Dust mites symptoms and conditions

I started taking singulair about one week ago and I started not sleeping well , waking up at 4 or 5 am focusing on stupid things like what I had forgotten to buy at the grocery store. I first thought I was pregnant since I suffered major insomnia during my first pregnancy, took a pregnancy test and after seeing the negative results started asking myself what could cause that, that is when I realized I started Singulair about a week ago. I will stop it today and see if I sleep better. I am allergic to dust mites and dust, it is pretty bad sometimes and it will give me asthma. I was using an inhaler before (Alvesco a couple times a week) and did not experience any insomnia. The doctor told me Singulair was very similar but it would also take care of my sinuses. It works really well for the sinuses and the asthma, but I rather have a stuffy nose, no asthma and sleep well. I am very surprised to see that some of you have been using that drug for so long after having so many side effects... and with children too...it is really scary

I have allergies to dust mites, and started taking Zyrtec to help get over a sinus infection. It worked great at first. Then I started to feel not myself, and my thoughts were out of control. I have depression, and it magnified it. I stopped taking it, and started taking Claritin, which made me feel speedy and gave me heart palpitations.

Why does Singulair cause these symptoms? I am going to give my explanation which is only a HYPOTHESIS. This should not be categorized as any thing but an educated guess. This is not backed by scientific research because nobody will do any research that would appear to anger
Merck even if people are suffering in the thousands.

1. The original research that preceded the development of Singulair (montelukast) seemed to focus on the theory that asthma was caused by an unusual immune response to certain pathological stimulus. There are many references to the observation that a high percentage of asthma sufferers are people whose asthma is caused by fungus. Many people suffer from asthma and are told that they are allergic to dust mites. Dust mites can live only because the fungus aspergillus pre-digests the
food source that dust mites can then absorb. Other sources of fungus occur in the home due to dampness or problems with wood rot.

2. The body's immune system fights certain categories of pathogens such as bacteria and fungus by creating nitric oxide which kills them at the site where they try to enter the body. The mast cell is the immune cell that is responsible for the production of nitric oxide. Mast cells are found in the skin, airways, intestines etc. The mast cell is capable of many different types of biochemical functions that are designed to signal other cells or other chemical responses. When the mast cell knows that pathogens
are present and nitric oxide is NOT produced, then it signals other immune cells to be sent to the site of the infection. Thus in the case of asthma, it is known that excessive numbers of eosinophils appear in the airways and these cells create inflammation.

3. Singulair was developed for asthma and later allowed to be prescribed for other reasons. I believe that montelukast probably creates a source of nitric oxide that prevents the mast cell from signalling for other immune cells to arrive at the source of infection. I arrived at that conclusion from studying the chemical structure of montelukast, the chemical structure of the gene cysLT1 receptor, and the chemical structure of the cell wall of fungus which would be what the mast cell uses to determine "what to do in order to kill the fungus."

The researchers who invented montelukast first had to clone the gene-cysLT1 receptor meaning that they had to be able to identify the gene and replicate it. Then by trial and error they had a find a "chemical"
that would bind (connect chemically) to the cysLT1 receptor. The theory would be that montelukast would take the place of the fungus or other pathogen and thus prevent the gene from reacting to produce the
responses that the sick patient with asthma produced. Merck says in the literature that montelukast binds with the cysLT1 receptor in order to prevent the mast cell from signalling the eosinophils to arrive in excessive
numbers that cause inflammation. I believe that montelukast is also causing the production of an amount of nitric oxide that is actually killing the pathogens that are present. For one thing, I would think that it
would be dangerous to incapacitate the immune system in that way without providing a way to kill the pathogens. I don't believe that the asthma response is just allergies to something like dust. Pollen from trees and flowers is loaded with fungus spores.

