Behavior change symptoms and conditions

I am 34 years old. I am a pharmacy tech. I have asthma and allergies. I have taken singulair pretty much every day since it came out on the market. I've had asthma since i was about 10 years old. I took theophylline as a kid. Steriods on and off especially during times when my allergies are bad. I still use Advair during the fall and spring. Every drug has a side effect. However breathing is pretty good damn thing. Do I have days when I feel low? Yeah. Do I sometimes have nightmares? Yup. Are "natural" products the answer. Not always. The fish oil that some of the posters are touting can also cause GI problems. Some of the natural products contain herbs and other plant derivatives that can be harmful for a child that suffers from allergies. Not proactively treating asthma can be deadly. Some of the parents are suggesting steriods as the answer - those can cause weight gain, growth suppression and can lead to a worsening of asthma.

Singulair has never made me feel like I've wanted to kill myself. I was more depressed and angry as kid when my asthma did not allow me to partipate in normal childhood things. I was sad and hated life when I couldn't keep up with friends at recces because I was having trouble breathing. You have to outweigh the costs with the benefits. I am more irritable when I have asthma flareup then I am on a normal day. For me, I choose to breathe. And singulair has been helping me for almost a decade.

I'm not saying the medication isn't causing these symptoms but maybe there is an underlying cause to your child's depression.

Any drug has a side effect. But without medical research and the medications that come with them - people would still be dying of simple diseases and we wouldn't have vaccinations. As a society, as a whole, we are a culture that looks to someone else to fix things and then blames the people who try to fix it. We need to stop being the "hot McDonald's coffee'" society.

My 4 year old son started taking singulair when he was two. I don't think I picked up on his behavior change right away b/c I thought that he was just entering the "terrible two's". But over time, his allergist added on Nasonex (I know the docs say that it doesn't cause side-effects b/c it's a nasal spray, but I don't buy that...it's a steroid, plain and simple) and more recently zyrtec was added on for his hives. Well, the zyrtec was the straw that broke the camel's back. I mean, he has been a real "handful" since the singulair, but after zyrtec was added 5 months ago - let's just say he was completely out of my control. His meltdowns were so bad that I couldn't go ANYWHERE with him. I either got a sitter or just didn't go anywhere. He became aggressive, defiant, emotional, unhappy. And to top it off he started to have serious "autistic-like" self-stimulatory behaviors (grinding teeth, squinting eyes shut, flapping his hands, punching himself...). At this point my life had become a complete nightmare, and my poor 10 month old son was getting NO attention b/c my 4 year old was so out of control and aggressive. I was afraid for the baby's safety...oh, I could go on all night. This medication has impacted my marriage, my finances, my sanity. Shortly after he started Singulair I had to go on an antidepressant b/c it too so much out of me just to be his mommy. Anyway, a week ago I had him scheduled for a psych evaluation (thought for sure we were going to walk away with either autism or bipolar diagnosis), but two days before I decided to look up the meds he is on and BINGO! All of these posts sound like what we have been going through. I stopped all of his meds that night, cold-turkey, and he has been the most pleasant little boy I have ever met!! My husband and I have fallen in love with him over the past week - we had no idea he was such a sweet child.

Now, while I'm ecstatic that we have found the answer to our nightmare, I also feel SO STINKIN' ANGRY! We lost out on 2 years with our sweet boy, there were times when we raised our voices at him when he just couldn't help himself - he was suffering inside!! When I went to talk to the allergist about my findings this past week, he said, "well, maybe he just had a good day. I'd like to see what happens if he goes off all his meds for a week". Well, there you have it, he has been off for one week and he's an absolute angel. He has an amazing heart and is so caring!!!

Singulair is awful (and so is zyrtec). Please don't give this drug to your children. Research other alternatives (I am giving my son Nordic Naturals Fish Oil, Culturelle probiotics, vitamin c, and am changing his diet - increased magnesium and decreased dairy. I came up with this after hours of research...).

