Persistent asthma symptoms and conditions

I have been taking singulair for about a year and a half. Honestly I have had no side effects. It works great for me. I have tried to just take my zyrtec for my allergies without the singulair. I notice that if I don't take the singulair I feel shortness of breath and have to use my inhaler. When I combine singulair with my zyrtec I don't even need my inhaler at all. I was reading some of the experiences from other people, I think maybe children shouldn't take singulair at all.

My son (9) was on advair off and on for a while for severe asthma. I noticed depression, anxiety, fatigue and fibromyalgia type pains all over his body. I had him checked for lupus and other diseases and all negative. He also developed a severe rash between his legs causing much pain and discomfort as he had to walk like a bull-legged horse-riding cowboy. Showering often never helped. I assume he has candidis yeast infection(systemic). He was finally put on Prozac and I took him off Advair against my doctors advice. i took him off slowly and your body may need to make it's own steriods and not go into shock. He takes as much albuterol as needed to get him better and then i give him prednisone for 3 days when things become an emergency. tTe prednisone leads my son to anger and suicide but it goes away after he finishes his course, but it saves his life. He is now 13 and much happier and his face and body has thinned out by half. I will never give my son Advair again.

In response to dtrzaski post Im am sending out this question to everyone. We know there have been stool/stomach/weight issues. Are there any other children that it has been discovered to have high cholesterol. My son was discovered to have high cholesterol at around 3yrs old, apprx 6 months after starting Singulair (regardless of a very healthy diet lots of fruit and veggies!) Any thoughts out there?

From 1998 in the US:

Out of 336 children age 6- 14 years old.

"The most common adverse experiences were headache, asthma, and upper respiratory tract infection. Eleven patients were discontinued from the study because of adverse effects."

INDICATION EFFECTIVE IN TREATING ASTHMA IN CHILDREN
Leukotriene blocker offers therapeutic benefit with few adverse effects
CHICAGO—The orally administered drug montelukast, taken once a day, is effective therapy for 6- to 14-year-old children with chronic asthma, according to an article in the April 15 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Barbara Knorr, M.D., of Merck Research Laboratories in Rahway, N.J., and colleagues studied 336 children at 47 outpatient centers in the United States and Canada to determine the effectiveness of montelukast on 6- to 14-year- old children. Montelukast is one of a new class of asthma medications known as leukotriene inhibitors, which block leukotrienes that are produced and released from inflammatory cells. The inhibitors cause narrowing of the airways in the lungs, mucous secretion and increased vascular permeability. Other studies have found that compounds which block leukotrienes can improve asthma control for adults and adolescents.

The children in this study had a history of intermittent or persistent asthma symptoms. Each had a forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) between 50 percent to 85 percent. All the children used short-acting inhaled beta-agonists, as needed, to treat their asthma. After a two-week placebo run-in period, 201 children received montelukast in a five-milligram chewable tablet, taken at bedtime. The other 135 children were given a placebo.

Asthma is the most common chronic illness of childhood, affecting approximately ten percent of children. Each year, approximately 2.2 million doctor visits are make by children seeking treatment for asthma.

The researchers found that montelukast significantly improved FEV1. Several secondary outcomes also improved. They write: "Patients treated with either as-needed beta-agonist alone or inhaled corticosteroids had significant improvement in their asthma control when they received montelukast. ... Though the magnitude of the changes observed appeared modest, they were consistent with those reported in other pediatric trials using currently available therapies."

The researchers found that treatment effects usually occurred within one day after the first dose of montelukast. They write: "Montelukast not only demonstrated a rapid onset of action, but its treatment effects were maintained consistently over time. There was no evidence of tolerance in this or a prior adult study, suggesting that montelukast continues to be effective in the long-term treatment of asthma."

Among other findings of the study:

· Montelukast demonstrated a significant improvement in daily as-needed beta-agonist use, and in the percentage of days and percentage of patients with asthma exacerbation.

The effects of montelukast were similar across age, sex, race and other subgroups.
Patients receiving montelukast reported significant improvements in the physical and emotional aspects of their lives.

The most common adverse experiences were headache, asthma, and upper respiratory tract infection. Eleven patients were discontinued from the study because of adverse effects.

The researchers conclude: "Overall, the results of this study suggest that montelukast would be a well-tolerated and effective therapeutic option to current asthma therapies in 6- to 14-year-old patients."
(JAMA. 1998;279:1181-1186)

Note: This research was funded by Merck & Co., Inc.

My 15 y.o. daughter has has first hand experience with weight gain on Advair. About 6 years ago at about 9 y.o., she gained 20 lbs in 6 months - and it started happening exactly when she started the drug. She was very active (swim team, gymnastics, etc) and did not overeat. It is very frustrating that both her pediatrician and her asthma/allergy specialist deny that her small dose of Advair is to blame.

For some reason, and I have talked to others that this has happened to, switching to Singulair did not help her with the weight problem. Seems the people who are hypersensitive to inhaled steroids are also sensitive to Singulair. Concerned about her rapid weight gain, and because she was always so thin, I took her to an endocrinologist to rule out any other problems. After a lot of bloodwork, he concluded that he could not rule out that it was a side effect of the Advair and/or Singulair, and that they may have elevated her blood sugar. I have read tons and tons of postings on the internet about children & adults rapidly gaining weight from inhaled corticosteroids (i.e. Flovent, Advair), along with the round face, bloated stomach, stretch marks, thin skin, easy bruising, etc. but nobody ever says what happens after stopping any of these drugs. Do people ever go back to normal? Do kids look like themselves again? Do any of the side effects disappear?

She is now 15 y.o. and cannot reverse her weight gain no matter what (30 lbs overweight). The last 2 years, she has only been on a small dose of Pulmicort (a different class of corticosteroid even safe to take when pregnant) since she has mild persistent asthma, and allergy shots have helped trememdously. My husband and I have been looking for 6 years now on how to avoid our daughter's weight gain with asthma drugs. If you run into any info., please let us know. Any experiences or info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I have severe persistent asthma which is sometimes induced by allergies. I am on Advair, Singulair, Allegra, Veramyst, Protonix, Prednisone, and Duonebs on a daily basis. I can also add in my MDI or my epipen as needed(I have anaphylaxis also, hence the epipen). I am prescribed to use the Duonebs every 6 hours every day no matter what, and I can increase it to every 4 or every 2 hours as needed. Due to the frequent use of Albuterol my potassium and magnesium levels are very low. The potassium level being low causes me to have extremely painful cramps in my calfs and the small of my back and irritability, and the magnesium level being low can then cause my asthma to be even worse. These are the long-term side effects that I have experienced, the short-term side effects include jitters, dizziness, headache, and elevated heart rate (my heart rate almost never raises, and yet after a Duonebs treatment one time my heart rate would jump from 70 to 130 to 70 all in a 10 second period of time). I do not like using Duonebs, and if I had a choice I would not, but it is the only thing that has given me any relief from my asthma. My MDI (Metered Dose Inhaler) side effects are limited to being jittery, and this has been eliminated by using a spacer chamber which my doctor prescribed and was completely free, I just had to pick it up at the pharmacy. The spacer chamber delivers the medicine more efficiently to your lungs instead of allowing some of it to go down the back of your throat into your stomach.

I am horrified to read what awful side effects some kids have had from Singulair. My 4 year old is on Singulair since December 2006 (slightly persistent asthma - cough after exercise).
My observations are - child is hyperactive. For the first month it was fine, but now for the last month his behavior is not as usual. He is active biy but not hyperactive!!! I took him off for 5 days and things went back to normal. However, I should admit his cough has dissapeared.... don' t know what to think, will be talking to doctor.