School nurse 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.

I got the Mirena 1 year ago, at age 46, when my youngest child was 13. My doctor did not do anything to dilate my cervix and the insertion hurt very badly. I almost told them to forget it! I have a high threshold for pain and had both my children without any medical intervention, so it is saying a lot to say the Mirena insertion hurt. I decided to get it because of my heavy periods. My periods are much lighter, but last just as long (6+ days). Since May I've had a weird rash on my legs and tailbone. The one on my tailbone looks like a bruise. My shins are mottled and itchy. I've been to numerous doctors and tried many different medications. They have gotten better, but have not cleared up. It seems that my legs are not getting adequate circulation. Also, my belly and area below my navel are bright pink and itchy. I, too, feel bloated and pregnant all the time. Ugh! I experience heart flutters and once ended up in the emergency room because the school nurse, where I work, thought I was having a heart attack. Does anyone else have a rash like I describe? This darn think was so expensive, I hate to have it removed but, if it is causing this rash, I'll have it removed right away!

My daughter had the Gardasil shots last year. The school nurse talked to these young girls and told them all the dangers of cancer. It is a scare tactic. Doctors tell you to get the shots as well...makes their offices LOTS of money...the insurance companies presently pay for the shots, and the are very expensive. My daughter passed out w/ the first shot. Never has passed out before. (Do not allow your daughter to drive herself to get this shot...for the adult women..have someone drive you if you choose to have this vaccination, although I would strongly recommend NOT.) My daughter, since she was vaccinated with Gardasil, has had multiple ear infections, warts, strep multiple times, flu-like symptoms multiple times...pretty much the immune system took a nose dive. She never missed school before...was exempt from school exams many times because she was never sick. However, after Gardasil, she has missed many days due to all the sicknesses she has experienced. It has been approx. a year and she hasn't been as sick lately. I am hoping the immune system will get back to what it was before the shots but I strongly recommend NOT getting this vaccination. If my daughter gets worse, I am tempted to contact a lawyer. We might should get a count on the women that have been negatively affected by this and go to D.C. This vaccine should have been researched more. Our daughters should NOT be guinea pigs!!

I started getting my shot (im on 2nd), im getting the third one in a month.im only 11 and im maturing very quickly.i'm scared because and i'm feeling pains around the middle waist-to the point to collapsing.i'm having minor headaches.and im nausea and sick a lot.i sometimes have trouble breathing.i wake up in the middle of the night sometimes almost screaming because of the pain.i know it doesn't have to do with my period or growing pains. i haven't told told my parents because im scared they'll overact.ive only told 1 of my bff's. i don't know what to do so please send advice.............is it even this shot!?
thanks, A.

hi, please can someone help me :-(
I'm 17 and this is my first time on any pill, I was on mefenamic acid to deal with painful periods but had to stop after I used them incorrectly.
I started Yasmin 6 days ago, and since my period stopped I have had constant pain in the left side of my back, headaches, am very tired and constantly feel like I'm about to be sick.
Is this normal? My parents don't seem to understand how much it's affecting me and I can't keep missing school.

My daughter is 8 and was prescribed Singular AND Zyrtec for asthma/allergy maintenance. She's been on both meds for 7 months. I have seen a steady decline in her ability to learn. Prior to these meds, she knew her addition math facts. Now, she forgets simple equations (3 + 4). Her mind wanders, she is unable to focus, and homework that should take minutes takes hours.

In addition, her emotions are all over the place. My little girl who once loved nature and held wiggly earth worms in her hand now runs in terror from any bug. She is frightened of everything.A tiny scratch makes her emotionally distraught for hours. She obsesses over slights from friends and withdraws to her plush toys.

She's also created imaginary monster friends: werewolves, vampires, and other ghoulish creates. She tells me of the living dead who cut off part of your skull and eat your brain and so you become part of the living dead. This is from a child who has never seen, watched or been allowed to view a horror film of any kind, who still watches Noggin and PBS on TV, and who, 10 months ago, wanted to be a marine biologist when she grew up.

Like others, the first symptoms were nightmares and night terrors. She also experienced itching, which I thought was due to her ballet leotard and tights (why do we look at everything but the meds?--because we trust the doctors!!!). Then, toward the end of school, came the stomach and headaches, so frequent, in fact, her teacher emailed me that my daughter was going to the school nurse too much and wanted to know if something was wrong. Her teacher also said my daughter seemed very spacey in class. No behavior problems. Just drifting. Very inattentive.

Like others, my daughter had her tonsils removed prior to going on these meds. Like others, my daughter was seeing a specialist--a pediatric allergist--for treatment. I discussed adverse effects for all medications with the allergist.

Like others, Dr. Allergist said there were none for either Singulair OR Zyrtec. My daughter had been prescribed childrens' Claratin (Rx for liquid form) by a pediatrician when she was 5 and exhibited the same behavioral and learning problems she now has for Singulair and Zyrtec. Again, Dr. Allergist said there were no side effects, that Claratin had a different active ingredient (I don't recall the name, something like lurderine) and to keep away from online Web sites, as they will only scare me. Ha! She also said ignoring my daughter's asthma posed greater harm than treating it. This is for a child whose asthma was non-existant until she began Claratin.

