Terrible two symptoms and conditions

My son started taking Singulair in Sept 08 when he was 22 months old. I never really gave it to him consistently, since it was just to help with his reoccurring ear infections. I noticed a little change in his behavior, but I thought it was the "terrible two's". I started giving it to him religiously at the beginning of Nov 08. He had his first meltdown on Nov 15. He was totally uncontrollable. I call it the "Exorcist" tantrum. I took him to the ER, but they told me nothing was wrong. (I did tell the ER all of the medications he was taking.) He started waking up in the middle of the night screaming. Each day, he got a little worse. Defiant, hateful, destructive, etc. He still isn't talking much, so he can't tell me what is going on. Christmas and New Year were horrible. We had NO idea that it could cause mood changes (that is putting it mildly). The pediatrician had no idea what could be causing the behavioral changes. He also started biting his fingernails and obsessing over little things, like the strings hanging off of his blanket.

We decided to take him off Singulair after double checking the side effects. We stopped a week ago, and the change is amazing. He is back to my great little boy. I am sooooo glad that we discovered this after only a few months. I cannot imagine living like that for years.

Two days after stopping the Singluair, I found this website: ******

As I read the different cases, I thought that it was exactly like my son. I was convinced it was the medicine. Each day that he gets better and better-like his normal self- I keep getting madder and madder that no one informed me about the possible side effect. The Dr. did not know nor the pharmacist.

Yesterday, I went to the FDA site to complain about the side effects. It just so happens that the FDA released a statement yesterday that they are still investigating the link between suicidality and Singulair.

We need to let everyone know, that if you are using Singulair, please pay attention to their child's behavior. Some people may be just fine, but others (like my son) are not fine.

My 4 year old son started taking singulair when he was two. I don't think I picked up on his behavior change right away b/c I thought that he was just entering the "terrible two's". But over time, his allergist added on Nasonex (I know the docs say that it doesn't cause side-effects b/c it's a nasal spray, but I don't buy that...it's a steroid, plain and simple) and more recently zyrtec was added on for his hives. Well, the zyrtec was the straw that broke the camel's back. I mean, he has been a real "handful" since the singulair, but after zyrtec was added 5 months ago - let's just say he was completely out of my control. His meltdowns were so bad that I couldn't go ANYWHERE with him. I either got a sitter or just didn't go anywhere. He became aggressive, defiant, emotional, unhappy. And to top it off he started to have serious "autistic-like" self-stimulatory behaviors (grinding teeth, squinting eyes shut, flapping his hands, punching himself...). At this point my life had become a complete nightmare, and my poor 10 month old son was getting NO attention b/c my 4 year old was so out of control and aggressive. I was afraid for the baby's safety...oh, I could go on all night. This medication has impacted my marriage, my finances, my sanity. Shortly after he started Singulair I had to go on an antidepressant b/c it too so much out of me just to be his mommy. Anyway, a week ago I had him scheduled for a psych evaluation (thought for sure we were going to walk away with either autism or bipolar diagnosis), but two days before I decided to look up the meds he is on and BINGO! All of these posts sound like what we have been going through. I stopped all of his meds that night, cold-turkey, and he has been the most pleasant little boy I have ever met!! My husband and I have fallen in love with him over the past week - we had no idea he was such a sweet child.

Now, while I'm ecstatic that we have found the answer to our nightmare, I also feel SO STINKIN' ANGRY! We lost out on 2 years with our sweet boy, there were times when we raised our voices at him when he just couldn't help himself - he was suffering inside!! When I went to talk to the allergist about my findings this past week, he said, "well, maybe he just had a good day. I'd like to see what happens if he goes off all his meds for a week". Well, there you have it, he has been off for one week and he's an absolute angel. He has an amazing heart and is so caring!!!

Singulair is awful (and so is zyrtec). Please don't give this drug to your children. Research other alternatives (I am giving my son Nordic Naturals Fish Oil, Culturelle probiotics, vitamin c, and am changing his diet - increased magnesium and decreased dairy. I came up with this after hours of research...).

There is a woman on this site whose daughter committed suicide after 3 years on Singulair. This is no joke and the FDA needs to get with it.

