Singular symptoms and conditions

My son is 7 yrs old with allergies and asthma. The Dr. prescribed it and the same day I had talked with a lady which her friends son just committed suicide. They were contributing it to Singular. A quick look up on the internet and I was angry with the pediatrician that the side effect was never discussed with me! After a very reassured conversation I said I would start him with 1/2 dose. I noticed nightmares started right away and I stopped. Asthma got worse decided to star again 3 weeks ago. He started twitching his head, flipping his hair that isn't even long. He was also complaining of stomach aches and not wanting to go to school (very unusual)! He has been off for a week now and is hopefully will not ever have any long term effect! Please follow your instincts and I will let his doctor. know what the side effects were.

I had that Kenalog and it's been a total nightmare...My doctor Dermatologist injected into my two index fingers on each hand. The itching has been insurmountable and absolutely horrible....I haven't been able to sleep, wash dishes, do anything with my hands....I am telling you I am about to go out of my mind. I went back to her..and now she put me on Prednisone and Singular...now I am reading the side effects of Singular. She never told me what type of shot she was giving me for the pains in my hands that i was getting. I have had cortisone shots for joint pain before...for I figured that what it was that she was giving me...later to find out it was this damn Kenalog. I would have never agreed to such a thing until I had looked up the side effects. This has been a night mare completely...

The itching is so bad, that I have broken the skin, I have a rash completely on both fingers. It so sad...and she's charged me a fortune for it too, and the second time I had to come back for help. What the hell is wrong with people..?

DON'T TAKE THIS DRUG...UNLESS YOU DO CAREFUL CONSIDERATION..!!!PLEASE

I recently stopped using singular as a medication. I experienced an extreme episode of depression. Has anyone else experienced this side effect and to what extreme?

for about a week I can not read the replays to people's posts. Can it be fixed please? My son is on week four being off singular. There are good days and bad. Hopefully we are heading toward more good. I think what I have noticed is he does better with extra sleep and vitamins.

Regardless of whether singular has weight gain listed as an "official" side effect, singular is: Montelukast Sodium (generic name), meaning, sodium is sodium, is Na+! Edema & weight gain WILL occur is individuals sensitive to sodium's effects.

I've noticed that my 13 year-old son have developed some repetitive rapid eye movements and a compulsive vocalization similar to a brief laugh since using Singular. Has any other reader experienced similar behavioral side effects in themselves or a child they are caring for while using this product?

my son has all the symptoms that people have discussed and i would not have found it if he had not hit his head and started to have weird symptoms and after ruling everything out realized that he had been off singular for a month this summer and had started back up. He has had a lot of symptoms but I always thought it was something else. Like everyone said everyone felt that singulair wasn't a problem. I remember when he was little he was having night terrors and the doctor switched it to the day time which made it better but he has always had a hard time sleeping since he started. he has been off it for four days how long does it take before the thoughts come back to normal. If someone could answer it would be great. i am so upset right now as I am sure the other parents are that our children had to go through this.

My 3-year old daughter just took her first and last Singulair today. Within 3 hours: crazy mood swings for no reason, uncontrolled anger, bad dreams during her nap time. I didn't recognize her. She's been on Zyrtec for 2 weeks and showed improvement with her allergies and no side effects, but for some reason I let the doctor talk me into trying Singular today. I just threw the Singular in the garbage. Back to Zyrtec tomorrow.

Our son, who is now 6 was prescribed Singulair at the age of 3 due to asthma/allergies. He was prescribed this by an ENT/Allergist. I thought our sons mood swings were due to the fact that we were expecting another child. He was always so happy/loving and playful. When the baby arrived 2 months later, his behavior worsened. Again, I put it on the new baby sister in the house. His moods/anger/outbursts increased. He hit, threw things etc. I told the doc about this and he said it was due to his enlarged tonsils, and they were then removed. Well needless to say, his behavior did not change because he was still on the Singulair. I mentioned the possible side effects to his pediatrician and she said it was a possibility, but to keep him on it because he needed it. Well, 3 years later, in March of this year I took him to an allergist that I had seen years ago. He immediately took him off the singulair (and all inhalers). His moods seemed to brighten a bit, but not they are worsening again. Is it possible for the Singulair to have long term damaging effects. I understand kids have tantrums, etc. Kids are kids, I get that. But he punches, kicks, screams, cries etc. My husband are at a loss. We don't know what to do. Oh, and he is now on Veramyst as needed (march-june, Aug-Oct.). Has anyone else experienced long term effects due to Singulair?

