Allergy testing symptoms and conditions

Hi I am 31, have been put on prednisone for a pinched nerve in my shoulder blade. Iv taken two pills of 10 mil. For two days. one pill a day for two days. I'm stopping now. I feel so tired weak and unable to exercise. My chest is so heavy and heart flutters. I'm a smoker so it seems worse after a cigarette. I also have a few glasses of wine a day. I'm so frightened at these feelings. My tummy is now bigger in just that short of time. I really wish I knew all this first. Can any one tell me how long before I'm normal from the short usage. Please this really sucks and very scary. Also the smoking and alcohol how does it effect this? Please

OMG!!! This is crazy! I was put on Yaz continuously to help with my heavy painful periods. About 3 days after starting it I went for some allergy testing. That night I started itching like crazy...all over my body. The next day I called the allergist to ask if this was a normal response and he told me that it wasn't from the testing and to take some Benadryl. The next day I started having these massive heart palpitations and feeling like I was going to pass out...still itching non-stop. This went on for a week until I finally called my GYN's office to see if it was possible that the pill could be causing this. They told me to stop it immediately as I could be having an allergic reaction. Within days of stopping the pill I was symptom free! Out of curiosity and desperation for relief of some of my period symptoms...I waited a cycle and started YAZ again. I have now been on it about a month. 2 weeks into it...the itching started again...but not as bad,..but now the heart palpitations are back...and worse! Yesterday my heart rate was 138 and lasted for a good 10 minutes. I have an appt, to see my primary in 2 days to just get checked and make sure that nothing else is going on. I can't believe that you all are experiencing this...I'm opting for the IUD now. Good Luck to all of you!

Another update:
It has been 16 days off the prednisone and I still have the puffy face and the hives have returned. The Dr. said they could not send me for allergy testing because the prednisone would interfere with the tests for a month or 2. Wow, I had no idea this stuff can stay in your system for such a long time and I only took it for 7 days, so my heart goes out to all of you who have been on this drug for months or years. I can't even imagine what you must be going through. I was put on this drug for hives, but some of you are on it for far more serious conditions so I have no idea if it would be wise or unwise to discontinue this drug for those of you in that situation. Talk with your doctors tell them you want off and to advise another alternative to at least try. I see that the prednisone is no cure for hives it just treats the symptoms and as soon as the prednisone was stopped the hives were still there. In my case the chance of this drug damaging my body for just a moments relief from hives was not worth it. How wonderful for those who are able to tolerate this drug but for most people it seems to have horrible effects on the body. May God help you all to make the right decisions.

My 4 year old Son has had diarrhea from about the last 4 weeks... we have started some tests for Celiac disease but today it only occurred to me today that he has been on Singulair for about that time frame... after all the worry and reading these other storied Im even more convinced that it maybe the Singulair..
Im just hoping that someone might read this sometime today or the next couple of days to tell me if when they come off the singulair how long did it take for the diarrhea to pass. My son had is last tablet 2 nights ago ( so he has only been off it so far for one night. But he still has the diarrhea.. should it have started to come out of his system already.

my 6yr old daughter was put on singulair at the age of 4 she had a reaction to nuts and had the allergy testing she was put on singulair and claritin and nasacort .(so she has been on the medication now for 14 months) about 3and 1/2 weeks ago she quit eating we had her to the dr several times they said it was all in her head that she could eat if she wanted to.she was then put in the hospital for 4 days they did the scope down the stomach found nothing i took her off all her meds because i didn't want her taking them with no food in her. she came home from the hospital and i put her back on the meds as the doctor requested and within 2 days she was crying non stop hitting me and telling me that she wanted to kill herself and everyone around her.she was putting her fists in everyines face and was very angry.she would cry and tell us that she didn't know why she was so angry.we took her back off of the meds because we were treating her for the stomach acid from not eating and within 4 days she was like a new kid.she is now eating ..happy ..and doing good in school..this is the 3rd time this yr on this med that she has quit eating we were told that it was all in her head .after reading everyones comments on here i called her doctor today and he said it could be the medication but they would have to put her back on it to check and i refused.no more singulair or clairitin for my children

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

I was prescribed both Biaxin XL and Tussionex for acute bronchitis. At fist, the side effects were quite mild...drowsiness, "medicine head", some dizziness, however, as the treatment progressed, the side effects became much more severe...heavy sweating at night, insomnia, increased anxiety, depression. I thought I was losing my mind! I have a history of mild anxiety (one anxiety attack in my life due to being sleep deprived for 48 hours), however, during the course of this treatment, it seemed that I had experienced at least 4 or 5 panic/anxiety attacks at precisely the same time every day??? I have never been exposed to either hydrocodone nor a macrolide antibiotic, and have never experienced "mental" side effects from meds in my life.

