Asthma issues symptoms and conditions

My son used a nebulizer 2 to 4 times a day every day from the time he was one and a half years old. When he had just turned three his doctor prescribed Singulair. It was like a wonder drug for us! It took care of his asthma and we didn't have to use the nebulizer any more. He's been on it ever since -- he's 10 now -- he also takes zyrtec and has a rescue inhaler that he uses maybe once a week. About every other year he requires a course of steroids and a week of regular nebulizer use. Also, for the past year he has also required a daily inhaled steroid.
Now, about his mood issues. My son has always been sensitive and intense, moody. The first time I became alarmed was when he was 7, and he told me he wanted to burn his hands on the stove to punish himself for forgetting his homework. I consulted a psychologist who evaluated him and said he was not clinically depressed. Since then he has had periodic "dark" episodes -- especially in the winter. He has said he wants to die. He has had crying jags over things that are upsetting (loss of a pet was the worst) but it seems excessive for him to be saying he "just wants it all to end." He has told me that he is always unhappy and that he hates himself. He has also had problems with moody acting-out with friends. He will brood about hurt feelings until he loses his temper and screams at the friend. I have worked very hard with him on learning to manage his emotions. He hit a friend at school who was teasing him. He accepted his consequences willingly and willingly wrote letters of apology -- he told me he thinks he has anger problems and doesn't want to be this way. And his character is that he is a sweet, caring boy who can't stand to see anyone hurt, but also can't stand to be hurt.
A couple of years ago I asked his allergist if any of the meds he's on are linked with depression. He said no. We have a family history of depression, and I thought my son had gotten the worst combo of all the genes.
Recently, this all got to the point that I decided he needed to see a psychiatrist and quite possibly take medication for depression. Before I made the appointment he had a check-up with his allergist. Going down his list of meds the dr. said, recently Singulair has been linked with depression, have you noticed any moodiness or sadness? My first thought was that I have, but that he's always been like this. My 2nd thought was that he has been on Singulair for most of his life. I said yes and that I'd like to try him off of it.
My son resisted going off of it. He has had enough negative experiences with asthma that he didn't want to risk it, but I insisted. I didn't expect to see any change, but I thought it was important, as I was going to take him to a psychiatrist to consider depression meds, to see how he did off of it for a couple of months.
Less than a week later, he had been in a wonderful mood -- to the point of being silly and giddy all evening -- for 3 days in a row. The kind of mood that I don't see him in often, and when I do I think to myself, "he should be like this more often." One evening he even realized he had forgotten to bring home a homework assignment. I thought, "oh no, here we go, his evening is ruined." But he talked through his options with me, looked a little uncertain, and said, well, okay, I guess I'll have to tell my teacher I don't have it. I'll tell her I'll make it up at lunch if she wants me to. That was it! He didn't mention it again. I didn't say anything about his mood, because I really don't think I can know anything after just a few days -- it could be coincidental. The next day, he said to me that he thinks being off the Singulair is "working." He has now told me that a couple of more times.
I am tentative, but amazed. Even if my son does have a predisposition to be depressed, maybe the Singulair was making everything worse, and things really can improve for him. I am afraid to be to hopeful. At the same time, I feel guilty for giving this medicine to him for 7 years without a second thought.
As an aside, my son has periodically complained of leg pains, that I always told him were growing pains.
I would love any feedback that anyone can give me. So far (these two weeks), his asthma has been controlled with pulmacort, zyrtec and albuterol, so that aspect is okay.

I am 34 years old and was prescribed Advair about two years ago. I have had minor asthma issues over the years but nothing major. So the doctor gave me an inhaler. Then one winter I get sick and started going through the inhaler in about a month, so he prescribed Advair.
To back up I had lower back surgery for a bulged disc. So I had a lot of pain and was taking vicodin. Six months after surgery my back started feeling better than it had for a long time. I was able to exercise and get by with one vicodin in the morning. This went on for about a year. The pain was stable for the most part, but would increase every now and then.
Now enters the Advair. When I first started taking it I felt a little weird but it made my breathing a lot better. After a little while I would forget to take it or just feel like I didn't need it. But I could not stop taking it because my breathing got to bad without it. Over time my pain was getting worse and worse. I ended up being put on time release morphine because we thought the back pain was increasing. Then after being on morphine it seemed like I was always sick. I have been to the hospital twice for breathing and lung infections. I thought my back pain was turning into sciatica!!!! All along it is this F@#$ ADVAIR!!!! I have had a super short temper,daily head ache's,depression, HORRIBLE PAIN in my legs and back. I am so glad I found this site. ADVAIR IS EVIL!!!!! I have stopped taking it for two days now. I really need help from anyone who has info about quitting it. PLEASE CONTACT ME. Thanks : )

1 year ago I had an injection of Kenalog in my knee due to a tear and a week after the injection, I had a very light period ( I was 54 at the time and hadn't had menstruation in 6 years). Last week, my PCP gave me an injection for my sinus problems as they were causing significant asthma issues. Once again, I have started having a light menstruation, this time with a lot of cramping. I have also had severe nausea the past 3 days and migraine recurrences that have been pretty well under control with Topamax. I am a RN and started "putting 2 and 2 together" regarding the Kenalog, so googled it and found this site. Definitely NO MORE for me!!! I will report this to the FDA and encourage my doctor to file a report also.

st got back from docs,it is clear he is still drinking big pharm koolaid,if someone takes a drug and the terrible side effects dia appear when you discontinue it,it is still not proof it was the drug,oh my the koolaid is potent,if you read a side effect you will properly get it, oh my oh my,Have i ever seen the paper work involved with reporting a side effect,no but i have seen what happens to a child when you don't report.Needless to say i am looking for a new doctor,one not under the influence

