Teenagers symptoms and conditions

My son went to the Dr. with strep like symptoms. The Dr. did not take a strep test .. They just put him on a Z-pac.. The first day he threw one of them up.. I called the Dr. He said just keep taking it.. The sickness got worse.. I finally took him to the ER here in our home town.. Seems his Sore Throat went septic.. He ended up with Lemierre's Syndrome A loong month later after being in the Hospital he died.. We are all intitled to our opion.. Mine is.. The Z-pac is something that replace the cillin family.. Well guess what I found out ... if he would of gotten one of the cillin family he would be alive today.. My son was 17.. And we're finding out the dreaded FORGOTTEN DISEASE.. we've already lost a handful of teenagers & still some trying to live a normal life after this horrible disease.. they changed meds for strep.. In my opion the people that make it are responsible for his death.. He needed the old cillin family.. they gave him the right meds in the Hospital but it was to late.. He never knew what hit him.. Please ck out our web site if you love your children and say no to Z-PAC.. Here's the web sight.. ******. or you can ck us out at.. *******. Or you can contact me at ****** I'm not afraid of you ZPAC freaks.. The mother of a angel... R.I.P. Justin Rodgers.. We will love you forever.. Isn't that weird.. A pill that cost .82 cents would of safe my son.. Thanks for reading.. Please pass this on to others..

My 16 y/o daughter has been on ability for a year. they have upped her dose and downed it to add more anti-depressants,then upped it again to 20 mg a day. She has been hospitalized 5 times in this year for suicidal thoughts and depression. She would sleep 16 hours a day. She was not even like a person,she was like a dead person walking around when she was awake. She is completely unable to do any school work or chores at home. She doesn't laugh,she doesn't cry,she has no emotion at all.
She is in the hospital again and I have said for the doctors to stop this medication and they are telling me that these are not side effects that this is the symptoms of my daughters depression that makes her this way. She was never this way until she began this medication..
I urge and warn any parent NOT let a doctor talk you until giving this medication to your child. This and most anti-depressants are not designed for young adults and have severe effects that can en heighten the disorder.The FDA has placed this and many depression drugs on the BLACK LABEL WARNING LIST. This is a little something your doctors will not tell you. These drugs are not even remotely safe for children and teenagers at all. They truly make them worse.

I was prescribed singular on Friday for my asthma and allergies - I took the first dose on Saturday night - slept like a baby and felt really great Sunday (the best I'd felt for a long time!) but that changed Sunday night - after taking my tablet I went to bed - it took me until 4 am to finally fall asleep because of the noise in my ears and this overwhelming feeling of unrest in my mind and body. Around 4.30 am I apparently woke my daughter by leaving my bedroom sleepwalking - I even managed to change the top I was wearing before loudly opening and shutting my bedroom door then walked half-way down stairs turned then went back to bed - I'm 44 and never, in the whole of my life, walked in my sleep! All day Monday I just didn't feel myself like the world was an overwhelming place to be! I didn't take the next dose but feel absolutely drained and on edge - I'm told it'll take a few days to completely leave my system - wish I'd never even tried it!!!!!

Since my daughter second gardasil shot she has become tired all the time, she passed out on November 10 and was taken to the doctor. She orderd an EKG, chest xray and blood work. They called me that night and said she has an irregular slow heart beat ( which she has never had before). We went to a heart specialist the next day, he did an echo cardiogram and said things looked fine. If she passed out again, for me to call him and he sent us on our way. Tonight, while she was walking at work, it happend again. We went to E.R. and basically were told to follow up with her doctors on Monday. She is supposed to get the third shot in December, now i am afraid for her to get it. Im wondering if her suddenly getting the slow irregular heart beat, and passing out, irregular period, and headache is connected to the Gardasil. She is 17 and a senior in High School, she was planning on going to college, but now she is afraid to be alone, drive, or do anything that typical teenagers do.

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.

Why does Singulair cause these symptoms? I am going to give my explanation which is only a HYPOTHESIS. This should not be categorized as any thing but an educated guess. This is not backed by scientific research because nobody will do any research that would appear to anger
Merck even if people are suffering in the thousands.

1. The original research that preceded the development of Singulair (montelukast) seemed to focus on the theory that asthma was caused by an unusual immune response to certain pathological stimulus. There are many references to the observation that a high percentage of asthma sufferers are people whose asthma is caused by fungus. Many people suffer from asthma and are told that they are allergic to dust mites. Dust mites can live only because the fungus aspergillus pre-digests the
food source that dust mites can then absorb. Other sources of fungus occur in the home due to dampness or problems with wood rot.

