Terrible twos symptoms and conditions

I have a 15-yr old. She's been taking singulair since she was 7. These are a few of the things that I have noticed over the last year but ignored because I too, as many of you have, thought it was because she a teenager.

1. Stomachache .. she complained all the time. Thought it was nerves because it was usually before she went to a training session or game.
2. Restlessness.
3. Headaches.
4. Moodiness.
5. Tired. Fatigue. Weak. Even after she gets hours and hours of sleep. Figured it was because her schedule is whacked. We've had fights over her not going to bed at a certain time.
6. Menstrual cycle changed last fall followed by acne when as before she was perfectly normal with clear skin. Recently put her on BC because of her hormonal change. Blood tests showed she was normal. We tried it anyway to regulate her periods. Took her off of it after she had her period for 3 weeks straight. Probably won't put her back on BC since taking Singulair might be the problem.
7. Tired all the time. Falls asleep in class.
8. Lost interest in her favorite sport which she rocks at. Thought it was because of a 2-month down time due to an injury.
9. Several times, have seen signs of depression but when confronted she says no she's fine. Depression is probably from being unhappy with her appearance. Being on the pill made this worse.
10. Doesn't want to go to school. Whereas before not a big deal. Most kids don't like school, but lately, she talks about how much she hates it. Usually excited to start the new school year, this year not so much, more like dreading it and her attitude hasn't change about it.
11. We argued last week and it was the first time she screamed at me and told me she hated me. She's never done this before. Her thoughts and moods have been horrible but they come in spurts.

After reading everyone's experiences, I am taking her off Singulair. I know it's not an overnight cure and will take some time, but I just want my little girl back. I find it strange that this all occurred within the last year even though she's been taking Singulair since 7. Do you suppose it's in teenagers and puberty?

My son is almost 3 and was on Singulair for about a year and a half. We adopted him at 6 months old and for the first year he had pneumonia nearly every other month. The doctor suspected asthma and put him on nebulizer treatments and as well as Flovent and albuterol through an aerochamber. Not long after that he added Singulair.

I remember as a baby how calm my son was but as he grew his personality changed. I chalked it up to the terrible twos - until I found this website. After reading all of the posts and talking to a friend whose son had taken it for a short time, we IMMEDIATELY took our son off of Singulair. That was 2 weeks ago.

This is a common thread, but the change in him is nothing short of dramatic. He is happier, says 'no' A LOT less, gets along with our 2 year old daughter much better, sleeps better at night and generally does not have the 'meltdowns' he used to have several times a day. It is AMAZING!! He did have some coughing within a few days of going off of Singulair but we also have him on Zyrtec along with his asthma medications and the cough went away.

It's obvious what this drug is doing to children....if you have any doubts talk to your child's doctor but I for one will NEVER use this drug again and will tell everyone I know!

My 5 years old son has been on Singulair for 9 months. His allergy symptoms have completely gone away. He’s no longer has his night time cough, bloody nose, and frequent croup due to allergies.
My life has been a living HELL from the moment I started this medicine. Before he was on this medicine he was always a pleasant, smart, well-behaved child. Right after he started singulair he began having temper tantrums, becoming increasingly argumentative, not listening. He gets mood swings like you would not believe cry and/or yell at us over the silliest things, kicking, screaming, nightmares, and became very physically aggressive. We were unable to take him places because we never knew how he would behave in public .He was extremely unhappy little 5 year old boy. He also complained of upset stomach and fatigue. Even his school complained about his behavior and they said that he might have PDD. After consulting with doctors we got the assurance that he does not have PDD, but we end up changing his school anyway.
Being a first time mom I never thought it was the medication, I thought it was just a normal behavior. I thought as a parent I must be doing something wrong! I couldn't believe that other parents have gone through the same nightmare.
Two weeks ago the doctor handed me a report about singulair and its suicidal side effect and ask me to stop using this medicine for a while. Since then I started to notice a dramatic change in our son's behavior. He woke up singing, laughing. He wants to help with chores. He is doing great with his school lessons, and very patient with everyone. He is now a more stable and friendly 5 years old.
Wow, I have a completely different child, and thank God I took him off singulair.
As parents, please let’s do something to stop poisoning our children.

