Singulair and night terrors

We have a 5 year old daughter who has been on singulair for about 2 - 3 years. She went on singulair due to coughing asthma. We were soo happy about how well the medication worked, it took about three months, but wow, she finally got over her coughing and was living a more active life. I actually was soo impressed with it, I remember mentioning it and promoting it to some of our daughters friends' parents with children in similar situations....wow do I ever feel awful. Anyway, our daughter came down with a terrible flu a few weeks ago and although she didn't seem feverish, had not one, but 2 night terrors, something that we have been worried about and comforting her with for a couple of years. These 2 threw the 2 of us over the edge this time....we thought we had to get her to a psychologist.....she was terrified, and although we were holding her and comforting her, she was still screaming for us, and there was NOTHING we could do this time....we were doubting ourselves and the environments she was exposed to......what could have happened in her life to make her have such awful dreams??? It was about a 1/2 hour later when my husband asked about the possible side effects of the singulair.....I ran and grabbed the pamphlet, of course this is the first time that I actually sat down and read it, which I should have done some time ago....anyway it was then that I discovered how many issues weren't normal that everyone just kept ensuring us was fine. We had been questioning ADHD for some time, and had actually had it on our list to discuss with her teacher as she was sooo hyper on a regular basis...at the age of 5 she still couldn't sit through a movie at a movie theater, as much as she loved going, she couldn't sit through it....anyway, the only thing that made it difficult to think she could have ADHD was she was such a great learner. She was very eager to learn and loved learning and teaching things. But when giving her instructions or asking her to listen, she'd be so jumpy. She complained of severe leg pains which we chalked up to growing pains...poor thing! Her temper tantrums were out of this world.....she is a child that is soo full of love, but when she was in tantrum mode, she was soo destructive and she would feel soooooo awful for her actions, it was like she couldn't control herself. We just feel awful that we couldn't help her and we didn't realize that what she was experiencing was not so much disobedience, but an imbalance due to the medication. We have since taken her off the singulair, we took her off of it immediately following reading the pamphlet. We found that she was VERY emotional for about 3 days, then she pretty well recovered. She has since become a normally active 5 year old, she is soo good, and has not experienced any night terrors, complained of leg pains, and absolutely no tantrums. Oooh how we love her so much.

It seems that this subject has been extensively documented, but just wanted to confirm that I believe this drug is very dangerous. We JUST put our 5-1/2 year old daughter on it one week ago. She has NEVER had any issues sleeping, is most often in a great mood, and has been protected beyond belief by my wife from negative imagery, TV, etc. The last week was unbelievable. Night terrors every night, with the most vivid and negative imagery when asked to describe the content of her dreams. Things that I would have thought she must have gotten from watching a Stephen King movie. Given the lack of fitful sleep could have been a contribute, but her mood all week was very downtrodden. Hard to say a 5 year old can be depressed, but I would have to say she was, very sullen, moody, despondent to affection.

I can positively say this was a blind test. We didn't really read the label on the medicine until yesterday, so we were not looking into things that weren't there, nor were we focusing in on the sleep issues. We took her off yesterday, and hopefully I will be able to report that the night terrors that I am 95% positive must have come from this drug will abate.

I hear because the chewable format is new, this drug is really being pushed. I hope this drug is pulled instead of being promoted. Buyer beware, especially administering to kids. I can't imagine if our daughter had been a little younger and not able to express herself to the level she can at 5.

for the people that have taken their children off singulair...
what are you using for a preventative med?
my daughter has really bad asthma and I don't know of any alternatives

My son has been on singulair for the past 6 to 8 months and my husband and i have had a very difficult time with him and his behavior. We have noticed him being very angry, mad, sad, screaming out for no reason, very defiant and not listening. He has been making threats to me for a while now, saying he wants to kill me, but only to me, his mother. He has become physically violent to himself and household items and me at times. He has night terrors and screams out at least 6 nights out of the week. He has bad headaches and often doesn't feel good. His stomach bothers him a lot. He makes constant threats to me and seems to not be able o handle the simplest task. I will not be giving my son this medication ever again after reading on this site. My son has suffered long enough as have we, his family. I want my loving sweet baby boy back! It makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with our society that they would continue to prescribe this medication knowing the horrible affects that our children endure. Shame on you! You deserve more than a slap on the hand! You should have your licensed stripped and e put out of business!

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!"

What a night,6 months off singulair life was so good,until last night,a complete set back,insomnia night terrors, panic and anxiety all over again,could it be this drug causes flash backs,i am so frustrated and once again seething in anger at the suffering my son has endured ,and to think it may not be completely over devastes me.Any one else had reacurrances

I do not even have words to describe how I feel after reading the study on the ALA website. What is going on? Please, where do we go from here to inform and REFORM? Did anyone read the numerous accounts on this website alone? If so, did it read like a daytime soap opera, or just some people out there with nothing better to do than make up stories about their children?

Since posting months ago about my 4 year old I have done everything I can think of to get changes started, all to no avail. I know my daughter is living proof of Singulair mind altering side effects - she is now completely without the horrible night terrors, she smiles, hugs and is overall a perfectly "normal" 4 year old.

Help......we need to bring the troops together to form one unit to bring about change. Anyone is welcome to contact me to join up to provide any help or information.

I can not believe what I'm reading. My 5 year old was also given Singulair to treat asthma/allergies. He began having night terrors that increased in intensity over the past year. I stopped the Singulair on July 1 and the night terrors have reduced greatly. I am concerned about his asthma though. He has a consistent cough at night and I feel like he needs some type of treatment. Any suggestions?

Has anyone's kids had trouble sleeping since taking Singular. My son has been on it for a couple weeks and seems not to be able to go to sleep very easy. Also it seems to wear off kind of fast, by bedtime he's stuffy and itchy.