BTW, I used to date a Singulair rep (I knew there was something I didn't like about that guy:)

I am a mom of twin boys who are 3 1/2. They were 9 weeks premature so we battled RSV for the first two years of their life. Allergies are also an issue therefore, they were put on Singulair at 10 months old. It really seemed to work for them and things seemed to be going okay but once they turned 1 1/2, their behavior started to change. They were constantly throwing toys at each other, sippy cups at people across the room, screaming for no reason, etc. Some may say it was normal behavior for little toddlers. Then the "terrible two's" set in. They started biting, pushing, screaming over anyone who talks to get attention, not listening and for two kids that slept through the night....all of a sudden that stopped too! My husband and I mentioned it to the pediatrician and also tried to going through the state (developmental clinic because of being premature) thinking that we would get some answers and everyone seemed to think it is a combination of their age and the fact there are two of them....sibling rivalry. We now deal with two kids that use to sleep through the night, now end up in our bed every night to fall asleep because they don't like their room and their erratic behavior is stressing my husband and myself out. When they are good, they are great but when it gets bad....it is a nightmare! I even find it hard to get people to watch the kids because they are too much to handle! After reading these postings I realize I am not the only one with kids going through this and that the common link is SINGULAIR! I am not giving this to my boys ever again and I already put a call into the pediatrician to discuss my findings. I have a sense of relief to know that it is not only my children who's behavior is like this but I am scared because I pray that there is not any long term effects that can not be corrected once this drug is out of their system. I just want my boys to be healthy and okay!

Has anyone's kids had trouble sleeping since taking Singular. My son has been on it for a couple weeks and seems not to be able to go to sleep very easy. Also it seems to wear off kind of fast, by bedtime he's stuffy and itchy.

PRAISE GOD for all of the stories shared on this site. And I've only read page one. My husband called me back today to say that he "googled" Singulair and found some interesting things (to say the least). While we were on the phone, my three-year-old was in the throes of another meltdown, kicking me, hitting me, throwing whatever he could get his hands on. My older two boys, 8 and 12, were ordered, once again, to lock themselves in their rooms to avoid being hurt by him. He will throw stuff, bite, hit, kick, and, at times, spit on us. This disturbing behavior is rather constant lately. He is like a mad man. Very scary.

Caleb has been on Singulair since about age 1, when he was diagnosed with chronic sinusitis and allergic rhinitis. Unfortunately, we initially equated his rages with the onset of "terrible two's" and dismissed his behavior to a chorus of "oh, he's just a boy!" My husband felt, at times, that I was just not disciplining him properly. I intuitively knew, having raised two other boys, that this behavior was abnormal, even for severe tantrums. We received a variety of suggestions from his pediatrician, caregivers, and grandparents, all to no avail. We have several calm days but things always deteriorate back to insanity. He is VERY unpredictable.

Last Thanksgiving, Caleb (age 3) was kicked out of his daycare setting for biting and hitting. Once I witnessed him run as fast as he could into a group of playing children, falling on them, kicking them. He would walk up to sweet little girls half his size and push them down as hard as he could. It was a nightmare. My husband had to take 3 weeks of leave to stay home with him while we prayed and searched for new care. We had him evaluated and he was staffed into the "developmentally delayed" program in our school district (for poor adaptive skills and personal/social behaviors). We recently had his tonsils removed, hoping that some of the sinusitis symptoms and behaviors would improve. They really haven't. This past week we have been looking into the Feingold diet. We have been PRAYING for answers. The last time we spoke with his developmental neurologist, he recommended a trial of Risperdol (sp?). We feel like more meds would be like a band-aid, not a solution. But his rage is becoming unbearable.

So, that brings us to today. I was so moved by your accounts. Unlike so many of you, we don't have much of a "before" to go by. But his "after" sounds VERY much like what you have all described. It's probably the pure rage that I see on his face that is the scariest part. And at the same time he seems desperate and vulnerable. He truly seems to snap. If we had pool chairs, I can just picture him throwing them (citing another post :).

We are going to throw the Singulair away. He will never, ever have it again. Even if this isn't the cause of his problems, I certainly don't want to exacerbate any behaviors with this toxic medicine. I will post again just to let anyone who's interested know if this changes his behavior. I am praying that my entry will help someone else, just as all the other postings have helped me. I have renewed hope.

I have copied many of your comments to a Word document. I will be sharing it with a high ranking officer at the medical clinic/hospital on Keesler Air Force Base. I hope that he will discuss this with his staff and that perhaps we can at least make a difference here. I, too, will be filing a report with the FDA. I can only pray that this medicine has not permanently altered his developing brain.

hi, im not sure what to do. my 3 1/2 year old daughter was today given the prescription for singulair. i voiced my concerns to the doctor after my friend telling me its no good due to the side effects.she said that there are risks and side effects with any drug you take but for some reason i don't feel right about this. don't doctors know better than this. anyway Would like to know if all the people who take singulair suffer some sort of side affects or is it minimal? or going by this side it looks like its probably best not to give it to her at all.

