Night terror symptoms and conditions

I have been taking ambien for about five years. I have experimented with 5mg, 10mg and ambien CR, and mixing small doses (5mg or less) with one Advil PM. Mixing the two worked very well for a while. All I want is to feel rested and sharp during the day. I have been known to cook elaborate meals and make a MESS in the kitchen only to wake up the next morning with chicken burrito all over my bed with me. I have also sent emails and made calls I don't remember. I also... and this is the worst... did some online shopping and bid on many EBAY items that I had no memory of. When you wake up and your credit card is laying next to your computer on the bed... your in big trouble.

My son is almost 6 yrs old. He has been taking Singular for approx 3 years, in addition to Claritin and Nasonex. This is all for his allergy to mold. His doctor started him on these meds after a 6 month episode with sinus infections leading to asthma-like symptoms. We have not noticed anything unusual about his behavior until approx 3 months ago. He started waking up every night (2-3 hours after going to bed) with bad dreams. At first he would not fully awaken and fall back asleep immediately. After a month or so of this happening most nights, he had two nights in a row where he woke up screaming and was inconsolable for about 30 minutes. We initially thought it was night terrors, but he was not scared or fearful, he was just upset/angry. He would hit the bed repeatedly and yell. He didn't know what he was upset about but would talk about how he thought we hated him, he was dumb, etc. After about 30 min he would 'snap out of it' and return to his normal self and go back to sleep easily.
At first we thought these were night terror brought on by a recent fever, but he had another episode last night. He has also been falling apart at the littlest things and getting quite violent (for a 6 yr old). He was sent to his room yesterday evening because he was complaining about the dinner his mom made (lots of complaining these days..). He had a total melt down an started throwing things and hitting the door so hard he put a hole in it.
Some of this behavior I would chalk up to normal kid stuff, new baby brother, etc. But I am suspicious about the negative thoughts, bad dreams, and instant melt downs... I stopped giving him Singular today and we will see what happens. God bless you all as we figure these things out...

My 6 year old daughter has been off the Singulair for 5 days, after being on it for like 4 years. I have noticed some big changes for the positive... but she is still yelling at me when I have to get her up for school...and ight before bed. She is falling asleep a little better, and waking up less. But this screaming is so bad. I need to videotape it so people will believe me..as to how bad it is! Anyone else have some side effects still left, or did the all go away right away?

I just contacted CNN to give them a tip/heads up to our message board so that they can consider doing a news story about this situation to raise awareness. Please send them your concerns and personal story to:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form11b.html?2
If enough of us email them, they will start to listen.

Lourdes
Mother of Julian
(severely affected by Singulair use)
Suffered severe head drops seizures, obsessive compulsive and agressive behavior and night terror and hallucinations.

Repeating Our Story:

Repeating my post from way down below - IN CASE someone's child with these head drops is looking for someone with similar symptoms. WELL - Thank God! It is so about time! My son, age 6 now was given a very grim outcome/future by two top pediatric neurologists 2 years ago when he started having not the typical seizures we associate with epilepsy (no epilepsy in our family) - his head would drop forward - like his muscle tone in his neck would collapse for a few seconds and he would literally bang his head on tables (this was when he was 3.5 yrs old) - my husband and I always knew in our heart of hearts it WAS THE SINGULAIR he had been taking for 1 year after he had a bad coughing spell the year before - not formally diagnosed with asthma - but the pediatricians insisted it would only benefit him to continue to take it. When we noticed these head drops and his eyes would at times roll back in a matter of just a second or two and he was the most loving, caring and affectionate child and turned into an aggressive and obsessive compulsive child, who also began to have HALLUCINATIONS at night - he would sit up in bed and be seeing things and scream and cry, WE JUST KNEW IT WAS THE SINGULAIR and we stopped it COLD TURKEY on Oct. 31st 2005 - against the advice of the pediatrician. We took him to a neurologist and we told him about our suspicions about the Singulair he, just like the pediatrician brushed it off, but he had an MRI and an EEG - the MRI came back normal, but the EEG was devastating!!! We were told to get ready and pray alot - that our little boy would become a vegetable and would require assisted living for the rest of his life. That he had a rare form of seizure disorder for which there was no cure. We took him then to Duke University Hospital and had him checked by the top pediatric neurologist for a second opinion - he gave him another EEG and the diagnosis from this dr. was even worst - he would probably die an early age due to the severity of his condition and that he would lose all his motor skills and regress to a vegetable. Those were the worst days of our lives. We went back home and put him on anti-seizure medication and prayed ALOT - even strangers added him to their prayer list. Well, the seizures stopped in late January 2006 and just last March of 2007 he had another EEG and it was NORMAL - he was weaned off the anti-seizure medication and is thriving and his a great kindergarten student. Doctors cannot explain how he was cured - there is just no explanation. Aside from the faith we have in God's hand in this cure, we just KNOW THAT STOPPING THE SINGULAIR saved him from further damage and probably loss of life. He is the most affectionate and caring little boy you can imagine and I do want to point out that his speech was affected in our hearts, we know it was the Singulair but in the last year his speech has improved dramatically and he is doing just fine. My husband and I have been struggling to get awareness about the dangers of Singulair and children but the doctors do not believe us. At our last appointment with the pediatric neurologist, I told him, "one day, you will see that we were right about our suspicion regarding Singulair". I do want to add that it was just too much coincidence that when he went for his first EEG in Dec. of 2005, there was another little boy in the room next door that his parents suspected Singulair as the culprit too. If anyone wants to email me and if there is anything I can do to help with my own personal testimony - please email me starwedd2@aol.com - I will be glad to share any other information. LET'S RAISE AWARENESS TOGETHER and stop more damage from occuring. Remember, my son (post is far down) almost became a vegetable and was given a grim prognosis by 2 pediatric neurologists including the top one at Duke. No cure we were told. But we always knew it was Singulair. He was cured and there is no medical explanation. Had he continued to take it he would be the vegetable they had predicted he'd become. Okay, I just emailed DATELINE NBC - please be sure to submit your children's adverse reactions story to them - here is the email address: Dateline@NBCUNI.com I also tried emailing ABC for PrimeTime and 20/20 but they use regular snail mail for story suggestions - please do your part and mail out your story to them at: To submit a story idea to one of the ABC News shows listed below, write a single page letter including your name, phone number, and address. Include photocopies of backup information. On the outside of the envelope, write "Story Idea." If a producer is interested in your story, he/she will contact you. Here are the show addresses: 20/20 147 Columbus Avenue New York, NY 10023 Primetime 147 Columbus Avenue New York, NY 10023 Together we will do something to help avoid more tragedies I went ahead and reported our experience online to the FDA: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/medwatch_online.cfm

I have a 10 year old daughter who took Singulair from age 3 until this past November. She has severe asthma/allergies. When she was 6 the night terrors started I informed the pediatrician of this, but they said she probably had sleep apnea. Her concentration level kept her in trouble in school. I never considered that it might be the Singulair. She developed a speech problem and the school speech teacher referred us to a speech pathologist because they thought she might have vocal fold dysfunction. Several specialists later, we wound up at an allergist's office who IMMEDIATELY took her off of Singulair stating that it was a dangerous drug and should have never been prescribed to her.

Her health has IMPROVED off of the singulair and we are doing allergy shots and symbacort with allegra. I wish I could have saved her the emotional roller coaster ride - all because of this drug.

MY LITTLE GIRL HAS BEEN ON SINGULAR FOR A WEEK AND EACH DAY SHE HAS GOTTEN A LITTLE BIT CRABER AND DIDN'T WANT TO GO TO KG.WHICH SHE LOVES OR DANCE CLASS .TWO DAYS AGO SHE WOKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND SAID HER EAR HURT, SO I GAVE HER SOME TYLENOL AND AFTER 1HR AND HALF SHE WENT BACK TO SLEEP.FRI. NIGHT SHE WAS ON THE FLOOR NEXT TO HER BED SCREAMING AND CRYING LIKE SHE WAS HAVING A NIGHT TERROR (SHE HAD THOSE ALL THE TIME WHEN SHE WAS LITTLE BUT HAS OUT GROWN THEM) SHE KEPT SAYING SHE WANTED TO GO HOME AND HER ARM HURT ,I GOT HER TO GO BACK TO SLEEP AND HOUR LATER SHE WAS UP SCREAMING AGAIN.TODAY SHE GOT UP AT 8 AND WAS LAYING ON COUCH BY 9:30 SLEEPING WHEN SHE WOKE UP SHE HAD 102.3 FEVER AND I KNOW NOW THAT IT IS THE MED. BECAUSE WHEN OUR THEN 2YR OLD (NOW 3) WAS PUT ON THIS MED. HE GOT A FEVER AND HUGE SORES ON HIS TOUNGE AND WAS COMPLETLY MISARABLE THE DOC.KEPT SAYING THAT HE HAD MONO AT 2 NOT. I TOOK HIM OF THE MED. AFTER I FIGURED OUT THAT WAS WHAT IT WAS AND HE HAS BEEN FINE SINCE .I SHOULD OF NEVER LET THEM PUT MY 6 YR. OLD LITTLE GIRL ON IT .