Update....since I posted in April, my son has not had any night terrors!! I am not kidding, I never imagined it was Singulair causing them...he sleeps through the night and seldom wakes up! He has been off Singulair for a little over 2 months and is back to the loving little boy we once new years ago! Please pass this on to anyone you know who has children taking Singulair...give these little kids their lives back!

~Melissa

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.

WOW Where to start. My 15 month old Daughter was put on it for "SUPPOSED" allergies which she don't have... But that's a totally different story. Anyways she was put on the granules. After taking if for about 5days I noticed VERY Significant side effects IMMEDIATELY. She would NOT eat for anything in the world which is odd because my 25lbs 15 months old (Mind you she was only 5lbs 4ox @ birth) was a Pigglet lol She also became VERY Winey & Clingy...She also began to have "Night Terrors' and when I say Night terrors I mean the full blown ones last about 20 minutes or so and the first one scared me to death I thought my little baby girl had went blind. The terrors started about Night 2. We took her off the Singulair before I found any of these Side Effect write ups and of course AGAINST Doctor's advise however I put her back on her Claritin. Her nose is drying up and Congestion is gone after rushing her to the ER with 104.2 fever and got her on Anti-Biotics & Albuterol. (Still another story lol) We noticed the next day a HUGE Difference is her personality and she was sooo HAPPY again. The first full day off the drug she slept through the night in her own bed WITHOUT a terror or even a bad dream. IT'S A MIRACLE I proclaimed that I had enough common sense after only 4days to get that mess out of my Daughter's Body. Needless to say she is a piglet again here only about 5 days after taking her off the med. and happy as a 15 month old should be lol

In reply to concerned-dad and all others with chronic congestion, etc. I have heard several people that have tried the "Eat Right For Your Blood Type" (in bookstores) with incredible results. Even if they have not followed the most strict food do's/don't for their blood type, and made minimal changes they noticed a dramatic difference with congestion and asthma symptoms in children and adults.

I am not endorsing the book - but I will however give it a good hard try if my daughter's symptoms return that she had prior to being put on Singulair. And yes, you are so right to be concerned with the timing of Singulair and any new behavior issues - I still stand my ground when I say it is NOT normal for a toddler growing up in a loving home to have such horrible night terrors, screaming in fear.

My 4 year old took her last dose 3 weeks ago after a 2 year run on Singulair not an hour has gone by without her dad, sister and I still feeling waves of shock. She has completely changed from an unhappy, moody, unemotional girl into a loving, well-mannered, well-disciplined, even tempered 4 year old. Unfortunately, since the side effects have been so secretly held, all parents have been chalking all the behavioral issues to "toddler" years.

As I wrote to the FDA rep, this would be a classics Deceptive Trade issue for any other company in our country. Quite simply, when Singulair first rolled out it was sold with "ABC" treatments and "XYZ" side effects by the pharm reps. In February the FDA website notes they have given Merck 9 months to investigate (THEMSELVES) the many consistent complaints of side effects received for Singulair. And since the FDA did not give them a time limit to communicate the ongoing investigation and recently added side effects, my pediatrician and pharmacist as of May are still unaware. Same old commercials airing with the original "mild" side effects as sore throat, etc., same pharm reps visiting my doctor without informing of recent changes to the originally selling points.

Had my pediatrician been aware, I would have not received the answer I did when asking her what a toddler could have so horrible in their life to scream and cry through nightmares - "Some children react in their dreams if perhaps they saw a spider earlier in the day that scared them". I figured it would have to be a spider the size of my car to get that kind of nightmare, but in her defense had she been aware of the updated information with Singulair she would have zeroed in on the "bad/vivid dreams" Merck has now added to their website.

Hope this helps someone and if anyone has given the "Blood Type" eating regimen a try would love to hear comments.

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

Our son was put on Singular almost 2 years ago to help with his "moderate" asthma. It has been the hardest 2 years for our family. My son who was already very senstive became very depressed. He showed no interest in anything. He was always sad and very down on himself. He had awful night terrors/nightmares. He didn't want to go to school or do anything. We continued to sign him up for sports/piano/scouts and it was a battle to get him to go. He always had headaches, which I thought were because of dehydration and made him drink water. We had him seeing a therapist trying to help him with the sleeping problems and the depression. We switched his room with his sister to physically make him closer to us at night. He was anxious and very irritable. If something went wrong, he couldn't handle it and had complete meltdowns. If he didn't eat anything for a while and his blood sugar got low, he was uncontrollable. To add to the problem was he was never hungry so I would have to force him to eat something about every 2-3 hours to prevent the meltdown.

The good news is that he has been off of Singular for over a month now and he is a new kid. He is excited to go to practice and will ask his dad to play catch with him in the yard. He is happier and we have not heard once "this is the worst day ever" which we had heard all the time before. He has not had one headache and seems to have a little bit of his appetite back. He is happy and holding his head high. Now, he still doesn't want to go to school (what 8 year old boy does), but he doesn't fight me when I tell him it is time to go. He does not have the meltdowns or the irritability. He even showed some empathy to my husband last week.

My husband and I are amazed at how different he is. We are also very upset that for almost 2 years we made his life miserable by forcing him to take this drug. I think for kids that are already sensitive to things it heightens everything! I am filing a complaint with the FDA and spreading the news to all my family and friends. I hope this information helps! I know I have learned a lot from reading these posts.

I discovered this site last Wednesday morning - without taking the time to list all of the grief I felt reading through the pediatric postings, I will briefly note my 4 year old daughter has been on Singulair for 2 years now. What I now realize is all the behavior issues, night screaming, etc. are so easily dismissed as stages of a toddler. She has suffered (as well as our family) every symptom and behavior listed by parents on this site with the exception of leg cramps.

