Singulair and advair

My 8 yr old has been on singulair since May. I never put two and two together until reading these posts. He has been having anxiety at night..crying and looking terrified saying he can't stop the scary thoughts in his head. Tonight I felt so bad for him...because I can't make it go away. I am hoping with tonight being the last night on singulair he will not have such a hard time at night. He also says it's very hard to get to sleep at night. Poor kid. I also know he's a sensitive kid but it seems a bit overboard in the last few months....like getting upset and just not knowing how to handle his emotions so he just shuts down. Please message me if you've had similar experiences. I'm calling his dr. on Monday to figure out some other options if there is any. My son started with a cough in March and finally took him to see the dr. in May and she heard wheezing and started him on singulair and then added zyrtec. I know they control his coughing (wheezing...slight asthma) because if we miss a dose he coughs all day the next day. I'm a bit scared to go off it...but hope it stops the anxiety and moodiness. He had his first asthma attack last week too...and I wasn't prepared as we never have had to use the inhaler...so I didn't have it with us. Anyway, hoping he doesn't get too bad taking him off...and I hope he is able to control the scary thoughts by going off of it too.

Well after reading these posts...I am very sad that I didn't read this before I allowed my 3 year old son to start Singulair! The last month he has been complaining of lower back pain. Just recently, stomach pain as well. Says his head hurts, and at times is not himself. I pick him up from preschool awaiting a very energized little boy to talk nonstop about what he did and he doesn't:( He was put on this med for allergies with Flonase and Zyrtec as needed. I took him to the doctors for this lower back pain and they said it possibly was from playing too hard or growing pains. Trusting our pediatrician I took it as that. My son continued to complain and continued to, at times, seem depressed. I took him to the ER because the last week and a half he has had fevers of 100-102. They said its all viral. I came home, looked Singulair up trying to figure out what was wrong and found all of this. I am so sad I never researched this before and continued to give this to my little boy trusting it to be good for him. Needless to say, I am making another appointment for him tomorrow to discuss other options. Thank you all for the information!

IS THIS SITE AN ANSWER TO OUR PRAYERS?

A little while ago less than two hours, after a very emotional, difficult battle with my daughter, we had yet another heart to heart to try to do better. At the end of our talk WE PRAYED for guidance to know how to help the situation. So I'm here looking for a link to her behavior fron the ADHD medication and I see someone had posted about Singulair side effects. I was floored! I have never thought that Singulair was not a safe drug. No doctor has ever mentioned any negative side effects to me regarding it. The more I'm reading about it the more in shock I am. Have I and her doctors been doing this to my daughter? My 12 1/2 yo daughter has been on Singulair for probably 10 years. She was a 28 week preemie and had severe lung issues so it was a needed medication. Her behavior has worsened the older she has gotten. Because of mostly anger issues and problems in school about a year ago she was started on ADHD medications. We are currently trying to find "the right one" . I feel so awful. Could all her misery have been caused by this little pill that was suppose to help her? Why has her pulmonoligist continued to give it to her although she has not had any serious asthma problems in years? I think I will stop all medications and see what happens. My daughter has also been on amytriptylin for about six months also for severe migraines. What do you think? Should I stop all of them cold turkey or gradually decrease one at a time? I would GREATLY appreciate any advise.
Thank you

My son has been taking Singular as well as Advair and Zyrtec and Nasonix for the past 6 months. He is doing so well. He has not had to go to emergency, he has not been sick, and he has not had mood swings. If you look at the prescription information that comes with Singular, you can see what the side effects can be. My recommendation is to take your child off of them if they have a side effect. I contacted my Dr. and Merck is studying only 1 case with a child that had side effects, but they did not say if this child was on other Psych medicine at the same time. The 2 psych meds that have shown a bad interaction with Singular are Phenobarbital and Rifanpin (spelling may be wrong). With all the posts I have read, very few people indicate if they are taking other medications at the same time as Singular. My suggestion is that you consult your Dr. and then send your case to Merck for more studies. If all you are doing is posting on the web, you are not solving this issue with the makers of the medication.

I'AM A 69 YEAR OLD WOMEN TAKING SINGULAR EVERY NIGHT SINCE
APRIL I WAS GIVEN IT TO SUPPLEMENT MY ADVAIR (TAKEN AM & PM)
AS I HAVE COPD ALMOST FROM THE OUTSET I DEVELOPED A COUGH
NOT HACKING BUT ANNOYING I LIVED WITH IT NOW I DEVELOPED
A HOARSENESS TO MY VOICE THAT YOU CAN HARDLY HEAR OR MAKE
OUT WHAT I'M SAYING STARTED TO WORRY ABOUT THIS SO CALLED MY PULMONARY DR & HE HAS TAKEN ME OFF IT FOR 1 WEEK STARTING TODAY 6/6 I'AM TO CALL HIM TO LET HIM KNOW IF MY VOICE
CLEARS

My son has been on Singulair since the age of 6. He is now 13 years old. He developed seizures 3 weeks ago - temporal lobe aura epilepsy during which he was hearing voices. EEG abnormal, MRI normal. He hasn't started medication for the seizures but I have stopped his Singulair immediately! This was just a hunch - searching the net to see if there is any correlation. I have been to the Pediatrician AND the GP the past 3 weeks and no one said anything. I think a great number of children are on Singulair in SA. Does anyone know about the possibility of this danger?

I was put on Singulair about 2 years ago because of my COPD. No allergies were ever mentioned by my Doctor. This site has been a god send for me.
Since starting Singulair I have been put on Digoxin for an irregular heart beat that I never had before. I have been put on Gabapentin for leg pain and cramping in my feet whenever I put my feet up or laid down to TRY and get to sleep. I have been put on so many pain killers for back pain, leg pain, neck pain I can't even count them all. I won't take them, they make me so sick. Now I find that I wake up with a headache every morning, feeling sick..oh yes, I was given medication for nausea also. And I don't want to forget the six months of experiencing never ending dizzy spells. That was another medication to ad to the list of ALL THE MEDICATIONS I HAVE TAKEN OVER THE PAST 2 YEARS for the side effects of Singulair. I stopped taking it a couple of days ago and I woke up this morning feeling so good. Oh, lets not forget the Xanax, Prozac and Cymbalta for depression.......OMG! I'm looking forward to see how many of these medications I can toss now that I've stopped taking Singulair. I just wish I had found this site two years ago, oh yeah, I am on Advair also. I've been, lets say "in a chronic bad mood" too. Some would say a "B". I've already noticed a difference there too.

In response to dtrzaski post Im am sending out this question to everyone. We know there have been stool/stomach/weight issues. Are there any other children that it has been discovered to have high cholesterol. My son was discovered to have high cholesterol at around 3yrs old, apprx 6 months after starting Singulair (regardless of a very healthy diet lots of fruit and veggies!) Any thoughts out there?

These posts about contacting a bad viral infection while the immune system is suppressed by Singulair are particularly worrisome. This was from 2007 so it has nothing to do with the FDA investigation. Epstein Barr causes some really bad illnesses including lymphoma.

