Baseball field symptoms and conditions

My son was on singular about 4 years ago and i thought i noticed irratability, lack of interest and depression, but he was only 4 1/2 at that time and i couldn't tell. It did relieve his allergy symptoms. We took him off at that time. Now, again put him back on it this past year (he is now 9 years old) and i see again a lack of interest, depression, mood swings, irritability and his teacher just told us that as this year has increased he has changed in his school work as well. As of last night we will be taking him off of this medication for good and will continue to manage his seasonal allergies with an emergency inhaler and zyrtec/claritin type meds. He is sluggish on the baseball field and not as alert (he unusually a natural athlete!) and he seems depressed and withdrawn - which is not his personality. I thought maybe because he was getting older he was changing but now I realize it is again the medication. It is okay for a week or two to get through a cold or high allergy week, but long term I will not have him on this any longer and wish that Merck would make the long term effects clearer to the doctors, patients and public in general. We are fortunate that his allergy symptoms are not as severe as other children and we can go lightly on medications.

i am really glad i found this site, and got to really understand what may be my problem. its the SINGULAIR, i really believe. i will share my story so no one has to go through what i have been going through. (i just stopped my medicine a day or two ago, so i will repost and see if i start seeing changes in my behavior) well first off i am 19, and i started taking singulair when i was a senior in high school, so about 2 years ago. i didn't see any noticeable changes for awhile, except for probably a year now, a little more or a little less. for this whole time, i have not been sleeping, i wake up 3-4 times a night, fully awake and can never fall back asleep for hours. its almost like my body tries shutting down, but my brain never does, i have the craziest dreams, most of them are me suffocating or not getting enough air, which are really scary. I have been having really bad anxiety, panic attacks, basically i have been just feeling like i am going to die every second of the day. the feeling of being trapt inside my own body. it seems like every month it just gets worse and worse. i cant focus, i don't go to school, i don't work, and i believe its from the side effects of this medicine. i also always feel so tired, and so weak, i cant even look through a clothes rack without my arm aching. i have been having a hard time breathing, which is odd seeing its supposed to help me breathe, i have been sick at least once a month, through this whole time i have been going to my Dr. at least twice a month or more, telling her my symptoms, i even went in their one day crying i was so scared. and she just kept telling me, its probably all in your head, this, that and the other. she even put me on probably 10 different medicines trying to see which one would help. and of course none of them helped anything. I started thinking, and feeling like i was going crazy, what was wrong with me? i wondered constantly. For a couple months now, i figured i had to take it into my own hands to figure out what was wrong, seeing this Dr. doesn't seem to understand me. I looked up every disease or problem imaginable, and had blood tests done, but every thing came back normal. i didn't understand what was going on, every month i just feel worse and worse, lately i have been telling my mom i just want to die, that i cant keep living my life this way, of course i would not do this for the fact that i couldn't do that to my mom or my little sister, or anyone, but it feels like it would be easier then dealing with everything i have been. along with everything else i was/am feeling, i also feel a lot of hate toward myself, i feel like i am not good at anything, and i feel very ugly, sometime i don't even want to leave my house, because i just feel disgusting. Finally, a couple days ago, my little sister which is 10 and really smart i may add, was watching TV and they happened to have a commercial for SINGULAIR. she told me that everything i have been saying that was wrong with me (she hears me complaining a lot about all my problems to my mom) were all the side effects from SINGULAIR. of course i wanted to know more about this even though i have taken this medicine for awhile without any of these problems, i started researching and realized that all of my symptoms happened to be the side effects from singulair. and then i started reading other peoples stories about it, and about linking it to suicides and everything. i told my mom and i told her i wanted to stop the medicine right away, at least just to see if this is what it was all along. i haven't taken it for 3 days now i believe, and i already see a difference, i actually get tired now instead of staying up reading till 5 in the morning, and i haven't been waking up at all during the night. i am pretty angry that my dr. couldn't figure this out, or at least maybe even think about it. for awhile i thought i was honestly going crazy, i lived in fear for so long that something was extremely wrong with me, that i haven't lived my life the way i should of, or wanted to. i never thought that it was just the EXTREME side effects of this medicine. i am so thankful for my little sister listening to all my complaints and all my anger toward myself, and actually putting it together that it would be my medicine that was supposed to make my asthma better. as i said its only been a couple days and i already feel better, i will repost to tell you if im back to my "normal" self after being off this medicine for a longer period of time. i feel so grateful for my little sister, who would have guessed she would tell me what a Dr. couldn't even think about. i really feel that if i get back to my normal self, i really have her to thank for saving my life. <3

