Pulmicort symptoms and conditions

Last Tuesday, my son was prescribed Singulair by our pediatrician. He was also prescribed Pulmicort by nebulizer at the same time. Within a couple of days, I was noticing a dramatic change in his personality. He's only 21 months old and normally a very happy, lovable, easygoing little boy. He did a complete 360. By Friday, I had to take a day off from work, as I was too scared to send him to daycare. He took his last Singulair chewable tablet on Friday night. Saturday was his worst day by far. I was in shock by his behavior. He was extremely aggressive, punching and slapping anyone who came near him, he was throwing things, throwing himself into walls, etc, just completely out of control. I contemplated even taking him to the hospital, but then started doing some research online. I had my mother contact a pharmacist whom we trust, who advised for us to stop the Singulair, as if he was having any side effect, it would more than likely be from that. On Sunday, I started to see some changes in him. Yesterday he was getting back to normal. Today, he's that much better. We actually went back to the pediatrician this morning and I'm actually thinking of filing a formal complaint against the dr. as he basically swore up and down that his side effects weren't from the Singulair. Well as a parent, does anyone really think I'd want to put my child thru this?? It may be different if he had behavioral issues prior to this, but this came completely from left field. I am beyond upset right now, pissed off that this drug can be on the market. How many children have to be affected??? This is very scary to me. My son was only on Singulair 4 days, and I feel guilty and angry that he had to go through even that short period of time on the drug. And then to have a pediatrician basically discount me and say that it has nothing to do with singulair is a complete slap in the face! I won't stop speaking out against this drug and hopefully it will inform other parents of these harmful consequences!!!!

My son is 3 and has been on Singulair since around springtime (I think... I've lost count). Anyway, during this summer we noticed his behavior had just gone straight to hell. At first I was attributing it to the wonderful world of the three year old, but it was just getting ridiculous. He was having countless meltdowns, screaming bloody murder (I mean SCREAMING to the point of going hoarse), hitting, punching, slamming, banging, crying hysterically for ridiculous reasons, yelling out during the night, and showing OCD behaviors. I was fearing that he might have ADHD/OCD until my husband stumbled upon this website. I remember hearing stories about teenagers having horrible side effects from singulair, but didn't think it was affecting my son at 3. As I read the entries on this website I felt like they were talking about my son.

I am taking him off of it to see what happens, but now I'm nervous that his asthma will flare. He's had quite a few asthma episodes since the fall allergy season has started. I suppose he'll need to go for awhile to get everything out of his system to see if the behavior changes, and then I hope to find a new preventative. We have Pulmicort and Xopenex and an inhaler ready!

*UPDATE* Well, it hasn't quite been two weeks since I've taken James off of Singulair and - I am not kidding you - his behavior improved the FIRST day. I want anyone who reads this to know that I am not an "alarmist", I DON'T freak out over everything I read, I do a lot of research (kind of obsessive myself :), so please understand that I am not one to usually write things like this...I mean, I pushed my allergist to give it to him in the first place! There are plenty of kids out there that are fine on Singulair, but some are not. I didn't make the connection to the Singulair since the average three year old is irrational and unpredictable anyway, but I KNEW something wasn't right. It wasn't just tantrums and whatever, his overall personality had done a 180. In the last two weeks my son has returned. He still, of course, has three year old moments, but he is back to the caring, loving, curious, excited, social, happy kid I had last year. One of the worst things we were seeing two weeks ago was bedtime behavior. BAD OCD behaviors - everything in his room had to be PERFECT. The curtains couldn't have a peek of light shining through, there could be nothing on the floor, everything had to be in order. He would obsess about things (creatures) coming into his room, when we would say goodnight and close the door he would scream and cry like someone was stabbing him and was petrified. The FIRST night that we stopped the Singulair he laid his head on his pillow, said goodnight and went to sleep. Please keep an eye out for personality changes in your kids.
*November update* it's been almost two months since we took James off Singulair and we haven't seen ONE BIT of the horrible behavior that we had w/ the Singulair! Normal "three-year-old moments", but no return of the "devil child", no OCD, nighttime freak-outs, violence, or any of it.

