Child psychologist symptoms and conditions

This is a follow-up. I have posted about our experience before, but to summarize: 6 year old boy on Singulair for over three years for Asthma. Drug worked wonders, but side effects developed so slowly that we thought those were "phases" that would go away. Side effects were just as everyone else reported: nightmares, fears, depression/sadness (we even went to a child psychologist since we thought this behavior was all due to father's deployment), aggressiveness, crying at the drop off a hat (like a 2 year old, not age appropriate), attention deficit, school performance dropped, and also, at the very end, obsessive compulsive behavior.
We stopped Singulair as soon as we heard about the FDA investigation (on NPR, about 6 to 7 weeks ago). Asthma has not worsened, thank goodness, so we make due with the Flovent for now. Most of the side effects were less prominent after some time, however the obsessive compulsive behavior stopped only a few days ago. We have better days, we have worse days, but slowly the better days outnumber the bad, aggressive, and negative ways.
What I read again and again in the postings is that we all assumed our children entered a bad "phase." A phase that just got worse and never ended!
Reading about the very same side effects in our children, over and over again, alarmed me. Taking my son off the Singulair and seeing the improvements, some faster some slower, totally convinced me. I will never ever have Singulair in my house again.

So after reading enough of these replies I've come to a few conclusions:

1) Apparently Singulair should not be prescribed to children.

2) We have some extremely over-reactive parents.

3) It sounds like many of you describing side-effects from your young children also mention that they are on other medication(s). Don't be so quick to blame Singulair for everything. Many medications share the same possible side effects. Unless Singulair is the only medication your child takes, hold your tongue until more definitive studies and investigations are done.

About me -- I'm a 30 year old man who developed asthma when I was 11, and has fairly nasty seasonal allergies (I live in Austin, TX). I started taking Singulair several years ago as I had literally tried every other prescription allergy medicine on the market available for my seasonal allergies. OH MY GOD! I CAN BREATHE AGAIN!

Not only could I breathe through my nose, but the Singulair helped me fight off seasonal allergens (namely mountain cedar tree pollen and Texas oak tree pollen) so much that I was no longer waking up having asthma attacks from my sinuses draining. No longer was I missing days and days of work from "cedar fever" and "oak fever." At long last I finally found an allergy/asthma medicine that works for me.

Now, I also take use Advair (250/50) every day as well. Without a doubt, my life is 100 fold better now than it was before I used the combination of Singulair and Advair on a daily basis. If I miss a day or two of my Singulair, which I have done before, my allergies are noticeably worse and magically get better when I get back on Singulair.

I can honestly say that I have never experienced any depression or suicidal thoughts/tendencies since I have been on Singulair. Undoubtedly there are many others like myself who thank God every day for this medicine. I honestly feel very bad for those of you who have issues with Singulair because it has been a life-saver for me.

I have an 8 year old son who has taken Singulair to treat his asthma for the last 4 years. I have been reading everyone’s posts since yesterday and I am in shock, so many of the stories are similar to ours. I have been trying to figure out what is wrong with my son for the past year. My son has had sever mood swings, anxiety, depression. He has also complained of leg pains, and stomach aches. He was once a sweet easy going child and over the past few years has turned into a negative, sad child. He has told me that no one loves him, that he wishes he would die. He also started fearing riding elevators and a constant panic when we would go to new places fearing that we didn’t know how to get home. When he started with these problems, I went to my pediatrician and asked her about the singular if this could be a side effect. I was told that this is not one of the side effects and was referred to a child psychologist. We have been going to the psychologist for the last 9 months to treat my son of these issues. He was prescribed Zoloft to help with the anxiety. I asked the doctor who prescribed him the Zoloft if Singulair could be the problem before we started giving him another medication and was assured that his symptoms were not because of the Singulair. I can’t believe that this drug has been causing all of these problems for my son. I feel so bad that I did not figure this out sooner. My poor son has been put through hell and I was the one causing it. I am going to be speaking to his doctors first thing this morning. I am not going to give him this drug any longer!! My only fear is that he has taken this medication so long what has it done to him? How long will it take to get this out of his system? Does anyone know? I am seriously thinking of filing a lawsuit. I wish everyone the best.

There are no words to explain how I feel after reading just one page of the posts here. I have a 9 year old wonderful son. About 1 1/2 years ago he was put on Singulair (along with Advair, Xoponex, Nasacort, and Zyrtec - also he got allergy shots once a week). He had severe asthma. Well, not too long after he was on the Singulair he started having HORRIBLE thoughts. Just to name a FEW: He thought he was going to stab me or his younger sister and could not go near a knife or anything sharp, he had thoughts of aliens coming into his room at night and skinning him alive and taking out his heart, he had the most horrific thoughts of violence and as he started getting a little older his thoughts were becoming what seemed to be sexually violent. I immediately went through seeing if anybody at school was hurting him or touching him. Nobody was. Since he lives with just me and my daughter (no visitations with absent father) I knew he was safe at home. He is exposed to practically nothing. I asked my children's doctor what could this be and he told me to just tell him to "stop thinking those things". My own doctor wanted me to put him on anti-psychotics. I took him immediately to a child psychologist that specialized in OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) - after researching I came to the conclusion that this is what he had. I was told that the correct name for his condition is called "Morbid OCD" or "Bad Thoughts OCD". He was in therapy from the beginning of the symptoms. I refused to believe that an emotionally healthy child could develop this condition almost over night. I changed our lifestyle - eating organic, very little processed foods, (you name it) etc... I was able to get him off of all his medications except his inhaler as needed. To my wonder and amazement his OCD had gone away. Well, about a month ago his asthma started to show up again. (Since he was doing so well I started to let him have a little dairy in his diet again and other things I had cut out before). His doctor told me that he was going to get scar tissue if I didn't treat it now and that I had to put him on something or he was going to have complicated respiratory issues as an adult. I agreed to put him back on Singular. Well, to my sadness and horror about a month ago my son started having mild OCD and it has gotten worse by the day. Last night, I was sitting at the edge of my bed and it was like a light bulb went off. I kept asking myself, what changed a few weeks ago. Then bingo, it hit me, I had put him back on Singular. Last night I didn't give it to him. I obviously am taking him off of it and will post again and let you know how he develops. I'm sorry for the long post but after reading "worriedmom" I felt I needed to tell my son's story just in case there is anyone else out there with a similar situation. Thank you all so much. I have hope again. I am going to see how he does with his OCD and post again in about a week.