Has anyone had further testing...allergy testing, blood work? I am going to be talking to my family physician soon, and really want answers. This experience scared the life out of me! Please let me know if anyone has had any viable answers for their ordeals.

Update. The count down is on. Next week on Tues my 6yr old son will be having his tonsils removed. Only 5 months after the adenoids were removed. I am hoping once this is over the improvements I have seen will just get better! His sinus drained in April, 9 days after coming off Singulair after battling sinus infections for entire year or more actually. When his sinus drained the infection went right into the tonsils and he has had tonsillitis ever since. One thing I wanted to share is that around the same time he came off singulair we started omega 3 supplement. Both my son and I stopped Singulair the same day. We both started the Omega 3. Last week I had to stop his dose because of the upcoming surgery because it can thin the blood. I noticed this last week his nasal allergies kicked in. He did pretty good through this allergy season and wasn't on any meds a lot of the days. I hardly had to take allergy meds this time around also. Im allergic to trees/grass and this is usually my bad time. I really feel the omega 3 has helped a lot!!! I am also waiting to get the results of his blood tests to see if his cholesterol has gone down. Just wanted to share!

I have gone over in my head a million times, how did this happen,it consumes my thoughts, i think about it often,my son had one devastating asthma attack, the only one we ever had at age 10, he was on a vent for 10 days in the icu for 14 days, on the ward for 7 days,they did allergy testing and said he was virtually allergic to everything,his blood showed allergens over 1000, normal would be below 200,i then questioned how can that be, he has been in a sterile enviroment for almost a month,surely then he would be allergic to the meds, well they thought i was nuts, how stupid of me to even bring that up, well 3.5 yrs later, how stupid of you not to believe me.

(A divorced father)
My son has been on Singulair now 5 years and I am in the middle of fighting to get him off. My son is now 7 years old and has been diagnosed with allergies (no test have been done which I find very odd), which leads to a case of mild asthma. This past weekend his mother forgot his Singular on Friday so I could not give him any till the next day, where we met at his soccer game. Saturday night I gave him his usual pill and thankfully due to his exhaustion from playing out side all day he went to sleep in 10 min. vs 3 hrs later which is the norm since Singulair seems to jack him up.
He also has red puffiness under his eyes - most likely allergies.
Seems depressed - just driving down the road and I look at him in the rear view mirror and he just sits and stares into space. When I ask what's wrong he either says nothing or I am tired.
He will try to tell a story or think for himself and just stops mid sentence and says " never mind I am just confused"
He will be having fun one moment and just starts crying or gets depressed.
He was throwing a ball in the house (yes I know) and accidentally knocked a glass over breaking it - he went running to his room, crawled under his bed and sobbed profusely for over 30 min.
He has a hard time doing / focusing on homework - becomes bored very easily.
Does not want to go outside. I will take him to allot of cultural events/ hands on or participation events - he will not try anything. He is unsure and will not come out of his box so to speak.
I spoke with his doctor who was reluctant to take him off, but then agreed that if it was OK with the ex, to take him off for a week to see what happens.
The fun part: My ex is convinced that since he has been on Singulair for 5 years he is fine and does not need to come off it.

1.) Son is diagnosed with mild asthma or allergy induced asthma.
He has never had an allergy test done and has not had a lung function test in over a year.

2.) It is documented that our son has four outbreaks a year. (sounds like the changing of the seasons) but is given Singulair all year round and the dosage has also been increased.

3.) Since the court order, ordered my ex to enroll our son in sports (she would not let him play anything) he does not wheeze or cough uncontrollably.

4.) Since I had to battle to get our son on my insurance I have cut her control issues off a little, but she is refusing to take him off Singular just for a week to see how he reacts. Although I do agree that he should have some form of allergies medicine.

