Having a bad dream symptoms and conditions

My nephew is 7 and has been on Singulair for probably 4 years. His symptoms developed over time but recently have exploded. He has epilepsy so most of the things that he has experienced has been blamed on that. However, today his doctor took him off singulair and said he believes his symptoms are caused from the drug. He started having head drop seizures, fell out of his desk and cut his face one day. He has also been depressed, had severe anxiety attacks for the past 8 months. Several months ago, he started having such severe nightmares that it is almost impossible to get him to go to bed and go to sleep. Recently he began "seeing dead people" and "monsters" that we trying to kill him even when he was awake. He has also cried many nights with leg cramps and severe stomach pain. I will update this page in two - three weeks to let you know if these problems go away now that we have stopped the singulair.

Singulair does interact with the astrocyte in the brain.

The role of the cysLT1 receptor (Singulair blocks this receptor) and the astrocyte in the brain has been studied. For anyone from Merck to say that there are no mechanisms by which Singulair can affect the
brain is ludicrous. If the Chinese researchers are correct, then Singulair very clearly affects the brain. Certainly, we don't know exactly how or when the effect would be good or bad. Under what circumstances would it be beneficial and under what circumstances would it be harmful.

For quite a while, researchers have been hypothesizing about the role of the astrocyte in brain function. If we go to look for theories, we will find them. Here is the theory of Dr. Dale Antanitus. I am no here to promote anyone's theory in particular but just to point out that they exist.

http://www.antanitus.com/hypothesis

We can see that the Chinese researchers have gone forward to look at potential links between the cysLT1 receptor (Singulair receptor) and inflammatory response in the brain. The 2008 study showed a link between the astrocyte and the cysLT1 receptor (Singulair receptor)

1: Glia. 2008 Jan 1;56(1):27-37. Links
Activation of CysLT receptors induces astrocyte proliferation and death after oxygen-glucose deprivation.

Huang XJ, Zhang WP, Li CT, Shi WZ, Fang SH, Lu YB, Chen Z, Wei EQ.
Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, People's Republic of China.

We recently found that 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) is activated to produce cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLTs), and CysLTs may cause neuronal injury and astrocytosis through activation of CysLT(1) and CysLT(2) receptors in the brain after focal cerebral ischemia. However, the property of astrocyte responses to in vitro ischemic injury is not clear; whether 5-LOX, CysLTs, and their receptors are also involved in the responses of ischemic astrocytes remains unknown. In the present study, we performed oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) followed by recovery to induce ischemic-like injury in the cultured rat astrocytes. We found that 1-h OGD did not injure astrocytes (sub-lethal OGD) but induced astrocyte proliferation 48 and 72 h after recovery; whereas 4-h OGD moderately injured the cells (moderate OGD) and led to death 24-72 h after recovery. Inhibition of phospholipase A(2) and 5-LOX attenuated both the proliferation and death. Sub-lethal and moderate OGD enhanced the production of CysLTs that was inhibited by 5-LOX inhibitors. Sub-lethal OGD increased the expressions of CysLT(1) receptor mRNA and protein, while moderate OGD induced the expression of CysLT(2) receptor mRNA. Exogenously applied leukotriene D(4) (LTD(4)) induced astrocyte proliferation at 1-10 nM and astrocyte death at 100-1,000 nM. The CysLT(1) receptor antagonist montelukast attenuated astrocyte proliferation, the CysLT(2) receptor antagonist BAY cysLT2 reversed astrocyte death, and the dual CysLT receptor antagonist BAY u9773 exhibited both effects. In addition, LTD(4) (100 nM) increased the expression of CysLT(2) receptor mRNA. Thus, in vitro ischemia activates astrocyte 5-LOX to produce CysLTs, and CysLTs result in CysLT(1) receptor-mediated proliferation and CysLT(2) receptor-mediated death. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

PMID: 17910051

The astrocyte has been studied to see how it functions in the brain. The astrocyte:

1. may perform a role in the physical structuring of the brain
2. may perform a role in providing neurons with nutrients
3. may perform a minor role in the maintenance of the blood brain barrier
4. may perform a role in neurotransmitters
5. may perform a role in the regulation of ion concentration in the extracellular spaces
6. may perform a role in neuronal regulation of blood flood
7. may perform a role in the protection and repair of neurons

TO LIE TO PEOPLE REGARDING THEIR HEALTH IS CRIMINAL AND SHOULD BE PROSECUTED. PEOPLE OUT THERE ARE GETTING SICKER IF THEY ARE EXPERIENCING SIDE EFFECTS BECAUSE MERCK IS LYING. SOME PEOPLE MAY NOT EXPERIENCE SIDE EFFECTS BUT WHY NOT TELL THE TRUTH AND SAY THAT THERE COULD BE SOME PEOPLE WHO HAVE PSYCHIATRIC SIDE EFFECTS BECAUSE THERE IS A PATHWAY FOR THAT TO HAPPEN.

