment for them. The FDA and Merck are reviewing all information to see if there is any correlation to the reporting. But singulair been around for about 10 years and prescibed to billions of people and is known to be one of the safer medicines out there overall.

In between the legitimate posts on this site I get the sense there is a lot of ambulance chasing going on. People looking to cash in on this big drug companies. We want drugs, we want them cheap and with no side effects which is not a reality. Keep stepping up the regulation and make the companies hire more lawers to protect themselves and jump through even more hoops and see what happens to the price and access to new meds. Even better, see how regulation has impacted the development of new medicines around the world (here's a tip, it will dramatically decrease). Drug companies certainly aren't perfect but which industry is?

Please, when taking any medicine over the counter, prescription or herbal supplement listen to your bodies to see if the potential benefits of the product outway the risks or side effects. Report any changes to your doctor.

Thanks for all the information on this site. What a shocking "heads up" I have received! My daughter is 10 and has been taking Singulair since she was about 5 years old. (She has also been on Claritin since she was 2-3 years old and hasn't seemed to have a problem with it.) My daughter has had unexplained headaches, stomach aches/pains, nausea, mood swings, depression...a lot of the same side effects that people are listing here, for years. I knew there had to be something going on, but couldn't figure out what it was. I recently started suspecting Singulair, before I even knew about all of the recent side effect links to it. I took it upon myself to start halfing her doses, and she says the headaches are starting to go away, so there must be some connection. Her pediatrician has actually RECOMMENDED taking her OFF of Singulair for about a year now, but he never explained WHY, and every time I tried to get her completely off of it, her allergy problems flared up again. So I didn't know what to do. I think now though, it's time to find an alternative. Thanks to everyone for sharing. It's nice to know that I wasn't crazy for suspecting Singulair after all. Bless all of you (and my daughter) who have suffered with this.

*One other note: My daughter was recently diagnosed with an early stage of the flu and was given TAMIFLU for treatment. This med made the headaches, stomach aches, and mood swings MUCH worse. She cried every day, and her crying was not because she had been sick. I didn't even finish giving her the full course of the med. I couldn't, it was hurting her so badly.

While taking Singular I have noticed similar side effects of headaches,suicide,stomach pains,nausea, and depression. I am 33 years old, I have been taking Singular over a four year period and have noticed that my patience is very low while on this medication, I also take Advair and Albuterol for my Asthma and have also taken Claritin, however I didn't know until the recent uproar on the news that the depression and suicidal thoughts could be a result of this medication, i will no longer use this medication

Posting my experience again.

You are not alone and your children are NOT hypochondriacs (something tells me small children don't even know what that means).

My 5 year old son was diagnosed with mild asthma and put on Singulair. Within a few months he began having uncontrollable fits of rage, displayed self-loathing behavior, had night terrors, and was inconsolable during these episodes. He became very destructive and was a danger to himself and our family. He even talked about killing himself and would say things like "I don't want to be in this life anymore" and "I want to kill myself". He would threaten my wife and his siblings and told them he wanted to kill them. It was a truly terrifying experience. Our pediatrician was clueless to these side affects and recommended we have our child go through a psychological evaluation. I knew this was not my child's normal behavior so I searched the internet for Singulair side effects and found some message boards where parents just like me were telling their stories of their children's aggressive behavior. I immediately took my son off the drug and within a couple weeks he was back to his normal self. He told us that he no longer has "that feeling inside of him". Five year old children don't even know what suicide is and to see my son talk like this was extremely frightening. He is a sweet, intelligent, loving boy who had never exhibited behavior like this until he went on Singulair. We have not seen this behavior after taking him off the drug. Please use your best judgment and connect the dots for yourselves.

I have been taking Singulair for at least 10 years, most of which on a daily basis. I had severe stomach pains and nausea for a period of time, went through a lot of testing and other medications all of which did not help and was at times limited to eating saltines. I also experienced anxiety attacks and depression. The depression would be on and off for periods of time. I attempted suicide several times. Only within the past 3 years, 3 years in which I was not taking my Singulair regularly (limited the Singulair to a few days at a time when I had asthma attacks or respiratory colds), was I no longer suicidal. I am not blaming these symptoms on Singulair but it is no surprise to me if it was the cause, as it was the only medication I took daily in that time period.

I am 24 years old and I took Singular for 4 days. The doc told me that it would help my headaches. OH my god, It was the scariest time of my life. I the first day I could not concentrate, next came the short term memory loss. I felt like the lights were on, but no one was home! I thought I was going nuts. I would not advise taking this drug at all. I went to the doctor and he told me I had all the side affects of the drug. Other side effects I had were nausea and stomach issues. The anxiety that you get from this drug is horrible and you feel powerless. I stopped taking it after 4 days and it took me 2 months to feel better and now I feel 100% myself, but I worry about the children that have been on the drug for years. I don't know if a person can recover after that brain has been damaged that bady. For all the parents out there, if you see a difference in your childs' personality STOP taking the drug.

Severe upper respiratory infection, nausea, imbalance, severely restricted diet (i.e. food that I can keep down), severe pain, many hives, lack of energy, unable to sleep for more than 2 hours at a time.

This medication f----- me up! It made me hate my job so much that I had panic attacks before going to work. I've had extreme mood swings and severe paranoia. I am a nurse and I have never been worried about catching anything but all of a sudden I thought I had all sorts of diseases. Also, I was exhausted all the time!! It got so bad that I felt like I couldn't get out of bed. I had no motivation and I couldn't concentrate on anything. Then I started getting a rash that would come and go which only fed into my paranoia. I've never had any of these problems and I couldn't figure out what could be wrong with me until I saw this website. I have been off of singulair for several days and I have already noticed a difference in my mood.

symptoms ---- paranoia, nausea/stomach pains, depression, rash, anxiety