Our entire family can see the dramatic results since taking her last pill last Tuesday night. The melt downs and tantrums are all but over, she even commented "hey, I listened right away" on the second day without Singulair. She is still having night terrors - I call them that because they are in no way a dream or nightmare, but rather agonizing moments that break our hearts to hear. I hope those will soon go away as well so her sleep pattern results in a restful night.

Am I angry that we have all suffered for 2 years only to find we have been basically poisoning her? Am I angry that for the 2 years her dad and I have sunk pretty low, feeling inadequate as a parent to teach and discipline our child? Am I angry that after 20 years of marriage, raising a great 16 year old in the midst of all this, we were to the point of the ADD, bipolar, etc. theory that would have been misdiagnosed? Heck no, we are all so thankful to have come across this site and are so giddy and excited to be happy again.

What I am angry about is this - when I called our pediatrician last Wednesday and relayed what I had seen on the Merck website for side effects added in recent months she had not heard this information and asked where I saw it. At that point I had not seen this site. I asked her how is it the well dressed pharmaceutical reps come in with doughnuts, exotic trips, etc. to market a drug with "ABC" treatments and "XYZ" side effects, continue to market the drug and never update the doctors when original selling points are altered - ie; new side effects.

The FDA website is troubling for two reasons: Merck is in charge of their own investigation regarding recent complaints and the FDA expects this to take 9 months. Gee, who gets to investigate themself? Secondly, in February the site notes the FDA and Merck are trying to find the best way to communicate the concerns being investigated to prescribes and patients. HELLO - we live in a world of real time, instant communication methods, two examples being the United States Postal Service and an internet connection.

Today is April 30 - a full two months after "trying to decide how to pass this information on" and my doctor, nor my pharmacist have received any information. Apparantly since we missed the story and coverage on Dateline we are out of luck.

I plan to start from ground zero to get our voices heard to change the way, or the law if you will, to implement an immediate communication link between the FDA and prescribes when an investigation such as this has been initiated. I realize Singulair has most likely benefited more humans than it has destroyed while on the drug and the FDA would have to clearly not communicate "panic". However, when a drug is used for pediatric treatments we need information quickly to assess on behalf of our children. In my case, since my daughter had been on the drug since 2 years old, I do not know what her "normal behavior" should be as that is the age they start to develop and show personality. Additionally, when enclosed prescribing information is updated with a prescription -MARK IT IN RED, "UPDATED INFORMATION". I read every ounce of information that accompanies a new prescription for any family member. I would NOT, however read the information every 30 days for an ongoing, long term prescription over the course of 2 years.

I am looking for anyone that may have started contact with a congressional representative or otherwise to change the communication to our doctors. Please note - I am in no way interested in any legal action regarding Singulair and our nightmare. We are moving forward and do not wish to live the nightmare one moment more. I simply want to see our doctors and pharmacists have vital information as it happens.

Thank you to all for sharing your experiences - I truly believe it is changing lives and making a difference. I am personally telling everyone I know about what is happening with our child and all of yours. Andy by the way, by telling one of my long time friends our amazing discovery, she realized she had been suffering from depression for some time and chalked it up to various things going on in her life. She had her last Singulair last week and feels tremendous! So keep the word going!

Neurological problems and the effects of Singulair should be investigated. The Chinese researchers demonstrated that the CysLT1 receptor (singulair inhibits this receptor) does exist in the human brain. In the rat brain, they demonstrated that there is a link between this receptor and the astrocyte.

There are many researchers/doctors interested in excitotoxicity and damage to neurons.

http://www.jpands.org/vol9no2/blaylock.pdf

I would like to know how Singulair affects the astrocyte numbers and function. I would also like to know if there is a link between metabolism and the cysLT1 receptors in gastro-intestinal mucosa. Does Singulair affect the metabolic process?

So many parents are complaining of ADD/ADHD symptoms? The paper that I gave you the link correlates the immune response and excitotoxicity. That is very interesting. How many asthma and allergy patients also suffer from potential excitotoxicity? Does Singulair cause it in some patients or just make it worse in some patients? None the less--there is a possible link.

I wrote an earlier post but I am now reading alot of your posts where you say your child experienced FEAR on Singulair. That is so interesting. When my son was on it for around 3 years he would never sleep alone in his own bed and he would have episodes every night that would last up to 3 hours at bed time because I would try to get him to sleep in his own bed, even at 8 years old. I thought he was possessed!!!! He would scream and fight me and I would literally have to hold him down to get him to stay in bed. It was horrible. I'm not sure how a hullicination would be described but maybe that was part of it. All I know is that he turned into a totally different child. It was something out of a horror movie. I eventually gave up and let him sleep in our bed cause it was exhausting. He would just make blood curdling screams and the terror in his eyes was horrific. Then the next morning he would be fine like nothing had ever happened.
Now that he is off of Singulair he will sleep in his own bed with the light off all night. It was an amazing turn around. He also told me he's not scarred anymore.. Who knew????? Has anyone else experienced anything like that with their child????

Thanks to all of you for sharing your stories! My son is 9 and has been taking Singulair for almost 7 years. These symptoms that have been posted are so true in my son. He was diagnosed with ADHD at 5, has had a temper/attitude problem and has been sleep walking and having night terrors severely recently. I can't believe some of the things that I have read here. My daughter is 5 and she has been on Singulair for almost 2 years. I have never heard of these side effects until the other day at pre-school a teacher told me that she heard a story about how Singulair can cause suicidal thoughts. This really got me concerned. I have told my husband not to allow either child to take it again, so we could see if this is the main cause with all my sons’ issues recently. Again, thank you all for sharing and I hope the children involved have no long-term effects from this medicine! Melissa in Ohio

As I stated in an earlier post, my 3 year daughter takes Singulair and my 7 year old son took it until December 2007. I've been concerned about my daughter but after reading some of these posts I now wonder if this drug was impacting my son negatively. For the past year and a half/two years, he was waking up several times a week due to horrible nightmares or night terrors. He would cry out and when I would get to him his hair would be ringing wet. Although he would talk to me, he never made any sense but he was scared to death. He would never remember the episode the next morning. It's been months since he had an episode and I mentioned to a friend a few weeks ago that he seemed to have finally gotten through that phase. After reading these posts, it makes more sense. He stopped taking Singulair in December!

