Afternoon nap symptoms and conditions

I want to post this because this site has given me good perspective on this Rx and side effects experienced by others; its good to know I am not alone. As far as an agenda, I have none, in fact I was all for the Singulair initially, because it seemed to be a good alternative to inhaled steriods which I had read could interfere with normal growth. My son, 4 yrs. old, with a diagnosis of Asthma, started Singulair about 2 weeks ago. Asthma seems to have been improved by Singulair. Within a couple days of starting it, though, he reported vivid (but not nightmare-ish) dreams, a week later he dropped his afternoon nap, which we were expecting to happen eventually, so didn't think much of it. He is a wild child generally, but we also noticed an uptick in bad and aggressive behavior within a day or two of starting the Singulair; we really clamped down on him though, so that effect has been somewhat muted. He has always occasionally complained of indigestion stomach aches, but these complaints have increased to several times a day in the last week, also complain of lower abdominal pain which he says is "different" than his earlier indigestion stomach aches. Last week or so he's been up late at night, had trouble going to sleep, looks a little pale with dark circles under his eyes ("he's becoming a Goth" I joked with my wife). Last night he got out of bed late, appeared disoriented and seemed to be half awake, half asleep. He was talking, but not making sense and seemed to be upset and/or confused, but when pressed he assurred me nothing was wrong and nothing hurt--put him back to bed and this morning he remembers getting up, but also keeps telling me he had a "weird" (not scarry) dream and that he keeps seeing it while he's awake. Luckily this weird dream was not scarry for him, but he was clearly a little freaked out by seeing it again this morning. He seemed o.k. heading off to preschool, but we are taking him off the Singulair as a precaution. My advice to anyone else out there seeing similar symptoms in their kids is to go with your gut -- I always tell people that a Doctor's job is to tell you the odds, like only 1 in 500 or 1 in 1000 kids will have a certain reaction, or condition, or illness, it is the parents' job to be sure that their kid is not that 1. So I'm taking my kid off the Singulair because I think he may be that 1 kid who experiences these unusual side-effects. How wide spread they are, I have no idea. I will get on my soapbox and say I think it's time for the FDA to require drug companies to conduct long and short term clinical studies on kids for any drug that will be prescribed to kids--entrusting our childrens' health and well being to a drug company's own short term study conducted on fully developed adults is foolish and insane.

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 3 year old and my 19 month old are on Omnicef for strep throat. Both have been cranky since starting the antibiotic. My 3 year old son is who is usually very happy and easy going is a monster. Throwing things, slamming doors, disagreeing with everything. My 19 month old daughter has been having a lot of trouble sleeping and has also been very cranky. They took their last dose this morning and right before lunch my 19 month old broke out in a rash, starting on her legs (looks like tiny pimples). When she woke up from her afternoon nap, she seemed to be constipated. She was straining and contoring her body like she had cramps. She was crying and straining so much I though she was going to vomit. We put her in the tub to see if a warm bath would help with the cramps. She rolled around in the tub in pain (crying the whole time). When we took her out, she didn't want to be touch. She didn't want anything to touch her skin (not even a towel). While we were on the phone with the nurse line trying to decide if we should take her to the emergency room, she stopped crying and decided she wanted a fruit cup. This is some bad stuff. Avoid it.