Reactive airway disease symptoms and conditions

Our 19 month old son was diagnosed with RAD (reactive airway disease) and our pediatrician is very hesitant to call what he has "asthma". His two bouts of wheezing were both associated with viral respiratory infections. However, after this infection and the seasonal allergies he seems to have, the dr. prescribed Singulair (4mg granules) to us to help control our son's wheezing and coughing. After being on it three days, he's not the normal laid bad but energetic boy that we know is ours. He's mean...he's aggressive...and he's biting so much at daycare that they have assigned one person to shadow him all day long. We took him off of it yesterday, so we're now 24 hours singulair free. I'll post any differences we see in a few days, but for now it's our firm belief that Singulair is what is making the difference.

Daughter just turned 2, started Singulair on her birthday, so it has only been 9 days. Already it has had such a positive effect on her reactive airway disease (a.k.a. asthma). In January, she had maybe a one-week break from constant runny nose, bad coughing, and 2 a.m. Albuterol treatments. Right after starting Singulair, she got a sniffle--which has always led to bad coughs, etc. But this time she dodged it.

About the same time, she has become more resistant to naptime. She used to just lie down and go to sleep, but lately she stalls and complains--like a typical 2-year-old. Of course, she was probably exhausted from coughing all night! Lately she'd been sleeping 7 pm to 8 am and then napping noon to five!

If it makes her only slightly more intense, I'll take that over worrying whether she's going to suffocate in her sleep. But, having read these comments, I will definitely keep a close eye on her! Pediatrician suggested we try taking her off it for the summer, and back on for the fall/winter.

I took Avelox April 2008 and my life changed after taking the first dose. I had read on the bottle it could cause dizziness, so when I began to feel intoxicated and feel like I was walking sideways, I wasn't too concerned. After I took the first dose, I had a preop appointment in the afternoon. The doctor asked me if I had ever been told I had a heart irregularity. He said it was an occasional skip and he wasn't that concerned. I have physicals every year at which time an EKG is done, I just had my physical mid February and my heart rate was perfect. The surgery was scheduled 1 week later. That morning I took the last dose of Avelox, as I was being wheeled in for surgery, the nurse watched me go into A Fib. Surgery was not going to happen and I was admitted to the hospital for 9 days. I was on a 24 hour monitor and my heart rate was changing so fast they couldn't even tell me what was going on. After many different drugs to control my rate I was discharged and scheduled for a cardioversion, hoping that would get my heart rate back in a sinus rhythm. It worked for about 20 minutes and I was again admitted to the hospital for four days and put on a new medication. I went from being completely healthy to A Fib, kidney and lung problems. As of today I am still dealing with all the above. I had a cardiac ablation in October, hoping that would fix the problem. I was doing OK for about 3 weeks and since then I am still in A Fib. Currently I am wearing a 24 hour monitor to record any events. I'm not sure what the next step is . . . I believe with all my heart that Avelox is responsible. My life went form being completely healthy and exercising everyday to being exhausted most of the time and even going to the grocery store is a tremendous effort.

I've been blown away also. My son is 10 years old and was originally diagnosed with RAD (Reactive Airway Disease) when he was about 3 and has had allergy and mild asthma issues since. When he was 5 he was put on Singulair, Nasonex, and Zyrtec. My son has always been a beautifully happy child, but the last few years have been extremely emotional for him. He gets depressed, he's extremely hard on himself and is ultra-sensitive and scared about everything. He has never been frightened and was a baby that loved his room and always slept really well. Now I think that I understand why he’s been afraid to sleep in his room alone. Ever since he's been on Singulair he complains and complains of bad dreams. I can't believe that I'm hearing that he's been taking this medication like clock-work for 5 years and all of his problems may be related to this. His allergies are not severe and nor has his asthma ever been - but I was told constantly that he needs this medication. This is unbelievable - I've stopped giving Singulair to him and have made an appointment with a new allergist.

I have been crying for almost 24 hours now. I cannot believe what I am reading and hearing about Singulair. My son has been to hell and back again and again. I cannot say for sure the Singulair is the culprit. But after reading all of the other stories on this website, I am convinced it is a strong possibility.

My son is 11 years old. He has severe allergies and asthma. He takes many, many medications for this including Singulair. He as been on Singulair for about 8 years now (my best guess because he has been on it for sooooo long.)

My son was diagnosed with ADHD in pre-school. He has taken many medications for the ADHD, but none have ever done any good at all. We thought some of the medications even made things worse. Now, I'm not so sure.