4 yr. old son on Albuterol and Pulmicort for asthma triggered by allergies and colds. He is off of both during the summer, once he goes on the medication for the allergy season he experiences mood swings, violent tantrums, is confrontational, basically his personality changes. We have tried reducing the dose and cutting out one medication or the other with the same effect, the symptoms persist. We feel we have no choice because of the severe asthma attacks.

I have a 26-month old grandson who has been on Singulair for "27 DAYS". His pediatrician knows that his immune system is already compromised due to some developmental delays. However, before he started taking his Singulair he was a very happy, funny and loving child. Within 2 weeks on this medicine we started to notice a few changes in him. He started waking up at night "screaming" and he has been sleeping through the night for at least a year now. And when his mother would go in to get him out of his crib, he would be so frightened and afraid to leave her side. It would take her a very long time to settle him down and put him back down for the night. At the same time, he started not wanting to drink his normal daily glasses of milk or eat his regular meals. He was simply a mess most of the day and would fuss, cry, bang his head and we were having a very hard time trying to figure out what was wrong with him. He is not yet talking due to his delayed speech, so he could not tell us what was going on. Yesterday, I told my daughter let's look at the side effects of Singulair since it was the only thing that had changed within the last few months. When I found this site, I could not believe what the parents/grandparents were saying about their children on this drug. We immediately took him off Singulair. This will be his second day without being on the drug. According to my pharmacist, it will take approximately 50 hours for it to get out of his little system. The pharmacist had not heard the latest that aired on the TV station, so she asked me to call her back in a few days to tell her how my grandson is doing. Parents should be able to trust the medications that are prescribed by their Pediatricians, especially at such young ages. My daughter is REALLY UPSET and has a call into my grandson's doctor. Thank God I found this website. I simply searched on "side effects of Singulair in children" and this site came up. I do believe the Lord is watching over my grandson. Thanks.

Have been experiencing the same serious behavioral issues (screaming, launching every toy he has out of his room, knocking over his night stand, hitting, kicking and just being hateful) with my 4 year old who has been on Singulair for 2 years as I'm noticing many of you have here. My wife and I have a wonderful relationship and happy home and tons of love and support from other family that's close buy so the kid has a very nice environment. We have taken him off the medication as of yesterday. I have consulted his doctor but I'm anxious to hear what methods of treatment for the asthma all of have chosen in replacement of Singulair or did you just maintain with an inhaled maintenance program with something like Pulmicort? Also, how long was after taking your child off of Singulair did take to for the outburst to subside and the behavior to become more mellow and normal (what is normal for a 4 year old?). Any info would be greatly appreciated.

After reading all the horror stories on here, me and my husband soon began to realize that we were having a lot of the side effects listed here and not listed on my son's actual Singulair prescription. The side effects my son had were behavioral changes, irrational behavior, inattentiveness, not able to stay on task or stay still -- in fact he broke his arm twice being so hyper, yelling, screaming and just plain mean.

We took our son off of Singulair as a trial for a few days. Immediately we began to notice differences in his behavior. He wasn't as agitated and quick to yell or get angry. (He's only 5 years old). He actually would be listening when we would speak to him. He would sit calmy and read books and the one huge thing he would do was look at us and smile. He even said to my husband once, "I love you Daddy," which just brought tears to our eyes. I never realized what a Singulair fog he was in and what it did to him. Here we were pretty close to getting him evaluated for ADHD or even Aspergers. So now we're in the same boat as others that are searching for other asthma meds to give my son. Right now we have gone back to Pulmicort, Xopenex, Nasonex and Allegra. I'm so glad I read this forum because I was desperately searching for answers for my sons behavioral issues. Oh, by the way he was on Singulair for 1-1/2 years.

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?