4. IF, IF, IF, montelukast does actually produce nitric oxide, then it does so by binding with the gene. Any place in the body where a molecule of montelukast encounters the cysLT1 receptor (a gene) then the corresponding molecules of nitric oxide are produced before the liver enzymes break the montelukast molecules up. Nitric oxide is TOXIC and
INFLAMMATORY. So let's look at the symptoms in regard to the location of the cysLT1 receptors. The location of these symptoms would not be places in the body where the mast cells normally encounter fungus or bacteria. The cysLT1 also has other functions in that it communicates with the cysLT2 receptors. Obviously, nitric oxide
should not be produced in these locations because of the signalling effect of nitric oxide on other physiological functions.

a. intestinal pain - the cysLT1 receptors are located in the small intestines
b. leg pain actually caused by vasculitis - cysLT1 receptors are found inside blood vessels- consistent with the fact that montelukast causes
Churg-Strauss
c. some people who didn't have asthma develop asthma - the cysLT1 receptors are in the airways
d. nightmares, depression, neurological damage - when montelukast penetrates the blood brain barrier probably due to unusual conditions of blood pH or electrolyte imbalance then nitric oxide in the brain causes neuron damage and excitoxicity

5. Why do some patients not experience side effects? Probably because genetically they are completely compatible with the model that researchers created when they cloned the cysLT1 receptor gene. I didn't not find any information about whether researchers knew that there are many different variations of this gene.

6. IF, my theory is even close to being correct, then why doesn't Merck do anything about researching these side effects. Maybe because nobody in the company knows how this drug works but the researchers who created it. All of the Merck literature is very vague about any biochemical information.

Again, this is just speculation and hypothesis. I have made an attempt to put this in simplistic language and therefore sacrifice scientific accuracy. But, I think that you will get the point.

SINGULAIR IS VERY DANGEROUS TO PATIENTS WHO EXPERIENCE NEGATIVE SIDE EFFECTS. DOCTORS SHOULD JUST REALIZE THAT
THOSE PATIENTS ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THE MODEL FOR THE DRUG.

Wow, that's all I can say. I started suffering with allergies pretty bad this March. Terrible headaches and ended up with two sinus infections. My doctor, after doing a sinus x-ray, sent me to an allergist who did a scratch test and a needle prick test with 28 shots. I am allergic to dust, dust mites, some trees and cats. He said that I should just do Mucinex and Nasonex. I've been noticing that my pulse rate is up and flutters. I wasn't sure what would cause that. I monitor my bp pretty regularly since having to get off of bp medicine due to a severe adverse reaction from that. I just assumed I was going to have to go back on bp med to control rapid pulse even thought the bp was in the normal range. This whole medicine thing is maddening. I am going to try and not take it tomorrow and see what happens. The weird thing is I use the Nasonex in the morning but the rapid pulse doesn't show up until the evening. Could Nasonex still be the cause??

I agree Kenalog has a lot of adverse reactions, being a nurse myself, I suffer from pollen, ragweed, mold, dust mites I can go on and on, and have swollen eyes and wheeze/sob almost on a daily basis from asthma and allergies all yr around, am tired all the time ... I have a heart murmur so I cant take the fast acting inhalers, I also suffer from panic disorder, have 2 benign lung nodules on my left upper lung as of today, still in my 2 yr for the sit back and see if it grows follow up with cat scans every 6 month's, my 19 yr old son passed away from a brain bleed in 06, and am still working in nursing where I want to help out other's, it has changed my thought process to live life to the fullest , try not to dwell on the petty things in life, and yeah every single drug that helps us in one way or another has a side-effect, don't pitty me , just think about this , or at least this is how I get by, I sit and weigh my options, would i rather have sweaty palms, rapid heart rate, tired a lot of the time, mod joint pain, period irr and pit in my butt leg and foot cramps day and night a few, h/a's rather than to, sneeze 24/7, have nasty swollen eyes that burn and hurt to the point I cant see, or not be able to take in one deep breathe and feel like im breathing through a straw, yeah you may not like this post, but to all the people who do not have a whole lot of medical knowledge, I ask you to do your research, don't beg the lawyers to take it off the market, thats what I call petty in my case Kenalog is a godsend!.. have the smarts before you go in, after all they are just Dr's not GOD..we should all re-evaluate what is a priority in our lives, since the death of my son in 06 I have, but please note people , its not the Dr's faults , we need to know what we are taking and have all the info before we take it whether it be the internet, a PDR, they are free to read in the library as well in every doctor office just ask to see one (that might through them into shock making them think your having a part in your health as well), a local pharmacist, because lets face it this world is becoming a fast paced, whirlwind circus and in the end, we all just cant sit back and blame the busy Dr's. I will say one thing though, Kudos to all the Nurses in this world, if it were not for us, now where would the Dr's be :P ..so make the best out of life, we never know whats around the corner, but most of all remember EVERY single drug has a side-effect every one of them, we must realize that we have to take the good with the bad..been there still doing it... take chare of your life, be informed, or get the info, you can do everyone of you! Just food for thought.