After exhausting all the ADHD medications, our pediatrician sent my son to a psychiatrist and a counselor. The psychiatrist put him on 2 different antipsychotic medications. Again, neither one did any good and seemed to make matters worse. The psychiatrist sent my son to a psychologist to be tested for Asperger's. For those of you who don't know Asperger's is a high functioning form of autism. The psychologist ruled out Asperger's by diagnosed ADHD and Anxiety Disorder. He did not prescribe any medication.

For some unknown reason, I've only given my son the Singulair off and on for the last year. My son had the best year in school ever. However, his pediatrician was still not satisfied. He sent him to see another psychiatrist at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. We were told he is believed to have more than one disability. He is believed to have ADHD, Aspergers, Teurettes and a possible 4th medical problem that has not yet come to light.

We are scheduled to see a neurologist at Children's Hospital on the 15th of April to rule out any medical reasons for his tics. We see the psychiatrist again on the 18th of April.

I am so tormented by this recent news. Has all of these problems been caused from him taking the Singulair for so long? Although he has had his best year in school yet, he still has a lot of problems. Are the side effects of the Singulair permanent.

The other side of the coin is this: It is also very scary to watch my son not be able to breath. Asthma can also be life threatening. What is a parent supposed to do.

Also, I now don't know whether to keep these appointments that are coming up. I hate so much to put him through more. He has endured enough doctors and tests to last him a lifetime. However, what if it is not the Singulair and there is help out there for him that I am not aware of.

Please if anyone else has had a similar experiences e-mail me. I would love to hear from you.

God Bless everyone who has been through this kind of hell.

my 5 year old son has been taking singulair for reactive airway disease for just over a year. since he began taking the medicine, he has slowly become more and more distracted, irritable, moody, aggressive, anxiety ridden and clingy. the anxiety has been especially noticeable-he's developed odd phobias and fear of things like semi trucks and spiders and riding in the car. (things he never had a problem with before, and things that seem odd for a 5 year old to be worrying about) he also has had regular complaints of stomach pains (especially first thing in the morning), headaches and pain in his ears (which he has seen the doctor for on more than once occasion, and each time i've been told that there was no ear infection). he recently started kindergarten and his teacher has also noticed that he seems spacey and inattentive, as well as restless and "lost in his own world". due to the fact that there are several people on my husband's side of the family who have been diagnosed with ADD, we were beginning to feel that perhaps our son had it, too. we've been doing research and have spoken with his teacher and the school counselor about possible ADD, and just tonight we were sitting down and filling out an ADD checkpoint questionnaire for the school. i happened to glance at some of the reference material the school counselor sent to us along with the questionnaire, and i noticed that one of the points of reference for ADD diagnosis is that the person in question isn't on any "highly stimulating medications." it was right at that moment when i put two and two together and realized that our son's symptoms began right after he began taking singulair, so i came online to do a side effect web search, which is how i found this site. i can not believe how shocked i am to read all these other people's experiences with this medication!! i feel terrible that i've been making my son take something so questionable for so long, and i feel just as bad that i was about to seriously consider putting him on ADD medication!! now i am definitely going to try taking him off the singulair first and see if that changes his behavior! thank you all so much for sharing your stories. they really do help!

I have Cystic Fibrosis and am age 54 in a few months. I have cataracts and detaching vitreous, opthalmic conditions which are common to people 20 years older. The opthalmologist suggested that use of steroids over the years could have caused it. My use of steroids was very limited until age 40 when I started Flovent/Serevent inhalers. I believe the Advair, which became continuous use 4 years ago caused my eyes to degrade within one year of use. Please bring back Serevent and Flovent, and please discontinue powdered inhalers. That is in conflict with reactive airway disease in my opinion!!!

My 7 year old son started Advair about a year ago. The doctor started him on 250 twice a day and I new that wasn't working so I cut him down to 250 once a day. Adam has increasingly exhibit ADHD symptoms that he never had before, and about 6 weeks ago started having bladder accidents during the day. His teacher told me he showed signs of 'aggressive depression' and was concerned about his lack of social skills. I called his Primary physician last week and she wanted to decrease his dose (which she said was excessive for his age) to 100 twice a day (I did 100 once a day because he can't sleep at night if we do this at night). Every day since then there has been an incident. He was caught in major lies yesterday and responded to the teacher in a fit of uncontrolled rage! This is NOT my son! He tells me his brain tells him to do stuff and he can't control himself. I called his primary and she said take him off ALL Advair! Does anyone know what his withdrawal symptoms might look like? Now, in two weeks we'll be sending him to a child psychologist! I believe this is all a result of Advair! All this treatment was to reverse his Reactive Airway Disease (which apparently wasn't full-blown ashtma to begin with). Watch out for this medication with kids!!!!