2. The body's immune system fights certain categories of pathogens such as bacteria and fungus by creating nitric oxide which kills them at the site where they try to enter the body. The mast cell is the immune cell that is responsible for the production of nitric oxide. Mast cells are found in the skin, airways, intestines etc. The mast cell is capable of many different types of biochemical functions that are designed to signal other cells or other chemical responses. When the mast cell knows that pathogens
are present and nitric oxide is NOT produced, then it signals other immune cells to be sent to the site of the infection. Thus in the case of asthma, it is known that excessive numbers of eosinophils appear in the airways and these cells create inflammation.

3. Singulair was developed for asthma and later allowed to be prescribed for other reasons. I believe that montelukast probably creates a source of nitric oxide that prevents the mast cell from signalling for other immune cells to arrive at the source of infection. I arrived at that conclusion from studying the chemical structure of montelukast, the chemical structure of the gene cysLT1 receptor, and the chemical structure of the cell wall of fungus which would be what the mast cell uses to determine "what to do in order to kill the fungus."

The researchers who invented montelukast first had to clone the gene-cysLT1 receptor meaning that they had to be able to identify the gene and replicate it. Then by trial and error they had a find a "chemical"
that would bind (connect chemically) to the cysLT1 receptor. The theory would be that montelukast would take the place of the fungus or other pathogen and thus prevent the gene from reacting to produce the
responses that the sick patient with asthma produced. Merck says in the literature that montelukast binds with the cysLT1 receptor in order to prevent the mast cell from signalling the eosinophils to arrive in excessive
numbers that cause inflammation. I believe that montelukast is also causing the production of an amount of nitric oxide that is actually killing the pathogens that are present. For one thing, I would think that it
would be dangerous to incapacitate the immune system in that way without providing a way to kill the pathogens. I don't believe that the asthma response is just allergies to something like dust. Pollen from trees and flowers is loaded with fungus spores.

4. IF, IF, IF, montelukast does actually produce nitric oxide, then it does so by binding with the gene. Any place in the body where a molecule of montelukast encounters the cysLT1 receptor (a gene) then the corresponding molecules of nitric oxide are produced before the liver enzymes break the montelukast molecules up. Nitric oxide is TOXIC and
INFLAMMATORY. So let's look at the symptoms in regard to the location of the cysLT1 receptors. The location of these symptoms would not be places in the body where the mast cells normally encounter fungus or bacteria. The cysLT1 also has other functions in that it communicates with the cysLT2 receptors. Obviously, nitric oxide
should not be produced in these locations because of the signalling effect of nitric oxide on other physiological functions.

a. intestinal pain - the cysLT1 receptors are located in the small intestines
b. leg pain actually caused by vasculitis - cysLT1 receptors are found inside blood vessels- consistent with the fact that montelukast causes
Churg-Strauss
c. some people who didn't have asthma develop asthma - the cysLT1 receptors are in the airways
d. nightmares, depression, neurological damage - when montelukast penetrates the blood brain barrier probably due to unusual conditions of blood pH or electrolyte imbalance then nitric oxide in the brain causes neuron damage and excitoxicity

5. Why do some patients not experience side effects? Probably because genetically they are completely compatible with the model that researchers created when they cloned the cysLT1 receptor gene. I didn't not find any information about whether researchers knew that there are many different variations of this gene.

6. IF, my theory is even close to being correct, then why doesn't Merck do anything about researching these side effects. Maybe because nobody in the company knows how this drug works but the researchers who created it. All of the Merck literature is very vague about any biochemical information.

Again, this is just speculation and hypothesis. I have made an attempt to put this in simplistic language and therefore sacrifice scientific accuracy. But, I think that you will get the point.

SINGULAIR IS VERY DANGEROUS TO PATIENTS WHO EXPERIENCE NEGATIVE SIDE EFFECTS. DOCTORS SHOULD JUST REALIZE THAT
THOSE PATIENTS ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THE MODEL FOR THE DRUG.

