Hugs and kisses symptoms and conditions

I have been reading these posts with a heavy heart. My daughter also has had the same side effects that have been posted. She is 12 now and has been on singulair since two. We now have traced her most severe behavior back to when she was nine and her dose was up to the 10mg.

It breaks my heart, that she has lost several years of a happy childhood. We have grounded the poor child so many times. We have grounded her from summer camp, basketball games, soccer games. We took her off the singulair on Monday and last night was the first time she has volunteered a I Love you in a long, long time.

Just wanted to update everyone reading in. I have been off Singulair for 6 days now and have felt more relaxed and better than I have in a long time. Also, I would like to know how long it has taken for others to not have ANY symptoms after stopping the medication? Just had a bad nightmare. Something I have been having since being on Singulair. Hope this is out of my system soon. Dizziness is still hanging around some too. To the parents with children, please give your child a lot of hugs and let them know how much you love them. I know you allready do, but give them a few more.

I just wanted to post an update on my son. I posted his story on Sunday since hearing about this investigation. He took his last Singulair on Saturday night and every day I see my happy boy coming back! He tells me that he has had a great day at school for the past two days, and that he has decided he isn't as "stupid" as he used to be! He also comes to me for hugs and kisses now and for the last two nights at bedtime he has said he just loves me so much that he feels like he can't stand it and he likes to fall asleep hugging my arm! This has not happened before. He was a loving toddler before he was put on this medication for asthma at three years old. Not long after that he became very hard to please, very sad, at times violent, even throwing metal tonka trucks at his big brother and laughing when he cut him! He has had leg pain, constant stomach pain , night terrors and was convinced that every where we went people just would not stop staring at him...I could go on and on. We went out to eat last night and he did not even notice anyone "looking at him" and was even making cute funny faces at a little toddler at the next table to make him laugh. I am so glad to find this website to see that I am not alone in all this. As for the people who are saying that we are making these claims up, I am not pursuing any action toward anyone on this, I am so happy that my son is returning to normal and no amount of money could replace this feeling! If any other parents would like to email me for support and a shoulder to lean on, feel free to email me. Laura jtolto@aol.com

I can hardly believe what I have read on this board. It is my son's story repeated over and over again and the sad fact is that I never put 2 and 2 together until I saw the news stories last week. My son has been on Singulair for years (he is now 7 years old) along with other drugs for asthma. We recently started taking him to a therapist because of his extreme unhappiness, violent temper tantrums, bad nightmares, many tics, and overall negative attitude. I took him off the singulair 5 days ago and cannot believe the results so far. My son is not affectionate in any way, does not even like a simple pat on the back, no hugs or kisses for sure. Two days ago he came over and gave me a kiss and a hug out of the clear blue. I cannot express enough what this meant to me. I have 3 other children that can't get enough of hugs and kisses, but coming from my 7 year old it just brought me to tears. The hugs have continued and he even told me that he loved me. The therapist had me convinced that he had a sensory deprivation disorder... until now. I cannot believe that until now I have not heard anything metioned in the news and that the medical professionals are so quick to dismiss claims against Singulair.
I am so thankful that I have found this website and for all of the people that have taken the time to include their experiences as it is evidence that there are serious problems when it comes to prescribing Singulair to children. I cannot help but to be saddened when I think of all the years I have lost to this with my son. All the time spent in frustration and tears over what I thought were serious behavior issues on his part. Not to say that I never expect any negative behavior out of a child, but certainly not like I have had to endure in the last years. The last few days have been amazing...I pray it continues. Shame on Merck for not being forthcoming and only keeping their bottom line in mind.

