Facial muscles symptoms and conditions

My 5 1/2 year old son began taking 4mg Singulair in the p.m. and an inhaler (asmanex) in the a.m. We were still having trouble controlling the asthma and his Sing dose was raised to 5mg. & within 1 week of the increase he began having terrible facial tics and aggravated behavior (defiant, poor listening, easily frustrated and angered) The tics were in the form of opening and closing his mouth, as if you were trying to clear your clogged ears after a plane flight. This caused him much pain in his jaws and facial muscles, so he would tic and then cry as he was in pain. This ramped up his anxiety and it made the ticking worse. He has been off of all asthma medication (cold turkey) for 5 full days. He has episodes where the tics happen for 10 min -1/2 hr, other times during the day it is one here and one there. He does not want to leave the house to do anything, even his favorite activities. Thank god I found this site (and others like it), as I got some answers and some hope. We went to see my cousin this week who is a neurologist and he never heard of the correlation of Singulair and neurologic side effects like these. He said that (hopefully) the medication side effects will cycle through and resolve the ticking and behavioral changes. If not we are probably looking at a Tic Disorder which is in the Tourettes Family.He put my son on a very low dose of Klonopin to mellow out his anxiety and help reduce the tics, but has only been on it for 1 1/2 days and it usually takes a wk or 2 for full absorption and results.I have since sent him and my pediatrician and allergist links to this site and others. I think that I see some improvement in my son, yesterday I thought he did better and my husband thought it was a worse day, I think we have totally lost our perspective and objectivity on this. If anyone out there has a time frame on when they saw significant recovery and positive changes I would love to hear from you. This is a total nightmare and if it is this drug, someone is going to pay. My prayers go out to all who are going thru this.

An element of the side effects of Singulair that are listed here are musculo-skeletal symptoms. Quinolones such as levaquin are known to cause those issues. Singulair is a quinoline, while not the exact same category, their roots are similar. It makes the possibility that the symptoms have a common cause worth pursuing.

Here is an example of some poor rats in Tokyo that were selected to prove that the symptoms in humans were real. Maybe we should tell the levaquin board that at least some of their problems have been known since 1997.

1: Toxicol Pathol. 1997 Nov-Dec;25(6):635-43.Links
Toxic effects of quinolone antibacterial agents on the musculoskeletal system in juvenile rats.Kashida Y, Kato M.
Drug Safety Research Laboratory, Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. JDN07402@niftyserve.or.jp

Quinolone antibacterial agents have adverse effects on the musculoskeletal system in humans, consisting mainly of myalgia and arthralgia, and additionally of tendon disorders and rhabdomyolysis. The present study was conducted to examine the toxic effects of quinolones on the musculoskeletal system in juvenile rats using light microscopy, 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. Single oral administration of 900 mg/kg pefloxacin (PFLX) or levofloxacin (LVFX) was found to induce lesions in the muscle + fascia, tendon + sheath, and synovial membrane, in addition to articular cartilage in the fore- and hindlimbs. Articular cartilage lesions were not necessarily associated with changes in the muscle, tendon, and synovial membrane, or the reverse. Among all lesions, the ankle and elbow showed the highest incidence and severity. Changes were more severe in the PFLX than in the LVFX group. Lesions in the muscle + fascia, tendon + sheath, and synovial membrane were similar and characterized by edema and increased number of mononuclear cells, many of which were positively stained with BrdU, as well as vascular endothelial cells in the Achilles tendon sheath and synovial membrane in the ankle. Electron microscopic examination revealed an increased number of fibroblasts and macrophages and collagen deposition in the matrix of the synovial membrane and tendon sheath. Capillary endothelial cells were hypertrophied, increased in number, and stratified. These results suggest that quinolones have toxic potentials in the muscle, tendon, and synovial membrane in addition to articular cartilage, and that local vascular hyperpermeability may contribute to the development of these lesions.

PMID: 9437810

The side effects I have been experiencing during the 5 yrs I have taken this drug are: Exploding in my head huge popping noises, electric like shockes throughout my body esp while trying to sleep. If I happen to skip a dose I know immed. because my eyesight will become all fuzzy, my thinking is fuzzy..and I have the feeling of rusty wheels in my eyes and head. When ever I turn my head from side to side, blink or move my facial muscles I have the feeling of a rusty door being opened along with the noise. Recently I could not converse with my kid (23ysold) because of the bad side effects. Could not concentrate.
Started taking Effexor to help with depression related to constant pain. It did help but the side effects are too much and they have caused me to be in trouble for the first time on the job. I have been employed by the same company for 16 yrs and now I am beginning to get into trouble because 1) can't show up on time I am sooo tired in the am
2) can't get to sleep at night...takes about 45 min to 1:30 min to fall asleep
3) Exema on my legs, arms, hands
4) lack of ability to make good decisions, lack of clear thinking
5) what the hell happened to my eye sight, can't even read a book at night anymore!!!
However I love the dreams!! Like going to a movie every night, some don't make any sense, but others have wonderful people with great experiences in them. Maybe I should sleep all the time and live in dream land.!!??

Don't start with this med if at all possible. The thing is they (pharmacist, dr. etc) never told me of the side effects that I have been experiencing except for the dreams. There has got to be a class action law suit against the makes of Effexor but I can't find it on the WEB. If anyone knows of a class action law suit I can join, or wants to start one please e mail me at ****** thanks

I have been experiencing multible side effects loss of speech, word loss, memory loss, twitching of facial muscles around mouth, eyes, nose itching, facial skin feeling like it is moving and crawling. I need people to repeat information to me several times before I get things yet some other senses seem to be improving. I having serious problem with blurring vision I see no one has noted this problem and was wondering if it would go away too or would it do permanent damage? I am not losing weight from taking this medication either but I only take 100mgs afraid of an increase because of the blurred vision.

I was given Reglan in the hospital after I had antireflux surgery and I immediately began to go into a seizure. I couldn't talk. I started to loose control of my facial muscles. And then I start grinding my teeth very hard. I had to take a dose of valium to reverse the reactions