There is a woman on this site whose daughter committed suicide after 3 years on Singulair. This is no joke and the FDA needs to get with it.

BTW, I used to date a Singulair rep (I knew there was something I didn't like about that guy:)

My son has been on Singulair since the age of 6. He is now 13 years old. He developed seizures 3 weeks ago - temporal lobe aura epilepsy during which he was hearing voices. EEG abnormal, MRI normal. He hasn't started medication for the seizures but I have stopped his Singulair immediately! This was just a hunch - searching the net to see if there is any correlation. I have been to the Pediatrician AND the GP the past 3 weeks and no one said anything. I think a great number of children are on Singulair in SA. Does anyone know about the possibility of this danger?

I would like to urge everyone to report adverse drug reactions to the FDA. Without a supporting data base, things move way too slowly and other people get hurt. I was doing some further work on quinolines/quinolones and ran across a medical researcher who starting writing about quinolones in 2001. The warnings that finally appeared on the quinolone drugs were placed in 2005. Let's do everything to keeping that from happening to parents.

Here is the researcher who wrote about quinolones so that you will have the reference.

******

Our son started taking Singulair when he was 2 for severe allergic rhinitis and cough variant asthma (in addition to Zyrtec, which didn’t control all of his symptoms). He is 5 now. For the last three years, he has been an increasingly violent, difficult, defiant, argumentative, volatile child who has intense mood swings--one minute he’s laughing uncontrollably, the next he’s weeping over nothing. His doctor and therapist recommended that we see a psychiatrist to have him evaluated for bipolar disorder, which used to be unknown in children. Because he has such chronic sleep problems, the doctor also suggested we take him off Singulair (and increase his Zyrtec dose) to see if it improved his sleep issues. Within a week, he was sleeping much better and was a calmer, happier, gentler boy. He suddenly could take “no” for an answer without flipping out and trying to hurt me. We thought that we were just in an unusual, calm window that would shift either to mania or intense sadness or both, any minute. We also thought that his behavior change might be due to sleeping better. We were enjoying the rare reprieve. Over the last weekend, his springtime allergies really flared up. We gave him Singulair on Monday and by noon, he was completely out of control. I had to strap him into his car seat at one point to keep him from hurting either me or himself. It finally occurred to me that Singulair might be causing his “bipolar” disorder. Of course, we stopped the Singulair. After two days he was a new boy. Yesterday, I Googled “Singulair bipolar children” and got a few hits. I am stunned to read how similar other families’ experiences have been to ours and I feel sick that we gave this drug to our child for three years.

I have been taking Singulair since it came on the market almost 10 years ago. I am now 26 years old and working on a Masters in Psychology. My theory is about this drug that people that are experiencing depression, and suicidal thoughts are prone to having this without the drug. I cannot skip a day without this medication or else I start having severe flair ups. I am writing because it always seems when there is a good drug on the market it gets pulled because of the side effects. I hope Merck does extensive testing and surveying to make sure of these allegations before the drug is discontinued. Also I took Singulair the entire time I was pregnant and my child has no kind of birth defects etc.

I almost stopped my car on the highway this morning when I heard the 10AM top story on our local CBS news radio station stating that the popular asthma drug Singular has been linked to thoughts of suicide.

My son started taking Singular approximately 5 years ago (he is now 10). We noted almost immediately a change in his behavior. My son was normally a very mild mannered child, yet when taking Singular he started experiencing severe mood swings, rapidly moving from quiet and happy to fits of rage ending with him saying he wished he were never born or that he were dead. We told his pediatrician about this observed behavior change, but she hadn't hear of that reaction before. I checked the Singular web site at the time, but I don't recall mood changes being listed.

My son is still taking Singular because it has been so effective at managing his asthma, nearly eliminating the need for Albuterol. We haven't had to make any trips to the emergency room since he started taking it, and he seems to stay much healthier.