My daughter will be 7 this month. She has taken Singulair 5 mg. chewables for a few months. A couple of hours after she goes to sleep at night she wakes up screaming and crying, she calls "mommy, mommy" over and over and I tell her I am right beside her, but she seems to still be asleep. She will look into another room and point and say something I can't understand. Her breathing is fast, as is her heart rate. She is sweating. She won't stop crying. It takes about 30 minutes to get her calmed down, (it pretty much has to just run it's course) then she will go back to sleep. Sometimes she is fine and sleeps through the rest of the night, other times she will do this again during the night. It is very hard on the family. We feel helpless when she does this. She doesn't do it every night, but it happens at least once a week sometimes more. I done some recearch online and found something called "Night Terrors" the symptoms are the same as what my daughter has. It is identical. I don't know if the Singulair is causing these episodes but I have quit giving it to her and she hasn't had them in awhile. I have a friend who was taking Singular and he was having visions or hallucinations of peoples heads bursting open. He quit taking Singulair and hasn't had them anymore. Use your own judgement, but if my daughter continues to sleep well, she will never take Singulair again. The side effects far out way the goods in my case.

I have been following this forum ever since the news broke and I feel compelled to post my 4 yr old's experience with Singulair. He has been on it since before he was 2 yrs. I called my child's asthma dr on 3/28/08 with my concerns and his staff had already had a meeting about the news and he advised me to go ahead and take him off of it.
We always wrote off his overly-sensitive behavior to normal toddler tantrums, but when the behavior continued past toddler age, we began to wonder. He also would sob, talking about death a lot and how "God was going to miss him" People said, "Oh, he's just trying to get your attention!" But I knew that 4 year olds should not have such things weighing on their minds. He also frequently complained about leg pain, which I brushed off as growing pains.
We have noticed a TREMENDOUS and immediate difference in our son since stopping this medication. It brought me to tears, realizing the drastic change and wondering how I could not have put two and two together before. Some examples of the changes: He no longer "freaks out" over small problems (he dropped something the other morning and I braced myself for the usual screaming, but instead he calmly picked it up) He is able to sit down and concentrate on an activity (like coloring) He can express his emotions w/o screaming. No more night terrors. The list of changes I've noticed actually goes on and on, but the point is, it is very clear that his mind was in an altered state on that medication and that is entirely unacceptable to me.
As a side note, I told my child's peditrician that his asthma dr had taken him off Singulair and she acted very surprised saying "Oh, it's been on the market so long, and these couple reports in the media probably don't mean anything." My question is, how long has it been on the market for children and how many drs have been lead to believe that these side effects couldn't possibly happen and therefore ignored their patients concerns? I'm convinced that had I brought my concerns about my child's behavior to his dr before, she would have probably prescribed an anti-depressant or ADD medication and never once considered the Singulair to be the problem.
My heart goes out to other families that have been affected and pray that the medical community will respond according in warning people about the potential effects of this medication.

I have a 10 year old daughter who has been on Singulair for 3 years for allergies. The medication worked great and has not had ANY problems with allergies at all. I don't know exactly when her behavior started to change. It was so gradual. She became irritable and easily upset but I thought it had to do with hormones. In January 08 she began complaining of stomach problems and the doctor thought maybe reflux. We tried medicine for that but it did not help for long. Then in March 08 it really it hard. She began to have leg cramps often, which I thought were growing pains and the mood swings were terrible. She began to have tantrums that were so bad they were like night terrors but she was awake. She would talk of dying and hurting something or breaking something. She would lye on the floor and pound away uncontrollably. She would cry help me help me why am I feeling like this. She states she doesn't know why she does this and does not feel normal. I was researching allergies this past weekend and came across the Singulair problems. I had no idea about them. I immediately stopped the medicine and today is the 3rd day without it. I have seen improvement already. I was really encouraged because of her unusually great mood. However, she had a crying episode
tonight. I know it takes time to get out of the system. I am hoping within a few more days she will be free of this terrible medicine. Patients should definitely be warned of possible side effects. Not everyone may react in this terrible way but from reading so many forums there are a tremendous amount of people who do, children and adults.

I just wanted to post an update on my son. I posted his story on Sunday since hearing about this investigation. He took his last Singulair on Saturday night and every day I see my happy boy coming back! He tells me that he has had a great day at school for the past two days, and that he has decided he isn't as "stupid" as he used to be! He also comes to me for hugs and kisses now and for the last two nights at bedtime he has said he just loves me so much that he feels like he can't stand it and he likes to fall asleep hugging my arm! This has not happened before. He was a loving toddler before he was put on this medication for asthma at three years old. Not long after that he became very hard to please, very sad, at times violent, even throwing metal tonka trucks at his big brother and laughing when he cut him! He has had leg pain, constant stomach pain , night terrors and was convinced that every where we went people just would not stop staring at him...I could go on and on. We went out to eat last night and he did not even notice anyone "looking at him" and was even making cute funny faces at a little toddler at the next table to make him laugh. I am so glad to find this website to see that I am not alone in all this. As for the people who are saying that we are making these claims up, I am not pursuing any action toward anyone on this, I am so happy that my son is returning to normal and no amount of money could replace this feeling! If any other parents would like to email me for support and a shoulder to lean on, feel free to email me. Laura jtolto@aol.com