My daughter was prescribed Singulair in the spring and it worked wonders.Since her allergies and asthma don't bother her in the summer I took her off for those few months.Since she has been back on the last few months I notice once and awhile an aggression/depression behavior.I thought immediately that it was Singulair causing this but it wasn't everyday it happened.I believe that activity,schedule,and even food in combination with this medicine that was cause this rare effect.It's no news to parents that all of these things can change a persons attitude and behavior.I also believe that Singulair may just make people more sensitive to their true self as my daughter has always been paranoid and has lacked self esteem.I think that it is trial and error as with any medicine.Try it and it may or may not work for you.Taking it off the market would be a disgrace as it has saved many lives.

On July 9, 2008, I was admitted to the hospital for severe anemia, due to a heavy period that was on it's 3rd straight week. Because I had lost so much blood, I had to get a blood transfusion (4 pints). Since my bleeding would not stop, my doctor gave me a shot of Lupron. I was discharged from the hospital the next day because the Lupron stopped the bleeding. A week later I got, what I think was my normal period (which I don't even know what that is anymore) and that lasted 7 days. Almost immediately after receiving the shot, I noticed my hair was falling out in clumps when I washed it. 2 weeks later, I started getting bouts of suddenly feeling hot and sweaty. I didn't think much of it. I just thought my A/C unit needed more freon or something. That was until I went to see another Dr. for a second opinion. I am 38 years old with uterine fibroid tumors and my first doctor wanted me to get a hysterectomy. I have 2 teenagers and do not plan to have anymore children, but I just wanted another opinion. My second doctor informed me that Lupron's side effects are hair loss, loss of bone density, hot flashes, and premature menopause. When he mentioned hair loss and hot flashes, I knew then that I was not going crazy! Anyway, the second doctor explained to me that the loss of bone density and premature menopause would happen if Lupron is taken consistently. I just want to know when is my body going to get back to normal. All I had was one shot of this stupid drug! The hot flashes are not only uncomfortable but also embarrassing! It's been 3 months since I received the Lupron shot and the hot flashes have not vanished nor decreased. I know that every female's body reacts differently to different drugs, but if Lupron causes all these side affects, I suggest that you read up on the drug before taking it. I was told that if my bleeding comes back that I can ask for another Lupron shot. Well the answer to that is thanks but NO THANKS. Seriously, I would rather bleed than go through more hair loss, hot flashes or any other debilitating side effect.

This past winter we found out that my son had developed asthma. His allergist /asthma doctor put him on Singulair as his preventative. Not two days later a report came across the news that Singulair has depression as a side effect. I immediately called my son's allergist / asthma doctors and was told that these symptoms have been found ONLY in children in their teens. That they are linking something in the med with hormones and it spawns depression.
Even though this is terrible for the parents of teenagers, my son is 6 years old... the chance of this happening to us was slim. Or so I thought.
One morning, to my horror, two weeks later my 6 year old son whom never really watched anything on television without his parents (with the exception of Noggin programs) is talking about how he wished he was never born. That no one would care if he was to die or disappear. That maybe he should just go to sleep one night an just die..... he was getting so angry for no apparent reason, throwing things and yelling all the time... telling me, his mother (we have always been so close) that he wished I were dead and that he hated me...
Needless to say I immediately called his doctors and they told me to stop the Singulair right away. The doctors were shocked that this has happened to a 6 year old and had filled out reports for the FDA that I had to give detailed descriptions of what happened to my son so they could start warning other parents.
Now, four months later and we have our happy go luck son back. No preventative, but the inhaler is doing the job.
Good luck out there if you agree to put your child on this medication. I understand it does not happen to everyone, I just cannot tell or describe to you how horrifying and traumatizing it was to go through seeing my happy go lucky son become this extremely depressed angry aggressive child within two weeks. We are still battling the aggressive behavior, but hey, he is 6 and that could be normal... right?

While I am sure that Singulair has adverse effects for some children/teenagers/adults, I took Singulair for 2-3 years (until my asthma symptoms improved to the point where I didn't need to take it) while I was a kid and had no adverse side effects. Started back on Singulair in April after having severe reactions to my new puppy (I am now 21). Since then, I really haven't had any side effects at all. I agree that they should black box Singulair and possibly not prescribe it to some children/teens, but for some people (like myself), it works, and shouldn't be taken off the market completely.

A few years ago Singulair was prescribed for me. I am 56 years old and generally healthy with asthma and allergies. Within only a few days I started to notice that I was very depressed. I was frightened at how hopeless I felt. After a couple of weeks I starting using a new drug. The terrible depression went away within a few days and I was my normal cheerful self. For some people, Singulair is a very dangerous drug. I will NEVER touch this drug again! I'd be especially hesitant to use it on children or teenagers that aren't as aware of changes in their moods.