After reading more posts and comments to others re: SINGULAIR and discussion of side effects of steroids - I am really scared as you could all imagine! Do I need to look for any side effects from the flovent and albuterol? What should Iook for? I am so not the paranoid type but am quickly becoming more now b/c I don't want my son to suffer anymore. I know predisone long term but what about the flovent which is a steroid? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I just came back home from the dr. We made some tests and my 5 years old daughter is allergic to house dust mites and has beeing diagnosticated with athopic asthma. The dr. prescribed Singulair. Now, after reading all the posts, I freaked out and I have not idea what to do. I am really sorry I did't ask about side effect, but I considered, her beeing a dr, knows better than me. My thought now is: I'm not going to give my daughter Singulair.

Some of these stories read like a diary of our life.our son went from a reasonably confident, happy, somewhat easy going 10/11 year old to a now 16 year old with no confidence, somewhat paranoid, dealing with depression and tremors so bad that he could not hold his pencil to draw a straight line in drafting. He often says he hates his life, can't see any hope for the future and feels he is a failure- he is an honors student with a nearly perfect 4.0 average, yet he is never sure it is enough.

some of it we put down to being a teenager, who had inherited hubby's fathers shaky hands. some we figured came from my dad and his troubles with ocd and depression. i have worried, cried, prayed, ranted and begged for things to be different for him.

what changed at 10/11 years of age? he started taking Singulair. at first a low dose but about 3 years ago the doctor uped the dose to full strength, the symptoms also escalated - however he had entered the teenage years and changes they go through.

the allergist last year,put him on Pulmicort and at that point did not need the Singulair but through a misunderstanding we kept giving it to him. hubby is a pharmacist and questioned it, he has never been wild about Singulair because he says it opens you up to infections.

which may answer a secondary question of why he has had more cases of bronchitis and has had 3 bouts with pneumonia, more since the dosage was raised.

i have to wonder if the history of depression in our family made our son more open to the symptoms and side effects of the Singulair. the suicide part of it really scares me as my uncle and aunt both committed suicide, we didn't need any push in that direction. we have talked extensively about it and he assures me he does not consider it an option.

i know some kids take it no problem, but this recent set of reports, and the fact that the FDA has changed the warning labels 4 times in a year, causes me to take notice for him

please pray that we can see some improvement as he is now off of the Singulair. I stopped mine last year due to recurring ear infections. now i am especially glad i did. i have felt very hopeful today that this may be an answer to prayer. two days off and he had a good day today.

Hi All -- I am reading the effects that you have posted, and while I agree that after taking singular for 4 years, I do have the some of symptoms listed... BUT.. NOW I BREATH... I was living from nebulizer treatment to treatment, on Prednisone 4-5 times a year, had no energy and was afraid to do any exercise at all because of lack of breath. I used to negotiate with my Doctors on trying everything before taking Prednisone because of the side effects which are also mood swings and major anxiety... since taking Singular I have had a life -- I am aware of my asthma and allergies but have had pneumonia only once...

PLEASE -- Weigh the options... consider death through lack of breath and life - compared to suicide ... both are not living.

While the anxiety of Singular is real - through experience so is the ability to breath, live and when you are aware of it - the anxiety is manageable. NO DRUG IS WITHOUT SIDE EFFECTS... you need to balance the pro's and con's for you and your family. Make conscious and informed decisions, work with your physicians.

I am a 35 yo male who has had asthma since I was about six years old. I have always used Albuterol/Proventil to deal with any immediate concerns. Additionally, I have used the combination of Pulmicort/Serevent as a long term medication. I felt like the initial effects of that combo were spectacular. At some point, though, the doctor moved me off of that combo to Advair, explaining to me that the latter was just a combination of Pulmicort and Serevent. To this day I don't know the validity of that.

I have used Advair off and on for several years and I've never felt like I've gotten the same results as the previously mentioned combo. In the last two or three years I feel like it's done nothing. Additionally, in the last two to two and a half years, I've developed a low-level wheeze that is with me all the time 24/7. My albuterol does nothing for it. And -- it feels like I have a lump or something in the back of my throat. Some kind of constant obstruction.