The scary part is that children are the most susceptible to viruses. They need to develop immunity at a young age that will build up over time to levels that will protect them for the rest of their lives. Why are we giving children a drug that will suppress the leukotrienes? Why do we think that it is okay to take away one of the bodies defense mechanisms? Wouldn't it be logical that a drug that suppresses the immune system is a last resort option not handed out like lollipops?

www.iddb.org/drugs/singulair/ - 243k
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Anonymous Immune System Dysfunction September 13th, 2007

Do users of Singulair and Advair understand how these products work? In order to understand how they work, you must first know what happens in the body during an allergic attack.

Allergic response is a function of the body's immune system. When an allergen enters the body through the nose or the lungs (e.g., a bit of pollen or cat dander), it is recognized by the body as a foreign substance, and the immune system then produces histamines to fight the intruder. Singulair and Advair work by disabling the body's immune system, so that there is no allergic response.

I too thought these drugs were wonderful. I was on both Singulair and Advair to combat asthma from my new husband's cat. I took high strengths of these drugs for approximately three years.

During the time I was on these drugs, some disease entity, most likely a virus (e.g., Epstein-Barr, Herpes Simplex I, HTLV I). I have been sick with a fever for the last four and a half years. My immune system seems to have been permanently impaired, and every organ in my body is now compromised. I have a fever, night sweats, liver and spleen enlargement, digestive problems, skin infections, hypertension, rapid-onset insulin-dependent diabetes and other endocrino;ogical problems, blood cell abnormalities, and neurological problems (e.g., tremors, myoclonic seizures, muscle cramps and weakness, vertigo, incoordination).

I am about to undergo a spinal tap and other tests, looking for the causative entity. Whatever it is entered my nervous system when I had an epidural anesthetic while on these immune system depressants. I have not been the same since. I have been too sick to work. This has ruined my life.

As we have all learned from recent reports of heart damage from Vioxx, the FDA no longer has the money to fully test new drugs entering the market. The "clinical trials" are a drug's entry into the population. If it kills or sickens too many people, they withdraw it. However, the drug companies define "too many people" as a number that could potentially ruin profits through lawsuits.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Don't rely on the government to protect you. Before putting any drug into your body, do the research into how it works. Read comments from other users. I wish I had done that.

My 13 yr old daughter was put on Singulair along with Asmanex and Clarinex for her asthma about 6 weeks ago. Everything seemed to be going very well at first and her symptoms were starting to get controlled. I started noticing after about 3 to 4 weeks that her temper and attitude were getting much worse. Anyone with children this age knows what I mean but this was like a 180 degree turn for her. Her actions were becoming totally out of character. Before I knew it she would cry and get highly upset over the least little thing. Week 5 came around and things totally bottomed out. She came home from school and WAS NOT HERSELF. Made comments about how she hated her life and it was not worth living. Later that evening we had a big argument because I was telling her nothing was worth saying that. She went totally out of control and I had to physically restrain her to calm her down. It appeared everything was better so she went to her room. I went down to check on her and she calmly told me that she had taken advil and tylenol pm and things would be better for her forever now. We went to the ER where they made us wait for at least an hour, then finally took her back. She had to drink two cups of charcoal and was poked and prodded repeatedly. They did a catheter to get a urine sample. She was very cooperative but also was in a complete daze so who knows. The poor child couldn't even lift her head up when she started the vomiting to get rid of the drugs. It was very upsetting and sad. Her heart rate and blood pressure went very low and I really thought in the back of my mind that this was it. Finally, after several hours she started coming out of it and they sent us home. The next evening when she was starting to really come around she proceeded to tell me how she had been seeing a man walking around in her bedroom at night and she was afraid to go down there. Breaking down and crying telling me about all of the horrible nightmares she had been having recently and didn't know why. I thought what am I dealing with here? This just isn't her. Three days ago I heard about singulair in the news and looked it up on the internet. OH MY GOD THIS SOUNDED LIKE US!!!!! I immediately had her stop taking it and the next day phoned her asthma specialist who agreed she should stop now. We are going to watch her for two weeks and see if any symptoms return and then decide if she needs something else or will be fine on just the Asmanex. As a side note, she also mentioned being unable to concentrate in school (unable to do even the simplest math problems) and that her brain felt confused or like something was missing. She said this had been bothering her for several weeks. I know it was this drug. They really need to take this off the market NOW and stop flirting with disaster. The only reason I posted this was to let others know they are not alone.

I have been Singulair-free for 11 days now. I do not entertain any more suicidal thoughts, I feel MUCH happier just generally. I have cried, but haven't felt really low, just sad, normal-sad. I do have more difficulty breathing and tightness in my chest, but I am looking into adopting an anti-inflammatory diet. I have exercised more since stopping the Singulair, so I hope that will help long term with my lung function. I would definitely say I would rather feel some tightness in my chest or breathlessness going up stairs than intense sadness and irrational suicidal ideations. This life is much better than the one I had two weeks ago, and I know it's the same life, nothing has changed, just my perspective. I wonder if taking drugs off the market is going to be like putting up stop signs or traffic lights - we have to wait for a significant number of accidents before that move would be warranted. I really can't believe that all those years I thought it was me. I am a whole new person psychologically and it is because of an asthma medicine that is approved for KIDS! Amazing.

My son is off singulair for two weeks now and is showing improvements. He was on it for 7 years and at the beginning we blamed it on steriods, even though his dose was low. When he went off the steroids, the behavior didn't stop. I questioned the allerist if the singulair could be doing it, but was told no, it doesn't have those side effects. I don't blame the doctors because they weren't given the info. He was extremely emotional, cried for no reason, had no confidence, didn't like himself. We on more than one occasion have told his older sister that when he hits his teenage years we would have to watch him for suicide, as his reaction to problems was sooo out of whack! He was on motrin for headaches 4-5 days a week(blamed it on sinusses). Unexplained stomachaches. These symptoms came on over years, not right away. I have always thought that the steroids had done damage because he took them when he was so young. Until the news reports hit, and I started reading other people's stories and doing the "OMG, that's my kid!", I never put the problems on singulair. I was still skeptical, but took him off. His symptoms immediately got 100x's worse for a week. But funny thing is, his headaches are gone, his stomachaches are gone and he seems much less emotional. The strangest thing is, EVERY night, he comes in to kiss us good night 7 or 8 times, and sometimes by the 7th time he is crying and can't explain why. This has been going on for YEARS, EVERYNIGHT, never a break. It stopped! Just stopped cold 7 days ago. Comes in once, says goodnight, leaves and falls asleep. I know this isn't a coincidence. After years of wondering what's wrong with my kid, now I feel like I've been poisoning my him for 7 years. I'm not skeptical anymore.