I have been reading all of these posts and have another question. I hope that someone can help. My daughter, 8 years old, has been on Singulair since she was 4. She is normally a very happy girl with a wonderful disposition. For the last year or so, she has been having trouble getting herself to sleep at night. She says that she hears things in her head such as ringing or "noises". A few hours before she knows it's bedtime, she cries and when we ask her why she's crying, she can't give us a reason. We initially thought that she was crying for no reason because she didn't want to go to sleep. I remember reading about the side effects of Singulair causing mood swings, etc., but her's are not violent mood swings. Just very emotional and has a hard time coming down from the "episode". I'm at a loss...I have not talked to her doctor yet about it, but have told her that we will make an appointment this week to discuss it with him. My husband suggested that maybe it sounded like she was having a panic attack or anxiety attack. I hate to label her as that at such a young age. My mind now goes back to the side effects of Singulair and maybe this is to blame. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! Concerned Mom

My son is suffering from psychosis because of prednisone. He had severe poison ivy and was given 10 day course of pills that tapered and a shot. Since then he has been in the psych ward for a week , released given respirdal and lithium. After 3 weeks we tried to wean him from the respidal but the psychosis came right back. ;He is 17 and never had any symptoms of psychosis or mania before. He has every symptom now. BTW his psychosis did not appear until he was finished with the prednisone for several days. Will he ever recover?????

Prescribed 500mg of Levaquin for sinus infection, along w Medrol Pak steroids. Although steroids can cause restlessness, they do NOT cause COMPLETE anxiety, nightmares insomnia and aphasia. I took only 4 pills, 1 each day, and it's like i boarded THE CRAZY TRAIN. Fluoroquinolones are apparently known for their intense and dangerous side effects, and if it is true that this is also an antidote for anthrax poisoning, it's probably something that should not be prescribed for sinus infections. SEVERE side effects, chest tightness, etc. No wonder they will not rx it for teenagers-I am a healthy 42 yr old woman and would NEVER take it AGAIN,.

I am not a 100% sure the experience I had was due to Singulair but it appears to be. Singulair was prescribed to me for "walking pnemonia". After a couple of days on the medications I was taking, I started experiencing pain in my knees and muscles in my lower legs. My left leg was worse than my right. After 3 days, I could barely walk and the pain was severe. I forgot to take my medicine one day and the next day my knees were much better and had less pain. I just thought I was getting better but the next day when I started the medicine again, the pain came back. I remembered when my son was on Accutane he had similar knee and leg pain because of the dryness caused by Accutane. So I kept taking the antibiotic I was on and stopped the Singulair. The next day I felt much better. On the second day I hardly had any pain at all. I was curious if anyone else had this type of side effect. Most of the postings I have seen have dealt more with depression in teenagers. I am 55.

My son is 9 years old and been on Adderall XR for about 3 weeks and says he hears voices and they tell him they are going to hurt someone... He also has become very aggressive with his siblings... Has anyone else ever had this happen.. Please Help

We have been through hell for the past three years with my son, who is now 18. He went from a very happy, confident kid who had lots of friends, loved playing several sports, played the piano, enjoyed going to school where he got straight A's, to a complete disaster. I cried when I read many of these postings. All these stories sound so similar to ours. He had trouble sleeping where he couldn't get to sleep at night and then his sleep would be very restless (one time he punched a hole in the wall in his sleep, several times he fell out of bed) and he would be all twisted up in his blankets in the morning. Getting him up in the morning became a complete nightmare, I dreaded getting up in the morning because our mornings had become so stressful. He just could not seem to wake up no matter what method we tried and sometimes it could get quite ugly. We took him in for several sleep studies which didn't yield any results. He started feeling sick all of the time with frequent stomach aches and ended up missing alot of school. We had a CT scan done on his abdomin which didn't show anything abnormal. Because he missed alot of school he fell behind and his grades dropped, he stopped hanging out with all of his old buddies and he started getting into trouble. There were days when he would be rolled up in a ball in his bed crying, telling me that he couldn't stand the thought of going to school. This was not the son we knew and we, like most people with teenagers, figured it was just a phase and would go away. Unfortunately, he ended up getting thrown out of school and has moved out of state. He will not be graduating with his class this spring which is a tragedy. Although he has been away from us now for 10 months, we keep in touch regularly and he is doing great (he stopped taking Singulair well over a year ago). He has had a steady job that he loves for the past 10 months and is apparently able to get himself up in the mornings and to work on time. He has been living on his own, paying rent and all of the other associated expenses that go with this, he has not asked us for any assistance and appears to be coping very well. He has made a lot of new friends and seems to be thriving. We are very proud of him! He would like to get his GED and go to college. His transformation has been dramatic. The frustrating part is that it didn't have to be this way. We feel like we have pretty much lost the last three years of our son's life, and we're not sure when he will be coming home. We all miss him terribly, especially his brother and sister, there is a big hole in our family. And the stress of the last three years has taken a toll on our family. I have passed some of these postings on to our Dr. I hope all of the information on these postings will help to spare other families the sadness and heartache that we have gone through. If there is going to be a class-action suit I would appreciate receiving any information regarding that.

