I have three children who were all taking Singulair and also Zyrtec. My oldest, 11 year old son has been on these medications since he was diagnosed with chronic Asthma at age 3. The aggressive behavior, bad dreams, leg cramps (growing pains, we were told),head aches and stomach aches were all explained as age appropriate for a 3 year old boy. As he grew older, he would say he wished he or one of his siblings were dead. Yes, the Singulair
along with a Flovent inhaler controlled his Asthma wonderfully. We have never had to take him to the ER. However, after hearing in the News about the Singulair, I have done a lot of research. I have not given him either of these meds for a month now. He does still use the Flovent. After not having any Asthma attacks for about a year now, we were hoping he was out growing it. So, I guess it was good timing. And then the trees started blooming and the pollen is everywhere. Son gets congested, coughing up lots of thick, green mucus. I treated him with Children's Mucinex mini-melts, benadryl, and sudafed. It helped that it was Spring break and I could treat ever 4 hours. He needed the nebulizer a total of about 6 times for the entire week. Today, he was mucus free. As for his behavior, he still acts like a typical 11 year old boy, but has been less aggressive and mean towards his siblings.
My daughter age 10 has been on Singulair and Zyrtec for unknown allergies off and on for about 5 years now. They did seem to help, but once again we had unexplained behavior. At age 5 she told me she wanted to kill herself. The school counselor said she must have heard it on TV.Bad dreams, headaches,mean to brothers (above the normal sibling rivalry thing), mean to me, leg cramps, stomach pains,itching all over. Many times, too many to count, she would be moody and go into fits of rage. When asked what was wrong, she would cry and cry that she didn't know. Been off for a month, and less rage. Actually playing nicely with younger brother. Recently, the pediatrician ran a lot of blood tests. Daughter complained that she hurt all over and she ran a low grade temp for 3 weeks. (less that 99.7) All tests came back fine. Last Monday, the fever went away and the aches are gone.
Now for the last, my 7 year old son has been off and on these two meds for about 5 years for severe allergies. Again, they did help. He did not react as badly as my other two children did. Leg cramps( which he still has nightly, just might be growing pains),headaches, and bad dreams are the only three I can think of right now. Anyhow, after hearing about the boy on the news, I got scared. Plain and Simple. My husband thinks this is a bunch of nonsense and everything can be explained. The Singulair was costing us a hundred dollars a bottle for a month supply for one child.
I am still watching my children very closely,especially my asthmatic. I still haven't told the pediatrician that I've taken them off the meds.