I've been diagnosed with anxiety and panic attacks since Nov. 15 2007 ended at the hospital emergency room, after using Xopenex been using Advair and Singulair due to my asthma once my Doctor increased my Advair from 250mg to 500mg twice a day on Sept. 5th 2007 noticed fast palpitations and overwhelming. Knew and complained for quite sometime that I wasn't feeling like myself. Since Nov. 26th 2007 I stopped taking Advair, Albuterol inhalers,Nebulizers due to the fact of my new Anxieties that I never had. Continued taking my Singulair medication thinking that it was safe. Only been on Singulair a little over a year. Still continued to experience Anxiety and Panic attacks. Due to this I've been seeing a therapist since Dec. of 07.Has affected myself, my children who have witnessed my episodes of Anxiety attacks and know thats not me.Also has affected my performance at my job and attendance. Just took two MRI's of the brain just last week thinking there maybe something wrong with my brain.My side affects have been Dizzy spells,feeling faint,blurry vision,extremely tired,muscle spasms,loss of concentration, and not being focused. These are my experiences with Singulair and I believe that the FDA should further investigate these allegations. I know for a fact I've been experiencing this for quite sometime and my Doctors tell me I'm just depressed. Ignoring the fact they prescribed me so many medications that trigger Anxiety depression and God knows what. Thank you Cita

My son 10, has been on Singulair since he was 4 yrs old for Asthma and allergies. His last dose was 3/26/08. He has always been my emotional child, he is 2yrs older than this younger brother. Some of his side effects included headaches, stomaches, leg cramps, emotional breakdowns, major mood swings, crying outbursts over small situations, night sweats, lack of motivation, weight gain, ADHD, wishing he were dead and the list goes on. His younger brother has always been involved in sports but he was always too afraid he would get hurt. This medication has robbed my 10 yr old son from 6 yrs of his childhood. Since he has been off Singulair he feels motivated and looks forward to joining the football team his younger brother plays for. I look forward to meeting this new young man who for so long has been hiding behind this so called allergy medicine. I am so thankful to know that my son can look forward to a bright future without these side effects. God Bless you all who are going through this as well.

I have been taking Singulair since it has been on the market. At first along with Advair (that's another disappointment) and now with Loratadine. I have had huge problems with depression, suicide thoughts and horrific mood swings since starting Singulair. It has affected my job performance as I have no motivation to do the work. I have lost interest in being around other people and just want to stay home. I have headaches like no other headaches I ever had; experience anxiety and anger for no apparent reason; sinus problems and troubles with my tonsils getting hard, hurting and producing much crypt fluid. I really don't feel at all like me and this has caused me real concern and diminished my "friend pool" and respect among colleagues because I am erraditic in moods, avoid contact and my anxiety and lack of confidence anymore induces incessant talking. I have read many of the posts and feel so sorry that children have suffered so much taking this drug. I have been in cognitive behavioral therapy and my family physician has a real concern for my well-being and really tries to remedy my depression. I have stopped taking Singulair for 2 days and I know it is awfully soon to make any sound conclusions, but I feel stronger today and better able to cope with people. Being a teacher, I should hope so. I would have never believed that a drug for asthma/allergies would have such untoward effects. Singulair along with Advair should be removed from the market or at least only given to those who show no apparent emotional effects, it's not worth losing a life over.

I have been on Singulair for nine years and I thank Merck for discovering and manufacturing it. I also thank my doctor for prescribing it to me. I have my life back! I had asthma so bad I was on high dose inhaled steroids and Albuterol. I had a nebulizer on my kitchen table and a drawer full of Albuterol in my refrigerator. Like clock work I would wake up wheezing and gasping for air and have to administer myself a treatment at 4 am every morning. I would try to exercise and I would wheeze and cough. I then went on Singulair and my nebulizer has been in the basement for at least 9 years, I have the drawer back in my refrigerator too. I exercise now and even ran my first race last summer without needing an inhaler. Thank God for Singulair. I am not going to die from my asthma.

There are so few choices to treat asthma and allergies and all the medications have problems like an FDA black box warning for increased death on Salmeterol(I stopped taking that) which is in Advair and emotional disturbances with steroids and increased suicide risk with Zyrtec which is now over the counter.

I do feel sorry for Cody's parents. It must be tragic to lose a child. My heart does go out to them. However looking rationally at this story, there seems to be a whole side missing. The news story did not mention anything about Cody's past history on the news. Did he ever have signs of depression? Was there an interview with his doctor? Was he having problems with friends at school? Was he into any drugs or adolescent games? Teenage boys also have the highest rate of suicide, medicines aside.

With all due respect, I never saw any of Cody’s friends or teachers be interviewed. Maybe this did happen and I missed this but I watched the news cast videos. Could there be more to this story that is purposefully being edited out or just not asked?

I never believe the media fully. They are very irresponsible and inaccurate at times.
If you read the product information of any drug including aspirin you would never want to take it. The truth is that many times the benefits of drugs out weigh the risks. I know I will keep taking my Singulair because I do not want to die of asthma sucking on inhalers like my mother did.

To be honest, both myself and both my kids have been on singulair for 10+ years and it has been a godsend blessing. My daughter was tested for CF -twice-as an infant before starting all the asthma meds, including singulair. My son is finally able to get off Advair but continues to take Singulair to keep off the other meds. ANY med can have side effects and not all meds are ment for all people. Some meds can cause severe reaction just from the binders used in the med or when combined with other meds. And in case you think I'm crazy and don't know about meds- My son is an EMT/Firefighter and I am an ICU nurse.

After reading the recent news reports and reading other parents opinions on Singulair I thought I should be fair to the company, and to other parents seeking advice on this drug, to write about our POSITIVE experience with Singulair. Our 7 year old son was diagnosed with seasonal Asthma when he was 3. We have him on the Ventilator and Advair. During spring time allergy season he would begin wheezing and coughing on a regular basis. We would then give him his puffers. While it would relieve him of the wheezing he would be quite hyper and out of control. Therefore, our goal was to wean him off the puffers. We added Claritin to his diet each day. When he was 5 he struggled through his spring soccer season. As the months went by he looked tired, very sickly, and worn out. His coach recommended that we investigate Singulair. It really turned his child's life around! We talked to our doctor about it. She wasn't familiar with children using Singulair but she prescribed the 5mg chewable but recommended that he use both puffers before his soccer games. We followed her advice. He took his Singulair before bed and the puffers before the game. Sadly, we noticed that he was completely "out of it" during his games. He had no focus (not shocking for a 6 year old boy), no real interest in the game, and no energy. We just assumed it was because he was tired after a full day of school. One day we forgot his puffers but decided to let him play anyway. He had a great game. During a daytime tournament he was back to having his head in the clouds, so for the second game we decided to "forget" his puffers again. He played a great game. But best of all..no breathing problems. We decided to omit the puffers for the rest of the season and just use Singulair. It worked wonderful for him. None of the side effects that the other parents have described. We use it when spring begins and for the the first part of the fall season. He doesn't use it during the winter months. We are experiencing a real dry March so I started the Singulair on Tuesday. Then all of the negative comments came out. I certainly will not dismiss the concerns of the product. We are watching him closely to make sure there are no negative side effects. So far, so good. And no need for the puffers!

My daughter is 20 years old and a chronic asthmatic with severe allergies. She has been on Singulair for 8 years. She has been complaining and in some instances begging her asthma doctor for a reason for her insomnia and restless sleep over the last several years. She takes other asthma and allergy medications. He told her to not take her Xopenex inhaler before bed, as that may be causing the problem, that didn't help at all (sometimes a Xopenex nebulizer treatment is needed for her at bedtime and during the night, during asthma flair-ups). Her doctor just switched her from Allegra (which she has been on since she was 10) to Zyrtec, which is helping with allergies, but not with the sleeplessness. She was taken off of Advair and put on Symbicort in September 2007, this made her asthma worse requiring Prednisone off -and -on since January. She is back on Advair and doing better, but the sleepless nights continue...