I will be having another conversation with his Dr. ASAP about whether the risks outweigh the benefits, especially since my child will be moving into the normally volatile teenage years. The last thing I want to do is complicate things by risking increased volatility from the use of Singular.

my 5 yr old has been on singulair for 2 months and her behavior has changed dramatically. She is moody, hyperactive and aggressive. Her teachers have been complaining about her behavior and last year she was their star pupil. She has always been a relatively well behaved and focused child. I think her behavior is a side effect of the singulair.

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!

My 4 year old son has been on Singulair for at least 2 years--his asthma improved greatly with the medication. I have recently weaned him off the medication and now all of a sudden I am seeing the aggressive behaviors mentioned by others. Has anyone else experienced the behavior change (for the worse) upon discontinuing the meds?

I wish I'd checked this site before giving my 5 year old son Singulair. Our lives have been turned upside down for the past four months, with the last month and a half being truly hellish. I am an RN and finally figured out that the only change that could have prompted such a significant mood/behavior change was his allergy/asthma medication, Singulair. It is like a switch turns on, his eyes flash with anger, he is very aggressive, physically tests us and reacts with violence, destroys his room when placed on anykind of restriction or time out, pushes way past set boundaries, has insomnia, restlessness, bad dreams, and finally he choked a nine year old out of frustration at a BBQ last night...He has been off the Singulair for two days and I know now that I am just going to have to treat him with kid gloves until this poison is out of his system. His allergies/asthma have never been better controlled, but at what cost? This medication is dangerous and I wouldn't be surprised if children started getting really hurt or hurt others while on it...it is a relief to know that my husband and I are not going crazy, but I feel horrible for putting my son through this.

Like so many others on this page, I am so relieved to find this information. For the past few weeks, my wife and myself have been going through hell, as our lovable 6 year old boy has been getting into trouble at Summer Camp. He was prescribed Singulair a couple months ago, and since he has been taking it every night, he has been having bad nightmares, and has been really aggressive at camp, and at home. He has bitten a few kids, hit a few more, and yells at them at the top of his lungs. At home, he is depressed, very impatient, and will throw a temper tantrum at the drop of a hat. This is COMPLETLY NOT like him. We spoke with his ped. today, and he does not believe that the medication is causing the behavior change, but after reading this information, I believe that we will ween him off of Singulair, as a test to see if his mood changes. God bless everyone that experiencing the same problems, and someone needs to look deeper into this problem if the doctors continnue to say that it is not the medication.

I am a 39 year old woman who switched from Azmacort to Advair in December for a few weeks. After that short of time, I felt me throat feel like it was closing up, I was agitated, and one morning after a week of building symptoms, took my blood pressure which was 20 pts higher than usual. I also had burning in my chest and felt on the verge of a panic attack. Since then I was prescribed Pulmicort, and it has been so much better.

I also accessed this site mainly because of my son who is 6. He was diagnosed with cough variant asthma and some allergy to outdoor mold. The doctor started him on Advair, and over the last month or so, the behavior change has been startling. He has been very agitated, clearing his throat constantly, wetting the bed, saying he was"scared" at bedtime, saying he was "happy on the outside but sad on the inside", and being so hyperactive and inattentive as to be staring right at him when telling him something, and he would totally go off and do what you just told him not to, and be genuinely confused as to why he was in time out.

I have an appointment tomorrow morning with the allergist and have had him off of advair for four days. Already the throat clearing has stopped and the behavior has subsided. I am also hoping to keep him off of singulair as well after hearing about those side effects and see if we can manage for now. Thanks for all of the helpful info and we will see.

I am so thankfu for this website. My 15 year daughter was put on this med in January. Mostly for acne, but her doctor said it should help with her pms too. She has been a totally different person, and the post that talks about not feeling happy could have been written by her. She has had many out of control crying sessions, and headaches. She has been extremely busy with school activities, and I kept thinking it was the pressure of all of this that was causing her behavior change. Anyway thanks again, and I will call the manufacturer to let them know.