My 10 year old son has taken Singulair on and off since he was 5 years old and has been on it for the past 3.5 years. My son at an early age was affected by a bad marriage and then the divorce when he was 5 yrs old. So we always suspected that his behavior issues were caused by this and I had done everything I possibly could to give them the help he needed to get over and through his issues. He was held back his first year of Kindergarden and during his second year midstream he was placed in a special class for behavioral problem children. Nothing ever seemed to help him, everytime we would see some progress and encouragement we were always blind sighted by a behavior that was always worse. Two steps forward and them 5 steps backwards. I always knew that his problems would never get better overnight so I just kept on going. He was diagnosed with ADHD but because he has some ticking issues I had to put him on Strattera which was did not do a thing for him. I always described him as my Dr. Jeckyll/ Mr. Hyde child. He could be really good and sit still and behave but I think he had to try really hard to do so. He eventually was always overpower by the impulse to show negative behaviors. Defiant, extremely impulsive, always negative and completely miserable all the time. He also went through phases of compulsions. There was always a compulsion of the month- germs, bathroom habits, noises, repetitive words. He hated school and always complained of a stomach ache which i thought he was always faking to get out of school. He had confrontations in school everyday for most of the day. I often thought some of this was because of being tired all the time. We had battled over bedtime every single night. He was terrified to go to bed alone, I tried everything to get him to sleep alone. I wore myself out falling asleep next to him, I would then go to my own bed only to be up with him half the night going back and forth. I gave in many a night and slept with him just so we could get a good nights sleep. At age 8.5 I finally got him to go to sleep alone but the lights haf to be on and he has to know that I am still awake before he will fall asleep. He would always say he didn't want to go to sleep because when he does he has bad thoughts about me and people that he loves. He always had an extremely hard time excepting the word "no"- he would flip out and hit his head with whatever was handy, throw things, break things, scream holler etc. It would take hours to get over it. When he did he would be very remorseful and lovable. He was always in turmoil. Finally in February of this year, this graduated to a new level where he would want to just kill himself and would actually go and pull a knife out of the drawer and just shake with anger as he held the knife to his throat. I was terrified although i really didn't think he was going to harm himself he just wanted to scare me. Then at the end of March when i first heard the news about the possible side effects of Singulair, I had only heard about the suicide effect. Oh great just what I needed was this medicine causing him to do that. The doctor was thinking about taking him off if this summer because he wanted to see if he out grew his seasonal allergies so I took him off immediately. Well I had no idea about the other side effects until my son turned into a completely different kid. School noticed a huge difference in him! His grades went up, his is able to control his behavior, he is happy he is NORMAL. I never suspected this drug as the culprit due to the timing of taking it. Our lives have changed completely. When i first found this site, it seemed as though some of the parents were writing about my child. It is amazing. My son still has some old habits to break but overall he is a wonderful and normal 10 year old boy. He did not outgrow his seasonal allergies but Allegra seems to help in through it. I get so angry- his whole early childhood was ruined by this medicine. He is a labled kid in our school system. This whole experience has opened up my eyes. Thank you for letting me share my story.

Hi everyone
My little boy who is nearly two was put on Singulair as a preventative.
I did check on forums when we started using Singulair and I was concerned that there has been descriptions of negative affects. Always trying to be objective I rationalised that the people in this forum are a small part of the greater Singulair population and as a result there was a low risk of negative affects on my little boy.
I have to say I think I was wrong. As soon as he was using Singulair, he had restless nights of sleep. Every night he would cry off and on until 2am and I guess he was so tired he slept. During the day he was very short tempered and became upset very easily. We put this down to tiredness. After 10 days of the lack of sleep for parents and little one, we told our doctor.
He advised to take him off Singulair for 5 days and make observations and then put him back on. Last night, his first night off Singulair was bliss. Not a sound. He had a great sleep. As I type he is now having another great sleep.
Let us see what happens after 3 more days and after putting him back on Singulair.
It would seem that if we are correct and that Singulair is a cause of an issue for my child, am I a quasi beta testing laboratory for a drug?
We are from Australia.
Thank you for reading.

