Singulair and aspartame

My 2 year old son started taking Singulair chewable tablets last year. I noticed that his behavior changed every day after giving him the medicine. He would become easily excited, run around the house, and act like he didn't have common sense. When I talked to his doctor about this, she thought it might be from the aspartame in the pills. Since he started using the packet powder without aspartame, he has been fine. The medicine really works for treating his asthma. He is now 3. I am concerned about the recent findings. He is too young to tell me how he feels. Has anyone had an experience with aspartame in relation to Singulair?

I came across this website last night and was very shocked, but also relieved as to what I read. My 8 year old son has been on Singulair for about 3-4 months now. He had some minor behavioral problems before, but since being on the drug, it has become in my opinion, out of control. He has been having increasing problems in school-not listening, not following directions or staying on task, even yelling at the teacher. At home he has been really aggressive and punches the walls when he gets angry. Every little thing sets him off.

I had a wierd feeling last night that maybe it was because of the Singulair and ran a google search and found this blog. I was amazed to see how many other children were experiencing the same thing. I was relieved though too to find out that I wasn't going crazy or in this alone.

I spoke to my son's doctor's office (allergist) and he CONFIRMED that there have been a small number of incidents of this same thing having been reported and that Singulair contains ASPARTAME. My son is now going off the meds for one month to see if there is an improvement in his behavior.

I immediately called my pediatricians office and let him know-the nurse said that they were not aware of the side effects or that the drug contained aspartame.

I am going to reiterate everything that other people have already said-call your doctor and let them know and report the side effects to the FDA. We have to do it! Understand everyone has different reactions to medications, but we don't want more children to have to go through these feelings or more parents to feel frustrated.

My son is 8 and has Autism. In the last two months he has been taking Singulair. In the last two months I have noticed him progressively getting very aggressive and unable to tolerate disappointments etc. He's been very whiney. It's to a point where he is out of control with his moods. He hauls off and hits me, other kids and adults. Like a monster has taken over. He can't seem to calm down and it's hard for him to tell me what is going on because of his Autism. He has never been this extreme and had such a long bout of horrible behavior. I forgot he had started this new medication for his allergy related asthma/wheezing. I did not figure it out but I am convinced this may have been the trigger for his uncontrollable behavior. We had a huge embarrassing incident today at camp where he ran into the school he was not suppose to be in, then came back and pushed this boy and attacked his Mom by pulling her arm nearly knocking her over, pinching her arm and squeezing it very hard! I was shocked at his behavior. Kicked and hit me and the counselor and squeezed my boob really hard,lifted my shirt up several times, just totally out of control. I had to lay on him practically to control him and I cried in shock and fear and wondered if this was my son! It took a long time to calm him down. He is going off the medication today and we are talking to several other doctors and going to a neurologist. He has sleepless nights too and dry mouth. Please watch out if you already have a child with issues. Worried and sad Mom!

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!

This is a follow up post to June 2nd by foureyes. We consulted his Dr. and was advised to try 10mg tabs split in half and he either swallows the half, it can be crushed and put in apple sauce or something like it. The "adult" singulair does not contain red dye or aspartame like the "children's" . He can not be with out it, (we found out) the air quaility where we live is horrible right now and he started weezing. He also had a bit of a cold, which in his case is a trigger, as he is not a chronic asthma pt.................so our adventure continues, I will post with his tolerence of the split 10m .

My son was 4 when he started singulair chewable tablets for children for his allergies (winter and spring) he took it for 2 months and then we started noticing that he started to stutter/ stammer. His sppech was not like before. He would also make facial expressions like he is trying to force the words out with his eyes looking up. He also became excessively sensitive and emotional. He would cry over anything. He appeared depressed. Then I decided to look into his medication. I looked at a few websites and found other parents had complained about similar side effects - then one smart parent noted that singulair chewable tablets for kids contained large doses of ASPARTAME ! It was clearly labeled on the medication by Merck but to my shock it meant that I was giving my son with each tablet the equivalent of 5 cans of diet coke worth of aspartame ! Turns out aspartame is one of of the most horrendous things to anyone. If you visit websites about the subject you will be shocked at what the popular diet soda sweetner causes. Apparently it was the culprit. I took him off the medication immediately and his speech became normal within a couple of weeks. The same smart parent noted in her posting that she/he had given their child a split adult dose of singulair - since IT DOES NOT CONTAIN ASPARTAME ! apparently they put it in the children dose as a sweetner since it is chewable.... may be worth a try since the medication was very effective with the allergy symptoms - but for me I am gonna have to try to find an alternative...

I see no similarity of 'aspertame disease' with the experiences we have had with singulair. If you've lived it, you know it is unmistakable, singulair is the culprit. My daughter has had aspertame before & after her singulair nightmare & never had a problem. Singulair turned her into a monster. No singulair, no monster. If it quacks like a duck, it's a duck. Singulair is poison.