We are seriously contemplating taking her off of the Singulair. We aren't 100% certain this medication is causing her insomnia/sleeplessness. However, as she explains it..."If I could get one really good nights sleep, I would go off of the Singulair in a heartbeat". Our fear is that by going off of the Singulair that her asthma will worsen.

WOW! I just came upon this site after hearing about the singulair warnings from my dad. I have an 8 year old daughter on singulair, zyrtec, and advair for asthma since she was 5. Thursday night we came back from a meeting with a psychologist for an educational evaluation (recommended by the school). She has had problems with concentration and learning at school since first grade (she started singulair just before entering 1st grade). Prior to that, there was never any issue, in fact she was tested as a very bright girl by a different psychologist (at age 4 for admission into private school). The current psychologist diagnosed her as ADHD-NOS and recommended medication and suggested a speech therapist for a minor speech problem. The ADHD-NOS is because she feels she has ADHD without all the hyperactivity or true attention problems (no "classic" ADHD symptoms). Since we were having her evaluated, we also mentioned her horrible mood changes and temper. She falls apart over little things and gets very angry with her siblings, yelling about how she hates her life and wishing she didn't have a younger brother. Along with this, we were having her evaluated by an ENT for her sleep problems (very restless sleep, falling asleep during the day when others don't- she already has had her tonsils and adenoids removed). My daughter also has a poor appetite (she used to complain on stomach pains). This was just not the same, happy, energetic child I had a few years ago.
The next morning, I called the pediatrician and told him that I wanted to take her off all the meds. I felt they were causing her all these problems and he agreed that they may be. We have decided to take it one step at a time. The pediatrician feels it may be all interrelated. I am so shocked to see the number of kids with the same problems! I wonder how many of these kids are being diagnosed as ADD/ADHD because of these meds? It never occurred to us that these meds could be causing her so many problems over the years. As parents, we assumed her problems were just because of sibling rivalry, a picky eater, boredom at school, etc. It all makes sense now. My husband is a cardiologist trained at Hopkins and Harvard and it never occured to him that these meds could do this to a child until Thursday night when we were told to give MORE meds to our daughter. Hopefully, we will see improvement in our child and that no long lasting damage has been done.

So after reading enough of these replies I've come to a few conclusions:

1) Apparently Singulair should not be prescribed to children.

2) We have some extremely over-reactive parents.

3) It sounds like many of you describing side-effects from your young children also mention that they are on other medication(s). Don't be so quick to blame Singulair for everything. Many medications share the same possible side effects. Unless Singulair is the only medication your child takes, hold your tongue until more definitive studies and investigations are done.

About me -- I'm a 30 year old man who developed asthma when I was 11, and has fairly nasty seasonal allergies (I live in Austin, TX). I started taking Singulair several years ago as I had literally tried every other prescription allergy medicine on the market available for my seasonal allergies. OH MY GOD! I CAN BREATHE AGAIN!

Not only could I breathe through my nose, but the Singulair helped me fight off seasonal allergens (namely mountain cedar tree pollen and Texas oak tree pollen) so much that I was no longer waking up having asthma attacks from my sinuses draining. No longer was I missing days and days of work from "cedar fever" and "oak fever." At long last I finally found an allergy/asthma medicine that works for me.

Now, I also take use Advair (250/50) every day as well. Without a doubt, my life is 100 fold better now than it was before I used the combination of Singulair and Advair on a daily basis. If I miss a day or two of my Singulair, which I have done before, my allergies are noticeably worse and magically get better when I get back on Singulair.

I can honestly say that I have never experienced any depression or suicidal thoughts/tendencies since I have been on Singulair. Undoubtedly there are many others like myself who thank God every day for this medicine. I honestly feel very bad for those of you who have issues with Singulair because it has been a life-saver for me.

I am a 30 year old female and have had asthma since I was 3 years old. For years I struggled with it, having to always have an inhaler on hand everywhere I went. About 4 years ago by the prescription of my pulmonary doctor I started taking singulair and advair once a day (before bed) The one thing that I have noticed that concerns me a bit, is that when I miss even one day of the medication (due to my forgetfulness in refilling) my asthma will be worse then before I even started the medication. So it's like I'm dependently addicted to it, which is really scary. Just one day off of it and I have to use my albuterol inhaler at least 5 times a day and I can't even get out of bed sometimes.

The other thing that I noticed was my complexion changed. I have been to several dermatologists who either think I have a mild rosacea, mild acne rosacea or a mild adult acne. I have never had a problem with my skin, it was always clear. However now it is just so tempermental. I recently asked an internal medicine doctor who doesn't seem to feel that there is any link between singulair and skin problems but thought that perhaps it was the advair.

I also have experienced strange mood shifts that sort of go back to the time I started the medication. I fight a lot more with my husband and just feel very anxious, fearfull, reclusive, depressed. I feel like another poster, that everything is going to go wrong, or is always wrong. I'll have extreme anxiety about small everyday things. I am an actress living in LA. I have a commercial agent and was quite active in auditioning but this has dwindled as the years have passed.
Is all this due to the medication? I cannot say obviously, and like another poster said, you can't attribute side effects that some people have had to all the millions of people that must take this medication.And, it is true that during studies conducted of medications anything that someone experiences has to be listed as a side effect. I was taking a medication for my possible ADD symptoms, concerta, and one of the side effects is "Accidental Injury" what does that even mean! I asked my doctor about it and he told me, that if someone so much as accidentally bumped into a table or tripped during the study it would have to be listed as possibly being associated with the medication.It's a legal thing I'm sure.

But in any event who's to say that it isn't causing these symptoms. I certainly hope that it doesn't. I can only vouch for my physical symptoms for sure. I know whether or not I can breath or not and that it's due to not taking the medication since being on it is like I don't even have asthma. But as for the emotional stuff, they are just that emotional and there are many other things in peoples lives that could be contributing factors. The greatest test would be to stop taking the medication to see if the emotional symptoms improve.

My son is 8 y/o (almost 9). We love Singulair, he has been on it for years (at least 3 years). He can go about 4 days off of it and then his asthma flairs up again and we are up at night coughing. However after reading some of the posts I figure that I would throw in my two cents because some of these posts have been eye opening. We just recently went to an allergist and he was diagnoised with more severe ashtma then we expected so he was put on Allegra and Advair to go along with his Singulair and Albuterol (we dropped Claritan for the Allergra). In the last year my son has been experiancing horrible moods to the point that at 8 y/o I wonder if he knows what suicide is because the moods have brought him to a level that makes me very scared for him. We have recently decided to bring him to a therapist to talk about the moods and the behaviors he is experiancing at school and home. The negative attitude, the anger and frustration, the short temper, the night terrors, and night walking. He has also had over the last 6 months that 'stitch' in the side that another person was talking about. We took him to the ER once for it because we thought he was having an appendicitis attack. However he was not and we have had recent attacks like that. Like I said, I love Singulair, it was and sort of still is our dream drug however after reading this I wonder if it is not. My heart is crushed that a drug I thought was great for my son maybe the one thing that is hurting him. I am going to talk to his allergist about it and will try to take him off of it to see if it makes a improvement. Thank you so much for opening my eyes and maybe finding me a solution to it all.