I just started using Singulair a few days ago. I am 54 years old and just started coughing at night only. I would be fine during the day and then never failed, at night I started to cough keeping me awake. I was given antibiotics, narcotic cough syrups but it only helped temporarily and then I went back to coughing nights only again. So as I mentioned, I started taking Singulair a few days ago because my physician thinks I have developed allergies and Singulair is noted to help night coughs. It is helping my night coughs but I still cough a few times at night and now I cough quite a few times in the day when I never use to cough in the daytime. Wondering if Singulair is worth taking as the symptoms are becoming opposite? I hate taking drugs and don't know if I should find a safer alternative? Help, anyone? Thank you

My four old son has been on singulair for about two weeks. The change from wheezing/coughing attacks at night and terrible allergies during the day has been amazing. They are almost non-existent to this point a great plus. However, a i stress however his behavior and speech has been VERY INAPPROPRIATE and quite frankly it concerns me. He now states "im a bad boy" and "i dont listen" and his mornings are very testy to say the least. Granted these sound like normal 4 yr. old sayings that he would pick up from other children on the playground but how do you explain them happening almost simultaneously with his taking singulair. I find it very hard to believe that it is a coincidence and that these are normal things for a 4 yr old to say/do when all other things have remained the same. My advice is to diligently watch your child for these warning signs and find other remedies if you have reservations. Im not promoting natural cures but i am leaning toward a diet change for the whole family and consulting my doctor for food allergen testing. I hope this helps. Be Well.

My son age 3 was diagnosed with asthma about a year ago. Since then he has been sick constantly. Most recently his doctor has prescribed Singulair. He is aggressively pushing it on us. I stated my concerns to him, and he said there is nothing wrong with the drug.. he gets all the news letters.. and all the things I listed was the first time he heard anything.. I asked for his to refer us to a specialist and he wont.. I cant find anyone for a second opinion..My son needs medicine- at night i cant leave his side cause of his breathing.. The doctor wont suggest any alternate and I am stuck. I keep reading about all the people who are not taking singulair anymore- what what are they taking? I am completely lost here!

We have all been saying that our issues regard not being informed about all of the possible side effects. And, we know that Singulair works well for some people. Nobody wants to take a good drug away from those for which it probably performs miracles. People who have toxic side effects have a right to know up front.

My observations about montelukast's chemical structure are either general or not quite 100% correct or could be quite vague - so forgive me. I do not claim to be good at organic chemistry. But from doing a little work, I have come up with some observations.

1. It would seem to me that montelukast might work quite well for people who have developed mold category related asthma. I observed that chloroquinolin, a component of montelukast, is a good fungicide effective against Aspergillus, Alternaria, Cladosporium, Penicillium and Candida. Dust mites can only digest if helped by aspergillus so they go into the mold category. Molds produce millions of spores so anyone who lives in contact with mold would be chronically sick from their presence. Then people get hypersensitized to that.

I am probably wrong but I could imagine that montelukast is: 1) a ligand that binds to an empty cysLT1 receptor for a period of time 2) 7-chloroquinolin-2-yl which either acts intact or breaks down into a quinoline fungicide so that it kills the chronic mold/fungus infection and 3) a sulphur/methyl anti-inflammatory component that tells the t-cells that they are not needed so they will die. Wow, that would be great for mold asthma if it was completely non-toxic. It would be also great under controlled circumstances for many people who are mold-miserable. If I am wrong, I better go out into my garage and start inventing such a drug.

This is my visualization to try to explain the side effects of neurotoxicity. So adverse reactions could be to the quinoline component as an allergic reaction or dose related so that it just built up to a toxic level over time. There are many signs that t-cell populations are significantly reduced by montelukast. The fact that the Italians can do it in the test tube might be that it's a chemical component of montelukast designed to cause the t-cells to die.

