Intense sadness symptoms and conditions

Our son started taking Singulair when he was 2 for severe allergic rhinitis and cough variant asthma (in addition to Zyrtec, which didn’t control all of his symptoms). He is 5 now. For the last three years, he has been an increasingly violent, difficult, defiant, argumentative, volatile child who has intense mood swings--one minute he’s laughing uncontrollably, the next he’s weeping over nothing. His doctor and therapist recommended that we see a psychiatrist to have him evaluated for bipolar disorder, which used to be unknown in children. Because he has such chronic sleep problems, the doctor also suggested we take him off Singulair (and increase his Zyrtec dose) to see if it improved his sleep issues. Within a week, he was sleeping much better and was a calmer, happier, gentler boy. He suddenly could take “no” for an answer without flipping out and trying to hurt me. We thought that we were just in an unusual, calm window that would shift either to mania or intense sadness or both, any minute. We also thought that his behavior change might be due to sleeping better. We were enjoying the rare reprieve. Over the last weekend, his springtime allergies really flared up. We gave him Singulair on Monday and by noon, he was completely out of control. I had to strap him into his car seat at one point to keep him from hurting either me or himself. It finally occurred to me that Singulair might be causing his “bipolar” disorder. Of course, we stopped the Singulair. After two days he was a new boy. Yesterday, I Googled “Singulair bipolar children” and got a few hits. I am stunned to read how similar other families’ experiences have been to ours and I feel sick that we gave this drug to our child for three years.

I have been Singulair-free for 11 days now. I do not entertain any more suicidal thoughts, I feel MUCH happier just generally. I have cried, but haven't felt really low, just sad, normal-sad. I do have more difficulty breathing and tightness in my chest, but I am looking into adopting an anti-inflammatory diet. I have exercised more since stopping the Singulair, so I hope that will help long term with my lung function. I would definitely say I would rather feel some tightness in my chest or breathlessness going up stairs than intense sadness and irrational suicidal ideations. This life is much better than the one I had two weeks ago, and I know it's the same life, nothing has changed, just my perspective. I wonder if taking drugs off the market is going to be like putting up stop signs or traffic lights - we have to wait for a significant number of accidents before that move would be warranted. I really can't believe that all those years I thought it was me. I am a whole new person psychologically and it is because of an asthma medicine that is approved for KIDS! Amazing.

I first used the nuva ring in the summer of 2005. I was in a terrible relationship with an alcoholic and not living a very healthy lifestyle. I had good reasons to be depressed and did not link my emotional intensity to my new birth control. I remember, shortly after starting the nuva ring, my depression and helplessness intensified to the point of becoming suicidal. I did not even want to get out of bed and sometimes did not. Then, by some miracle or grace of God, I had a great job offer that took me to a new city. I finally broke from my relationship and bad habits and felt positive I was out of the funk I had been in. However, I often speculated that the nuva ring had something to do with my intense sadness.

In my new life I started dating a wonderful guy and have a great new career. About September 2006 I came off the nuva ring and have been using the rhythm method. We are getting married in May 2008 and my doctor recently put me back on bc so I won't end up huge and pregnant at my wedding. It has been 2 weeks back on the nuva ring, after one year of being off, and I am extremely depressed, full of anger, rapid mood swings (within the hour), crying uncontrollably, deep sadness and loneliness, and feelings of suicide. All in two weeks. Does that sound like a woman who is getting married and has a good career? NO!!!! I just canceled appointments at work and am jeopardizing my job because I feel so out of control. I don't want clients to vibe off of my freak-out, psycho mode. And, although my fiance and I are experiencing typical stress, none of my feelings are being taken serious by him because my behavior is so awful.

Two weeks ago everything in my life was wonderful. Now, it is un-threading. The power of these hormones is too much to handle. When I experience depression with out the nuva ring, I do a great job of countering out my depression with my cognitive behavioral skills. But, on the nuva ring, I feel powerless to control my depression. I am going right now to take out this ring. I do feel like I pushed through the depression the first time. But I had all of these positive things thrown my way. I don't have time for this damaging interference in my life. I'd rather have a baby! So, if you are prone to depression, or depression runs in your family, I would stay far away from the nuva ring. The company who manufactures the nuva ring should conduct more studies about the affects in patients prone to depression. My thoughts of suicide are so casual and vivid I am scared. I am scared a sweet young woman is going to kill herself if they are not educated that the severity of their depression is due to their birth control!