My 8yo son has been on Singulair for his asthma for about 2 weeks...

I'm really sad to hear that these things happened to you guys and your children.

My 8yr old (55 lbs) son got a cough that ended up lasting about 4 weeks, so i finally took him to his pediatrician. He gave him a breathing treatment and hinted at him having asthma- but he wasn't sure. We have no family history of asthma and in my mind i thought it was pretty far fetched, but we continued the breathing treatment for about 2 weeks and my son cleared right up.

We came back in the Friday after Thanksgving for a check up and his doctor said that my son sounded much better. The doctor said that looking over my son's medical history (not much of anything) he said he could have asthma-but he wanted to put him on Singulair for the next 3 months until the winter is over.

He said it would be a preventative measure to keep my son's symptoms from "flaring" up. The doctors said " This is not a steriod, and there are NO side effects. Its a once daily chewable for children." I thought-hmmm that's a first, a drug with no side effects. Then I was thinking" "What symptoms was the doctor referring to?" He had a really bad cough he got while visting his dad's family (bug going around). But I held my tongue and just nodded. He wrote out the prescription, and I left. I hesisted as I pulled out in front of the pharmacy and then kept driving.

I felt uneasy about the whole thing. Giving him a daily medication for a condition (asthma) I doubted my son had. Glad I did my homework, I decided to not fill the prescription. I don't feel the least bit guilty for not giving him the meds. A huge thanks to you guys for putting this info out there, because I'm sure the Singulair website wouldn't go into detail about this, and tell about side effects it has: FYI -->

This was what I found on the Singulair website, no more, no less:

"SINGULAIR is a prescription medicine approved to help control symptoms of asthma in adults and children 12 months and older.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION About SINGULAIR
SINGULAIR will NOT replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. Continue to take your other asthma medicines as prescribed and have fast-acting medication available. If your asthma symptoms get worse or you need to increase the use of your fast-acting inhaler, call your doctor at once.

Side effects are generally mild and vary by age, and may include headache, ear infection, sore throat, and upper respiratory infection. Check with your doctor if you are pregnant or nursing. SINGULAIR is available by prescription only."

SINGULAIR is a prescription medicine approved to help control symptoms of asthma in adults and children 12 months and older.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION About SINGULAIR
SINGULAIR will NOT replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. Continue to take your other asthma medicines as prescribed and have fast-acting medication available. If your asthma symptoms get worse or you need to increase the use of your fast-acting inhaler, call your doctor at once.

Side effects are generally mild and vary by age, and may include headache, ear infection, sore throat, and upper respiratory infection. Check with your doctor if you are pregnant or nursing. SINGULAIR is available by prescription only.