I have a 15 yr old son, that has been on Singulair for 4 years. He used to complain to me about not being able to sleep through the night, he couldn't concentrate at school. He was an honor roll student. Then he became short tempered. He also isolated himself, and no motivation. He would not want to do anything. He was depressed. Does not want to shower or anything. He has absolutely no self worth. He would talk about having these problems and I would just say to him that maybe it was just the changes going on. New school, changes to his body, it's just those times where changes and expectations are harder. Some handle it better than others. Than everything just continued to go down hill. My son is very intelligent, so when mom did not listen, he decided to self medicate. Went online to try find out what was going on. Tried to find what would help him. He learned quite alot about pharmacology(spelling???) at any rate he then started experimenting with other drugs. Prescriptions drugs. He just wanted desperately to be happy. I found out about this. He was getting into trouble at school, grades fell. So we then sought counceling and then a psychiatrist. They put him on all kinds of meds. Prozac, Ridilin anti pshychotic drugs. You name it my son has probably done it. Now my son is an addict. I now hear all these things about Singulair don't know what to think.??????? I have had him a drug treatment program of which he was kicked out for overdosing. Then, the hospital of which just put him on more drugs. I don't know what to do. He has asthma, when he does not take his Singulair the asthma really kicks in. I know this we are going to look for something else to treat his asthma. I need input. My thoughts are simple. I believe that it is possible that the problems my have started with Singulair but then my son took a step further. I think to try to survive. But in the mean time he is now an addict and I'm scared of whatever permanent damage that may have occured over the years. Are there any other parents out there, that think their teenager might be going through the same problems? If so PLEASE reply to this message.

I kind of think CNN and the FDA are intellegent enough to figure out that they should NOT get information off this website. What makes everyone think all these posts are real? First you have to weed out the pranksters who post here for fun, then you have to weed out the competitors to Merck who post here to bust chops, and then you have to weed out the ones who really have a psychiatric condition and get their jollies by posting made up stories.....shall I go on? This is the INTERNET people!!! Anyone with one, two or ten verifyable emails can sign up (I have 11 email addresses myself). I have been intrigued to see the same people posting under multiple user names. Then you go to the other boards and see them there. If you really study these messages you can figure them out. So my point is, NOT ALL THESES STORIES ARE REAL. I think I would be generous in saying 25% of these posts are legit. I would hope that no government agency or news agency is going to risk their reputation on a public forum message board.

I have read what everyone has said about the side of effects of Singulair. I really thought it was safe as for I researched the side effects and the clinical pharmacology. I also really trust our pulmonologist. My daughter started taking singulair at the age of 3 due to asthma induced pneumonia. She will soon be 4. She also has had terrible nightmares, which I dismissed as night terrors. She also complains at times it hurts to walk and her legs are tired. I thought she was over reacting and just wanted me to carry her....maybe not! I have decided to take her off the medicine today. I don't want to take the chance of her having any type of emotional side effects. It is not worth it for "mild" asthma which hasn't been confirmed, just assumed due to her age.

Oh my god!!!! My poor daughter. My daughter Karilynn has been taking this drug for about 8 months now. She is 2 1/2 years old now. All of the sudden she had a drastic change in behavior, sleep and eating patterns. She began with sleep problems. She would wake up in the middle of the night screaming that the green monsters were after her. I chocked it up to night terrors that weren't explained. Then she started waking up screaming that her "bottom" hurt but would point to her stomach. She quit eating, cried all the time, started acting out randomly. My little girl who had never had discipline problems started randomly hitting and biting me. It wasn't even when I would discipline her for something. She would literally come up and bite me out of no where. She throws huge tantrums now. The daycare lady even asked me if something was going on at home because she was doing strange things there also. Not knowing what was wrong (but trusting my mother instinct that there was SOMETHING wrong) I started to think that maybe she was being abused. The night mares, the random pain.... I even had a breif moment where I thought my grandmother was hurting her. I want to throw up thinking about that now. I took her to the pediatrician, who ran every test imaginable to "rule out any physical reason" that could be causing all of these symptoms at once. Test after test came back negative. I actually have the number to the psychologist that does "play therapy" sitting in front of me because we were seriously terrified that someone was hurting her. Little did I know it was us!!!! I called tha asthma dr. yesterday after seeing the news story and he told me that my concerns weren't really valid and that it sounded like she was being a "typical" two year old. That really made me angry. After reading all of these accounts there is very little doubt in my mind that it is the medicine. It all makes sense now. Halleluah if it is such a simple fix!!! I was worried my daughter was being ABUSED!!!! What an unimaginable feeling for any parent!! I quit the singulair last night against the asthma doctors "urging" and gave the daycare lady a heads up. Its sad to say but I pray this is all that is wrong with my little girl!!! If someone files a class action suit please let me know. Also if there is anything more I can do to make sure someone else doesn't go through this let me know!!!!!

my son is 9 and has been on SINGULAIR since he was about 5 for bad asthma and allergies. he has had trouble in school since he started, we thought it was ADD. he started having constant stomach aches and headaches. we started seeing a counselor because he would say things like "I hate my life" and "I don't want to live anymore" thats when he was 6. he had many other issues like hallucinations, night terrors, bed wetting, anger problems, depression, trouble focusing at school, mood swings, emotional ups and downs, just to name a few. we have been to pediatricians and psychiatrists and no one mentioned ever that it could possibly be the singular. we have added other medications like most parents, for ADD which made him worse. about 1 year ago he was diagnosed with bi-polar and was prescribed Abilify, an anti-psychotic. he has since gotten somewhat better but I never connected the Singulair side effects to his symptoms. (note: bi-polar symptoms in children are strikingly similar to bad side effects of Singulair) maybe he doesn't even have bi-polar! maybe he was more subject to having these side effects because of underlying problems. I have stopped giving him the the Singulair a few days ago but i don't see a significant change, yet. Its a very sad thing that parents like myself have so much trust in our doctors that we give our children these medications before we know anything about them. I myself will never make that mistake again and my prayers go out to all those who have made the same mistakes.