My eldest son was diagnosed as a Severe Asthmatic at the age of 3. He was put on Flovent 110, 5mg of Zyrtec and Singulair. I cried thinking about my little guy having to be on daily meds for who knows how long. I decided that I would just try the Zyrtec and Flovent 110, it worked wonderfully. When my eldest was 4, my other son, 2, was put on Flovent 44. Never gave them to my youngest because I knew it was not asthma. I ended up lowering my eldest's dose to the 44 and giving him 1 puff a day with the Zyrtec, he is now 7 and is still under control. As for my younger son, he was not asthmatic, he had sleep apnea, had his tonsils and adenoids removed and is now perfect. Just be careful with these doctors, they seem to diagnose these little ones too quickly......most of the time they are not even right. My eldest went through many many doctors before he was finally diagnosed in the ER and sent to peds for 2 weeks. My youngest went through many doctors too, none would do anything, I had so many excuses as to why my son was such a heavy breather and why he had difficulty swallowing and sleeping. Sorry guys, I ran off here, just want you guys to know that all that are diagnosed with asthma do not necessarily have asthma and I believe way too many drugs are prescribed for these little ones.

We put our 3 year old son on Singulair 2 weeks ago for allergies. It seemed to be helping him. He is a very mild mannered kid that has never been an aggressive child and never bites or hits. In the last 4 days his mood has changed, and he has bitten 2 kids at school, hit one kid, bit and hit his grandpa, has been waking up with nightmares and has been very clingy to me (his mom). After reading the side effects of Singulair last night we contacted the pharmacist and told him what has happened and he told us to take him off the Singulair immediately and contact our Pediatrician. I am waiting for a phone call back now. I am saddened that a medication for Allergies can cause such a personality change.

This is to EZrust
Here are some facts. You obviously have no knowledge of anything medical whats so ever and if you do have medical knowledge shame on you for saying the things you said. Some of these side effect are not listed. And you say if it wasn't safe it wouldn't be on the market. WRONG!! Does any one remember VIOXX?? That was supposed to be safe and has since been pulled off the market. And what about all of the drugs that have recently been pulled from the market or are in the process of being pulled. This is similar to singular that has now been voluntarily dropped by some facilities because of the severe side effects that it had on children. Everyone thought they were crazy but when it was researched they found that the problems people were complaining about were TRUE!! Not all people react the same to medications. Some people have no side effects and some people have severe side effects. So before you go off on a subject make sure you know what you are talking about because you made yourself look very ignorant.

I am so grateful for this website. I found it in early of 2008. At the age of 11 my son went on Singular for mild asthma. He started taking it in November of 2007. Slowly we noticed different complaints he was having. The first was that he couldn't sleep. He was having nightmares. This had never been a problem. He started losing weight. He was complaining about leg pains and headaches every day. By February 2008 he had lost 15 pounds. This is drastic for an average weight 11 year old. They did blood work and everything came back normal. He started bruising very easily and all the other complaints were still there. His mood was very irritable and he is the most quiet gentle child you will ever meet. With new aches, bruising and the weight loss we were getting very frightened. They did a cat scan and more blood work in early April. Still, thankfully, they found nothing. No terrible disease or cancer was found.

When I saw this website and the posts with similar side effects we took him off Singulair. The symptoms went away. He gained back the weight he had lost and each day the symptoms starting going away. Things have been great every since. I can't believe a medicine did all these terrible things to my child.

