Good kid symptoms and conditions

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 10 year old son has asthma. His inhaler is not working so the Dr. put him on Singular yesterday. I had him take one right when we got it. I then dropped him off at a friends house. Around 2pm I picked him up. He fell right asleep when we got home. He woke up crying. He proceded to cry & be totally unreasonable for 5 hours (until bedtime). He told us he didn't want to play football & he didn't like it (this from a kid who lives for football). He then proceded to call his coach & quit football. We tried to console him but there was no consoling him. This was all after being on it for less than 12 hours. I think the only reason we noticed this dramatic change in demeanor was because his is normally a very good kid & he instantly became uncontrollable. I then called his friends mom & according to his friends older sister he was 'out of it' for most of the time he was there & kept asking the same questions over & over. Needless to say he will not be taking another Singular pill! I have notified my son's Dr. of this & hopefully they will report it to the company.

My daughter is 12 yrs old and has been on Singulair for about 2 yrs. on and off but since her last Dr.'s appointment and with her breathing results the Dr. told her that she NEEDS to take the SINGULAIR every day. She's been taking it now for about 5 months straight and in the passed 2 months I've noticed a change in her attitude. I, too attributed it to a "pre-teen" thing. It was kind of gradual though, one day I was talking to her and she just blew up at me, which is not like her at all, she started crying and saying that she knows I wished she was never born and so on....I was devastated, this was so shocking to me because she is such a good kid, will help anyone and her and I could always talk with each other. I couldn't believe she thought any of these things because we have such a great relationship together.
Then I noticed that she has put on at least 20-25 pounds since she's been on this and she isn't doing very well in school...I laos attributed this to "the age", she's in 7th grade and I've had numerous meetings with her teacher's who told me that it's just the grade, and how it's a big transition for 7th grader's...now I'm not so sure.
I'm afraid to take my daughter off of this because she has the lungs of a 70 yr. old person...and that scares me. I'm going to have to wait until Monday morning to call her Dr. before I take her off. We've been to the E.R. several times in the last 5 yrs for her asthma and each time has been during the middle of the night, which you would think seeing as though they aren't active at that time that the asthma wouldn't act up until during the day. So as a precaution, I need to keep her on this 2 more days to see what the Dr. says. I'm not a bad mother and if I could, I'd take her off the medication right now, I just hope there's something else they can give her that's safe. I don't want to lose my daughter!