From my research, I'm wondering if the meds used to treat allergies and asthma actually contribute to lung ailments. Since starting these "meds," my daughter has had pneumonia and bronchitis. She did not have any lung ailments prior to Claratin. In fact, she was perfectly healthy.

Has your child experienced the same? Have you?

As another alternative for action, I am contacting my PTA and am pushing from that direction. These meds affect our children's abilities to learn. Teachers care. I urge all parents to discuss your situation with your child's teacher and push an agenda with your PTA. Collectively, the PTA can be an influence (it already has a nationally recognized presence with solid reputation). Forget the medical community (for now--drug reps "buy" doctors). I am telling friends whose kids have asthma about Web sites. I am writing to my Senators and the FDA as well.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to post. We can collectively push forward to get action soon for our children. Please, do not just sit and read. Take action. Your kids need you to.

I was put on Yaz (same as Yasmin but with a smaller estrogen dose) due to irregular periods and a presumed hormonal imbalance. That was in September '07. Four month later, on Jan 1, '08, I went to the ER with breathing difficulties, and weakness in my arms and legs. I had been having muscle cramps/ charley horses in my right calf, but that was the only other health problem I had experienced. I thought I was having an asthma attack. So did the ER - at first. After I did not respond to the breathing treatments, and I became completely out of breath and exhausted after walking across the hall to the restroom, the ER doc checked my D-Dimer level to see if I was at risk for blood clots. He said if it came back over 500, he would have to do further testing for clots. It came back 4500!! I was sent immediately down for a CT Scan which showed mulitple clots in both lungs, mostly small, but several of significant size. I was immediately put on oxygen and a heart monitor, and an IV drip of heparin was started. I was in the hospital for 4 days, had to learn to give myself shots of Lovenol in my stomach until my pill form of blood thinner had time to kick in. I am now taking Coumadin blood thinner every day until July, when my D-Dimer will be checked again. Depending on the results, I may come off the Coumadin, or I may have to commit to it for 3 years. However, I was tested for all the hereditary blood clotting disorders and all came back negative, so my doctor feels as though the cause has to be the YAZ! Everyone tells me I was very lucky and that I could have easily died, especially when I was just thinking I was having an asthma attack and put off going to the ER for a few days. If you are taking Yaz or Yasmin, and you begin to have difficulty breathing, any kind of leg cramps, weakness, or tightness in your chest (I had also been having severe heart burn) - go have yourself checked out!!!!!

Here is some perspective for you all. I take Singulair and do well on it and in ACTUAL studies it has one of the safest safety records. Understand that post marketing reporting does not mean there is a correlation between the event and the product. Throughout the life of a drug the companies must disclose any report of side effects reported to them REGARDLESS of causality. A popular antihistamine that is OVER THE COUNTER also has suicidal thinking/behavior listed in its post marketing section. However, just because patients who had reported having these thoughts while taking the product doesn't mean it was a result of the product! Maybe they had a depressive personality and were also on multiple other medicines to treat that. You must look at the "Adverse Reactions, Warnings and Precautions" sections of package inserts to see the side effects that were actually seen in studies. You can die from ulcers derived from over use of aspirin or ibuprofen. Decongestants can throw off your blood pressure and these events are documented in actual studies! Listen to your bodies when taking any med. If you feel differently report it to your doctor.

These are all drugs people, there are potential side effects. There are also side effects to those "natural" over the counter remedies that are not nearly as regulated by the FDA or studies by the drug companies.

To anyone out there who has experienced side effects to singulair timed to when you started it, talk to your doctor, stop taking it and see if it goes away. Same advice for any product prescription or over the counter medicine. Side effects can be a combination of many factors (what other meds are you taking?) But understand for many people this product is the safest and most effective treatment for them. The FDA and Merck are reviewing all information to see if there is any correlation to the reporting. But singulair been around for about 10 years and prescibed to billions of people and is known to be one of the safer medicines out there overall.

In between the legitimate posts on this site I get the sense there is a lot of ambulance chasing going on. People looking to cash in on this big drug companies. We want drugs, we want them cheap and with no side effects which is not a reality. Keep stepping up the regulation and make the companies hire more lawers to protect themselves and jump through even more hoops and see what happens to the price and access to new meds. Even better, see how regulation has impacted the development of new medicines around the world (here's a tip, it will dramatically decrease). Drug companies certainly aren't perfect but which industry is?

Please, when taking any medicine over the counter, prescription or herbal supplement listen to your bodies to see if the potential benefits of the product outway the risks or side effects. Report any changes to your doctor.