I've been blown away also. My son is 10 years old and was originally diagnosed with RAD (Reactive Airway Disease) when he was about 3 and has had allergy and mild asthma issues since. When he was 5 he was put on Singulair, Nasonex, and Zyrtec. My son has always been a beautifully happy child, but the last few years have been extremely emotional for him. He gets depressed, he's extremely hard on himself and is ultra-sensitive and scared about everything. He has never been frightened and was a baby that loved his room and always slept really well. Now I think that I understand why he’s been afraid to sleep in his room alone. Ever since he's been on Singulair he complains and complains of bad dreams. I can't believe that I'm hearing that he's been taking this medication like clock-work for 5 years and all of his problems may be related to this. His allergies are not severe and nor has his asthma ever been - but I was told constantly that he needs this medication. This is unbelievable - I've stopped giving Singulair to him and have made an appointment with a new allergist.

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'm glad to have found this website posting as tonight I decided it's time to do further research on Singulair and check the issues I'm experiencing. I've decided tonight that I'm going off so I can do some testing and rule out whether they are causing the following side effects for me:

I've been on Singulair for almost 6 months. When I first started, I had a heck of a time getting through the drowsiness but it got easier each day and gradually after a month, I stopped being so "spacey". I started Singulair primarily to address my asthma issues and the tightness in my chest and as an added bonus, it helps my allergies so I went off the Claritin as well. Singulair has done wonders for my asthma and I have rarely had to use my inhaler or have asthma attacks. (I should note, I wanted to eliminate steroids in my life since it causes acne etc. etc.)

Meanwhile, I've noticed changes in myself. I'm more lazy, take naps on the weekends, less hyper (which is a good thing on my stressful job) but I've lost my "edge" where I should be quick on my feet and responses. Recently, I've noticed that I'm slurring my words and having speech problems. I have got lost a couple times in my train of thoughs. I also seem to experience being dyslexia - I frequently type letters and numbers jumbo'd around. Very unlike me!

I also have severe dry mouth almost like an infection. I tend to get itchy around my neck and arms for no reason - almost like a mild form of nerves twitching simulation. I've got more sinus infections but that could also be due to not using Claritin and perhaps, I need to be on it at the same time.

I've cut back to 5mg (I cut my pills in half) for a few months and felt less tired but my speech and other side effects are still present. Heck, it could be a sign of aging or other things occuring but I need to start somewhere. I am sad that it could be Singulair because it's the best drug for my asthma but I have concerns about the other impacts it might have on my health and well being. I'll post updates in a few weeks.

Feel free to email me to talk about anything offline - I'm eager to hear from others!

-S

Six years on Singulair and I didn't think that I had any side effects. I did develop multiple health issues that no one tied to the Singulair. To understand the range of the side effects that Singulair had on me, Google Churg-Strauss Syndrome. Before quitting Singulair in mid February of 2006 I was close to dying. All of my health issues (including a very high tryglyceride level) began reversing after stopping Singulair. My once great memory is returning, the chest pains have stopped, the arthritis is reversing itself, the anxiety attacks are less often and less intense, the muscle and joint pain is gone, the weird skin lesions are gone, etc, etc, etc.

I still have mild asthma issues but I'm getting my life and myself back. Singulair might work well for some people and have no significant side effects, but in my case it stole my health, my life, and my spirit. If you are a long time user of Singulair be aware of Churg-Strauss Syndrome and if you have some of the related side effects (Churg-Strauss Syndrome is a known side effect of Singulair) get to your doctor before it kills you. Good luck to all of you.

Hello my name is Tiffany, I have a 13 year old daughter whom is going through alot of issues and I now guessing it is all caused by advair not sure yet. My daughter suffers from Asthma, acid reflux, allergies since she was born, she was a premie and only seems to suffer with the asthma issues. She has gained over 60 lbs now weighing 204 from 160 last year. She is constantly complaining about back pain, phlegm in her troat, headaches, mentral cramps. can't sleep, now she seems to be going depression, the doctores wants her to see an therapist he wants to put her on lexipro. My god she is only 13 what is she depressed about, she is always nervous, and upsets easily. She missed over 40 days of school last year. Advair seems to be the only thing that has helped her breathing she has not had as many attacks but she is suffering in othe areas. What do I do. she has been on singular, flovent, provental, pretizone when she is suffering. She is on xopenex for her daily nebulizer treatment or when needed now. She takes flovent, allegra, advair 250/50, topanex for headaches, all of this daily. We are finally getting to a pulmonoligist this month hopefully he can relieve her of some of this medicine. I am going to do research on this serevent we have not tried that one yet. Now since she has been on the advair she has not had problems with her acid reflux. She did change her eating habits. Can someone tell me if they have childred suffering from this medicine as well.

I have been on Advair 100/50 for over 2-1/2 years and it's the best thing I've ever taken. It increased my lung capacity 33.5% and I do not wake up at night with asthma attacks. I don't have to depend on my Albuterol for rescue all the time either. I took Azmacourt 4 times a day prior and constantly had shortness of breath and asthma issues. I've been very fortunate on Advair! I have not had insomnia, difficulty sleeping, no musle weakness, no heartburn, and no rashes. I have had slight weight gain, and managed to get it off. I have constant allergies and allergic rhinitis so I do get occasional headaches. I can actually take a deep breath and not cough my head off. I can actually run and workout now! I do get dry mouth but that's easy enough to deal overcome. I may be an exception but it's a blessing for me! I take Allegra too and it is the best thing I've taken too. Seldane is better but they took it off the market. So I guess it works for some! Thanks.