(A divorced father) My son has been on Singulair now 5 years and...

The way you describe your son sounds very much like a child on Singulair. Don't doubt your "father instinct"! Find a way to get your son off Singulair. Our daughter's allergy/asthma situation sounds similar. We ended up putting her on Claritin (lowest side-effects, as far as I can tell) and keeping a rescue inhaler in case she needs it (hasn't - knock wood). You could ask your allergist about trying a plan like this and seeing if your son's behavior changes. You may notice a change w/in a couple of days, but you need to keep him off it for AT LEAST 4 WEEKS to see the big effect. Maybe having your ex-wife read the postings on this site would convince her that your "experiment" of taking him off it is better than Merck's experiment of keeping our kids on it! Good luck to you.

My son has the same asthmatic episodes as your son. Your son definitely needs to have allergy testing as sometimes just eliminating allergens can help tremendously. It sounds like your ex may be using this as something to cross you with which is unhealthy for your son in so many ways. Both of my boys had these symptoms and I took them off of the singulair because of it. They are much happier and are no longer withdrawn. If your wife thinks that an asthmatic child should not play sports, she is wrong. My sons play football in the fall and baseball in the spring and one of them is a black belt in TaeKwonDo. Aerobic exercise is GREAT for a child with asthma. You should know his asthma triggers so he should see an allergist. He could also have food allergies that you do not know about which could be dangerous. When 2 people divorce, they are still parents and should respect each other in honor of their kids. If your ex is using your son as a pawn to get back at you she should be ashamed. If you have the insurance, hopefully you can get him tested. He cannot be fully diagnosed without allergy tests. Good Luck!

Take your son off Singulair...there are alternatives. Check out my posts under matthewct1. Bad stuff for kids man. Have your son's mother read the information on this site.

My granddaughter was not tested either for allergies, they only did a CT scan of sinuses before putting hr on Singulair, no other questions asked! For 2 years her personality changed, she was self-destructive, etc. When this story broke I told my daughter9her mother) about this drug. Luckily, even though I am not her mother, my daughter listened to me and took her off. It's been almost 1 month and the difference in my granddaughter is very, very noticeable. Please find some way to get your ex to this website so that she can read these stories. I have already contacted my Senator and the FDA

this is a fight worth fighting. keep doing what you can to get him off. check out all of our stories on here. the symptoms you describe are in line with everything our children have experienced--the number of years on singulair seems largely irrelevant. some kids are fine for years and then suddenly side effects intensify. other children have bad reactions almost immediately. it took us about a year and multiple trips to a psychologist to figure out what was going on with our four year old son. now he uses a rescue inhaler and benedryl and that's it.

I am sorry to hear that your son is suffering from this horrible medicine. My 10 year old has been on it for 6 years and until recently wouldn't do anything new for fear. We took her off if it immediately upon hearing the side effects and just this weekend we went to the beach. I completely expected the usual child who would just sit and watch everyone else have fun, but she grabbed a boogie board and rode the waves!! This is a major accomplishment. She had become so anxiety ridden she contemplated suicide. Please do what ever it takes to make your ex wife realize the dangers of Singulair. I know she probably won't read this website but maybe you can get your doctor to read it and do some home work. Hopefully the medical world comes to its senses. Good luck.

Hi, Here is something to think about.My daughter tested negative for allergies,but was put on Singuliar because she was showing "allergy symptoms".She was on for 4 1/2 yrs.Two months before stopping the singuliar,she started to develope asthma-like symptoms.Heaviness in chest,dizziness and tiredness.These disappeared after 2-3 weeks off singuliar.There is no doubt in my mind that singuliar was the cause of that.It has been 5 weeks now,she has an abundance of energy,and no asthma-like symptoms.

Please keep us posted and if you would like to join us at
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Singulair_side_effects_friends/
Its a support/info group for members here!

I felt very sorry for you as I read your email. I am almost 40 and have been an asthmatic most of my life. My daughter, 5 also has asthmatic episodes. She has been on pulmacort (steriod) and I did notice that she also becomes depressed. I suspect singular has the same effect. Because of that I never keep her on it for more than 2 weeks and then I take her off because at the 2 week point the depression is noticeable. I also do the same for myself although I haven't noticed any depression, maybe because I also do it for short bursts. My daughter also has allergies and so I give her Zirtex for that and that seems to work. If your son only has mild asthma I suggest you search for the triggers and eliminate them- whether it is dust or a food allergy. I have a severe allergy to peanuts and just realised that Benedryl is as effective or more effective than my steriod medication in preventing the trigger to asthma. Therefore I'd say- get your son off the steroid medication as soon as possible- there are alternatives to steriods, particularly if he is tested and his triggers are not serious and can be easily managed. If he has an episode, make sure you get -from insurance it is often free- a nebulizer for home use and in those asthmatic instances, hopefully rare, you can put him on a mix of pulmacort and an Albuterol (dilator). That's what our pediatrician recommends for my daughter. After 2 weeks, he will be fine and he goes off it. My daughter only has about 3-4 attacks a year. Of course if his asthma is defined as serious, with trips to the ER then that will call for more continuous medicine but at this stage it does not seem to do so. Even then, you can do the research and opt for another steriod with less depressive effects (by the way steroids also stunt growth in kids so less is better). Finally, in terms of convincing your wife, seek a second opinion and talk to a doctor who is a trained pulmonary internist (that's who I see) or an allergist (that's who my daughter sees. The pulmonary internist will be able to do the lung funtion tests. The allergist will be able to do the skin tests for various allergies. Best of luck