"OH MY GOD"!! Is all I have been able to say since I learned about this on Friday!!! Reading all these posts is just like reading a diary about my 5 1/2 yr old daughter. She was diagnosed with asthma when she was just 2yrs old....continual trips to the ER because she was wheezing, breathing sounded like she had swallowed something and it was lodged in her wind pipe, lethargic, high temp, etc only to be told it was bronchitis, pneumonia, a viral infection etc., until she was referred to the pulmonologist and he told me it was asthma, never the other diagnosis she was given, so he put her on SINGULAIR. Shortly after she started SINGULAIR she became an entirely different little girl. Threw "OUTRAGOUS" tantrums/fits, was "wild", moody, poor attention, uncontrollable, angry, screamed and cried all the time, very defiant.......just this being that I didn't recognize as my sweet affectionate little baby. Even the "please and thank you's" and the hugs and kisses just because eventually slipped away. I sit here today recalling the day that I was at my desk at work and called this doctor's office, spoke to the nurse and said to her..."I think that SINGULAIR is causing her to act like a totally different person, something is wrong, this is what she is doing, and I told her the symptoms, I think it is the medication"!! She spoke with the doc and called me back only to say, "It cant possibly be the medication, it isn't a steroid type med that causes behavioral problems, it has to be something else"! So knowing how well controlled her asthma was on this medication, I "fell for it"....who wants to see their child in such distress with asthma (not knowing that I was in fact right about the med being the culprit)?! Months went by and her behavior got increasingly worse, she would literally whip things off a counter with one stroke of her hand, she has knocked over 20 pound 4 foot high stereo speakers and took a big chunk out of my wall, she has hit and bit, the list goes on and on-keep in mind she was just 2 at the time. She was very unsafe to be allowed to play outside with out being in a fenced in back yard because she would dart to the street and pay no mind to that scared mom yelling for her to STOP, it was like she was in another state of mind, a different person, you could look at her face and see in her eyes, my baby just wasn't there. When she was 3 she got upset at day care lodged a toy at the teacher and jumped over the loft for no reason. She has been knick named "klutz butt" because she has been so unstable on her feet, she trips over her own 2 feet, falls all the time and we just look at her like, how in the world did ya do that---is that related to SINGULAIR as well?!?!? She was diagnosed with sensory processing disorder, worked with an OT/PT, her behaviors got increasingly worse and I had no idea what was going on with her, I took her to see neuropsychologist and was told definite sensory issues, possible obstinate defiant disorder, taught how to do "the hold" when her behaviors got so out of control that either she was going to hurt herself or someone else, she has torn her room and the house apart in these fits of rage, at 4 took her to see a child counselor and told "Oh classic ADHD for sure"! All along I have told people I just don't feel in my heart that ADHD is what is going on with her, I think it is something else...her kindergarten teacher commented that her abilities in school are inconsistent, I note now that after her dose increased she forgot everything she knew academically and people thought I was crazy when I told them yes, she knows her ABC's, can identify numbers, etc! The behavioral things that this girl has done are just sooooo unexplainable and to now see all the posts that others who have loved ones on this drug have dealt with brings some relief to my mind to know that I am not crazy! but it brings deep sadness and anger to know that I suspected it to be the SINGULAIR early on and did not go with my gut and take my child off this drug!! She has been on this med since she was 2, she is now 5 1/2. In September 2007 her doctor suggested she be taken off SINGULAIR and put on Flovent because Flovent covers better......I was too scared to take her off (imagine that) so she did not come off SINGULAIR until January of this year- BEFORE I became aware of the risks. I have a strong glimpse of my baby again.....less and less of these horrendous fits she used to throw, less crying and screaming, her breath doesn't have that wrenched smell, she is doing much better in school, easier to get along with, is happier these days. I am now struggeling with the fact that after these last 3 1/2 years of literal turmoil and having been ridden with such anxiety of raising this child that acted like such a monster thinking that she was always going to be this uncontrollable child with all this anger and it would only get worse as she got older.............it's now a habit of being on the defense all the time, waiting for the next shoe to drop.....but that is over! so now we have to re-adjust our life....this is a horrible feeling to know that this medication has ruined the first forming years in my child's life and strained the bond between her and I.
Where do I go from here??? Do I call her doctor and start screaming at him? Do I call an attorney?? What do I do??? I know what I have done is thank GOD that I have the opportunity now to regain my sweet little baby and pray to Him that there are no lasting side affects from SINGULAIR!!!
If someone knows what it is that we are to do please feel free to comment me.