Good evening all....I as well as you all have a story to share about my son. Kameron lived the terrible twos to the fullest and turned into the biggest sweetheart when he turned 3. But then his doc wanted to try something stronger for his allergies and thats when Singulair changed out lives. Kameron has been on that junk since about November/December and since then everyones lives around him has been pure hell. He turned into satan in the flesh. I have never seen as much anger as I do in my son. On a weekly basis we go through stomach pains, depression, anger issues, him not eating for days, many sleepless nights, and thats not even all of them. He has spit in my husbands face and called me very bad words (that nobody has ever used in front of him towards me), Ive walked around with black eyes from him (remember he is only 3), he has given me bloody noses and straight up told his dad and I both that he hates us, and doesnt love us anymore. We cant take him around our friends children cause he is very abusive and controlling with them. He shows no interest in the things that he once loved, like his toys and pets. We have taken him to the doc and have been told over and over again that he is just a typical 3 year old but a mama knows when something is wrong with her baby!!I havent seen my sons precious smile since this stuff has taken over him or even heard him laugh. Im taking him to a different doc tomorrow and takin all of your comments with me and I am not leaving his office till they do something for my son!! My thoughts n prayers are with all of you that are goin through this cause I myself now how hard its been..

Posting my experience again.

You are not alone and your children are NOT hypochondriacs (something tells me small children don't even know what that means).

My 5 year old son was diagnosed with mild asthma and put on Singulair. Within a few months he began having uncontrollable fits of rage, displayed self-loathing behavior, had night terrors, and was inconsolable during these episodes. He became very destructive and was a danger to himself and our family. He even talked about killing himself and would say things like "I don't want to be in this life anymore" and "I want to kill myself". He would threaten my wife and his siblings and told them he wanted to kill them. It was a truly terrifying experience. Our pediatrician was clueless to these side affects and recommended we have our child go through a psychological evaluation. I knew this was not my child's normal behavior so I searched the internet for Singulair side effects and found some message boards where parents just like me were telling their stories of their children's aggressive behavior. I immediately took my son off the drug and within a couple weeks he was back to his normal self. He told us that he no longer has "that feeling inside of him". Five year old children don't even know what suicide is and to see my son talk like this was extremely frightening. He is a sweet, intelligent, loving boy who had never exhibited behavior like this until he went on Singulair. We have not seen this behavior after taking him off the drug. Please use your best judgment and connect the dots for yourselves.

I like to live my life with facts, not speculation and drama. My child is on Singulair and doing fantastic. I remember the trips to the ER when I did not know if my child would live or die. Of course when I saw this report, it caused me some concern so I did some research on my own. Did you know that suicide is the leading cause of violent death in New York State, the United States and the world? In 2002 in New York State there were 1,292 suicides which exceeded homicides by 32%. The statistics show that 1 in 10 teenagers plans to commit suicide. The National Center for Health reports a 10% suicide rate in kids 15-24 years of age and 4 male suicides for every female suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among those 15-24 years old.

So now we have 1 child in New York that has committed suicide that just happened to be on Singulair, and it is Singulairs fault? Show me the proof. All I see is one distraught mom who is trying to find blame for her son’s tragic death. Is there only half the story being told, a trend I have noticed in journalism these days. Let’s face it, life happens. I am NOT on Singulair and I have had melt downs, thrown things across the room, been depressed over things, cried, and even for the past week have been having some crazy dreams. I remember as a child putting notes on my room door telling my parents how much I hated them. I remember as a teenager thinking my life would be better if I were dead. I remember my child being cranky and fussy before she was on Singulair, gee maybe she was teething. The term “terrible twos” has been around a lot longer that Singulair. Let’s face it, we have turned into a society of people who always want something to blame. I think it is time people start taking responsibility for themselves and accept the fact that sometimes life just happens. Take accountability for your own lives, and stop trying to blame everything and anything.

