Anxiety in children symptoms and conditions

I discovered my son's side effects from singulair a little over 2 years ago. He had used Singulair for approx 3 years. I did not recognize that he was suffering side effects until his ped increased his dosage to 5mg. At that point, it was loud and clear. I discontinued the Singulair in March 2007. The most significant improvements happen after approx 3 weeks. He was like a different child. Even after the 3 weeks, it seemed like he continued to improve a little every day.

I can tell you from our experience that my son suffered many, many side effects that i did not recognize. He had nightmares, anxiety, fear, frustration, leg pains, stomach pains, dark circles under his eyes, poor appetite, quick to tears and restlessness...just to name a few. On the higher dosage, he began to have a facial tic, dilated pupils and hallucinations.

I am thankful everyday for this website and some higher power that helped me realize what was going on and get him off Singulair. The first week off Singulair, he slept like an angel. No night terrors, no thrashing in his sleep. Week 2, he continued to improve in so many ways. It was nothing short of amazing. Week 3, he began to realize the changes in himself. Fears were a HUGE side effect for him. During week 3, the fears, ALL of them disappeared. He never spoke of them again. It was very strange and truly amazing.

I don't want to tell you to stop the use of Singulair. Only you know your child's health status. I will tell you that stopping Singulair changed our lives and saved my son. He suffered the assault of Singulair for 3 long years. Good luck to you all and your families. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

I'm not surprised at all to hear about Singulair being investigated for causing mood changes and suicide. My son was on singulair 6 years ago for a year when he was 5. He underwent very severe mood changes, including insomnia, rages, severe anxiety and panic attacks. We ended up seeing a psychologist about his violent moods, but it took us a year to connect it to Singulair. When his dosage was raised due to growth, he started experiencing disabling anxiety. He was terrified to leave me and had obsessive thoughts about me dying. Things culminated with him being terrified to swallow any food out of fear of choking and dying. When he stopped eating for three days, I began to search the Internet and found references to Singulair causing anxiety in children. He never took singulair again, and was able to resume eating within a few days. He was back to his normal self within a week. Hopefully, now doctors know about the incredible risks for kids with this medication and can warn parents to watch for side effects if they indeed do put their kids on this medication.

My son took Singulair for about a year from ages 5-6. It was the worst experience of our lives. He too became very moody and anxious. He started having strong separation anxiety, nightmares and sleeping problems. We assumed this was tied with starting kindergarten. Then after being on the drug for about 10 months months his dose was increased because of his growth. Immediately after increasing his dose, he began to be afraid of choking while eating his food. Within a few weeks he was refusing to eat anything other than soft food. He also became terrified of leaving me because I might die and never come back. At night he could not sleep because he was afraid the house would burn down. He refused to sleep alone at this point. After two weeks of this, he became terrified that his food was poisoned and would cry while eating. He often had to get up to spit out his food. His fear of fire increased to a fear that any electronic item might spontaneously explode. He also started having full blown panic attacks. We were beside ourselves trying to figure out what was wrong with him. At that point, we took him to a psychologist to find out what medication he'd need to take to control his anxiety. I started seaching the net and found one site mentioning anxiety in children on Singulair. We took him off the medication the next day. Our psychologist was able to get him to eat again by walking him through the grocery store and having his sample various foods from the shelves with the promise that he'd get $100 on the spot if he started choking. Of course he didn't, and was reassured that he could actually eat solid food again. Within a week, all of his anxiety was gone. After being off Singulair for two weeks, we had our son back again. The experience was absolutely terrifying, and I'm so glad our psychologist believed that it was Singular and didn't put him on an anti-anxiety drug. Since then my son has been diagnosed with borderline ADHD, but we're afraid to try any medication because ADD meds also can cause anxiety. Our psych also agrees. I'll take a squirely child over a terrified, sleep deprived and hungry one any day. If your child is experience any of these types of problems, throw out your Singulair now!!