Extreme reactions symptoms and conditions

My husband had a cyst on his face. His primary doctor gave him Bactrim. The first week was fine, but then he got really sick and had to to go the ER. He was doubled over in agony, screaming, nausea. He was admitted. They scoped his stomach, CAT scan, X-rays. He got better ('cause he stopped it while in the hospital). They discharged him with a script for MORE Bactrim. He took it and ended up back in the hospital!

He has thrown it all out. He had chills, aches, he moved like a 90 year old man. He was very sick to his stomach with agonizing stomach and abdominal pain. He's still moving really slow and feels terrible. He says he can't taste anything sweet, either. We hope that resolves soon.

A couple of years ago I tried Singulair due to problems with oral yeast infections from my inhaler. I'm a athletic, health conscious 46 year old woman with a high-burn hypoglycemic metabolism, and often have unusual and extreme reactions to food and medications. I hallucinate on Diet Coke, for example. I waited until the weekend to try Singulair just in case I reacted, and it was a good thing I did. I slept about 10 hours in three days, and when I could sleep I had bizarre dreams. I felt like an ADHD woman having a manic episode! My boyfriend noticed behavioral changes right away, and fortunately he did all the driving that weekend! I stopped the drug on Sunday, and was barely able to sit up at work by Monday afternoon. The next weekend I broke the pills into quarters, but had the same problems even with only a fourth of the dose. Once all the drug was out of my system, which didn't take long, I was fine. I went back to my Claritin and Pulmacort Turbuhaler, and I've been fine ever since. I'm both surprised and not to find Singulair causes similar reactions in others. I thought it was just my strange metabolism, but apparently not. This is a sad, cold comfort way to find out I'm not as freakish as I thought. My condolences and best wishes to everyone dealing with children and family members on this drug and/or going through withdrawal.
P.S. I never drink soft drinks anymore, or eat or drink anything with artificial sweeteners, either.

I see posts from people saying that they are not experiencing any negative side effects. That's wonderful--if you or your child can take this medication without any problems, go for it. Yes, the boards for other drugs do list extreme reactions, but if you look around, you won't find many with as many postings as this Singulair board has. I was shocked by how many postings there are here. And yes, this board had over 1000 posts even before the news story broke yesterday. I came here back in late February concerned only about my son's insomnia; only after reading the other posts did I realize that many of the other things I had been concerned (depression, fits of rage, exhaustion) could be linked to this drug.

If it works for you or your child, wonderful. Many people probably won't be affected at all by these negative side effects. But there are millions of people on Singulair. If only 10% have the serious side effects, that would be **hundreds of thousands of people**.

No side effects here - my 5 year old has been on Singulair since he was 2 1/2 and has showed no strange symptoms outside of those of a normal 5 year old boy. He has asthma and severe allergies - including a nut/peanut allergy. He also takes Zyrtec in the Spring and Summer seasons (heavy allergy time for him). Gets good grades in Kindergarten and has never had emotional/behavioral issues at school or at home. I am shocked to hear that people are having these extreme reactions! Although, it seems that there are always going to be reactions to ANY drug out there - go to any of the boards on any drug and you will find people with extreme reactions. Singulair has saved my sons lungs, and possibly his life.

NAUSEA!!!! I had been prescribed Levaquin back in January of this year for something (don't remember what) and must have had some kind of reaction since there are still some left in the bottle. 5 days ago I was given it again and have had nausea so extreme that 50mg of Phenergan won't touch it. I've found the nausea dissipates somewhat after about 12 hours and decided to try taking it before going to bed last night...wrong move! After a night of virtually no sleep and feeling like a hole was being eaten in my stomach, I am up this morning at 3am with worse nausea and horrible acid indigestion and reflux. I guarantee I won't be taking another. This drug was prescribed for sinusitis, bronchitis, gastroenteritis and believe it or not, rotavirus (I am 50 years old)! I truly feel for those of you who have had more extreme reactions than mine and I guess I'm happy for those it has worked for, but for me nausea stops me cold in my tracks. Guess I'll go for the bottle of Pepto, yuk.

I read the postings on this board when I was first prescribed 21 days of Levaquin, 500 mgs. I was scared to death after reading the postings here.

However, for those that are doing the same, I would like to say: I haven't had any severe adverse reactions. I do not have a metallic taste in my mouth, nor do I have any digestion problems. I do not ache any more than usual ... I have no problems sleeping. The first day or two I may have been a bit more anxious than usual, but not anymore.

Additionally I was on a Caribbean cruise last week and had no extreme reactions from the sun. I did not lay out in the sun, but of course it was impossible to totally avoid it since I was outside most of the day in the 90 degree weather.

As far as the effectiveness .... I'm not quite sure it's been as effective for me as other antibiotics. I am taking it for the onset of a sinus infection which I caught pretty early. One of my glands is still somewhat swollen -- but I am going to the doctor after my prescription runs out for a check-up.
The doctors are reluctant to prescribe any med from the 'cillin family because I am allergic to cephalosporins.

Just thought I'd add my two cents.