I am 31 years of age an suffer with severe allergies, I was put on Singular about a month ago but didn’t start getting symptoms until 2 weeks ago I thought it was me but I soon realize it was not , I have severe stomach pains I like to describe as muscle spasms’ very painful, I had swollen eyes always puffy and sore throat. I realized that I didn’t start to have all these issues until I started the singular so I stopped 3 days ago and the spasms have since stopped the sore throat is getting better and the puffy eyes getting much better.. My father in-law told me to look up this site and I am so glad to see that I was not the only one and I wasn’t going crazy thanks everyone for sharing your stories
S.

I discovered my son's side effects from singulair a little over 2 years ago. He had used Singulair for approx 3 years. I did not recognize that he was suffering side effects until his ped increased his dosage to 5mg. At that point, it was loud and clear. I discontinued the Singulair in March 2007. The most significant improvements happen after approx 3 weeks. He was like a different child. Even after the 3 weeks, it seemed like he continued to improve a little every day.

I can tell you from our experience that my son suffered many, many side effects that i did not recognize. He had nightmares, anxiety, fear, frustration, leg pains, stomach pains, dark circles under his eyes, poor appetite, quick to tears and restlessness...just to name a few. On the higher dosage, he began to have a facial tic, dilated pupils and hallucinations.

I am thankful everyday for this website and some higher power that helped me realize what was going on and get him off Singulair. The first week off Singulair, he slept like an angel. No night terrors, no thrashing in his sleep. Week 2, he continued to improve in so many ways. It was nothing short of amazing. Week 3, he began to realize the changes in himself. Fears were a HUGE side effect for him. During week 3, the fears, ALL of them disappeared. He never spoke of them again. It was very strange and truly amazing.

I don't want to tell you to stop the use of Singulair. Only you know your child's health status. I will tell you that stopping Singulair changed our lives and saved my son. He suffered the assault of Singulair for 3 long years. Good luck to you all and your families. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

My son was on singular about 4 years ago and i thought i noticed irratability, lack of interest and depression, but he was only 4 1/2 at that time and i couldn't tell. It did relieve his allergy symptoms. We took him off at that time. Now, again put him back on it this past year (he is now 9 years old) and i see again a lack of interest, depression, mood swings, irritability and his teacher just told us that as this year has increased he has changed in his school work as well. As of last night we will be taking him off of this medication for good and will continue to manage his seasonal allergies with an emergency inhaler and zyrtec/claritin type meds. He is sluggish on the baseball field and not as alert (he unusually a natural athlete!) and he seems depressed and withdrawn - which is not his personality. I thought maybe because he was getting older he was changing but now I realize it is again the medication. It is okay for a week or two to get through a cold or high allergy week, but long term I will not have him on this any longer and wish that Merck would make the long term effects clearer to the doctors, patients and public in general. We are fortunate that his allergy symptoms are not as severe as other children and we can go lightly on medications.

My 4 year old Son has had diarrhea from about the last 4 weeks... we have started some tests for Celiac disease but today it only occurred to me today that he has been on Singulair for about that time frame... after all the worry and reading these other storied Im even more convinced that it maybe the Singulair..
Im just hoping that someone might read this sometime today or the next couple of days to tell me if when they come off the singulair how long did it take for the diarrhea to pass. My son had is last tablet 2 nights ago ( so he has only been off it so far for one night. But he still has the diarrhea.. should it have started to come out of his system already.

im having cough and then wheezing for a couple of minutes. My doctor thinks its common allergies, but I wasn't having my usual allergy attacks. She put me on Singular and It's been 3wks now and I've been feeling worse than ever.

Tremendous weight gain almost instantly from age 7 to now at age 8-1/2 . When my grandson started this medication we noticed the weight gain. The doctor assured us it had nothing to do with the Singular. We looked on line for information, but could find nothing about weight gain as a side effect. At last it has surfaced that children taking the Singular are also having a weight gain problem. We intend to stop this medication immediately. This is intended for the health and well being of children.

Wow. I am surprised to see how many children are being put on this medication! I am surprised because the label on my bottle says specifically for adults 15 YEARS of age and older... As for my experience with Singulair, I have been taking this medication off and on for about a year now. I was put on it for severe allergies as everything else I tried did not work for me. (Claritin, Allegra, Flonase, Veramyst, etc) The first month or so on Singular I noticed that I would get severe headaches in the afternoon about the same time everyday. I would have to take aspirin just to make it through the every workday. These headaches eventually tapered off even though I will occasionally get a headache. The Singulair definitely helped me with my allergy symptoms and when I would go off, I would usually end up with a cold or sinusitis.