We lost our home to a house fire this past August so when my 8 year old daughter experienced severe depression, night terrors, and was constantly acting out we naturally blamed it on the house fire. The odd thing was that she had the "normal" depression immediately after the fire and started to become herself again. Several months past when she started this severe depression and horrible behavior. We brought her to a psychiatrist because this was just not the depression she was experiencing after the fire.The psychiatrist diagnosed her with post traumatic stress disorder and explained that with children it can take months for this to "come out". Well, with allergy season on us in the South, my daughter started her Singulair treatment the exact time of this recent behavior. Needless to say, we are taking her off the Singulair, I will post again to let you know if she makes a turnaround.
---by rlhulsen

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.

As a pediatrician I write for singulair every day.
The medication is for allergies.
Allergies cause adenoidal swelling, which cause sleep disturbances which makes the child tired the next day with makes him over weight, less attentive, hyper and eventually act out.
This in turn makes the child experience parental, peers and teachers criticism/ abuse, with leads to the child feel inadequate, embarrassed, frustrated and eventually depressed and suicidal.

Yes, singulair does cause behavioral change but they appear within the first couple of peels, the rest is due to allergies, lack of medical care, i.e. sleep, singulair, and zyrtec deficiency.
Allergy shots cause 4 times the incidence of suicidally than singulair, and Ritalin 10 times more.
They say in hebrew "once a stone is thrown into a well, thousands of smart people won't find it".
Check it, it's true.

I feel sick to my stomach over this. I didn't see the report on the news, but my husband told me a little about it. I didn't look till today and when I read all these postings I can't believe it. My 7 year old daughter has been on Singulair for several years. The past couple of months she has been having some anxiety issues. She started talking about death. Fear of others dying, and today she told me she didn't want to die. She is afraid to go into any room herself, unless someone goes with her (which was never an issue before), and she is super sensitive. Everything gets her upset. I can't believe this all could have been caused by a drug I thought was helping her prevent her asthma. Last night was her last singulair. I hope she gets back to her old self soon.

My almost four year old son has been on singulair for a little over two years now and I am SICK to my stomach after reading all of these entries.
Our son was such an amazing baby, he was very even tempered and behaved beautifully. After some chronic sinusitis and environmental related allergies he was placed on Singulair 15mg granule packets once/day. It was a gradual change in his behavior but very noticeable.

Our wonderful child became very irritable, hipper, restless, moody, and overly sensitive, Our son went from sleeping trough the night to waking several times a night. We are lucky if we have a couple good nights a month. He has also been tougher to get to sleep at night he goes from 8am to midnight on most days (no naps) and will stumble and fall - and he will still protest sleep. On other days he is so hard to keep awake sometimes crashing after school, missing dinner, and going thought the night.

He too like others has been complaining of leg cramps, but I just thought it was a tingly foot....after he would continue to walk around for hours limping, I just thought he was joking. But, the funny leg cramp would always make a reappearance.....and now this could be why????

He is very physical with us and his brother....always hitting and kicking intentionally. His behavior was only exacerbated by the recent birth of our 6 month old. My husband and I have been brought to tears and worn out by his extreme behavior. One moment he is happy - then aggressive or moody and brought to tears....he is like an emotional roller coaster.

He always has a blast at pre-school but completely loses control and freaks out when it is time to go, he says he hates school and is miserable there, he cries so much he throws up. He also goes through hunger strikes, when he is so emotional he choses not to eat. It did not used to be like this!

Coincidental or medical poisoning????

After reading all of these entries, there is no doubt in my mind that Singulair is the culprit.

This drug should be recalled and the pharmaceutical company should be held liable and accountable for this. Our lives have been disturbed and our children's health compromised, what for....a PROFIT?

The FDA needs to do more extensive testing on pharmaceutical drugs and implement more stringent guidelines. and the prescribing doctors shouldn't push these drugs so emphatically.

As of last night we stopped the medication and are relying solely on the Zyrtec OTC. I pray for a change.....we miss the little boy we used to know :-(

READ THIS:
I'm posting this again for the sanity of the concerned parents on this board to let you know you're not alone:

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 affects and found some message boards where parents just like myself were telling their stories of their children''s aggressive behavior. I immediately took my son off the drug and within a couple days 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.

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 affects and found some message boards where parents just like myself were telling their stories of their children''s aggressive behavior. I immediately took my son off the drug and within a couple days 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I have a 19 month old baby and she was prescribed Singulair when she was 15 months old after a bad bout of pneumonia. So she has been on it for 4 months and I haven't seen any severe side effects. To be honest, I am one of those people that follows whatever her pediatrician recommends and I trust that after 25 years as a doctor, he knows what he is doing. But all of these reports are now terrifying me. I haven't noticed any change in her behavior or moods, and she has always been a very rambunctious baby so if there has been any change (like increased aggression or anxiety) it is hard to tell in such a small child. Has anyone had any experience giving Singulair to a child this young (under 2)?

My daughter has been on Singulair, 4mg chewables for almost a year. We have had problems with her aggressive behavior, mostly hitting - her brother and now other children at school. Her teacher and I met today and both were at a loss for her continuous aggressive, impulsive behavior because by every other account she is a sweet, good natured child. We have tried everything - rewards, taking away things of importance to her all to no avail. She says she cannot help it but she is trying her best and I believe her. She is so sad after one of her impulsive episodes. For the heck of it, I thought I would look up Singulair side effects online and cannot believe all the information on side effects in children. My daughter also has been having very vivid nightmares and coming into my bed in the middle of the night. She also has leg cramps and pains in the middle of the night very frequently. I am taking her off the Singulair and pray that I see some positive change in her behavior.