The current theory of my ENT (my asthma doctor is worthless on this matter) is that I may have acid reflux. So now I am taking Prilosec OTC to see if, after a month or so, the low-level wheeze disappears.

Has anyone else with a history of asthma developed a constant, low-level wheeze that is unaffected by short term inhalers?

My daughter is three and a half. She has been a Singulair since she was 18 months old. She has also been on oral pred, xopenex, pulmicort for her asthma. Last fall, her pediatrician (the same doc who put her on Singulair) diagnosed her as hyperactive and probably attention deficit. She is often difficult to manage. Her pre-school teacher has complained that she is disruptive in class. She speaks at a shout, is demanding and interrupts people constantly. She has been gaining weight -- and I'm worried that even though she is 3 1/2 she is wearing a size 5. She has also developed the hard-blink tic. Her pediatrician has recommended she see a neurologist for the tic. Thanks heavens a neighbor saw a news story on the side effects of singulair and told me about them. I am taking her off the drug now.

my daughter has been on Singulair for 4 days now. She is 2 years old and has bad food allergies that cause very bad eczema. She also has been diagnosed with the start of asthma. After going to an allergist, we were told that she should try Singulair and Allegra for a couple of months to treat her seasonal allergies which have been causing coughing at night and skin break-outs, etc. A day or so after she took the medicine ( Singulair chewable tablets- I haven't started the Allegra yet, it seemed like too much for her to be on ) she has been having very loose stools, and quite a few throughout the day. Also she has hive- like bumps on her back. I stopped giving it to her the day before yesterday because the medicine was the only new thing she had been introduced too. The stools seemed to slow down and the hives seemed to be going away, but she was coughing bad last night, so I gave it to her again thinking maybe all she had was a stomach bug. But this morning we made countless potty stops and her back is bumpy again. Does anyone else have this problem?

My daughter will be 2 in June and she suffers with asthma she has been taken diff meds such as xopenex, pulmicort, orapred, and now singulair. i researched all the other meds and took her off but the asthma specialist said she needed the pulmicort and i asked her pediatrician what he thought and he prescribed singulair he said it was completely safe and i had nothing to worry about but now i am very much worried because my daughter is only 21 months old and can not tell me exactly what wrong if anything. she has only been taking this singulair since last night so it has been twice she has taken it and last night she had a nightmare. she was fussy going to bed, it took a long while to wind her down she normally falls asleep between 9 and 10 pm last night she went out around 12. her lungs r very sensitive and i want her to get better but a lot of these meds have really bad side affects and who's to say what will be the long term affects and thats what i worry about the most. i just don't know what to do and I'm very worried. i came across this site by accident but I'm glad i did cuz now i know that this is not safe to give my 21 month old daughter.

Okay- A friend just emailed this site to me, my son is 4 and has been taking Singulair for about 2 years. He has seasonal allergies which seem to be year round, asthma and food allergies. He is on Singulair and Allegra daily, this in it self freaks me out. What I have noticed for at least the past year is that when he is running around or moving a lot he hold his right side and says he has a pain in it, we now call it a "stitch". it happens not from strenuous activity, our doctor just says its growing pains, that doesn't make sense. something is bothering him it happens with somewhat frequency. I am really thinking about his behavior, it seems to me he can change on a dime. from happy to very angry, outbursts and then right back to sweet, yes this could describe any 4 year old, but not any 4 year old is on Singulair. I remember saying to him where is my sweet boy? I feel like that might have been when we started the meds, i am so used to his behavior now that it seems almost normal but there was a time he acted differently. and i do remember saying that.... was it when he went on Singulair???