I also live my life by reading internet blogs with a grain of salt. These blogs are public forums and places where anyone and everyone can post. How do you know that all these posts are real? Remember the day when kids made prank phone calls for fun? Now they have the internet and can post pranks on these blogs. How do you know that a competitor to Singulair is not posting in order to fuel the feeding frenzy? How about a registered sex offender or a felon in prison? There are a lot of “sick” people in the world and yes, they have access to the internet too. If you are hanging on every single one of these posts as being true and real then I feel sorry for you. The internet provides anonymity and it is easy to create a fictitious identity and a fictitious story. That is probably why if you do a search for “internet safety” you get 15,700,000 hits.

Until I see proof, I am not going to take my child off Singulair. The CDC reports that in 2002 there were 1.9 million visits to the ER for asthma and 4,261 asthma deaths. If I did stop my child’s Singulair, and she died in the ER from as asthma attack, whose head does that fall on? The media?

Our 7 year old daughter has had "problems" for several years. After a news report this evening, it now makes sense - her problems are being caused by Singulair. I have sought treatment from 4 doctors in the past 3 months disparately pleading for their help to figure out what is wrong with her.

She began taking Singulair when we found she had allergies to cats and dogs at age 2 (since I nursed her for over 1 & 1/2 years and her allergies didn't appear until about 6 months after my "immunities" left her system). After several middle of the night visits to the ER for her difficulty choking/coughing in the middle of the night, the ped. suggested allergy testing. She was always quite "in your face" but in a sweet way and was quite defiant, so we always thought she purposely ignored us, especially while watching tv, but definitely a "live wire" all the while.

After 4 years of pre-school and dozens of notes indicating that she didn't follow the teachers directions, she was found to have a hearing impairment, just as she was entering Kindergarten. Needless to say, life for her has been a roller coaster for the past year and a half. The behavior problems have not improved; terrible twos at age seven...

Then, just a couple of weeks ago, she broke down crying in the bathtub, and commented that she sometimes wants to hurt herself because she can't stop herself from behaving badly (she often will get bad behavior check marks in school for 10-15 days straight, and then seems fine a week or two later and the cycle repeats itself sporadically).

The treatment for her allergies - - - we got rid of our cat and dog 5 years ago, and only give her the allergy medicines as needed (Singulair and Zyrtec)...meaning that we proactive avoidance and contact of all pets and animals and the homes where they live. We will give them to her a day or two in advance if she has an upcoming trip to the zoo, etc. and continue for several days after being exposed.

The past 3 months, I have spent countless endless nights searching the internet for answers, knowing something else is wrong with her. I have begged her battery of different doctors (pediatrician, ENT, allergy, audiologists) for answers, and even specifically asked her allergy doctor a month ago if there is any way, shape, or form that her medicines could cause behavior problems. I was assured it was not possible. Tonight I found out that Singulair has "new side effect warnings".

My direction for finding answers has always (until now) been aligned with her hearing loss. I have read every study on children with hearing loss and behavior issues that I have been able to get my hands on. Our doctor office visits are overwhelming and average 4 times a month - for all different things. We have an appointment tomorrow for new ear molds for her hearing aids and I insisted she be tested again to be sure the hearing aids are working perfectly- hoping this is the missing link. She is being tested again for allergies on April 11th to see if new ones have crept up. She is having an auditory sensory processing evaluation on April 24th, again in my search for answers. Just last week, I demanded an emergency meeting at her school and basically stood up to the entire IEP team and told them they are doing a horrible job, since I can't get them to help me figure out the problem and freak out on them for the lack of help I receive with regard to her hearing loss and the FM (microphone) system I forced the school district to put in place so she can hear the teacher's voice in the classroom, over the sounds of the other kids.

I have probably been deemed crazy by all of her doctors & their staff, her first grade teacher, and everyone at the school district that I have encountered in the past 20 months or so. So much so, that her ENT (Ear) doctor called me a week ago after a recent visit to indicate to me that he thinks that not only does my daughter need to see a therapist to figure out what is wrong, but indicated that stress has taken it's toll on me as well and offered to write a prescription for therapy if necessary! I feel like I am living in a novel which is not even my life.

For all I know, she may be have really meant it when she told us once that she used to be able to hear just fine...so I cant help but to sit here crying and wondering if there is a link to her hearing loss from the Singulair too?