My son is 8 y/o (almost 9). We love Singulair, he has been on it for years (at least 3 years). He can go about 4 days off of it and then his asthma flairs up again and we are up at night coughing. However after reading some of the posts I figure that I would throw in my two cents because some of these posts have been eye opening. We just recently went to an allergist and he was diagnoised with more severe ashtma then we expected so he was put on Allegra and Advair to go along with his Singulair and Albuterol (we dropped Claritan for the Allergra). In the last year my son has been experiancing horrible moods to the point that at 8 y/o I wonder if he knows what suicide is because the moods have brought him to a level that makes me very scared for him. We have recently decided to bring him to a therapist to talk about the moods and the behaviors he is experiancing at school and home. The negative attitude, the anger and frustration, the short temper, the night terrors, and night walking. He has also had over the last 6 months that 'stitch' in the side that another person was talking about. We took him to the ER once for it because we thought he was having an appendicitis attack. However he was not and we have had recent attacks like that. Like I said, I love Singulair, it was and sort of still is our dream drug however after reading this I wonder if it is not. My heart is crushed that a drug I thought was great for my son maybe the one thing that is hurting him. I am going to talk to his allergist about it and will try to take him off of it to see if it makes a improvement. Thank you so much for opening my eyes and maybe finding me a solution to it all.

my son was prescribed Singulair melts to put in food for allergies. on day two he has developed a cough that will not stop, a fever and was up before the sun this morning also a bad dream last night. after giving him Tylenol for the fever and Elysium for the cough it hit me that he just finished antibiotics so i checked the web for side effects. i was never told by our family doctor about ANY side effects. i am outraged and he will not be taking this toxic drug ever again. i know my experience is small compared to most of the other stories on this web page but these are our children, our pride and joy why do we want to give them toxic drugs for a runny nose or sneezing and in return we get sleepless, cranky, devil children with night terrors? i think something should be done to stop this drug from being given to any child. what kind of world do we live in? i am appalled at the doctors for letting this happen.

My 22 month old son was prescribed chewable Singulair as a tool to help "dry him up", as he was suffering from fluid in his ears and relentless ear infections. He's now instead been suffering from restlessness and trouble sleeping and what seem to be night terrors. This has been over the past few weeks, since the prescription began, with the last two nights being so bad I did some serious thinking. I researched the side effects of Singulair today and found out some very valuable info, including this site. I will be discontinuing usage as an experiment. If I find a link I will notify my pediatrician.

I don't typically write on message boards, but wanted to share my story. I wish I knew about the affects of singular before I gave it to our son.

My 3 year old son was put on Singular and 2 puffers at age 2 1/2. He had chronic coughing and croup and seemed to always have throat infections. Our Family Doctor thought it was seasonal allergies, (and because he was under the age of 6 - no allergy testing can truly be done) so she prescribed Singular. As tired parents of a little boy who didn't seem to sleep through the night any longer, we did as the doctor advised and gave him the medication every night.

Almost immediately, his behavior changed from a happy 2 1/2 year old to a child with severe tantrums (we never experienced this behavior before), terrible night terrors to the point we were having trouble with him going to bed at night and him telling us every day he had leg pain. He would cry and hold his little leg - limping. Our son could speak at a very young age, so he was able to articulate his feelings/reactions to us. We thought we were entering the terrible "2's" late, but through our experience and ours alone I am certain it was the singular. After this I decided to check online only to be overwhelmed with similar reactions to this drug. We immediately stopped giving the drug to him. We had noticed that his tonsils were getting larger and larger and they would often have infected white soars over them. Off we would go to the Doctor who told us it may or may not be strep and prescribe antibiotics, he would complete a cycle of antibiotics and within 10 days the symptoms would return. We demanded we see a throat specialist to see if the coughing/sleep apnea and terrible drooling could be caused by his huge tonsils. He progressively stopped eating his favorite foods and would wince every time we served him meat.

We finally saw a specialist and at first look at our little boys’ throat, the specialist said 2 things: 1) "Let me guess, he will only eat pasta?" - which was the case, apparently it was the only thing he was able to eat without pain; and 2) "I do not know how this little boy isn't acting out more, he has to be in so much pain". The specialist explained that every time he coughed or ate, the infected soars on his tonsils would burst causing nausea and pain. Because it hurt to swallow, saliva would pool in his throat causing his terrible coughing fits. He had his tonsils/adenoids removed 3 weeks after our visit (which isn't done as often as it used to be) and he has been PERFECT ever since. He hasn't had 1 cold, he hasn't coughed one night and he is eating/laughing/playing like the child he was before singular. DO NOT TAKE SINGULAR unless they can conduct the proper asthma/allergy testing appropriate for the child's age. They were medicating my child with the assumption that he MAY have it. The reason for his coughing and wheezing was his enormous tonsils. A procedure which was hard to go through with a 3 year old, but he is truly a different child today.

I trust this information will be helpful to parents in the same situation.