My 3 yr old son has been taking Singular for about 1 1/2 years. He has been diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis. That dx came after an upper endoscopy. From about 10 months until starting Singular he vomited after every meal. Eventually had failure to thrive. He was on the Singular about 1 wk when he stopped vomiting. I am scared to take him off this med because it seems to work for him (with decreasing the vomiting). It doesn't actually decrease the eosinophils in his esophagus but somehow stops him from vomiting.He is a more difficult child but it is all we have really ever known from him. By difficult I mean- overly emotional, has trouble controlling impulses, occasionally mean. Does anyone have insight?

My daughter, who is eleven, now, was on singulair for about 5 years. She has been having a number of problems for a while now, but we never thought about it being the singulair until recently. She was having anxiety problems, tremors, being very argumentative, irritable, angry, depressed, pulling her hair out, (trichotillomania). I started doing research on her meds. (Zyrtec & Singulair) and was shocked to find so many other people were having these same symptoms, including several with the hair pulling. I took her to her allergy doctor and just told him I wanted to change her meds. and that I didn't care if they say these are "not" side effects. It was worth trying to see if things would get better. Well, she has been off the Singulair for about a month and half, and I am happy to report her hair is growing back, and she says she feels happy again. It breaks my heart to know that medicine that we had been giving her for so long was doing this to her. I also have decided a few days ago to take her off the Zyrtec after reading a lot of the same symptoms for it on this website.

In March I started having a lot of facial pain. Thought my allergies were getting worse. I went to an ENT specialist, had the whole workup (which they cannot still figure out my pain). Anyway, wanted me to start on Singular. I took 1 pill before I went to bed this last weekend. I started feeling dizzy and having violent thoughts. Also I had a lot of trouble sleeping. I still felt "weird" the next day. At first I thought this was a fluke, now I am pretty sure it was the Singular. I don't want to chance taking it again. I am a very heavy sleeper and do not have any problems falling asleep. The anxious feeling and strange thoughts were scary. I am not going to take this medication again. I am going to file a report with the FDA for the side effects I experienced. I am convinced they would have gotten much worse like the other people have expressed if I had continued taking it.

To All...

I am an anchor and the Medical Specialist for the CBS station in Louisville, KY. I have read these compelling and shocking accounts of the side affects with Singular. I have also been in contact with some pediatricians here in our area. I am doing a special report on this subject, the many accounts of side effects, and whats being done about it. I need your help. Are there any families who would be willing to tell their stories on camera? This is not to embarrass anyone, but to inform and raise important question for the public at large and the medical community. I am looking for families in the Greater Louisville,southern Indiana, central Indiana or even central Kentucky area. If you're nearby those areas, we are willing to travel to get your story. If you are interested, please contact me. My original post was deleted because I had my personal information on it. However, I will send more information in my reply to my own post. So again, if you are interested in telling your story, please look for that reply. I look forward to hearing from you.

My son is 5 years old and has been on Singulair for 2 years. I am so relieved to find this website after seeing a report about Singular on the local news.
Just the other day I was telling my husband how much it bothers me that our son is not very affectionate. We also have a 3 year old who hugs, laughs and plays like a normal child should. My son, on the other hand, is very rigid if you try to hug him, very serious if you try to joke, and VERY, VERY emotional when I leave him anywhere...as if I'll never return! I don't know how many mornings I've left day care in tears. I always thought to myself "What are we doing wrong?" "Why would he think we weren't coming back?" He is also very moody and argumentative. He reminds me of a very stressed out businessman in his late 50's. Not to mention the leg pains and the nightmares...we have always chalked it all up to "normal" things kids go through. Now that I have read all of the postings on this page I know there is hope. None of us want our children to be unhappy. Thanks for informing me...we are stopping Singulair Immediately!!