To hear her say she wanted to hurt herself was the hardest thing I have ever endured in my life. And so out of her world (she is the most outgoing extrovert imaginable) that I have lost myself in a sea of unknowing doubt, anger and frustration, since she said it. My boss, colleagues, family, school district staff, several doctor office staffs and several other "specialists" whom I contacted in late night emails, begging for guidance could atest to this mad attempt of mine to find a cause.

The best moment: when we drove away from the ENT with her new hearing aids, windows down, and she said: "Mom, I can hear the wind"

Worst moment in life: hearing my 7 year old baby say she sometimes wants to hurt herself because she can't stop herself from behaving badly.

My advice: for allergies, get a sharper image ionic air purifier for the bedroom- well worth $200!!! Get hearing tests for children who "do not listen" or follow directions. STOP TAKING SINGULAIR!!!! Send your information to the FDA immediately.

my daughter has been on Singulair for 4 days now. She is 2 years old and has bad food allergies that cause very bad eczema. She also has been diagnosed with the start of asthma. After going to an allergist, we were told that she should try Singulair and Allegra for a couple of months to treat her seasonal allergies which have been causing coughing at night and skin break-outs, etc. A day or so after she took the medicine ( Singulair chewable tablets- I haven't started the Allegra yet, it seemed like too much for her to be on ) she has been having very loose stools, and quite a few throughout the day. Also she has hive- like bumps on her back. I stopped giving it to her the day before yesterday because the medicine was the only new thing she had been introduced too. The stools seemed to slow down and the hives seemed to be going away, but she was coughing bad last night, so I gave it to her again thinking maybe all she had was a stomach bug. But this morning we made countless potty stops and her back is bumpy again. Does anyone else have this problem?

My daughter will be 2 in June and she suffers with asthma she has been taken diff meds such as xopenex, pulmicort, orapred, and now singulair. i researched all the other meds and took her off but the asthma specialist said she needed the pulmicort and i asked her pediatrician what he thought and he prescribed singulair he said it was completely safe and i had nothing to worry about but now i am very much worried because my daughter is only 21 months old and can not tell me exactly what wrong if anything. she has only been taking this singulair since last night so it has been twice she has taken it and last night she had a nightmare. she was fussy going to bed, it took a long while to wind her down she normally falls asleep between 9 and 10 pm last night she went out around 12. her lungs r very sensitive and i want her to get better but a lot of these meds have really bad side affects and who's to say what will be the long term affects and thats what i worry about the most. i just don't know what to do and I'm very worried. i came across this site by accident but I'm glad i did cuz now i know that this is not safe to give my 21 month old daughter.

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?

I have a 8 year old daughter that has been on Singulair since she was 2 years old. When she first started Singulair, she was also put on Flovent (an inhaled steroid), along with Albuterol for what the doctors call reactive airway disease (similar to asthma). Her triggers were allergies and having a cold. Her first flare up of mood swings alerted me to take my daughter off the Flovent. She seemed to improve a little, but still had behavior/moody issues. I had chalked them up to the "terrible twos", and not really thought much of it. As time went on, I became accustomed to the behavior that my daughter was showing. When the few complaints of stomach pains, headaches, and leg pain came along, I managed to explain them away with reasonable explanations (example: growing pains, eating too much, not enough sleep, etc.). As my daughter went off to school, I heard numerous complaints from her teachers that she lacks focus, cannot complete a task in a timely manner, easily gets distracted, and at times (more than not) is a disruption to the class. At home, I noticed a strange "tick" going on with her blinking, the constant need to repeat herself, and the battles with bursts of crying to get her to do ANYTHING. SOMETHING IS REALLY WRONG!!! I was on the edge of having a full work-up of mental tests. I have her see the school social worker weekly and I keep a constant communication with her teacher regarding her behavior. I decided to look up side effects regarding this medication. I first looked at the website for the manufacturer and saw nothing alarming, nothing about behavior affected side effects. I looked into mental disabilities (autism, aspergers, ADD, ADHD, etc.) and saw no common link to her behavior. Then I came to this site and MY JAW DROPPED!! Everything that my daughter has experienced, TO THE LETTER, has been experienced by other children. The weight gain, the occasional pains, the strange behavior. I decided that NOW is the time to act. I have seen my daughter's doctor and discussed my concerns. We are going to wean her off this stuff starting TODAY! Fear of a serious relapse of breathing problems is making us very cautious. I am kicking myself for not making the connection sooner. Wish us luck that this drug has not destroyed her chances of getting better and that this "asthma" can be controlled another way without such serious side effects.

