Since I have begun Sinulair, I have noticed improvement of my chr...

My 6 yr old son started taking Singulair recently and not only has it seem to make little difference in his asthma but he seems excessively irritable and belligerent. Has anyone else noticed this effect in their child or others taking this drug? He is on the lowest dosage available.

The first time I tried Singulair, I had the same reactions and the doctor seemed surprised but trusted my decision. Two years later because of side effects of Asmanex and other cortizone medicines, I decided to give it another try. My doctor started me on the child dose of 5 mg, chewable, and I took it in the mornings instead of at night. It gave me a little panic type feeling at first but went away. In fact it seemed to make me feel more energetic and more focused. I've cut back on caffeine and at first took an otc antihismamine like Benedryl at night to help me sleep. Benedryl is used in otc sleep aids plus it's for allergies so I figured it isn't going to hurt me. After a couple of months I no longer needed anything for sleep.

Recently I increased the dose to the 10 mg. I still take it first thing in the morning. I will probably start taking the otc Benedryl to help me sleep at night until my body gets used to it. No panicky feeling-just a little increased energy and focus. However that could be because I can breathe and have less allergy reactions. The only concern with that is that I will need to monitor my blood pressure more often.

Anyway----try the 5 mg and see if that helps and take it in the mornings. After a couple of months try increasing it to 10 mg.

Personally I'm not ready to give up this medication. I have been taking cortizone nasal and asthma meds for over 20 years and allergy shots as well as cortizone injections at times and predisone. I've been able to reduce the nasal med in half and I'm ready to completely get off the asthma meds. After the mountain cedar allergy season, I may try cutting back to the 5 mg.

Good luck.