Okay- A friend just emailed this site to me, my son is 4 and has been taking Singulair for about 2 years. He has seasonal allergies which seem to be year round, asthma and food allergies. He is on Singulair and Allegra daily, this in it self freaks me out. What I have noticed for at least the past year is that when he is running around or moving a lot he hold his right side and says he has a pain in it, we now call it a "stitch". it happens not from strenuous activity, our doctor just says its growing pains, that doesn't make sense. something is bothering him it happens with somewhat frequency. I am really thinking about his behavior, it seems to me he can change on a dime. from happy to very angry, outbursts and then right back to sweet, yes this could describe any 4 year old, but not any 4 year old is on Singulair. I remember saying to him where is my sweet boy? I feel like that might have been when we started the meds, i am so used to his behavior now that it seems almost normal but there was a time he acted differently. and i do remember saying that.... was it when he went on Singulair???

I have a 8 year old daughter that has been on Singulair since she was 2 years old. When she first started Singulair, she was also put on Flovent (an inhaled steroid), along with Albuterol for what the doctors call reactive airway disease (similar to asthma). Her triggers were allergies and having a cold. Her first flare up of mood swings alerted me to take my daughter off the Flovent. She seemed to improve a little, but still had behavior/moody issues. I had chalked them up to the "terrible twos", and not really thought much of it. As time went on, I became accustomed to the behavior that my daughter was showing. When the few complaints of stomach pains, headaches, and leg pain came along, I managed to explain them away with reasonable explanations (example: growing pains, eating too much, not enough sleep, etc.). As my daughter went off to school, I heard numerous complaints from her teachers that she lacks focus, cannot complete a task in a timely manner, easily gets distracted, and at times (more than not) is a disruption to the class. At home, I noticed a strange "tick" going on with her blinking, the constant need to repeat herself, and the battles with bursts of crying to get her to do ANYTHING. SOMETHING IS REALLY WRONG!!! I was on the edge of having a full work-up of mental tests. I have her see the school social worker weekly and I keep a constant communication with her teacher regarding her behavior. I decided to look up side effects regarding this medication. I first looked at the website for the manufacturer and saw nothing alarming, nothing about behavior affected side effects. I looked into mental disabilities (autism, aspergers, ADD, ADHD, etc.) and saw no common link to her behavior. Then I came to this site and MY JAW DROPPED!! Everything that my daughter has experienced, TO THE LETTER, has been experienced by other children. The weight gain, the occasional pains, the strange behavior. I decided that NOW is the time to act. I have seen my daughter's doctor and discussed my concerns. We are going to wean her off this stuff starting TODAY! Fear of a serious relapse of breathing problems is making us very cautious. I am kicking myself for not making the connection sooner. Wish us luck that this drug has not destroyed her chances of getting better and that this "asthma" can be controlled another way without such serious side effects.

My college age daughter was diagnosed with allergies and asthma last winter. She had a series of allergy test and results were grasses, dust mites, mold, cats, dogs feathers. Her main complaint was shorness of breath during exercise, boxing and lately tennis. She is a very healthy young lady that played tennis, ate healthy and stayed away from pop and junk food. This sudden breathing issue is baftling. She was put on Singular and the lowest dose of Advair. For 9 months she has been taking these meds and they don't seem to help. What's more baffling is that 6 months ago she developed an eye irritation, itching, swelling and redness of the eye lid. She has see 3 opthalmologists and 1 cornea specialist. They've all said it's "dry eye". Fine, but what is the cause.
I am one to read all the package inserts to all medications. As a professional, having sat on two Institutional Review Board for Animal and Medical Research at Henry Ford Hospital, I am well aware of all the possible side effects that can arrise with medications.
Recently I read up on Singular, I am confinced that there is a definite correlation of the eye problem with the Singular. I have told all the doctors and non seemed to want to speak with the allergist or work with him, or even consider that this is a possibility.
I intend to have her stop this medication and hope and pray that this will problem will cease. If any one has had a similar occurance with Singular, please respond.

This is only the 3rd day I'm taking Singulair. Tonight when I got home I quickly did a search for Singulair side effects. Here is what I had been feeling.

1) Extreme deep neuromuscular pain in my neck and shoulders and extreme pulling muscle tension along the length of my spine.

2) Thoughts of paranoia.

3) Extreme irritability

4) Heart palpitations

5) General feeling of malaise

6) Feeling that there is some toxic substance in my body ...

It is the Singulair!

7) Very very bad case of indigestion and upset stomach

I have been on Singulair for about 6 months, and so far so good.

I do have an itchy rash on my face that just won't go away, and I do get the super itchy legs too.

I also have super-vivid dreams, but hey, I can deal with that.

I also take Advair twice a day along with my nightly dose of Singulair.

I can deal with itchies and crazy dreams!

Before I was on these meds, I was waking up at night unable to breathe. My rescue inhaler wasn't even working, and I was going through 2 of the Rescue Inhalers a month!

When they didn't work I ended up at the hospital! Not fun!

I was on Singulair for about 5-6 years and I rarely had an asthma attack. I had the vivid dreams that are common with Singulair, but that didn't bother me. I also had the occasional earache, but it was tolerable. My last 3 months of taking this drug, I started "seeing things." I would see shadows darting out of the corner of my eye. At the time I was waitressing and I went out to wait on a table that I thought was there. When I looked up to take their order, there was no one there. One night I almost got into an accident because I thought a car was behind me that was tailing me when there wasn't one. It was at that point that I really started to freak out. I thought I was going insane, possibly schizophrenia. One day I was flipping through a magazine and happened to see an ad for Singulair. I read through all the fine print and saw that a rare side effect was hallucinations! It all made sense at that point and I knew I wasn't going crazy!

I stopped taking Singulair and then started to have breathing problems (I wasn't taking anything for my asthma at that point). I went to the doctor and he laughed when I told him about the hallucinations being from Singulair. He told me to go back on it and see if it happened again. The second or third day I started to see shadows again. I lasted about a week and then just stopped and went to Advair. It doesn't help much.

It makes me really sad that Singulair did this to me. It was the only time in my life where I didn't have to worry about breathing. Now I have to take prednisone about twice a year, which I never had to do on Singulair. I just wanted to write this in case anyone else was experiencing anything similar.

33, Female. Been on Singulair for months. No headaches, no pain, nothing. I can breathe again and feel great. Had problems with Advair, but none with Singulair. I love it.

I am 40-years-old and took Singulair for about two months. I first took it for about two weeks and got horrible symptoms and then stopped for a week and then tried it again for about a month. Never again will I put Singulair into my body. My symptoms were chronic and severe muscle cramps and twitching, restless legs, body aches, numbness, tingling, hair loss, weight gain, and skin changes (urticaria and angioedema). I also used to suffer from menorrhagia to where now I barely get a cycle. I cannot blame Singulair for the headaches/migraines because I have been a headache/migraine suffering for many years.

When I first stopped taking Singulair the symptoms calm down. But since then they have come back with a vengence. I have been to several specialty doctors (family doctor first, endocrinologist, neurologist, allergist and rheumatologist). Now please let me defend myself by saying I see my family doctor and gynecologist yearly for a physical and also when I am sick and I have always been basically a very healthy, and slender woman with thick hair. I was on no other medications other than ibuprofen and acetaminophen for the headaches/migraines. What they have found so far is that I have secondary autoimmune hypothyroidism (only my TPO antibody and thryoglobulin are extremely elevated, but my TSH, T3 and T4 are completely normal), and allergies to everything outside (no food or pet allergies) and idiopathic lupus (because my skin has developed urticaria and angioedema).