My son came down with pneumonia about two years ago. After being hospitalized for his pneumonia for five days(his oxygen was at 83 percent), he was put on Albuterol and Pulmicort for about a year which was working ok till his wheezing started to get worse .His doctor said it was time to see a asthma specialist in Forth Worth, Texas named Dr. Rogers. Well, Dr. Rogers evaluated my son and took an xray of his nose, diagnosed him with sinusitis and with severe asthma . MY son was put on Advair 115/21 immediately and told to get off all other medicine including his Pulmicort. He was to use the Advair two puffs twice daily every day . HE was to use the Albuterol when he was coughing or needed it for rescue. I got the Advair and as a cautious parent , I always read all of the medication guide that comes with the medication I give my son . I read all the side effects and became at that very night I was to give the medication to him very scared but I was told by Dr. Adams that it would control his asthma. The next day I tried to get in touch with my doctor but was talked to by his nurse and assured the medication was safe. My son at the time also had an upper sinus infection and was put on Prednisone and Zyrtec for his allergies, Nasonex, and also Omnicef which is an antibiotic for 20 days.
Even one day after taking the medicine, my son was sleeping and started sweating really bad that night and he had tremors in his legs and his arms and his heart was racing . As I watched my son sleep even on that second night of taking Advair, I put my head to his chest and would listen to his heartbeat cause now I was worried . His heartbeat was regular at first then when I listened more his heartbeat actually would skip a beat every now and then and his body would shake when it started to beat normal again .
I called the doctor two days after he was on the medicine and he assured me it was the Prednisone my son was on and not the Advair and I told the doctor about the tremors and he also said it was the other medicine . Then I asked the doctor about all the information in the medicine guide that came with the medicine that was conducted in 2006 a few years ago and all the side affects and all he said was that Advair was the safest on the market at this time and that the study in the report was a horribly conducted study and that usually people were dying not cause of the Advair but the Salmeterol being used alone and not a bronchioldialator used to treat both symptoms . It has been four weeks, one month since my son has been using Advair and he is off the other medications he was taking for his sinus infection. These are his symptoms after he takes the medication. About one hour after he take his medication he is very hyper, nervous, his heart is racing a mile a minute without even running around, he is sweating, he can not sit still for one minute and he has muscle spasms. At night when he goes to sleep his whole body shakes as though in a convulsion and I have even had to be there with him to calm him down. He has bad leg shakes and his arms shake and every single night since he has taken this medication he has sweated so badly that it soaks the pillow through and the pillowcase down to the mattress. He had been running fevers at night for five nights now . I was told this medication was safe but when I look at my son his eyes are glassy all the time and he is just not the same and he does not seem happy with all these tremors he has with this medicine . If anyone is reading this please print these pages out and take to a lawyer so we can all get money from the makers of Advair because I'm sure like me we were all told this medication was safe and not harmful . I am calling my sons asthma specialist and telling him to take him off this medication immediately as I had requested before and he told me it wasn't wise because it was controlling his asthma . How can a medication control asthma symptoms that will cause a person to die from taking it and cause them worse symptoms when they try to get off of it?

My 2 year old son has been taking Singulair for about a month. He had a bad asthma attack in September and was on albuterol and prednisone. Then the dr. prescribed Pulmicort and after giving it to him for 3 days and reading the literature, I stopped giving it to him because it had terrible side effects. The dr. was not happy with me and I agreed to put him on Singulair since it wasn't a steroid.

He has always been clingy and never a good sleeper. Recently he's been sleeping terribly and having awful night terrors. He can't really talk much yet, so I can't ask him what is wrong, but he'll wake up looking terrified and shaking and pointing at the celing and nothing is there. I can barely get him calmed back down. He also has gotten worse about not being with me. He has to have his hand on me at all times when we around other people. As I said, he's always been clingy, but he's just been worse lately. Also, he's had a stuffy nose since he went on the Singulair. He can no longer breathe out of his nose at all. When he's sleeping he snores terribly and sometimes gasps, which scares me. It's like an apnea thing. He's also been sleeping until 10 - 10:30 am which he's never done.

My husband did not want him taking it from the start, but I was stupid and did what I wanted instead of listening to him. Now I realize his gut feeling was right on and it makes me almost cry. He is too little to be telling me if his head or body hurts or what he is feeling, so he may be feeling even worse than I suspect.