Montelukast is a large molecule so Artie says it cannot penetrate the blood brain barrier. That would be an argument if nobody was complaining about neuro-psychiatric side effects. The neuro-psychiatric side effects are identical to quinoline and quinolones. When I read about Lariam, it just sounds like a more extreme version of Singulair side effects. Chloroquinolins were used before they invented Lariam, which is stronger. The malaria Plasmodiums became immune. Hallucinations, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts are completely consistent in all of the quinoline/quinolones. If montelukast breaks into sub-molecules then quinolines easily penetrate the blood brain barrier.

I find clinical evidence that montelukast may act as more than more molecule. And, that there is a rational for the existence of the chloroquinolin and evidence that it may be the source of toxicity.

I am glad to risk being called crazy. That is what the internet is for. We can present our ideas and discuss. So, just take this with a grain of salt. If I am close to the truth, this post will find it's proper home.

I usually have allergy headaches in the morning which would go away after taking 1 Benadryl w/ Tylenol. About a week ago my doctor started me on Singulair because she was concerned about me taking Tylenol daily. The last few days I've had terrible headaches that linger most of the day. (I've continued to take the Benadryl w/ Tylenol to try to help the headaches, but it's just not working.) Today is day 7 with the Singulair, and the headaches seem to be getting worse. Are headaches common with Singulair?

I just came back home from the dr. We made some tests and my 5 years old daughter is allergic to house dust mites and has beeing diagnosticated with athopic asthma. The dr. prescribed Singulair. Now, after reading all the posts, I freaked out and I have not idea what to do. I am really sorry I did't ask about side effect, but I considered, her beeing a dr, knows better than me. My thought now is: I'm not going to give my daughter Singulair.

Firstly, there is hope! I have been off the evil Advair for 8 months now, I have my Ventolin at the ready but typically I use it one or twice a week...and when I do I hold it at arms length away and only inhale a tiny amount.

Okay a little rewind to the start of my recent problems. I went to an allergy doc since my asthma seemed to be getting worse, he did the test where they scratch your back with 70 or so allergens, from the reactions he determined what some of my trigger are. Turned out to be house dust mites, mold, grasses, cats, horses, shrimp etc. Then the idiot put me on Advair rather than dealing with the real issues.

After 2 years on this evil substance, my chest was so tight when I didn't take it, and generally my breathing was the worst it had been my whole life. I felt like there was something in my lungs that I just couldn't cough up...this gradually did subside. Long steamy showers helped me a little here.

So this is what I did.
Bought a copy of Reversing Asthma by Richard Firshein, a must read, he was a chronic asthmatic and reversed his own condition, you must buy this book.

Armed with my known allergies, I cleaned up the house, bought the pillow covers that keep the dust mites out. I sprayed all the carpets and duvets with an anti-allergen spray. And of course avoided my other known triggers.

I bought a Microlife digital peak flow meter to map my progress.

On Richard Firshein's advice I take a whole host of daily supplements, cod liver oil, vitamin C, magnesium, beta carotene and so on.

I exercise 3+ times a week and I bought a PowerLung Lung Trainer to build up my breathing muscles (I haven't been using this a whole lot so far though).

I'm still working on finding my triggers, so I still have days that aren't as good. I think something I occasionally eat or drink is bothering me. Oh and I found being dehydrated seems to cause my breathing to go downhill.

All the best to you all.

I have been on Singulair now for about 14 years. I am 58 yr old white female with Asthma. Severe enough to go to the ER every 2 weeks and get the breathing treatments, IV steroids, etc. Breathlessness is something I do not ever want to experience again.

I went to an allergist and had only a reaction to dust mites, however, my Asthma attacks were triggered by all odors, scents, pollutions from cars, trucks, and construction, (tar smelling products.) I wasn't able to go grocery shopping and go down the detergent aisle. I wasn't able to go to the Mall for fear someone would have on perfume or cologne. Funeral homes were out of the question because of the above mentioned and the flowers. I was basically home bound. Now my allergist had me on another medication, but it required blood tests every month to check the liver enzymes. So he switched me to Singulair. About a month into the drug, I noticed I no longer needed my rescue inhaler, not even at night, or my steroid-laced inhaler for prevention. I thought this drug was a life restoring miracle. Now having read all these comments, and I have almost all the same side effects,: weight gain, restlessness, restless legs, insomnia, ear infections, tinnitus. Gee, I thought these were all because of my age, and now I see it is my Singulair. I don't know if I am brave enough to try to wean off this drug, because when you can't breath, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS. so .........WHAT DO I DO?