5.) When I found out about the side effects of Singulair, I also found that his doctor was getting ready to add two other allergy medicines to his portfolio - totaling 3 different meds.

I see our sons behavior getting worse and I watch him turn into something he is not and with a controlling individual not believing anything about the side effects it looks like I will have to rely on the medical system to prove my point. I do believe he needs to be accurately tested for allergies and given a regularly lung function test but most of all since he is now on my insurance, a second opinion and a 3rd to narrow down what the situation is and an alternative medical procedure that is fit for the symptoms.

I'm a 35 yr male and have been dealing with depression/anxiety for years due to current & past issues in my life. This post IS dealing with singulair side effects but want to give some history as to why I think it's singular and not something else. For the past 2 or so years I've been using xanax which has worked fairly well in controlling my anxiety, but my doctor preferred I stop taking it because of it's potential for abuse. I've been on SSRI's before and I hated them, so I did some research and decided to try wellbutrin which works differently from the SSRI's. I was still using xanax while ramping up on wellbutrin the end of February. To my relief, the wellbutrin started working wonderfully - felt like I could cope with life, increased energy, better mood, with no negative side effects (actually some positive ones) - the only problem I was having is I traveled during this time frame and developed a bad case of sinus rhinitis due to the climate changes. I've had chronic sinus problems my whole life so it's no surprise. I tried most otc meds and nothing was helping. In the meantime I was feeling so much better (other than the rhinitis) that I decided to start tapering myself off the xanax. When I got to the point where I'd stop taking the minimal dosage I would start getting physical withdrawal symptoms (headaches, dizziness, etc) which is fairly common after taking for a prolonged period of time. The side effects were strictly physical - no excessive anxiety or psychological craving My sinuses were still really bothering me so I had two reasons to visit the doctor - try to get something to relieve my sinuses and to get a short supply of a benzo with a longer half-life to ease the withdrawal from xanax. The doctor gave me a prescription for a month of diazepam and 9 weeks of singulair samples. That was 3 weeks ago. I immediately begin using the singulair, but still had some xanax left so I decided to continue on a minimal dosage and use it up before I went to fill my rx, which I just started several days ago. Coinciding with when I started taking the singulair, all the positive benefits I was feeling from the wellbutrin just suddenly stopped. My depression and anxiety came back worse than they were before - another persons post describes the change in me: feel very anxious, fearful, reclusive, depressed, that everything is going to go wrong, or is always wrong. I'll have extreme anxiety about small everyday things. I’m unable to concentrate. I've also become more irritable, argumentative, and aggressive. I have difficulty falling and staying asleep. I also experienced a very noticeable decrease in sexual energy after a very noticeable increase which is a side effect of wellbutrin. I can even understand the rationale for suicide just to be free of this emotional nightmare - not that I would do it - but can understand it. I couldn't figure out why I went from finally feeling good about life to suddenly feeling worse than ever before. I guess I didn't realize it right away because my sinuses were much better, but I know these symptoms began occurring very shortly after I started to take the singulair. I was trying to figure out what was going wrong with me and yesterday I did a web search on 'singulair side effects' (since it’s the only variable I could think of that changed within that time period) and came across this site and several similar ones. It blew my mind how many people were talking about the exact things I was feeling. Yesterday was my last dose. Does anybody know how long it takes for this crap to work its way out of your system after 3 weeks of use???

Our 7 year old daughter has had "problems" for several years. After a news report this evening, it now makes sense - her problems are being caused by Singulair. I have sought treatment from 4 doctors in the past 3 months disparately pleading for their help to figure out what is wrong with her.

She began taking Singulair when we found she had allergies to cats and dogs at age 2 (since I nursed her for over 1 & 1/2 years and her allergies didn't appear until about 6 months after my "immunities" left her system). After several middle of the night visits to the ER for her difficulty choking/coughing in the middle of the night, the ped. suggested allergy testing. She was always quite "in your face" but in a sweet way and was quite defiant, so we always thought she purposely ignored us, especially while watching tv, but definitely a "live wire" all the while.