I am going to research diet changes and see if that is something we can do to control his asthma. We're also seeing a chiropractor and trying some things to boost his immune system so he won't get sick and have it lead to asthma attacks.

Thank you all so much for sharing your stories. I appreciate it more than you know. I hate that any of our children (or you adults) have had to go through these things, but sharing your experiences makes it worth it so that others won't have to go through the same. Thank you!

I started taking advair in September of 2006 after being diagnosed with allergy related asthma. I took it for 3 months. Then stopped for a few months over the winter and restarted in spring because of more serious symptoms of asthma. I have had severe stomach upset, acid reflex, rashes, and weight gain. I also feel dizzy a lot. I am very health consious and work out all of the time. I never gain weight so it seems obvious to me advair is the culprit. I am going to try getting allergy shots and see if I can stay off the advair. In home air filters do seem to help with the asthma

I have allergic asthma/copd. I use 2 inhalers: Pulmicort and Spiriva. A recent visit to Ga. with exposure to the acrid smell of the smoke from the forest fires affected my breathing terribly.
Took Singulair for 10 days. My breathing vastly improved. However, on the 11th day, I awoke with severe leg cramps, toe cramps, and the beginning of a rectal irritation. Are these things a common occurence and why are they not mentioned in the official side effects listed.
I have stopped taking the Singulair. Is anyone else having these problems?

My son is six years old and been on Singulair for 2 weeks, on the 3rd day he started complaining of stomach pain. That night he had a horrible nightmare and everyday since it has been something else it seems to get worse everyday. Sleepwalking uncontrollable rage that we have never seen before. He gets out of breath very easy and his comprehention is very bad since he has takin this drug. He is on day two of no Singulair and is still having trouble sleeping but the other effects are slowly ending thank god any parents thinking of this treatment for their child needs to do more research my doctor did not think it was the meds that it is just a normal child stage he is going through. (bull-h--t).

Several months ago, my doctor switched me off of Pulmicort and onto Advair 250/50, in addition to the Singulair and Zyrtec that I take. Yep, an asthmatic with allergies...ain't life great?

At first, Advair did control my symptoms better, as I was able to excercise without feeling chest tightness. However, other side effects, such as an extremely dry throat, and hoarsness to the point of pain while talking--let alone singing--has occured. I've also noticed increased tightness in my throat, and weight gain. Now, I had a fairly sedentary lifestyle before, but always maintained the same steady weight.

These side effects are extremely troublsome for me, because I am a professional singer! Since taking it, I have lost the upper part of my register, and have pain while singing anything more than a few bars. My doctor has decided to lower my dose and send me to an EMT, however, my pharmacist thinks I should switch back to Pulmicort. My sypmtoms were not as well controlled, but at least I could function.

My daughter, now 6, has taken Singulair on and off for the last 2-3 years for asthma. It works but the side effects are not worth it. My daughter has had encoupresis (severe constipation causing accidents) since starting the drug, as well as mood swings. Because she has also had to take Flovent (also Advair, Pulmicort) and Albuterol we have never been sure which drug was the culprit. We took her off Singulair at the end of the summer in 2006 and kept her on the Flovent and Albuterol (as needed). We got the encoupresis under control and her mood dramatically improved. This January 2007 she started having allergic reactions everyday at school and was going to the school nurse to get Benydryl. We decided to put her back on the Singulair a couple of weeks ago. The encoupresis symptoms have returned and the moodiness is horrible. We are stopping the medicine from now on, does anyone know of an alternative that helps with food, grass and animal allergies??? Thanks for your help.

No side effect that I've noted. For me, works probably twice as well as any of the others, including Singular, Pulmicort, etc. (that bronchodilator in addition to the steroid is brilliant!) I have some tiredness, stuffiness, etc. off and on, but attribute that much more to the underlying allergies, asthma, etc. rather than the medication - certainly better on the meds than without. Does wonders for my actual breathing.