My 18 month old son has also had night terrors since starting Omnicef. He is usually a pretty relaxed little guy but if he does get upset about something we are able to calm him with cuddles, singing, distraction, etc. However, the last four nights (starting the first night he began the Omnicef) he has experienced constant, terrified screaming and can not be consoled no matter what we try. It is horrible to watch him suffer and not be able to help. It is especially hard since these episodes have lasted for more that an hour at a time. The timing of these episodes and the start of the medication was too coincidental that we did research on Omnicef at 3am last night after finally getting him back to sleep. None of the "official" Omicef information revealed anything about night terror side effects. My husband was insistent that the coincidental timing was too unlikely. So, he googled Omnicef and Night Terrors in the same search and lo and behold, he found this site with all these postings (as well as many other websites) from other parents with the same experience. I am convinced that this is a true side effect and that it should be included in the medicine's literature. For all those parents who have written about their skepticism because they have not experienced the same things, I suggest being thankful that their children have not suffered and recommend not simply dismissing the possibility of a problem with Omnicef because they have not experienced it first-hand.

I have been off birth control since 2003. I had been taking Alesse and started to get terrible mood swings and horrific nightmares. I quit taking the pill all together and felt great. I recently decided to try the pill again. My doctor put me on Yasmin as a day 1 start. I started 3/11/06, I instantly gained weight, had terrible mood swings, headaches, breast tenderness and unstoppable "break thru bleeding." The final straw was when I woke myself and my boyfriend up with blood curling screams from a night terror. That was it, I quit cold turkey. The last day I took the pill was 3/26, since I wasn't on it very long I'm hoping I won't have any side effects while it gets out of my system however I have noticed that I have been extremely clumsy. I've been constantly dropping things, spilling things and I have even went so far as to cut my hand while washing dishes to the point of needing stitches. Has anyone ever had anything like this happen to them?

I repeat what I've seen here in so many posts. I can't believe it took so long, how did I not realize, my poor child has suffered etc... etc... His side effects were: restless sleep, night mares, NEVER slept through the night. Less and less willing to go to bed at all. Combative, aggressive, began biting, short tempered. Extreme and rapid mood swings, physical, throwing toys and household items. Disinterested in socializing with other children, afraid to be with anyone other than immediately family. Poor self image ("I'm a bad boy"). Plus others.
I have a similar story to many. My 3 year old has been on Singulair for over a year. He had sleep disturbances early on, but the doctor changed the time to administer the dose and it improved... at first. The unfortunate thing I have realized with this medication is that the side effects are gradual and varied. This makes it difficult to make a connection especially in small children. It wasn't until he had a frightening 4 hour night terror episode last week that something clicked, I did a web search, found this website and realized it was probably the singulair. I stopped giving it to him immediately. Within days his behavior improved. Within 2 nights he began sleeping through the night, his personality is completely opposite of what I've dealt with for the last year. He is evolving each day and while I feel guilty for not catching it sooner, I am so elated to watch him shine. I thank all of you for sharing this information, without it I may not have yet realized that my son was suffering.

I contacted the company and they said that all these things have been reported "after marketing" what this means to me is that salespeople can market this to the medical community and not mention theses side effects because they did not occur (or were not documented) during the trial period. I suggest that you share your story with your friends and get the word out. If this medication works for a patient that's great, but I think patients/consumers have the right to know what they may be getting themselves into.