After 4 years of pre-school and dozens of notes indicating that she didn't follow the teachers directions, she was found to have a hearing impairment, just as she was entering Kindergarten. Needless to say, life for her has been a roller coaster for the past year and a half. The behavior problems have not improved; terrible twos at age seven...

Then, just a couple of weeks ago, she broke down crying in the bathtub, and commented that she sometimes wants to hurt herself because she can't stop herself from behaving badly (she often will get bad behavior check marks in school for 10-15 days straight, and then seems fine a week or two later and the cycle repeats itself sporadically).

The treatment for her allergies - - - we got rid of our cat and dog 5 years ago, and only give her the allergy medicines as needed (Singulair and Zyrtec)...meaning that we proactive avoidance and contact of all pets and animals and the homes where they live. We will give them to her a day or two in advance if she has an upcoming trip to the zoo, etc. and continue for several days after being exposed.

The past 3 months, I have spent countless endless nights searching the internet for answers, knowing something else is wrong with her. I have begged her battery of different doctors (pediatrician, ENT, allergy, audiologists) for answers, and even specifically asked her allergy doctor a month ago if there is any way, shape, or form that her medicines could cause behavior problems. I was assured it was not possible. Tonight I found out that Singulair has "new side effect warnings".

My direction for finding answers has always (until now) been aligned with her hearing loss. I have read every study on children with hearing loss and behavior issues that I have been able to get my hands on. Our doctor office visits are overwhelming and average 4 times a month - for all different things. We have an appointment tomorrow for new ear molds for her hearing aids and I insisted she be tested again to be sure the hearing aids are working perfectly- hoping this is the missing link. She is being tested again for allergies on April 11th to see if new ones have crept up. She is having an auditory sensory processing evaluation on April 24th, again in my search for answers. Just last week, I demanded an emergency meeting at her school and basically stood up to the entire IEP team and told them they are doing a horrible job, since I can't get them to help me figure out the problem and freak out on them for the lack of help I receive with regard to her hearing loss and the FM (microphone) system I forced the school district to put in place so she can hear the teacher's voice in the classroom, over the sounds of the other kids.

I have probably been deemed crazy by all of her doctors & their staff, her first grade teacher, and everyone at the school district that I have encountered in the past 20 months or so. So much so, that her ENT (Ear) doctor called me a week ago after a recent visit to indicate to me that he thinks that not only does my daughter need to see a therapist to figure out what is wrong, but indicated that stress has taken it's toll on me as well and offered to write a prescription for therapy if necessary! I feel like I am living in a novel which is not even my life.

For all I know, she may be have really meant it when she told us once that she used to be able to hear just fine...so I cant help but to sit here crying and wondering if there is a link to her hearing loss from the Singulair too?

To hear her say she wanted to hurt herself was the hardest thing I have ever endured in my life. And so out of her world (she is the most outgoing extrovert imaginable) that I have lost myself in a sea of unknowing doubt, anger and frustration, since she said it. My boss, colleagues, family, school district staff, several doctor office staffs and several other "specialists" whom I contacted in late night emails, begging for guidance could atest to this mad attempt of mine to find a cause.

The best moment: when we drove away from the ENT with her new hearing aids, windows down, and she said: "Mom, I can hear the wind"

Worst moment in life: hearing my 7 year old baby say she sometimes wants to hurt herself because she can't stop herself from behaving badly.

My advice: for allergies, get a sharper image ionic air purifier for the bedroom- well worth $200!!! Get hearing tests for children who "do not listen" or follow directions. STOP TAKING SINGULAIR!!!! Send your information to the FDA immediately.

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.

I have had Mirena for 6 months and things seem to be getting worse. I am now bloated (yesterday was bad), and my period lasts for almost 10 days now and counting even though it is light. I am also moody and tired. I have not been able to lose one single pound from pregnancy since it was inserted. Now I am wondering if my eye problems could be related -I have had dry eye and blurry eyes and my eye doc thought Mirena could have something to do with it since the timing is similar? Anyone had eye/contact problems?
I thought this birth control was so great until recently!! and I hate the pill, and I've tried almost everything else (patch, ring, different pills) what else is there??