I cannot believe that there is so much of ignorance in such an educated society. Let me first start by saying I am on no medication absolutely I do have bronchitis I don't take cough medications or allergy medications or inhalers etc etc. I read at the bottom in a post that this 28 year old cries every time she sees te Save the children advertisement. I can tell you I listen to music, I watch tv and every touching or heart rendering story or lyric makes me cry!!! I wonder if i was on Singulair I would certainly be committed to some mental asylum.
I think all you educated people should consider that you do not need to be on a drug or any medication to suffer from depression symptoms or any such other emotional trauma. Why blame one thing alone, blame the governments for putting its citizens under stress , blame your economies for bringing down your county into a recession where your earnings don't meet the cost of living, What we should be fighting for is irrelevant, so some strategy comes into light where all these years, read all the posts, 2 , 5, 7 10 years of using Singulair and NOW you want to complain. Why didn't they complain all these years ago and get the drug recalled.. Don't blame one thing alone. Maybe if people lived cleaner, healthier lifestyles you wont be taking medications.

My son Colin who is 9 has been on Singulair for about two years now and I am getting very concerned about him. It started a few months back where the school nurse sent him home a couple of times because of an unexplained hives only on his hands. Every time the dog scratches him, the scratches swell . Yesterday he had red blotches just around his mouth. We are talking about an extremely shy boy who all of the sudden will not listen to the school teacher. He lashes out and goes into these unexplained rages.He complains of stomach pain and is nauseas all the time.He does get headaches and seems depressed.Last weekend and this weekend, friend of ours experienced the whole freaked out incident. One minute Colin will be fine, the next minute seems like a panic attack. I really was starting to believe it was behavioral but I now am convinced it is his medication Singulair!!

My 8 year old son began using Advair this year after a bout of wheezing sent us to Urgent care. When he was finally officially diagnosed with Asthma this fall, our GP gave us Advair again. My son did great as far as asthma and breathing - didn't need his rescue inhaler once. Unfortunately he gained 8 pounds in 3 weeks and his face and stomach began to look extremely puffy. He also had 3 nosebleeds in quick succession, one when he slept which was a much larger nosebleed than he'd ever had before. I immediately discontinued his use of Advair when I went online and looked at the side effects. Unfortunately I had to talk to the nurses at my clinic several times to explain to them that I was CERTAIN an 8 lb weight gain was not normal and that I was no longer giving this medication to my son, no matter what our GP said. It seems that the clinical trials didn't show weight gain as a significant symptom, but later reporting by doctors has shown it. Doctors don't seem to have this information!

Just one question I have been on this stuff at the beginning dose for less than a week. My eyes hurt, my head is about to explode, I am sick as a dog, I lost 5 pounds, I can't eat, constipated, can't sleep, can't function, ringing in my ears, and the ADD is unbelievable. I am a medical transcriptionist I kind of need to be able to work, no work, no pay. Topamax is going bye-bye for sure but how long till the side effects go away?

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.

I was percribed Avelox on Sept. 25, 2006 for a sinus infection. I'm used to these because I get them frequently due to my high allergies. I know that people have different reactions and I know that my sever reaction was suppose to be rare as the side effects section says, however, what I experienced I pray to God I never experence again and consider myself lucky to be alive.
I took the first pill (10 day perscription) at 3:35 on my way to pick up my son from school. Within 5 minutes of taking it my crotch felt like it was on fire, and itched bad! My first thought was "I didn't use a publlic restroom, so I can't have crabs" Things only got worse for me. I was at my son's school five minutes later, and by then my ear lobes were burning, and my vision was a little blurred, my hands were very shaky, and they were so swollen that my finger tips were white and I could barely bend them. I walked into the school to get my son and told him something is not right and mommy needs to go to the hospital, so I was going to get back in the car and try to drive myself, but as I pasted to office again, I peeked in to see if the school nurse was still there, her light was off so I told my son she is already gone. How she heard me I don't know, but she said no I'm still here. Two minutes later I started vomiting, and shaking even more. When she took my blood pressure it had already dropped below 80 or 90 over 40 or 50, and my heart rate was above 125. This was all within 15 minutes of the first dose. She gave me medication for an allergic reaction. The I felt like my stomach was being eaten from the inside out, and I was itching hororably. So bad infact that I made myself bleed a couple of times. The nurse watched over me and kept taking my blood pressure and pulse for close to an hour and a half. She let me go home when it was back above 100's over 60's. She was somewhat discusted with the doctor's office reaction that the medication should not have effected me that quickly, but it did. Like I said my reaction is suppose to be rare. It is just another thing to add to my allergy list. I pray others don't react the same.

My 9 year old son was put on Singulair this year. He'd been taking it for six weeks when he had a grand mal seizure. Just minutes before his seizure, I had been discussing with the school nurse about the negative changes in his behavior and attitude. The nurse had related to me her personal experience with singulair and her own son, and advised me to get my son off the med. If our son had smaller seizures before the grand mal, we did not notice them. He's the youngest of six children, so it's possible there were warnings. :( We have no history of seizures nor epilepsy in our large extended families. We took him off singulair immediately.