I am going for an EMG and MRI of the brain in one week because they are trying to rule out MS. They have been saying that my symptoms look like MS or lupus. They have ruled out lupus because my blood tests do not show lupus only my skin is acting like lupus. My allergist put me on doxepin for my skin and twitching symptoms. This medication has helped my skin and slowed down the twitching.

I am not trying to blame Singulair, but it is very strange that I was a basically healthy person with some outdoor allergies and mild asthma. I would get pneumonia once a year also (always around the holidays). Now, I feel like crap since taking Singulair. My legs are the worst of all the symptoms along with the constant twitch under my right eye. This can drive a person insane, especially when you are trying to relax and your body cannot.

Thanks for listening,
Carrie

My doc put me on Singulair a few years ago and I quit taking it after realizing it was causing horrible pain in the muscles of my back and down my legs. Nothing seemed to make it go away either. Then she put me on Advair which made me feel like I was loosing my mind plus other bad side effects so I quit that drug too. So recently she asked me to try Singulair again. I said no but she talked me into trying it again because she had never heard of those side effects. I am now two weeks into it and have been experiencing different side effects this time. And worse. Migraine for 3 days now, disturbing dreams, abnormal uterine bleeding, abdominal cramps, sleepyness, and irritability.
I thank you all for sharing - it has helped me make up my mind and I will direct my doc to this site so she will know the truth - not what she hears from the drug reps!

This is all very interesting, but it's all anecdotal! Can you PROVE that Singulair is responsible for all this stuff?

What other meds are you all taking? In what doses? Under what conditions? Do you have a family history of ? Are you under stress? Or are at least SOME of you just hypochondriacs who, reading this stuff, say to yourself, "Say, I get headaches -- sure, it's gotta be the Singulair!" C'mon, now -- hair loss?!

I've been taking Singulair for over 10 months, and if I'd been as damaged as you all, I think I'd know it.

Without rigourous medical studies to show what is REALLY going on, you lot are just gossipping.

This site is obviously trolling for a class-action suit.

I think I maybe just figured out the answer to these symptoms you guys are describing, with mood changes and nightmares?

From Merck Frosst website:
The team finally chose quinolein as the basis for their compound, because it has affinities with the LTD4 (leukotriene) region.

Quinolein - elsewhere it has been listed as a seratonin inhibitor...

Also, is Quinolein related to Quinine (a malarial treatment that causes nightmares and psychotic symptoms?)

What do you all think?

My daughter is 5 years old and has been on singulair for 1 week. i have already noticed a dramatic change in her behavior. she has become irritable, mean, nasty, and emotional. she has had me in tears on a daily basis. she has turned into a monster. we will be calling the doctor in the morning!

2 months on asmanex and singular,I can finally breath, but... my right arm has been burning on and off, along with a little tingling in my right breast, had ultra sound and hormone, glucose test done, all fine, ob/gyn says may be side effects of med. now my right arm is achey and right side of face numbish, also I wake up alot and can't really fall asleep again... anyone else with these side effects? I've gone off asmanex 2 days ago.

After having sinus surgery (lasted more than 3 hrs) my ent dr placed me on singulair. once i recovered from the sugery, it was incredible. i had been sick for a year. my pf was down to 30%, i was on a rescue inhalaer, nebulizer, advair, and sometimes oral prednisone. the efffect was immediate. i felt good for the first time in more than a year. i weighed about 135 lbs - at 5'6, i was slim. After a year, i had gained about 15 pounds, and had urination at night every 1-2 hrs, then i started having stomach discomfort - consistant indigestion. i went to the dr who ordered lab, and gave me prevacid and told me to come back in a week. the next a.m. i took the prevacid and when i started to eat breakfast, i started vomitting and did not stop. i experienced muscle spasms starting in my neck, down my back, leg that were non-stop for 3 hrs. i went to the er, had all kind of tests, mri, etc. the drs never gave me a dianosis, but my daughter thought it was the singular so i refused it while in the hospital. after recovering at home for a few days i went back to work. no more muscle spasm, no more frequent urination, stomach discomfort is only about 20% of what it was, but i am about 30 pounds heavier than when i started the drug. i eat only 1,200 - 1,500 calories a day, but cannot lose the weight. i have an active job, walk a lot, but cannot lose the weight. i am on asmanex and have not been to my allergist in about 6 months. doing very well!!!

There are no words to explain how I feel after reading just one page of the posts here. I have a 9 year old wonderful son. About 1 1/2 years ago he was put on Singulair (along with Advair, Xoponex, Nasacort, and Zyrtec - also he got allergy shots once a week). He had severe asthma. Well, not too long after he was on the Singulair he started having HORRIBLE thoughts. Just to name a FEW: He thought he was going to stab me or his younger sister and could not go near a knife or anything sharp, he had thoughts of aliens coming into his room at night and skinning him alive and taking out his heart, he had the most horrific thoughts of violence and as he started getting a little older his thoughts were becoming what seemed to be sexually violent. I immediately went through seeing if anybody at school was hurting him or touching him. Nobody was. Since he lives with just me and my daughter (no visitations with absent father) I knew he was safe at home. He is exposed to practically nothing. I asked my children's doctor what could this be and he told me to just tell him to "stop thinking those things". My own doctor wanted me to put him on anti-psychotics. I took him immediately to a child psychologist that specialized in OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) - after researching I came to the conclusion that this is what he had. I was told that the correct name for his condition is called "Morbid OCD" or "Bad Thoughts OCD". He was in therapy from the beginning of the symptoms. I refused to believe that an emotionally healthy child could develop this condition almost over night. I changed our lifestyle - eating organic, very little processed foods, (you name it) etc... I was able to get him off of all his medications except his inhaler as needed. To my wonder and amazement his OCD had gone away. Well, about a month ago his asthma started to show up again. (Since he was doing so well I started to let him have a little dairy in his diet again and other things I had cut out before). His doctor told me that he was going to get scar tissue if I didn't treat it now and that I had to put him on something or he was going to have complicated respiratory issues as an adult. I agreed to put him back on Singular. Well, to my sadness and horror about a month ago my son started having mild OCD and it has gotten worse by the day. Last night, I was sitting at the edge of my bed and it was like a light bulb went off. I kept asking myself, what changed a few weeks ago. Then bingo, it hit me, I had put him back on Singular. Last night I didn't give it to him. I obviously am taking him off of it and will post again and let you know how he develops. I'm sorry for the long post but after reading "worriedmom" I felt I needed to tell my son's story just in case there is anyone else out there with a similar situation. Thank you all so much. I have hope again. I am going to see how he does with his OCD and post again in about a week.

Weight gain, joint aches, knee pain, insomnia, irritability, depression...and the tests come out okay. So what is wrong with me? Why do I continue to gain so much wieght and the fatigue is horrible! Over the past five years it has snuk up on me but now I am thinking this Singulair is the culprit. I haven't had as much trouble with my asthma ...true...but I feel horrible. I am going back to using Advair as needed and my albuterol as needed. Goodbye Singulair!

