My son is 10 years old and has been on 5 mg. singulair for 3 year...

I can't tell you what will work for your son, but my son's asthma has gotten better over the years, so all we use right now is albuterol when he wheezes and benedryl at night if he's showing signs of an allergy induced asthma attack. He hasn't had a major attack in well over a year.

When he first came off Singulair I tried an herbal remedy called Quercetin with Bromelain. I read a study somewhere online and figured it couldn't hurt. The hardest part was that he couldn't swallow the gel caps and we had to mix it into a yogurt drink. It was disgusting, but he was a trooper and drank it anyway. I can't prove that it helped, but his asthma has really improved. Your son is big enough to swallow the gelcaps, probably.

If your boy is like the rest of our children you'll see improvement almost right away. Good luck!

Talk to your doctor and insist they provide an alternative. I've corresonded with a leading professor at the University of Florida and his quote to me was "In response to your last comment, I thing Singulair has modest efficacy, and if we take all of our patients off this drug, they won’t suffer. This is not an important drug for pediatric asthma, as are inhaled corticosteroids." (I have proof in email)
Singulair is the most overprescribed drug on the market because it's such a huge money maker for the pharm industry.
We put our 5 yr. old son on a Xoponex inhaler...he has only needed to use it 2 times in the past month. He has mild asthma so this may or may not be right for your son.

Matthew, did you notice more intense symptoms right after he came off Singulair? I seem to remember that happening right after we took him off, but it abated fairly quickly. I don't know if it was the herbal stuff or just the Singulair getting completely out of his system. It's been three years since we took him off, so it's hard to remember everything now.

He continued having his severe meltdowns and agressive/violent behavior close to a week and improved quickly after that.

Their is a book by Maureen Salaman that talks about Quercetin. It is a bio-flavonoid supposedly almost as powerful as cromolym, a prescribed drug. It is suppose to be an effective nutritional antihistamine. She also talks about the Quercetine helping protect the Viatamin C from getting broken down in the body. I have found this book to be very helpful. Of course, I would consult with a doctor. When my son was younger, he did use this suggested by his Hollistic, MD. It did help. As he had gotten older it was harder to give him because of the nasty aftertaste. We used to put it on something he liked to eat. I think I will check into this again to give him.

I appreciate all of your replies,as of right now we are taking our older son to a holistic Md for withdrawl off Seroquel a very powerful antipsychotic drug.He is 21 years old now and has been on it since he was 11 years old.At his highest dose he was on 900-1000 mg.daily,he is now down to 400mg.daily. Anyway,she has helped him alot,so We will take our other son to her also to get him on something to replace the singulair.It is terrible what harm and damage that these drugs do.Timmy is not getting another dose of singulair,I do know that! It's disgusting how rich these drug companies get,knowing the misery that their drugs can and do cause.TC