Allergic asthma symptoms and conditions

I was diagnosed with adult allergic asthma one year ago at 38 years old. I started having problems breathing ONLY AT NIGHT on occasion and palpitations. Had a physical and ekg, totally normal. Went to allergist and they said I have alot of allergies and diagnosed me with the asthma. Funny thing, weeks before I biked 20 miles, hiked 12 miles, canoed 3 miles, played golf in a 3 day span and no problems. Since they told me this and started me on advair 250/50 I haven't been able to jog more than 2 miles or bike more than 8 to 10. Its very strange indeed, I have gotten more paranoid feelings when just get a little out of breath, and sometimes cant keep still in a car or sitting down. I cut back on sugar, sodium and started exercising a little every day, only 15 minutes and felt better. But came down with a cold recently and back to square one. I am trying to take the advair only ONCE a day instead of twice and almost feel withdrawal symptoms like shakiness, paranoia, irritability. I do have higher blood pressure than I should. Does anyone have any idea about this? I am really confused! Thanks... J

I was diagnosed with adult allergic asthma one year ago at 38 years old. I started having problems breathing ONLY AT NIGHT on occasion and palpitations. Had a physical and ekg, totally normal. Went to allergist and they said I have alot of allergies and diagnosed me with the asthma. Funny thing, weeks before I niked 20 miles, hiked 12 miles, canoed 3 miles, played golf in a 3 day span and no problems. Since they told me this and started me on advair I haven't been able to jog more than 2 miles or bike more than 8 to 10.

Its very strange indeed, I have gotten more paranoid feelings when just get a little out of breath, and sometimes cant keep still in a car or sitting down.

I cut back on sugar, sodium and started exercising a little every day, only 15 minutes. But came down with a cold recently and back to square one. I am trying to take the advair only ONCE a day instead of twice and almost feel withdrawal symptoms like shakiness, paranoia, irritability. Does anyone have any idea about this? I am really confused! Thanks... J

I am trying to get off Zyrtec after having taken it for the last four months. I am having a hard time doing so. I've taken Zyrtec every spring for about 10 years. Every time I go off of it I develop terrible insomnia. It takes about three months to get over the insomnia. BUT this time around, I have developed a terrible itching. The itching goes away if I take one-half of a Zyrtec pill. It comes back if I don't take another pill within 24 hours. Come to think of it, I have developed this itching before when I went off Zyrtec and used hydrocortisone cream to stop it, but I never before contributed the itching to the Zyrtec. It is definitely some type of withdrawal symptom.
Also, my husband has noticed that I get terribly moody, depressed, cry a lot, and become critical of everyone when I am on Zyrtec -- and go back to my normal self when I am off of it.
AND I have begun to notice that my appetite goes wild while on Zyrtec. When I go off Zyrtec, my appetite goes back to normal. I have gained almost 50 lbs since I was introduced to Zyrtec.
I would like to say that I will never take it again, but it is the only antihistamine that completely controls my springtime allergic asthma. I need to be able to breathe.

My son is 21 month old and he's been taking singulair for two months now, and I can notice that after he started taking it he is having nightmares. Every night he starts crying while sleeping without any reason. So I am wondering could it be possible that these happens because of singulair just in 2 months or there is something else. Doctor told us to continue giving singulair for 6 months, Shall I stop giving it or not?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When I saw that researchers acknowledged the number of potential gene variants that are involved in determining the efficacy of montelukast and then I am reading the reports of the side effects, I am wondering why montelukast was ever approved for seasonal allergies. Asthma is potentially life threatening. But why take Singulair -montelukast for annoying allergies that won't kill you.

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" However, logically one might predict that it will be the combination of the polymorphisms in these different key regulatory enzymes and receptors that may ultimately determine treatment response. There have been some attempts to tease out the possible contribution of different genes important in this pathway for treatment response to a Cys leukotriene receptor 1 antagonist.18 However, because of the number of potential gene variants that may contribute to efficacy, large studies will be needed to fully evaluate the potential contribution of pharmacogenetic variability in this pathway to treatment response to Cys leukotriene receptor 1 antagonists. Work in the cardiovascular field has demonstrated the potential importance of genetic variants in this pathway to disease risk and also to treatment response,19 suggesting the potential for important effects to be defined in asthma."

(Chest. 2006;130:1873-1878.)
© 2006 American College of Chest Physicians

Pharmacogenetics of Asthma
Ian P. Hall, DM
* From the Division of Therapeutics and Molecular Medicine, University Hospital of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Correspondence to: Ian P. Hall, DM, Division of Therapeutics and Molecular Medicine, University Hospital of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK; e-mail: Ian.Hall@nottingham.ac.uk

http://www.chestjournal.org/cgi/content/full/130/6/1873

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I have headaches at night, difficulty getting to sleep (I think Singulair raises blood pressure for a few hours after taking it), and general tiredness during the day with Singulair. I would suggest Accolate. A similar drug, and I find few problems. No trouble sleeping, no headaches. Not quite as good for allergic asthma as Singulair, but I prefer it due to fewer side effects.