My name is Candyce Donovan and I am a healthy 38 year old ---healthy except for an occasional cold or sinus infection. A few years ago I was put on the drug Singulair to help cure an allergy type infection. I was only on it for a few weeks and discontinued it myself because it was making me worse. Earlier last year, I went to a different doctor for the same type of thing and was put on the drug again. At time while on the drug I had a few "episodes" where my body was shaking while I was sleeping and I thought I was just having a bad dream. Then in August of 2007, I experienced 2 grand mal seizures while sleeping each one lasting about an hour from the time I had the seizure til the time I came out of it... and was in the hopsital for 2 days. I had numerous tests done and things like a brain tumor etc were ruled out, and it was the conclusion of the ER doctors that my seizures were brought on by a very bad case of sinusitis as that was the only thing that showed up on my tests. At that time my sister brought in the medication that I was on at the time...the Singulair...and the doctors said that that would not cause seizures. The Neurologist that I went to disagreed with them and said that we would never find a cause. I continued on the drug until early December , having another seizure in November. I have now since November, moved in with my sister for the 6 months or more that I have been with out my license as in NY state one cannot drive for 6 months after having a seizure....you have to be totally seizure free for those 6 months, and it was the advice of the doctors to not stay alone. I went to see another Neurologist who again said that there would never be a known cause for the seizures, and in fact he diagnosed me with having epilespy/seizrue disorder....up until August I had never had a seizure. An uncle of mine had seizures when he was a baby that lasted until his teens but the Neurologist stated that he didnt think that was passed on to me. With the recent findings with the Singulair drug that are on the website now...I am finding that I have had many of the side effects and I believe this was the cause of my seizures as my seizures co-incided with the frame time I was on the drug.

I was in the hospital for a bowel re-section. On the third day, they switched me to Levaquin because I spiked a fever. I was released four days later (after 2 doses of I.V. Levaquin per day) and sent home with three days worth of pills. Ever since I've taken the Levaquin, I've had horrible shoulder and back pain and feel somewhat neurotic. The doctor said that it's a side effect from Levaquin. I have one day left of the medication and will continue to take it, but I'm curious if anyone else has had mental side effects. All I've read about is the joint and muscle soreness. Please help! It's affecting my sleep and daily routine. I don't recommend this and will not take it in the future (not to mention the cost of the medication!)
thanks

My daughter is 5 years old and has kidney disease. She started taking Lisinopril over a hear ago, 1mg/day to control proteinuera. About 10 weeks ago, they increased her dose to 2 mg/day to control her BP. This is the only med she takes. She seemed to be fine with the increased dosage. A week ago, she woke in the middle of night screaming that bugs were crawling on her. We thought she was having a bad dream but she was very coherent. She went to the bathroom, drank water, listened to a book and conversed with us. She was not at all unresponsive like kids are when having night terrors. Yet, she continued to see spiders and bees and was terrified for a couple hours. Our daughter does not take a pill, her med is compounded in a liquid and we thought the pharmacist might have mixed it improperly. We lowered her dose for three nights until the pharmacist could get us a new batch. She continued to wake up each night seeing bugs but her fear was not as great. She would still be up for a couple hours but she could force herself to think of other things and stop the hallucinations. She's extremely imaginative and my husband had recently taken her to see Bee Movie so we also wondered if she was just imagining these things. After getting the new bottle, she had a worse night. I should have called the pediatrician but I had a very busy day and didn't think of it. During the days my daughter was completely fine and happy. She had none of the reported side effects of Lisinopril. She could recount the events of the previous night and was beginning to worry about going to bed but she was her typical cheerful self. So, I gave her another dose of Lisinopril and that night was absolutely terrible for her and the rest of our family. She had severe hallucinations and thought bugs were everywhere and stinging her. For 40 minutes or so, it was impossible to redirect her attention. She was terrified even when our arms. It took about 3 hours, drinking lots of water, for her to calm down. I talked to our pediatrician again and he concurred that we should stop the Lisinopril. We did so and last night, she slept fine.

My 3 year old was prescribed Omnicef for an ear infection. After the 1st dose he began waking at night with "Night Terrors". I called the doctor's office and they said that this was not a side effect and is common for this age. We continued to give him the medicine and his "Night Terrors" continued every night and every time he woke up from a nap. After the third day of Omnicef he started to become nervous and scared and not as nice as he usually was. He was afraid of the dark and did not want to go to bed. On the fifth day of medication he had 3 episodes of which he was so scared that he was screaming, and shaking and said he was "having a bad dream" but he was awake. I asked him what was in his dream and he pointed to the window and said "there is a monster out there". It was horrible! I called the doctor after the first episode and the nurse said that this was not one of the side effects and to continue the medicine. However, my husband and I decided not to give him any more Omnicef. We told the nurse that we didn't care if it wasn't a side effect and that it was too coincidental that this started exactly when he started taking Omnicef. The doctor would not call in a different antibiotic but said 5 days of Omnicef should be enough for his ear infection and he will see our son in three days for a recheck. Today was the second day without Omnicef and our son seems to be getting back to his normal, happy self. He did not have any scary visions while he was awake today and tonight was the first night that he wasn't afraid to go to sleep. I only hope that it did not do any permanent damage. I think more research needs to be done on the side effects of this medication and I am going to try to contact the makers of Omnicef. I feel that if my sons mental and mood changes are a side effect then it needs to be researched before it happens to any other child. I will never let any of my children take Omnicef again.