I don't typically write on message boards, but wanted to share my story. I wish I knew about the affects of singular before I gave it to our son.

My 3 year old son was put on Singular and 2 puffers at age 2 1/2. He had chronic coughing and croup and seemed to always have throat infections. Our Family Doctor thought it was seasonal allergies, (and because he was under the age of 6 - no allergy testing can truly be done) so she prescribed Singular. As tired parents of a little boy who didn't seem to sleep through the night any longer, we did as the doctor advised and gave him the medication every night.

Almost immediately, his behavior changed from a happy 2 1/2 year old to a child with severe tantrums (we never experienced this behavior before), terrible night terrors to the point we were having trouble with him going to bed at night and him telling us every day he had leg pain. He would cry and hold his little leg - limping. Our son could speak at a very young age, so he was able to articulate his feelings/reactions to us. We thought we were entering the terrible "2's" late, but through our experience and ours alone I am certain it was the singular. After this I decided to check online only to be overwhelmed with similar reactions to this drug. We immediately stopped giving the drug to him. We had noticed that his tonsils were getting larger and larger and they would often have infected white soars over them. Off we would go to the Doctor who told us it may or may not be strep and prescribe antibiotics, he would complete a cycle of antibiotics and within 10 days the symptoms would return. We demanded we see a throat specialist to see if the coughing/sleep apnea and terrible drooling could be caused by his huge tonsils. He progressively stopped eating his favorite foods and would wince every time we served him meat.

We finally saw a specialist and at first look at our little boys’ throat, the specialist said 2 things: 1) "Let me guess, he will only eat pasta?" - which was the case, apparently it was the only thing he was able to eat without pain; and 2) "I do not know how this little boy isn't acting out more, he has to be in so much pain". The specialist explained that every time he coughed or ate, the infected soars on his tonsils would burst causing nausea and pain. Because it hurt to swallow, saliva would pool in his throat causing his terrible coughing fits. He had his tonsils/adenoids removed 3 weeks after our visit (which isn't done as often as it used to be) and he has been PERFECT ever since. He hasn't had 1 cold, he hasn't coughed one night and he is eating/laughing/playing like the child he was before singular. DO NOT TAKE SINGULAR unless they can conduct the proper asthma/allergy testing appropriate for the child's age. They were medicating my child with the assumption that he MAY have it. The reason for his coughing and wheezing was his enormous tonsils. A procedure which was hard to go through with a 3 year old, but he is truly a different child today.

I trust this information will be helpful to parents in the same situation.

My college age daughter was diagnosed with allergies and asthma last winter. She had a series of allergy test and results were grasses, dust mites, mold, cats, dogs feathers. Her main complaint was shorness of breath during exercise, boxing and lately tennis. She is a very healthy young lady that played tennis, ate healthy and stayed away from pop and junk food. This sudden breathing issue is baftling. She was put on Singular and the lowest dose of Advair. For 9 months she has been taking these meds and they don't seem to help. What's more baffling is that 6 months ago she developed an eye irritation, itching, swelling and redness of the eye lid. She has see 3 opthalmologists and 1 cornea specialist. They've all said it's "dry eye". Fine, but what is the cause.
I am one to read all the package inserts to all medications. As a professional, having sat on two Institutional Review Board for Animal and Medical Research at Henry Ford Hospital, I am well aware of all the possible side effects that can arrise with medications.
Recently I read up on Singular, I am confinced that there is a definite correlation of the eye problem with the Singular. I have told all the doctors and non seemed to want to speak with the allergist or work with him, or even consider that this is a possibility.
I intend to have her stop this medication and hope and pray that this will problem will cease. If any one has had a similar occurance with Singular, please respond.

My 6-year-old was put on Singulair by an allergist after he had allergy testing in October. He first came down with a sinus infection in June and was treated with an antibiotic by our family physician, but the miserable clear snotty nose continued all summer long into September. I had to help him blow it just about every time. I presume it was mold since the mold counts were extremely high here in Virginia this summer. After two months of waiting for an appointment, we finally got in to have allergy testing performed. A week before seeing the allergist, I got frustrated with the whole mess and him missing school so I took him back to the family doctor and she prescribed Allegra suspension (new for kids) and it actually seemed to help a lot!