Has anyone ever had tons of weight gain while taking Singulair? I have been on this drug for about four years now and my weight has increased to more than 50 pounds of weight gain! I have a lot of aches and pains, leg cramps at night, insomnia, but the asthma has improved. I still get my once a year very bad attack with bronchitis, etc, but the improvement was great.

I have had everything else checked out for my weird continued weight gain and everything is normal. So I am checking out this drug and one other I am on for thyroid. (No, it's not my thyroid, my thyroid tests are normal now). It doesn't matter what I do I gain weight. Just wondering if this drug is causing it. My doc told me it was the cause of my insomnia and suggested moving it to the A.M..

I am tired of this weight gain, and it is starting more physical problems, like my bad knees. I ahve always been active and my eating habits haven't changed. Dieting is not working either. Any suggestions? Anyone else gaining unexplained weight?

Thanks!

My experience with many asthma and allergy meds over the most of my life has been that some are anxiety producing. A healthy balanced diet and lots of physical movement, sports, activity, etc helps. I take advair and it really controls my asthma. My doc added singulair and it helps my symptoms but I just dont feel right. Hard to explain. More anxiety and it seems like depression started to set in. The combo of the two drugs allows me to function as though I have no asthma. The side effects however are made worse by caffeine so I am going to try some dietary modifications and report back.

Both my daughter and I have taken Singulair.

We kept my daughter on Singulair for about six months. Like many others have noted, she became violent, agressive, sassy, etc. (She was 5 at the time) After consulting a pulmanary doctor, she was taken off the Singulair and put on Advair, Orapred (for a short term) and Albuterol. The behavioral symptoms stopped almost immediately. As a side note, the brand name Orapred does not cause over-excitedness as does the generic version and Xopenex is a newer form of Albuterol that does not cause the weight gain, hperness and sleeplessness. Her asthma is well under control at this time. Trial and error is the best with all medicines, they have so many different drugs out there.

My personal experience with Singulair is mixed. Sometimes I take it with no or little side effects, and other times I have bad enough side effects that I stop taking it.

Any medication can cause bad side effects, you just have to weigh the pros and cons.

My daughter, now 6, has taken Singulair on and off for the last 2-3 years for asthma. It works but the side effects are not worth it. My daughter has had encoupresis (severe constipation causing accidents) since starting the drug, as well as mood swings. Because she has also had to take Flovent (also Advair, Pulmicort) and Albuterol we have never been sure which drug was the culprit. We took her off Singulair at the end of the summer in 2006 and kept her on the Flovent and Albuterol (as needed). We got the encoupresis under control and her mood dramatically improved. This January 2007 she started having allergic reactions everyday at school and was going to the school nurse to get Benydryl. We decided to put her back on the Singulair a couple of weeks ago. The encoupresis symptoms have returned and the moodiness is horrible. We are stopping the medicine from now on, does anyone know of an alternative that helps with food, grass and animal allergies??? Thanks for your help.

I have twin 10 yr old daughters who have been on singulair for about a year. They were always high energy girls..but they, over the course of thr past year, have become violent, aggressive and bordering on hyperactivity. They are also on Advair(all of this for asthma, of course). We are going thru testing trying to figure out where this violent behavior is coming from. Could it be their meds..or just the singulair?????

I TOOK SINGULAIR FOR ABOUT A MONTH AND A HALF LAST YEAR WHEN I FIRST DEVELOPED ASTHMA. SINCE ASTHMA WAS NEW TO ME, I JUST THOUGHT I WAS MOODY AND PANICKING OVER THE ASTHMA AND NOT THE MEDICENES USED IN THE NEBULIZER, THE ADVAIR OR THE SINGULAIR. EVENTUALLY I STOPPED TAKING THE SINGULAIR AND STOPPED DOING MY NEBULIZER (I KEPT TAKING ADVAIR) JUST BECAUSE I DID NOT KNOW WHAT WAS CAUSING MY MOOD SWINGS AND PANIC AND THOUGHT IT COULD BE THE MEDICENE. I ALSO COULD NOT SLEEP AT NIGHT AND DID NOT KNOW WHY. WHEN I STOPPED THE SINGULAIR AND THE NEBULIZER I FELT MUCH BETTER AND WAS ABLE TO SLEEP AGAIN. AFTER ABOUT THREE TO FOUR MONTHS I STARTED DOING THE NEBULIZER AGAIN SINCE THE ASTHMA WAS FLARING UP AGAIN. IT SEEMED TO HELP ME AND I DID NOT FEEL ANY OF THE FEELINGS I FELT THE LAST TIME. JUST THEN I REALIZED WHAT I FELT WAS PROBABLY DUE TO THE SINGULAIR. JUST TWO DAYS AGO I WENT BACK TO THE DOCTOR AND SHE SAID I MAY NEED A MICKEY MOUSE DOSE OF THE SINGULAIR (5MG) AND A LOWER DOSE OF THE ADVAIR. TONIGHT IS THE SECOND NIGHT I TOOK IT AND I SUDDENLY GOT THE RAPID HEARTBEAT AND A MINIMAL PANIC ATTACK. I TOLD MYSELF I WOULD NOT LOOK ON THE NET BECAUSE IT WOULD JUST MAKE ME NERVOUS BUT I DID ANYWAY. I FOUND THIS SITE AND I COULD NOT BELIEVE HOW MANY PEOPLE HAD THE SAME COMPLAINTS I DID ESPECIALLY SINCE I FELT LIKE I WAS NUTS WHEN I MENTIONED THIS TO MY PULMONOLOGIST AND HE LOOKED AT ME LIKE THERE WAS NO WAY IT COULD BE THE SINGULAIR. THIS SITE CONFIRMED WHAT I WAS THINKING. YEARS AGO I HAD A VERY BAD REACTION TO A DIFFERENT DRUG (ACCUTANE) AND AFTER 3 MONTHS I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT. A LOT OF THE DRUGS OUT THERE WORK WONDERS AND ARE MEANT TO HELP OUR CONDITIONS HOWEVER, EVERYONE KNOWS THEIR BODIES AND WHENEVER WE FEEL SOMETHING THAT IS NOT LISTED IN THE SIDE EFFECTS OF THE MEDICENE DOES NOT MEAN IT IS NOT POSSIBLE. ALTHOUGH THE SIDE EFFECTS I HAVE FELT WITH SINGULAIR ARE NOT AS SEVERE AS I HAD WITH THE ACCUTANE IT IS STILL ENOUGH FOR ME TO STOP TAKING IT. I WILL GO BACK TO TAKING THE HIGHER DOSE OF ADVAIR AND I WILL DEFINITELY LET MY DOCTORS KNOW THAT WHAT I FELT WAS THE SINGULAIR AND NOT ME.

Howdy, folks. Pollen count here went through the roof, over 3,000, and I was dripping, wheezing and sneezing. In addition to Advair and albuterol inhaler, doctor gave me Rx for Singulair. Since taking the Singulair (2 weeks), I have had severe sinus headache (frontal), dizziness, really bad sore throat, and excruciating muscle spasms. I do not feel sick, no fever, just have these symptoms. I forgot to take the Singular for 2 nights, felt much better, then took 1 last night, and voila!, sore throat and headache are back with a vengeance. This stuff is SCARY!. Will see doctor Monday and will definitely stop taking this medicine.