My 6-year-old was put on Singulair by an allergist after he had allergy testing in October. He first came down with a sinus infection in June and was treated with an antibiotic by our family physician, but the miserable clear snotty nose continued all summer long into September. I had to help him blow it just about every time. I presume it was mold since the mold counts were extremely high here in Virginia this summer. After two months of waiting for an appointment, we finally got in to have allergy testing performed. A week before seeing the allergist, I got frustrated with the whole mess and him missing school so I took him back to the family doctor and she prescribed Allegra suspension (new for kids) and it actually seemed to help a lot!

Well, his allergy testing proved he was allergic to all kinds of molds, cats, dust mites, pine and sweet gum trees, and ragweed. The allergy doctor for sure wanted to blame it on our German shepherds, so he did the intradermal test to double check but the dogs allergy was negative twice.
So, the Dr. decided to try some Singulair 5 mg at bedtime along with the Allegra and told us to mite-proof all his bedding, etc.

I kept my son on the Singulair for about 3 weeks of hell until I put 2 and 2 together. Every morning he was complaining of stomach aches, headaches, leg aches, not wanting to go to school, doing very poorly in school, lethargic, not participating, not concentrating, pulling answers out of his head instead of working out the problems (teacher told me he was lazy...big mistake...that really ticked me off.) I know my child! P.S. She is being observed very carefully by my husband and me as well as the principal and school resource teacher. I attribute this attitude to her youth and having no kids of her own.

Sorry for the long story, but after finding this website while searching for symptoms I had with another snake oil (lisinopril), I decided to research the Singulair side effects everyone has written about and everything just clicked with me. I took him off the Singulair about two weeks ago, and no more complaints of stomach aches, not wanting to go to school, etc.
I asked the teacher during the teacher conference how he behaved last week at school and she said he did wonderfully and participated in class and wasn't lethargic. His grades were even better. I still give him Allegra and that alone seems to do the trick. He is still a little moody though. I sure hope it's not the Allegra doing that to him.

We go back to the allergist at the end of November for follow up and he is going to get an earful! Hopefully with the seasons changing, my little boy's allergies will be better. The snotty noses have almost dried up completely on the Allegra alone. I don't think Singulair should ever have been approved for use in children!!!!

Hi all...I am not currently on Yasmin, but I was on it over a year. Never experienced a SINGLE side effect. In fact, I'm pretty sure that my mood, acne, etc actually IMPROVED with my use of Yasmin. I plan on going back on Yasmin.

For all of the people here who are within the first three months of use of Yasmin or any birth control, my doctor told me that there is a three month adjustment period. Try to hang in there; maybe it will get better.

I'm not a drug rep or anything of the sort...just a satisfied customer. I was once on the patch, but while I used the patch I experienced very serious mood swings. I stuck with it for over two months, and I simply couldn't wait out the three month adjustment period.

If Yasmin isn't for you, try to switch. The patch didn't work for me, but Yasmin did. If Yasmin doesn't work for you, it is not a reason to swear off all birth control pills. The difference between every pill is that there are different dosages. Each pill has a different dosage, so another pill might work a lot better.

(SIGH) well, with great relief i can say i'm not alone in the war against BC pills and side effects. the weirdest things started happening to me when i began taking yasmin - the 1st night i got my period after taking it i has THE WORST period pain EVER!!! so bad that i popped a mersyndol and no lie, within 30mins my sister was driving me to the emergency ward - i literally thought i was dieing. Anyway, turns out i had a MONSTER of an anxiety attack and a (viral) ear infection at the same time... GREAT!

at the time i had no idea what was causing my 'so called' spazo attacks - i just thought i had some horrid ear virus which would last a couple of months and clear up (the docs agreed). when it didn't start clearing up i started seeing docs on a regular basis, paying thousands for all sorts of tests even did the whole allergy testing thing thinking i'm seriously intolerant to something but to no avail... 4 years later and i'm still struggling with the following symptoms: dizziness (and i mean ALL the time), it's more like being lightheaded not so much dizzy spells, nausea, bloating, sore throat, tired/no motivation, weight gain 8 kgs in 3-4 yrs, i'm 29 (female) so i guess my body thinks it about to have babies... pressure headaches, ear ringing, my sex drive has packed up and left town, blah blah blah, i could go on... anyway, last month i went off yasmin (only cos i ran out) and spent 4 weeks al'natural. i got my period only a couple of days last and last sun i went back to the doc for gen exam and thought while i'm here i'll get a script for yasmin again... took my 1st pill on mon just gone - i can't tell you how rotten i've felt this week, i just thought it's prob pms or something no joke, everything has come back new and improved - now the dizziness is worse 10 fold, the bloating horrid... i've had a headache for 3-4 days now, constantly running to the loo. i feel like a TOTAL wreck!!! my husband thinks it's just women's stuff... pfffffft!!! he noticed i've been edgy all week and keeps asking 'what's up with you' and me thinking it's pms or something kept saying 'nothing honey' - well thanks to everyone who posted here i now know better!