Well, his allergy testing proved he was allergic to all kinds of molds, cats, dust mites, pine and sweet gum trees, and ragweed. The allergy doctor for sure wanted to blame it on our German shepherds, so he did the intradermal test to double check but the dogs allergy was negative twice.
So, the Dr. decided to try some Singulair 5 mg at bedtime along with the Allegra and told us to mite-proof all his bedding, etc.

I kept my son on the Singulair for about 3 weeks of hell until I put 2 and 2 together. Every morning he was complaining of stomach aches, headaches, leg aches, not wanting to go to school, doing very poorly in school, lethargic, not participating, not concentrating, pulling answers out of his head instead of working out the problems (teacher told me he was lazy...big mistake...that really ticked me off.) I know my child! P.S. She is being observed very carefully by my husband and me as well as the principal and school resource teacher. I attribute this attitude to her youth and having no kids of her own.

Sorry for the long story, but after finding this website while searching for symptoms I had with another snake oil (lisinopril), I decided to research the Singulair side effects everyone has written about and everything just clicked with me. I took him off the Singulair about two weeks ago, and no more complaints of stomach aches, not wanting to go to school, etc.
I asked the teacher during the teacher conference how he behaved last week at school and she said he did wonderfully and participated in class and wasn't lethargic. His grades were even better. I still give him Allegra and that alone seems to do the trick. He is still a little moody though. I sure hope it's not the Allegra doing that to him.

We go back to the allergist at the end of November for follow up and he is going to get an earful! Hopefully with the seasons changing, my little boy's allergies will be better. The snotty noses have almost dried up completely on the Allegra alone. I don't think Singulair should ever have been approved for use in children!!!!

My 8 year old son began using Advair this year after a bout of wheezing sent us to Urgent care. When he was finally officially diagnosed with Asthma this fall, our GP gave us Advair again. My son did great as far as asthma and breathing - didn't need his rescue inhaler once. Unfortunately he gained 8 pounds in 3 weeks and his face and stomach began to look extremely puffy. He also had 3 nosebleeds in quick succession, one when he slept which was a much larger nosebleed than he'd ever had before. I immediately discontinued his use of Advair when I went online and looked at the side effects. Unfortunately I had to talk to the nurses at my clinic several times to explain to them that I was CERTAIN an 8 lb weight gain was not normal and that I was no longer giving this medication to my son, no matter what our GP said. It seems that the clinical trials didn't show weight gain as a significant symptom, but later reporting by doctors has shown it. Doctors don't seem to have this information!

Has anybody had any wird allergies with the Mirena - ie like idiopathic urticaria, angiodema ?

I started taking advair 500/50 about 6mths ago after coming down with really bad cold which later turned into pneumonia. I was on albuterol inhaler 5-6times a day for 3 mths. The advair made a big difference. I'm now on the 250/50 which is great. But I've had increasing problems with anxiety as well as muscle spasms in my hands. My doctor immediately recommended anxiety meds instead even entertaining the idea that it might be the drugs I was on. I refused to take anxiety meds and instead on her recommendation started exercising regularly and have started seeing a phychologist. I also tried Singulair briefly but developed rash on my face and had sudden cold symptoms which went away once I stopped taking it. I'm not crazy, my side effects are real and I'm convinced that the muscle spasms are due to my medication, most likely the advair. Currently I'm on rhinocort, albuterol for emergencies, and advair 250/50. I also had allergy testing done and am very allergic to everything they test for except animal dander i.e. grass and tree pollen, ragweed, mold, both kinds of dust mites. I keep taking my meds, exercising, cleaning regularly, have encased my bedding to control dust mites. I'm also taking allergy shots every week now. The thrush can be avoided if you rinse after every dose of advair. Rinsing is very important - I've had no problems with thrush at all and am now in my 7th month of taking Advair.