My doctor recently started a control treatment for my infrequent asthma. I am a 35 year old male, light smoker, with good blood pressure, good pulse.

Up until 3 weeks ago, I treated my infrequent asthma with an albuterol inhaler. The week before Halloween, I had developed bronchitis after trying to treat my asthma with Primatene Mist and Mucinex for a week.

She immediately put me on Augmentin, Advair (100/50mcg) Singulair (10mcg) and an albuterol nebulizer.

Last monday, I went to the hospital with chest pains. It felt like someone was grabbing my chest muscles and squeezing them. The 'cramps' for lack of a better word, went up into my neck specifically around my throat. I was dizzy, sweating, trembling suffering an anxiety attack and had a racing pulse. I was checked out by the nurse(still had good BP, high pulse) but could not breathe. I was given a nebulizer treatment, and the attack subsided.

On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I had the same symptoms. It was so bad, I had to excuse myself from Thanksgiving dinner. I never felt this way before and know I could not be suffering a heart attack every day, all day so it has to be the medication.

I stopped the Advair Thursday night. By Friday, my appetite had returned and the tremors had deminished. I still took the Singulair.

Today, with just the Singulair, I still feel 'shaky' and out of sorts. I don't feel bad, but I don't feel 'well'. I have had a near constant headache all day and get dizzy when I stand up for long periods of time.

Tonight is my last night for the Singulair. I'll report back in a day or two to let you know how it's going.

On a good note, I haven't had an Asthma attack for 3 weeks now. I've just felt like crap ever since.

I'm 45 (male) and never had asthma until a year ago-- it came on after a severe bout with bronchitis. The doc gave me Prednisone for a week, I also took Advair, Flonase, Aciphex (a stomach pill), and Singulair. After a few months, the asthma seemed to be gone, but the doc had me stay on Singulair (one per day, at night before bedtime) to be sure it didn't return.

Before the asthma and Singulair, I had stomach problems (diagnosed as gastritis) and some stiffness in my lower back. But for the past year, my stomach has been AWFUL-- even the meds don't help. And the stiffness has been really bad: I would have to stretch my hips, legs and feet, and stay in the hot shower as long as possible. I even had frequent bouts of diarrhea, which I attributed to the Aciphex-- but now I'm thinking it might have been the Singulair.

I discovered this site a few days ago and stopped the Singulair. I THINK my stomach is getting a little better, and some flexibility has returned. Of course, my nose has started running and my breathing isn't the greatest--but I'd be willing to deal with it if my stomach and muscles feel better.

IS IT POSSIBLE MY STOMACH PROBLEMS AND STIFF MUSCLES/JOINTS HAVE BEEN EXACERBATED BY SINGULAIR? If you've had this problem, please post a reply. How long will it take for the side effects to disappear?

Posted: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 00:19:32 -0600

hello everybody,
i am one among you.one who silently suffered from the side effects of inhaler for asthma and one who prides on doing years of research in the internet about various issues concerning the disease.
i cant say i am a good researcher though coz i found this site after more than 2 yrs of active internet browsing.many things have changed in these years.i tried my hand at few alternatives.
to cut long story short, i am asthmatic since 8 yrs.used inhalers intermittently for most of that time.i used corticosteroids(initially budisonide and later Salmeterol+Fluticasone which is same as advair).i live in india.here the brand name for avair i seroflo.im 23 now.
ok i started getting side effects from year 2000.firstly i had rhinits.rhintis is another allergic disease.may not be a side effect but i have a very strange rhinitis.i just have a stubborn nose block 24 hrs a day and the nose block wud start immediatley after i take the inhaler.it happens the moment my lungs start feeling good from the inhaler.usually rhintis patients have itching runny nose or any other accompanying symptom and wud get releif from antihistamines.but i wudnt get.docs precribed a steroid spray for my nose.
then i had throat problem.frequent thraot infection and then narrowing of throat making it diificult to swallow.i reported it to the doc in 2001 and was sent to ent doctor for consultation.he sadi everythin is normal.
then i started having frequent urination,eye dryness and blurring vision sometimes,oral thrush,chronic diarrhoea,dizziness an light headed ness,diabetes like symptoms ,weakness,white patches on cheeks,hairloss,cramps in hands and legs,fluid retention etc.
all through this time i gained weight.i became a puffed up adult from a very thin guy.i have stretch marks near my neck and my face mooned up.well i also have a right bundle branch block in my heart .it many not be a direct symptom.and its normal in it that it has no known symptoms(its not a disease its present in healthy hearts too,it is nothing to be worried about)
when i went to th doctor with my side effects and the internet print out of cushings disease(which has same symptoms as my side effects) and candidiasis ,he made me undergo diabetis tests and hiv tests.from those results i was directed to a psychriatiast.
i decided to go big in the internet.i joined many groups ,read much and still i cudnot figure what i had.i still was taking medication for asthma.i thought all my symptoms are of asthma and rhintis.i decided to tkae allergy shots.in inida theres only 1 place to get them .i had to travel for 2 days in train to get them.this happened a year ago.and the shots so far did some good.
still i had the side effects i changed docotor.he wud write down my case as known asthmatic rhintis and depression.he was exactly like the previous one.i was ake to see psychriatist.i stopped him too.this happened 6 months before.
by this time i was using acidophilus to stop my diarrhoe and read a lot about homeopathy.
i didnt beleive in homeoapthy.but i tried it.its been 4 months so far.by this time i know what i have.i.e i know where from my symptoms have come.in homeopathy all these symptoms are actually well known.my homeo docotr said he had seen many lik me.but he said its a long proces atleast 6 months.until now i have seen that homeopathy will atleast stop those severe bouts of asthma attack and does some changes to most of the symptoms.well dizziness and head symptoms are firt to go away.yet i didnt have major releif from homeoapathy.but one thing is for sure,its not what i intially thought.
as of now i am able to control my asthma with homepathy and i am tkaing allergy shots.i do use the bronchilator inhaler soem times.but my stubborn nose nose block wudnt change much.
i alos used singulair many times.

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that was a post i made in thsi forum 1 and 1/2 year ago.now i am happy to say,my asthma allergies and all the side effects from long term allopathic drugs have finaly been totaly cured.homeopathy is slow,but has permanent cure.the onyl challenge being finding a good homeopath.

I had sinus infections on a regular basis and refused to
take antibiotics any longer. I put up with the yukky nose
blowing daily. My doctor gave me Singulair 1 a day for a
week. Within on day, I had relief. My concern is>>>>
I also take Advair for my asthma. Both are a marvellous
drug but would be interested if there is any concern to
be using both.
I would not give up Advair as I was a chronic asthmatic
who was statis asthmaticus on several occasions. Yes I did
take Serevent and Flovent before Advair. I salute the doctor's
and especially the chemists who are able to give so many
relief from this horrible disease ASTHMA. I never thought I'd
live beyond 40 yrs of age because of this illness. I'm now 65
and many years ahead of me. Due to the severity of my illness, a sore throat, hoarseness, loss of smell and taste is
not a priority as I can breathe. Yes, thank you all the people
and companies trying to rid us of that terrible disease. I hope
a young child can be given something else to help him through this problem if side effects occur.