oh, forgot to mention, after having my HUGE panic attack, the doc prescribed by 5mgs of lexapro daily and i've been taking that for almost 3 yrs - not sure if that's even good for my poor body...? helps with anxiety but purely masks the symptoms, hasn't cleared up - even the psychologist gave up cos she couldn't work out what was causing the anxiety... PFFFFT doctors... honestly!

good luck to everyone and head up guys, i know it's a painful process but eliminating the cause can take FOREVER and still i may neveer know what caused it...

Hi all,
I've been taking it for a month now and for the last 2 weeks I,ve been having nightmares every single night, severe musle pain in my legs, my arms feel weak and shaky, my mouth and nose are extremely dry. I have itchy skin - the itchiness attacks are so bad - I can't control them, and also I have very strange headaches -at the back of my head and neck - not just a muscle tension, migrating all over the scalp.
I don't have an asthma, but I had a very bad sinus and ear infection, and was feeling dizzy, so my doctor advised me to give it a try. Singulair has eliminated those symptoms in 2 days, but the side effects are even worser.

My daughter is 5 years old and has been on singulair for 1 week. i have already noticed a dramatic change in her behavior. she has become irritable, mean, nasty, and emotional. she has had me in tears on a daily basis. she has turned into a monster. we will be calling the doctor in the morning!

I am not sure -- Trying to investigate-- Shortly after starting the med, I had strep throat and developed an unusual sinus condition where my sinuses do not drain in either direction. I have such "fullness" in my sinuses and throat that at times I feel as though I am drowning on my own secretions. I have had septoplasty and allergy testing to no avail. Now I think I can trace the symptoms back to beginning treatment with Lamictal.

I have a 9 year old daughter that was sick on a monthly basis since she started school. We did the round of antibotics every month. Finally we went the route of having the tonsils out. That didn't seem to help the constant throat ,sinus drainage and constant barking coughing. Then we went through allergy testing discovered that she has no food allergies,but had a lot of environmental allergies and exercise induced asthma. The doctor prescribed Singulair in Feb of 06. My daughter has not been sick since. She has not been to the Doctor since Feb of 06. The cough has disappeared as well as the constant throat drainage. The medication has helped her symtoms,but now I am concerned as to what I am reading on this forum. She has not compalined about nightmares,or hallunications,but she has changed in her behavior some. She has become so confrontational with us. She at times does not have appropraite reactions to situations.She becomes easily angered and upset. She is a straight A student and has no problems with her behavior at school. Was recommended for the Excel program for gifted students.She does complain about joint discomfort l. She takes 5mg every day. I was wondering what mgs that others are taking that would cause all these horrible side effects? I am really scared to hear about the seizures. Of course her Doctor told us that the side effects were near to nothing almost like candy as he described it. I am worried about long term side effects. I did cut her dosage back to half during the summer months and she was fine.

I started taking advair 500/50 about 6mths ago after coming down with really bad cold which later turned into pneumonia. I was on albuterol inhaler 5-6times a day for 3 mths. The advair made a big difference. I'm now on the 250/50 which is great. But I've had increasing problems with anxiety as well as muscle spasms in my hands. My doctor immediately recommended anxiety meds instead even entertaining the idea that it might be the drugs I was on. I refused to take anxiety meds and instead on her recommendation started exercising regularly and have started seeing a phychologist. I also tried Singulair briefly but developed rash on my face and had sudden cold symptoms which went away once I stopped taking it. I'm not crazy, my side effects are real and I'm convinced that the muscle spasms are due to my medication, most likely the advair. Currently I'm on rhinocort, albuterol for emergencies, and advair 250/50. I also had allergy testing done and am very allergic to everything they test for except animal dander i.e. grass and tree pollen, ragweed, mold, both kinds of dust mites. I keep taking my meds, exercising, cleaning regularly, have encased my bedding to control dust mites. I'm also taking allergy shots every week now. The thrush can be avoided if you rinse after every dose of advair. Rinsing is very important - I've had no problems with thrush at all and am now in my 7th month of taking Advair.