Please be careful when using this drug!!!!! My daughter is 4 years old and was on Singulair for a 1 1/2 years to control allergies and Asthma. She was also on 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of Zyrtec. She lost the last year and 1/2 of social and emotional growth. She became angry, aggressive, hyperactive, disconnected from reality, uncommunicative. She was deliberately hitting, scratching, etc. unprovoked. She retreated into a fantasy world where there was alot of "killing" and other scary things. The other kids were scared of her. Her teacher, who has over twenty years of teaching in a University Laboratory school (she knows what she is doing) said that her behavior was the most extreme she had ever seen. I took her to the Pediatrician, to a child Psychologist, and to a Physiciatrist. They were thinking ADHD and maybe Bi-Polar or ODD or worse...we were very scared. The Pediatrician said, no the drug could not be causing this. This site helped me to realize that maybe it was the Singulair. Psychologist, physiciatrist and allergist all said, yes it could be the drugs. We got her allergy tested and she was extremely allergic and started allergy shots. We took her off the Singulair and Zrytec and starting seeing changes in her behavior within a week. It has now been 5 weeks and our little girl is back...she is smiling again, happy!! and communicating! We can have a conversation with her now! It is amazing. Everyone has noticed the difference..her teachers, Dr.'s, etc. She has had a few outbursts and some hyperactivity since but they are diminishing as time goes by. I just wonder how long it will take for all the effects to be gone and how much work we have to do to teach her all the things she missed developmentally over the last year and 1/2 while her mind my blocked by this drug. They should take it off the market. It is frightening. Please beware!!!!!!!!

My daughter, 6, has been on this for awhile. I was very diligent in keeping her on it nightly (6 months). I was proud knowing that she had not gotten sick since she had started in July. Now that it is late January, I look back with mixed emotions knowing what other effects it has had on her.
Her teachers expressed that she seemed to have lost her spunk and sparkle. She seems depressed and in a zone. We have had many meetings with her teacher, nurse and a child psychologist. Wondering if she had ADD, ADHD, Sensory integration issues (she refused to wear just about everything), or something else unidentified. This normally gifted child was just not herself. I don't know what prompted me to stop giving her the drug, but I did. She is now coming "back to life" and I wonder when the side effects will be completely gone. I pray there are no long term effects. My lesson is to try to solve health problems by weighing the consequences in advance. Thanks to feedback on this forum I know we are not alone.

My 7 year old son started Advair about a year ago. The doctor started him on 250 twice a day and I new that wasn't working so I cut him down to 250 once a day. Adam has increasingly exhibit ADHD symptoms that he never had before, and about 6 weeks ago started having bladder accidents during the day. His teacher told me he showed signs of 'aggressive depression' and was concerned about his lack of social skills. I called his Primary physician last week and she wanted to decrease his dose (which she said was excessive for his age) to 100 twice a day (I did 100 once a day because he can't sleep at night if we do this at night). Every day since then there has been an incident. He was caught in major lies yesterday and responded to the teacher in a fit of uncontrolled rage! This is NOT my son! He tells me his brain tells him to do stuff and he can't control himself. I called his primary and she said take him off ALL Advair! Does anyone know what his withdrawal symptoms might look like? Now, in two weeks we'll be sending him to a child psychologist! I believe this is all a result of Advair! All this treatment was to reverse his Reactive Airway Disease (which apparently wasn't full-blown ashtma to begin with). Watch out for this medication with kids!!!!

Today my 5 year old son's father and I conversed about calling a child psychologist immediately for a "tic" my son has abruptly developed this weekend without warning. I spent most of today crying. He saw the Dr. today, and we are to follow up immediately with a nuerologist to rule out phsical damage. For five years there has been nothing wrong with him except seasonal asthma, and as an alternative to the nebulizer we were given singulair 2 months ago. Who knows, meds, in my opinion only lead to more meds. They are evil. My son slightly jerks his head to one side when he is aggitated. I know my situation is a little different than others I've read here, but maybe someone has experienced something similar.

My 3 1/2 year son has been on Singulair since he was about 1 1/2 years old for asthma and allegeries. In the last year, he has had difficulty sleeping, talks about monsters when he wakes up and has become very agressive. He was to the point that we consulted a child psychologist regarding his agressive behavior. I read a doctor's advice column, in which an adult stated that she liked the effects of Singulair for her asthma and allergies, but couldn't stand the nightmares associated with Singulair. I had no idea that a side effect of Singulair was nightmares, until I read this article. With this information, I consulted with my son's doctor and took him off Singulair. My son has been off Singulair for 3 weeks and he is no longer agressive, sleeps peacefully at night and has his adorable personality back. PLEASE PASS THIS INFORMATION ON TO ANYONE THAT HAS A CHILD ON SINGULAIR AND IS EXPERIENCING BEHAVIORAL OR SLEEPING PROBLEMS.