My 6 yr. old son was started on Singulair for what
was believed to be exercise-induced asthma back in October 2005. We were only
given a sample pack of approx. 12 doses to try. He originally complained of
headaches and I noticed that it was one of the side effects as listed in the
pamphlet that came with the sample pack. Approximately two weeks later, he was
given a prescription for it at his well visit by his pediatrician (we did
however have a pending appointment to see an allergist for future testing).

I had started to notice some unusual behavior on my son's part (he was making a
slurping-type sound out of the corner of his mouth and he was starting to have
blinking and eye tics - looking up/rolling his eyes/while opening his mouth). I
then stop giving him the Singulair for approximately 2 weeks since we were
planning to see the allergist. I didn't feel right about giving it to him
without actually getting a formal diagnosis yet, plus he still said he was
getting headaches.

I then started second guessing myself and was thinking that perhaps his unusual
behavior/tics were caused by his allergies, so I started him back on the
Singulair.
We met with the allergist and found that he did have seasonal allergies along
with an allergy to dust mites and cats (we have had a cat now for one year), so
obviously they wanted him to continue on the Singulair once daily.

He has been on Singulair regularly now for approximately 1 1/2 months and I have
noticed what my husband and I call tics - he is blinking alot, he still opens
his eyes widely, in the last few days he has started grinding his teeth, tilting
his head toward his shoulder as if he were stretching his neck and I noticed him
today moving his mouth to one side.
Needless to say, my husband and I are scared to death. I only have a small
sense of comfort after reading some of the posts on this site from other parents
who are mentioning possible ticks from Singulair usage. I have been crying my
eyes out daily lately after watching my son's actions. I am fearful that he is
developing Tourette's Syndrome/Disorder and he has an appointment in approx. 2
weeks to see a Neurologist about this problem. I was due to pick-up his next
month's supply of Singulair as I have only one dose left, but I have decided to
stop him cold turkey! I am not going to give him his last dose of Singulair. I
don't know how long it will stay in his system, but I pray to God that this is
the cause and that it is not something worse.

Have anyone else experienced anything similiar to what I am describing? Have
you noticed anything like tics? I would love to hear from someone who has
posted previously about their possible tics with their children and what they
have been experiencing lately? Did you stop using Singulair and if yes, what
have you found? Have the "tics" gone away?

I received a Kenalog shot for a sinus infection on January 14 of this year (2005). The amount of Kenalog was to give me inflammation relief in my sinuses for 6 months. A week later, I received a Decadron (sp?) shot - fast acting steroid for a sever sinus headache.

Since this time, I had allergy testing and found out the culprit to my sinus problems (molds, dust mites, some grasses & trees, ragweed). I have started allergy shots.

But, since I have had the Kenalog & other injections, I have had five heavy menstrual periods in the past 2 months. If I don't keep something in my stomach at all times, it feels as if the bottom falls out. I get really weak. My sugar levels tested fine. I have never experienced this prior to the kenalog. I am now somewhat depressed and get anxious. I also get tingling on the top & back of my head. MRI & CT Scan showed nothing... again, this never happened before the Kenalog & other steroid injections. My TSH thyroid level also came back as being slightly elevated. Again, was normal before injections.

This has been terrible. I would never recommend steroid injections to anyone. I just pray my body gets back to normal in time. But, since it was a six month injection, I just hope it doesn't take that long!

I am a white blonde male, age 43 of about 240 pounds who has always had seasonal allergies and I have taken shots for mold, pollen, dust, etc., off and on for a few years here and there. A few years ago, I guess after the benefits of the last round of shots wore off, I went back to the allergist, I got a cortizone? booster and was turned on to Claritin...and I never looked back. Oh, I would have some rough days or weeks but I could tough it out. Well, within say the last 6 months I developed asthma it appears. I got checked out for allergies again and plan on getting shots again (dust mites, pollen, ragweed, dog, cat) and getting mite 'encasements'. In the meantime, my allergist prescribed Advair 250 diskus and I took my first doze in office. Well, I distinctly recall that same evening being noticeably more irritable and the next day found that 'weakness in the upper chest feeling' and found that where I was not coughing up phlemn (sp?), now I was and it had a bit of yellow (infection) color. I decided right then to stop and to do some research and found this website. I think in this case, I am going to listen to my body and how I feel, and take the experiences of others and NOT use this medicine. Thanks all of you who took the time to post!