My 3 year old daughter has been sick from day one. When she was born she had what they thought was colic. For 1 year. She also has eczema and rhinitis. At 18 months she had some peanut butter and wipe it on her face. She had this huge red mark where the peanut butter touched. So the began the allergy testing. She is now allergic to dairy, eggs and peanuts. But it is all mainly atopic. She breaks out in horrible itchy eczema sores. So they have given her Zyrtec and Singulair. She has been on it for about six months straight. And I think she has had Zyrtec for 3 years. Well she is, for lack of a better word, horrible. I never thought anything about it because she has always cried from day one. Now I am beside myself I dont know what to do with her. I am wondering if i should take her off these meds to see if she acts better. I have a son who is a joy to be around and she is not so much. I know she doesn't feel well. She doesn't look well. She looks so pale and sickly. Has anyone heard of mood swings or mental damage from these drugs?

I first posted about three weeks ago re: my 3 1/2 year old son who was taken off Singulair around the first of September. All the bizarre symptoms (mood swings, itching, tummy aches, etc.) he was experiencing are gone and he is still doing great in that regard. However, he caught a cold after starting back to preschool (which always turns into an asthma episode for him) and, as expected, we ended up having to use an oral steroid to pull him through. So ... we were happily off Singulair but still needed a method to deal with what would inevitably be more problems from his asthma. I had heard that some asthmatics have success when changing their diet and so decided that we really had nothing to lose and started to research this issue. While we knew that my son was not allergic to the foods that are typically known as allergens (due to past allergy testing), I learned that a food intolerance is totally different from a food allergy, and does not show up with testing. Most all of the food you buy at the store these days is loaded with preservatives, chemicals and artificial colors. I learned that sulfites can be particularly dangerous for asthmatics and that many also react to food colorings. While these things do not cause an immediate reaction in my son, the theory is that when these foods are consumed regularly, they weaken his immune system and thus make him more suscepticle to have an asthma episode when he does get a cold. There is a book called Fed Up with Asthma that explores this theory that was written by Sue Dengate out of Australia. While we have not gone on what she calls a "failsafe" elimination diet (it seems a little extreme for us), we did decide to experiment with buying all organic foods to see what happens and started on that quest about 2-3 weeks ago. Foods that are certified organic are supposed to be free of pesticides, preservatives, colors, etc. Last week, my son got another cold and this is the first time in 3 years that we have not had to use an oral steroid to get him over it. It was just like he was any other kid with a little cold. Another thing that I read about was that many asthmatics have a reaction to milk (which the medical community flatly denies) and the one lingering symptom we had after stopping the Singulair was a persistent cough that was not associated with illness, was not accompanied by a wheeze, and had no obvious origin. We switched my son to soy milk about 2 weeks ago, and the cough is gone. I also have a 17-month-old who is asthma-free (at least so far) but does have eczema, which I have learned is also thought to be affected by the consumption of cow's milk. When we switched from cow's milk to soy milk, his eczema completely cleared up, too. 6 months ago I would have laughed at someone who said that what I thought was healthy food I bought at the grocery store contributed to my son's asthma, but we have just had too many coincidences to ignore what we are seeing. I just figured I had nothing to lose by trying the organic route, and I'm glad I did it. Good luck.

My husband had had seasonal allergies, in Spring and Fall, that were almost debilitating. He has tried every oral allergy medicine out there. He was considering allergy testing and shots. We spoke to our doctor about it and he said that since we may be relocating in a year, or so, that he would most likely have to get a new series of shots for the new area where we'll live. He suggested the Kenalog shot. My husband got it that day, in late September, and has not had any adverse reactions. His allergy symptoms went away within hours and stayed gone all season. Now it is Spring again, and his allergies are back with full force. He has an appointment to get another Kenalog shot next week, and I'm glad he does!