Singulair is bad!! I have posted this before in October but just noticed the posting is no longer there??? My son is 4 and had horrible side effects. He has been medically cleared by 3 different physicians and everything leads back to the Singulair. We have a happy loving home, no stress than normal everyday stuff. He does great in his catholic school setting. He literally was as almost as a picture perfect kid as you could get. He was only on Singulair. About 2 months ago things started to happen. Unexplained fevers of always 102 or higher, severe headaches, seeing colors, joint and leg pain, stomach aches, sleep walking, night terrors, bad nail biting habit, depression, extremely emotional, chronic sinus infections, poor appetite, and weight loss. He just simply looked lethargic all the time. He missed school, fun activities and simply started to loose interest in things. I too knew something was wrong. The pediatrician thought I was too a hypochondriac. Then one night he had an emotional break down. He said things no 4 year old should ever think let alone say. Like he wanted to hurt us with knifes, he didn't love anyone, he hated Jesus. All along while crying because he did not understand why he felt this way. He wanted to die he said! I was so devastated. His teacher and our family could not believe the night and day difference in him. He was so happy and such a nurturing child to others. Now he simply had no emotion. You could look right through him. So after several doctors and psychiatrist they have concurred that the Singulair has thrown his Serotonin off. So he now has this chemical imbalance that we are working through with a psychiatrist who our insurance does not cover but is the best. All the other physical symptoms have subsided, he eats like a horse now, and no more nail biting, headaches or fevers. HMM coincidence... I think not!!! I have tried very hard to get the word out. I have had so much response just via private email that my friends have forwarded and so on. This is not isolated incidences. We are just the lucky ones to have discovered this website. Imagine those kids and adults that are still suffering. I work on an ambulance and i can tell you we had a 4 year old boy have a seizure out of the blue with no recent illness or history. Guess what med he was one??? Write every health official, contact the FDA, attorney general. Seriously this is the only way things will change!!

I have six year old twins who have been on Singulair since August. Things have been so bad I have considered putting them in counseling. The physical symptoms they have is dry, red eyes, stomach aches, stuffy nose, sore throat, cough, night sweats, body aches, itchy skin, cherry red cheeks and ears, and excessive weight gain. The other symptoms they suffer from are night terrors, sleep walking and reaching for things that are not there. Also anger, depression, very, very irritable they will cry over the least little things. They are doing well in school, but are crying every day they hate school and they basically hate everything. The teacher also tells me they can't pay attention. They have become very aggressive hitting each other and there brother and sister. Screaming and crying for long periods of time. I really started to worry when one of them said he wished he were dead. That is something a six year old should not even think of. I have four kids and I just thought it was family stress and it was because I couldn't devote enough attention to them. I had begun to think that I was the worst mother on the planet. With all these crazy things going on I never dreamed that they were connected. I really don't know why I goggled Singulair side effects, but I am so glad I did. It cannot be a coincidence that so many children and adults have the same symptoms and they all take Singulair. My children have taken their last dose tonight and I pray they will start feeling better. It is such a relief to know that there is a reason for their behavior it was so out of character for them. I usually do not reply to any posts but I feel it is important to let everyone know about this. I will also let my pediatrician know.

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

My 2 year old son has been taking Singulair for about a month. He had a bad asthma attack in September and was on albuterol and prednisone. Then the dr. prescribed Pulmicort and after giving it to him for 3 days and reading the literature, I stopped giving it to him because it had terrible side effects. The dr. was not happy with me and I agreed to put him on Singulair since it wasn't a steroid.

He has always been clingy and never a good sleeper. Recently he's been sleeping terribly and having awful night terrors. He can't really talk much yet, so I can't ask him what is wrong, but he'll wake up looking terrified and shaking and pointing at the celing and nothing is there. I can barely get him calmed back down. He also has gotten worse about not being with me. He has to have his hand on me at all times when we around other people. As I said, he's always been clingy, but he's just been worse lately. Also, he's had a stuffy nose since he went on the Singulair. He can no longer breathe out of his nose at all. When he's sleeping he snores terribly and sometimes gasps, which scares me. It's like an apnea thing. He's also been sleeping until 10 - 10:30 am which he's never done.

My husband did not want him taking it from the start, but I was stupid and did what I wanted instead of listening to him. Now I realize his gut feeling was right on and it makes me almost cry. He is too little to be telling me if his head or body hurts or what he is feeling, so he may be feeling even worse than I suspect.

I am going to research diet changes and see if that is something we can do to control his asthma. We're also seeing a chiropractor and trying some things to boost his immune system so he won't get sick and have it lead to asthma attacks.

Thank you all so much for sharing your stories. I appreciate it more than you know. I hate that any of our children (or you adults) have had to go through these things, but sharing your experiences makes it worth it so that others won't have to go through the same. Thank you!

My husband has night terrors on Singulair. I've taken it for years with my asthma and have always been a vivid dreamer. I didn't really notice too much of a difference. My husband, on the other hand, jumped out of bed, ran down the hall and started yelling that someone was in our yard and trying to get to us. After he ran back down the hall, I looked outside and there was nothing. He came back to the bedroom and appeared to "wake up" and asked what was going on. Said he felt really scared and his heart was beating very rapidly. Since then, he's discontinued taking the med on a regular basis. Has taken it since, though, and experienced panic/anxiety attacks when the singulair was taken during the morning.

I've only been on singulair for 6 days and it is now 4:23am. I just couldn't sleep tonight. I've been having the strangest dreams and I commented to my wife about them. We just laughed it off. Anyway, at this time of the morning, my EARS are "Hissing" so loudly, not ringing, however I do detect a slight pulsating tonal sound in my left ear, that I just couldn't sleep anymore. I've a history of Tinnitus but something has exacerbated my tinnitus dramatically, so much so it is keeping me awake. I think I'll be needing something to help me sleep now. Perhaps I will stay off the Singulair for now just to see if life returns to some kind of normalcy. Could it be a side effect of Singulair. I don't know but I felt like driving something through my head to stop all the loud noise. Has anyone else experienced elevated levels, or a new development of "Ringing in the Ears", commonly known as Tinnitus?

My four year old son has been on singulair for 6 weeks. He has started complaining about nightmares, wetting the bed and has become irritable and easily agitated. In addition, he seems to go into these wierd episodes of not being able to control his body...like someone high on drugs. Has anyone had a similar experience?

I will be calling his dr. in the am.