I have been taking Singulair since it came on the market almost 10 years ago. I am now 26 years old and working on a Masters in Psychology. My theory is about this drug that people that are experiencing depression, and suicidal thoughts are prone to having this without the drug. I cannot skip a day without this medication or else I start having severe flair ups. I am writing because it always seems when there is a good drug on the market it gets pulled because of the side effects. I hope Merck does extensive testing and surveying to make sure of these allegations before the drug is discontinued. Also I took Singulair the entire time I was pregnant and my child has no kind of birth defects etc.

Our son is nearly six and has been on Singulair since he was 2 y/o. We put is bad behavior down to the "Terrible Two's". He has always displayed signs of poor concentration, impulsive behavior, hyper and the list goes on. Last December his PED proscribed Bactrim for a resp problem and it was just last weekend where we hit breaking point. His behavior has become aggressive along with all of the other bad behavior to the point we have been called for meetings with his new school to have a Physical assessment done.
I researched Bactrim last weekend and it was described as poison which we took him off right away and, it was pure luck i stumbled across this website to find that Singulair may be the EVIL after all.

We took him off both medications 4 days ago and we are praying we see behavioral changes soon....Already i have noticed he is more settled and relaxed while watching TV etc.

Can anyone tell me how long it takes for the medication to leave their system?

This is the 1st time I have ever posted anything. My 2 1/2 year old son was prescribed Singulair in conjunction with Zyrtec to help treat allergies and eczema. He has been an absolute nightmare....moody, cranky, tired all the time. He complains of leg pain and belly pain often. I never thought it could be the medication but after reading all of these posts, I think I will take him off the medication for a while and see what happens. I just assumed it was the "terrible two's". It's so hard to judge what is best for your child when their pediatrician and other well-educated doctors are telling you that these medications are safe for your child. You trust them....especially since a young child can't really express how the medication makes him feel other than by acting out, etc. I thank all of you for these postings. It helps to have information from others who are either taking the drug themselves or are going through the same experiences with their children.

My 4 yr old son has been on Singulair for 2 years now After having what was close to pneumonia, his pediatrician decided that we should try Singulair. He suffered from allergies all year round and both sides of the family also have a history of allergies. We went over the indicators to decide whether or not there was a good chance that he would develop asthma. Yes, we found there was a very good chance. We were told that Singulair is the one drug that could actually prevent him from developing asthma - so OF COURSE we said okay. He started so young, that we never really realized that this wasn't just his "personality" - you know terrible two's, then independence, then along came his baby sister...on and on. Anyway, he has always been an overly-emotional child, hyper, etc., but then it was like every little thing bothered him and he would throw fits about "nothing". One day I told him to stop acting this way and while crying he said he couldn't stop and asked me to help him to stop. How heartbreaking! He goes to preschool and can't sit in a circle for more than a couple of minutes without being reminded by the teacher to sit down. He has been especially aggressive - saying how he just wants to kick something or push his sister down. He has always been a restless sleeper, but just recently he has been telling me about his terrible dreams - things you would never expect to hear from a 4 yr old. I thought he was a hypochondriac b/c he was always complaining about something hurting. I was reading about ADHD and decided that maybe this was what he had - everything fit quite closely to these same behaviors. I called the pediatrician's office to see if this may be his diagnosis and instead they told me about the possibility that Singulair might be to blame. They told me take him off of it and see how things go. It has only been 3 days. I have not seen any improvement and his is very itchy and scratching like crazy. I'll let you know what we find out.

I feel so sick reading this website. My 3 1/2 yr old has been on singular for 7 months and he has so many of these side effects you are talking about , his behaviour has totally changed in the last 7 months and i have been putting it down to the terrible two's a year late. My beautiful little boy has turnrd into an emotional wreck!!!! always crying and has such a volatile temper which is so unlike him. He has awful night sweats but no temperature and if he's out playing he is soaking through his clothes. I am so MAD AT MYSELF I AM A NURSE how could i not have put 2 and 2 together?????
aaron's mom

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!

My daugther has been off and on singulair for about a year or so. We recently started it again, along with a whole bunch of other medications, because her asthma flared up really badly. She recently completed a course of prednisone - during that treatment she was especially moody/hostile, but the behavior seems to be continuing even after we stopped the prednisone.

Granted she's on a ton of medicines right now - xopenex, zyrtec, rhnyotan (a prescription decongestant), pennicillin and singulair. But, I am wondering if singulair is making matters worse. And, maybe it's just reading these posts, but I'm looking back on the last three weeks or so, when the asthma flare up began, and I am wondering if the singulair is a bigger problem than we thought. I'd say her behavrior has trended downward since the flare up began and we started the singulair again. Of course, at the same time, we also started with xopenex treatments a couple of times a day.