I am a loving mother of a 5 1/2 year old boy. He has been on Singulair for over 3 years. In this past 3 years my son has suffered in an unspeakable amount. He came down with Rota Virus and was hospitalized at 2. He then came in contact with Pneumonia in the hospital while he was there. They automatically put him on Singulair, Zyrtec, Prednisone, and antibiotics to treat the pneumonia. Since that day, my son has gone though more tests than I have in my entire life. He has had asthma, sinusitis, leg cramping ( to the point he cannot walk for 2 years), IBS, Acid reflux,(they gave him laxatives for a year that made things worse and addicted to them also), stomach pain, constipation and diarrhea back and forth. He also got Erythema Mulitforme TWICE, while on this drug. All of which the doctors said could NOT be caused by Singulair. He has had several Upper GI's and CT scans. Along with Barium enemas, several hundreds of blood tests, and many many pokes and prodded that were not necessary. All since he has been on Singulair. He now has frequent bathroom trips, depression, confusion, and anger outbursts. He also has to go to the restroom every 5 minutes. He has had genital swelling, and many other aches and pains. None of which his "doctor" ever said could be a result of Singulair. I am 100% sure it was!!!! He currently has anxiety and emotional sporadic issues causing problems in school The teachers and counselors say that it is so strange because there is no TRIGGER and the outbursts are completely inconsistent. His preschool teacher and director are sure he has ADHD. Well, we had him tested and he does not have any part of it. He has no learning disability what-so-ever. So that brought me back to square one. He is in a positive loving enviroment. How could he be depressed and want to hurt everyone around him? He cannot sit still. He cries and says he is 'stupid" and "can't think" like the other boys. He has nightmares and cannot sleep alone. He is scared of everyone and everything. So, as I sit here crying, I realized that this has all been a reaction of his "medicine" Singulair. He never should have gone through all of those painful tests, only to prove they couldn't find anything. So many treatments and sound full advice speeches from his doctors. How could they be so naive and selfish in the life of my son?

When I called my pediatrician of 5 years, she told me that " parents that have children with behavioral problems will LOOK for something to blame their problems on." She also said "drug companies only put side effects on their labels to PROTECT the drug companies. (as she laughed at me) They are not always valid". Then she said "if you take you child off of Singulair you will be playing Russian Roulette in his life." Then she said that all children around 5 or 6 go though this emotional time in their lives." She told me that if I take my child off of Singulair that she would no longer be a part of his health regimen for his asthma. She told me to see a Pulmonologist for further treatment.
Who is paying who? This is my son's life???????? I decided to go with my mother-gut instinct and get him off of this medicine. No matter what. He has been a different person since. He is currently going though a lot of side effects and withdrawals (leg pain, insomnia, hic-ups, emotional distress) but every day is getting better. How can the drug companies say that this is a "wonder drug?" There are more reported side effected patients then clinical studied patients! How can a "medication" that stimulates the brain not be connected to other problems? This "medication" interferes with the bio synthesis and action of LTs and has been marketed as NOVEL medication against asthma and allergic rhinitis. Who the hell is playing God here??? The pocket books of Merck or our over PAID "doctors?" Who pays the price? Our children? Or us. Thank god I found this before it was too late. I would not be able to withstand the pain of losing my son due to their lack of scientific evidence. They are lucky I am one of the smart ones. I will not settle for less than Justice for the drug companies and their paid "doctors?" You all end up in the same place. HELL

There are 18 million people on this drug. Most of them are children. Please save a life if not your own child's life. Thank You