Okay- A friend just emailed this site to me, my son is 4 and has been taking Singulair for about 2 years. He has seasonal allergies which seem to be year round, asthma and food allergies. He is on Singulair and Allegra daily, this in it self freaks me out. What I have noticed for at least the past year is that when he is running around or moving a lot he hold his right side and says he has a pain in it, we now call it a "stitch". it happens not from strenuous activity, our doctor just says its growing pains, that doesn't make sense. something is bothering him it happens with somewhat frequency. I am really thinking about his behavior, it seems to me he can change on a dime. from happy to very angry, outbursts and then right back to sweet, yes this could describe any 4 year old, but not any 4 year old is on Singulair. I remember saying to him where is my sweet boy? I feel like that might have been when we started the meds, i am so used to his behavior now that it seems almost normal but there was a time he acted differently. and i do remember saying that.... was it when he went on Singulair???

I started taking Singulair last Oct. 2006 for allergic asthma.
Within the month, I gained about 15 lbs., & no amount of working out reduced it. I had recently lost a friend/teacher to cancer, & had people staying in my house for all of October. I was a monster, unable to control myself (although I realize the situation was challenging). Over the past year, I often was irritable & have struggled with low immunity. I went on a month long Buddhist retreat in August, got off the stuff, & have felt GOOD. Symptoms have returned since being home, but I'm taking just regular
Loratidine & am OK. I feel there is something wrong with Singulair...that it wore down my immune system even more, & was taking a toll in some way. I will not use it again.

My 2 year old daughter recently began taking Singulair for an allergic-asthma. Since starting the medication she had almost daily spells where she gets very flushed, and sweaty and complains that she is hot. This last for about 5 minutes and she returns to normal. I am going to stop her for one week, advised by my pediatrician and see how she does.

I have been on Advair for about a month, and have noticed a new, unpleasant "me". This new me is depressed, anxious, moody and super-sensitive. I have also found that the corticosteroid has not stopped my allergic asthma, as I have had a couple of attacks in the past month. I just want to live life free of drugs!!

I have allergic asthma/copd. I use 2 inhalers: Pulmicort and Spiriva. A recent visit to Ga. with exposure to the acrid smell of the smoke from the forest fires affected my breathing terribly.
Took Singulair for 10 days. My breathing vastly improved. However, on the 11th day, I awoke with severe leg cramps, toe cramps, and the beginning of a rectal irritation. Are these things a common occurence and why are they not mentioned in the official side effects listed.
I have stopped taking the Singulair. Is anyone else having these problems?

I have been taking Lisinopril for nearly a year and have experienced nearly all the bad side effects I have read about. I have had severe cough that does not respond to cough medications, copious amounts of clear slimy mucous that chokes me frequently. I even choke frequently when I am trying to speak because of the secretions. I have had severe bronchitis 4 times in 6 months. I am tired all the time and my anxiety is much worse. I now have insomnia which I've never had before. During one of the bronchitis rounds I had to take a very strong anitbiotic because it was trying to turn to pneumonia. The antibiotic made me very nauseated so I couldn't take my other meds. After two weeks without the Lisinopril, my symptoms cleared up completely. I resumed the lisinopril when I finished the antibiotic and all of my symptoms returned.

I am 23 years old and developed allergic asthma almost 2 years back. The side effects that i personally experienced during a month long use of singulair are blue painless occasional blotches on the skin. That ignored because it was painless and the blotches disppeared after some days. Then i noticed that i started to have pain in my finger's joints...it kept on increasing,i was extremely scared by this development so i discontinued the medicine and the stiffening of joints also healed with time. Now after 5 to 6 months, i had severe asthma and the doctor put me again on this medicine, now after 15 days of usage i again got pain in my hands...and the other more disconcerting thing is that i have got an abnormally prolonged menstrual cycle...its two weeks and the bleeding is not subsiding...i think it has definitely something to do with the medicine. Can anyone tell me what if i take reduced amount of singulair i.e 5mg instead of 10mg. May be i ll discontinue the medicine because it is leading to other complex problems.

I really don't know if Advair (or leaving Advair) is causing my symptoms. I was on Advair for 2 years (on and off for allergic asthma) and the only side effect that I had was weight gain. I started to get slight rash on my face that wouldn't go away in Sept. 04 so I stopped taking the Advair sometime around the end of the month. The second week of October I was very stressed for several days and ended up getting a fungal infection of the mouth. The doc gave me antibiotics and it cleared up. I got another mouth fungal infection on November 9 and it hasn't cleared up yet. Could this possibly still be from Advair use? I am very worried and don't know where else to look.