Anyway, to make a long story longer, I can't pin this on singulari, but I am surprised at some of the complaints I'm reading here - and how similar they are to our concerns. Our daughter wakes up a couple of times at night now, screaming; she is moody/hostile, has no energy, says her stomach/tushie hurts, complains about leg pains every now and then and lately says her eyes itch really badly. I'm calling the pediatrician and allergist tomorrow.

My daughter is 5 years old and has been on singulair for 1 week. i have already noticed a dramatic change in her behavior. she has become irritable, mean, nasty, and emotional. she has had me in tears on a daily basis. she has turned into a monster. we will be calling the doctor in the morning!

My 32 m.o. daughter had a mucous-y cough for about a year. Then I noticed that her cough was worse when she lays down at night, and after jumping on the trampoline. I (her mom) have asthma, and it runs all through our family. After a bout of the flu early January, where she was hopitalized for 2 days, I talked with her pediatrician about the "asthma-like" qualities she is showing. Dr. prescribed zyrtec along with 4 mg of singulair at bedtime, with a follow up 3 weeks later. Also prescribed ventolin with a spacer, which we havent had to use yet. (I use inhalers regularly.) We followed up with the Dr, and I told her that her cough is pretty much gone now. So we stopped the zyrtec and are on singulair for a few months. The thing is, I have noticed that she is more aggressive and more irritable than her normal self. I dont know whether to attribute it to the "terrible-two's" or the new medicine. She always wants to hit someone or something. And yes, I notice that her night-time sleep patterns are different. She falls asleep great, but she wakes up in the middle of the night (3 or 4 am) and has a hard time gonig back to sleep. It is the agressive behavior that has me worried, because she does not want to listen or be told what to do, and she is hitting other kids at her pre-school. After reading the comments frmo other Moms below, I gues it acutally could be the medicine and not the terrible-two's!

I am so glad that I found this site, my son is 5 1/2 and has been taking Singulair since he was two. It works, but the side effects are not worth it. He is our first child so we attributed his behavior to the terrible two's, terrible three's when he started pre-k we thought it was immaturity, now he is in kindergarten and the teacher reports restlessness, inability to concentrate, clumsiness, all types of issues that could be related to ADHD. We were about to start the process to see if he had ADHD when I found this website. He has been off of the med for two weeks today. He went to the pediatrician, eye doc and allergist. All say he is in good health and that he can sit still for their exams, doubting ADHD. The pediatrician wants us to wait another two weeks and then look at his behavior in school and see if it has changed. It's hard to get an ideas as to how long before the effects of the pill will wear off. I have read entries that say one day, to entries that say up to 6 months. I have seen a change at home, he states he is less "squirmy." The allergist says that this effect on children is rare, but he did admit that it happens. He has seen 3 cases in 6 years.

My son just turned 5 years old. Singulair is the only medicine my son has been taking in these last few months. He had been off of it for about a year, until May 05 he started taking it again. His behavior became terrible. I did not put two and two together, that the medicine was doing this to him. Constantly in trouble in pre k. Bouncing off the walls, bad temper, head aches, a couple of nose bleeds, muscle leg and ankle cramps (which I thought were growing pains), not sleeping through the night, not LISTENING at all, hyper, sarcastic, rude and eating all the time. I have had him off singulair for a few days and he is getting back to the sweet little boy he use to be. I can't believe the change in personality. Thank you for this website and I hope other parents read this and take their children off singulair. I was thinking about taking him to a therapist because I just did not know what to do anymore. So the other night I was thinking what has happened to him to cause such a change. Then I thought I will do some research on Singulair and boom I could not believe he wasn't the problem, singulair was. I was at my wits end until I found this website and noticed similar patterns with other children. I feel awful I have been giving these terrible pills to my son. I cannot believe doctors are prescribing this to little children. How unfair. He has been in so much trouble lately being disciplined. He use to be on it a couple of years ago and was also bad and I asked the ped and he told me no behavior problems could be caused by singulair. So I just filed it in the back of my mind and choked it up to terrible two's. Well I say bull. My poor child went through hell. Help your little ones and do not let them take singulair.

I am a mother of a 2.5yr old who has been on singulair for 6mths due to bouts of pneumonia and constant breathing problems. I have been trying to pin point what is causing him to suffer these bouts and if it could have anything to do with behaviour changes and I am stunned to read some of these side effects. My lovable boy has turned into a right monster, he doesn't sleep well at night, he screams for no reason, inflicts pain on his siblings, spits and hits me, he seems on edge and he even looks like death warmed up!!, He is very pale and his face is drawn. i am at my wits end with his constant whinging and crying. I have not told my paediatrician this information as I honestly thought that he was going through the terrible two stage in a big way!!, But now I think that maybe Singulair could be the cause of his personality change. I shall follow up with paediatrician ASAP. If anyone can shine a light on my problems please contact me.