My son started Singulair in the 7th grade and his personality changed but I never attributed it an asthma medication. He was on it and off of it for the next five years. On it again last year, he committed suicide on October 2nd, 2007. I consider his suicide a "side effect."

My husband took Chantix before I tried it. He was a two pack a day smoker and honestly, I thought he would never give it up.

He had all the normal side effects at first. The nausea was the worst but he learned that eating first helped. Then of course there was the dreams but he could also live with that. All in all, he didn't really notice any change in himself at all. But there was a change and it hasn't changed back yet, and he has been off Chantix for over six months now.

At first, we thought it was just nicotine withdrawal that was making him so mean. But as the days turned to weeks, then weeks to months, it is obvious to his entire family that this medicine has caused a complete personality change in him. He is always so angry. We have been married for over twenty years, and it has just been in the past few months that he has actually been really mean to me. Not physically, just verbally. It seems that we argue about everything. I can never do anything to please him anymore. Everything that goes wrong is my fault. He is just basically an unhappy person now.

The worst part is how it effects our teen age children. They hate to go places that includes him. He is so quick to fly off the handle with them. He has embarrassed me by talking down to me in public and he has done the same to the kids. He would have never done that before. He used to really care if he hurt my feelings, but now, it is as if he doesn't care anymore. He agrees that he seems more agitated than normal, but says he just doesn't know what to do about it. It just has effected his whole personality and it seems that it is a permanent change, since he has been off Chanitx for more than six months now.

He says he hurts a lot now, his muscles and joints ache all the time. That is another side effect that I have found occurs with Chantix users. His memory and concentration is terrible now. He will swear he told us something or asked us to do something for him, when in truth, he has said nothing. He will begin to say something and stop in mid sentence, leaving us waiting to hear what he is saying. When we tell him that he did not finish his statement, he gets angry at us. We feel like we are in a no win situation when dealing with him, so we just walk on egg shells around him now. I want my husband back and my children want their father back.

Yes he is smoke free, but at what cost to him and his family? This drug should have never been allowed to be put on the market without further testing.

Luckily I only took it for three days. But during those three days, my vision got so blurry that I could not even see the TV, and could barely drive a car safely. I called Pfizer to ask about this and at first, thought they were really concerned about me. But then I realized they only wanted to document my side effect. After stopping the medicine, my vision cleared up. I then wrote to Pfizer and complained. I demanded they refund my money and they did, without any questions.

So to everyone who is taking this or considering taking this, please don't! Please stop now if you are taking it. It is a dangerous drug. Smoking is bad for us, we know that. But at least it is something we know. We don't know all the dangers of this drug yet. It is just not worth the risk.

I have been taking Lipitor for several years now, 40 mil. About a month ago I started having terrible shooting pains in my left hip. Within a day or so the pain had also started in the calf of my leg, like a cramp that wouldn't go away. My left calf all the way to the tip of my toes felt numb and tingly like it was asleep and it feels as though I don't have control of my leg or foot. The pain got so bad I couldn't walk. It would get better for a day or so and then come back again. It got so bad I couldn't walk, stand or sit. The only way I could get any relief was to stay in bed in one certain position. I stopped taking Lipitor on my own. It has been over a month now and I still have pain but isn't as bad most of the time. This pain is so terrible I hope writing this note will help others. I'm wondering if I will ever be normal again. I was a very active 58 year old but now I feel like a crippled 100 year old. They should take this drug off the market or at least warn people of what it will do to them.