My 4 year old son was placed on Singulair right before his 2nd birthday. 3 weeks ago I had scheduled him an appointment with his doctor to talk with him about my son's behaviour (excessive anxiety, aggression, terrible sleeping patterns, aggitation, reduced attention span, etc) thinking it was going to be something along the lines of ADD. Right before his appointment I found this board and another in which parents have voiced their own experiences of having their child on Singulair. Needless to say, I switched his appt to his allergist and pulled him off the Singulair. It's been 2 1/2 weeks, and he has become a different child at home. He is sleeping better, the nightmares have disappeared, his tantrums have become almost non-existant, his concentration and ability to retain information from scholastic has improved, and those constant complaints of leg pains are gone. Doctors really need to be warning parents about these side effects, especially when putting very young children on this medication. We thought it was the terrible twos that carried over into the three's then four's. Apparently it wasn't........

My 6 year old son has had all of these more or less. He has been on Singulair for about 5 months. We took him off last Friday when he started having seizures. It is only now that we are connecting the things he has complained about. He is still going through testing but everytime a test is done it is negative. He is in perfect health. The dr.s are stumped. What happens is, he smells a wierd smell. Then he sees lights. After this he has a bad headache and becomes weak so he lays down. Shortly thereafter he stiffens and starts shaking his arms and legs while clinching his hands. He also grunts and makes a buzzing sound and appears as though he only breathes out. the dr.s say it is not seizures but movement disorder and if it is Singulair it should be out of his system within 3 days... He is still having the seizure type fits and its been a week since we took him off singulair. He is still losing his temper and having horrible dreams as well. Cat scan was normal, EEG was normal, blood work is ok, they want to do an MRI but does this sound familiar to anyone?

Mom of boys,
Your son sounds exactly like my youngest when I put him on Singulair. Be Very Aware!!! My son started his terrible twos at three. I thought he was just late in developing. Then it was terrible 4,5,6s.... He finally had a seizure April 2006, when I thought he missed a nightly dose and gave him a catch-up dose the next moring. By 11am he was having a Gran Mal seizure. No doctor believed me when I thought it was the singulair. It wasn't until after 2 EEGs, an MRI, and a second seizure, after another missed dose and an ontime catch up dose, did the Neurologist finally conceed that it just may be Singulair. So I emplore you take your son off it NOW! My son has now been off Singulair for almost 9 months and we are still dealing with behavioral problems, but nothing like when he was taking Singulair.

My son has been taking Singulair for the last three years. He was only 2 when his doctor said he needed it for asthma. I wondered why he never got out of his "terrible twos". He was so horrible to even live with I would be in tears by noon. Very rude , hurt people, And had atistic behavier to appeir

To: worriedmom

I could not agree more with you.
What worries me the most are two issues:
1) doctors prescribed the medication with such an ease, at least at our case
2) I think there are many parents out there who have no clue Singulair could be linked to their toddlers misbehavior, as kids in age group 2-4 are considered to have terrible twos or prolonged terrible twos.

We have a 2 1/2 year old who is on Singulair for mild allergies. He is a spirited child but has ALWAYS been a GREAT sleeper and very sweet. We started seeing very very intense fits, agressivness in his behavior and decided the terrible twos had set in. Now his sleep has become very disturbed. He will not go down at night.. generally awake in bed for up to 2 hours (used to ask to go night night). And he wakes up screaming, crying or moaning every night sometimes more than once. We just thought night terrors is a stage at this age. And now he requires a light on, which we thought was a stage also. We started putting two and two together and noticed the timing of all events was when he was prescribed Singulair. I got online immediately and WAS SHOCKED by what I have read and startled at the similarties in problems described by moms. We took him off the meds last night and are hoping for great changes and to have our happy sleeper back soon. If this is what has caused our child all of this stress and sadness I will be angered beyond belief, have we been poisoning our own child with his meds..I hope the doctors are smarter than this. It appears we are ultimately in charge of our own care. WILL UPDATE THIS WEEK.