Singulair and breathing treatment

I have 2 sons with asthma that have both been taken singulair (the oldest for 3 years & his brother for 2). My younger son's asthma got alot better since he was diagnosed & he was recently taken off Singulair thanks also to my husband hearing a report about the moodiness caused. When he was on it he would cry for no reason, get very irrational & seemed to think the world was against him. In just 2 weeks he is happy & cheerful and has told me he thinks it is due to being off singulair. His older brother's asthma has gotten worse over the years & I'm concerned about taking him off but he too has crazy moods. Just tonight he started a new soccer team & got crazy & suddenly didn't even want to participate in something he loves (wanted me to let him quit right then) until we argued enough he reluctantly participated. He then came home complained of a headache (which is also way too frequent) and now has been asleep for hours. Are there any alternatives to this drug? I'm a stressed out mom that doesn't deal well with these mood swings. He is normally a social butterfly & a sweet kid but lately seems more withdrawn, more irritable (especially tonight) & complaining about leg cramps in addition to these frequent headaches. I can't deal with too many more of these evenings & wonder if all these things are possible side effects. I'm glad to see my other son doing well but miss his normally sweet brother! Even his siblings think he is acting crazy :(

My son age 3 was diagnosed with asthma about a year ago. Since then he has been sick constantly. Most recently his doctor has prescribed Singulair. He is aggressively pushing it on us. I stated my concerns to him, and he said there is nothing wrong with the drug.. he gets all the news letters.. and all the things I listed was the first time he heard anything.. I asked for his to refer us to a specialist and he wont.. I cant find anyone for a second opinion..My son needs medicine- at night i cant leave his side cause of his breathing.. The doctor wont suggest any alternate and I am stuck. I keep reading about all the people who are not taking singulair anymore- what what are they taking? I am completely lost here!

UPDATE: Our nightmare with SINGULAIR has not ended! After reading "conerned citizens" report discussing the possiblility of Singulair causing asthma blew me away. My son was put on this drug for food allergies not asthma b/c they thought of his two anaphylaxsis episodes in 5 days. 1 food related the other unknown (maybe outdoor mold?) He had no prior issues with breathing.

He has been off of it for almost 2 weeks however over the last week he has slowly developed some breathing issues. After getting off of it, he still has his ear infection from the second day of being on it and last Friday after playing some basketball began to seem like he was winded so I brought him in. He was having trouble breathing. I called the Dr. and he said it could be excercised induced asthma. He is a very active boy who runs non stop and has NEVER had breathing issues before Singulair! It seemed to pass after a few hours. The next fews days he coughed a few times when playing and I thought what the heck is happening to him. Monday at school they didn't go outside so he was fine b/c he didn't run around. Tuesday, they came to get me b/c he was having trouble breathing and one of his teachers whose son has asthma said I think you better give him an inhaler. I called the Dr. ASAP and he approved us to borrow another child's. He freaked out and wouldn't let us give it to him. After 2 epi-shots in the previous weeks, he wanted nothing to do with that. At school the next day, we made him take the inhaler if he wanted to go out to playso he did. He didn't cough but a few times. No excercise at all. Then last night, he got really bad. He started to cough and couldn't stop to the point of gaging and it seemed as though he had developed a ton of phlem and kept trying to swallow. We ended up in the ER where we were told that he has asthma! I am so furious! I don't get this at all! If this report is accurate and my son got asthma by going on it - this will be devastating. We kept him home today from school and took him into the Dr. b/c he continued to cough all night. He is now on Flovent, Albuterol and has an enebulizer. I'm probably the only one of all of us who child did not have asthma to begin with.

Has anyone who did not have asthma before singulair now have any issues? Please let me know!

My son is 8 and he has been on singulair for at least three years, maybe four. When I heard about the side effects a few weeks ago, I stopped his medication right away. I have since learned that it should be tapered off, but won't put him back on to do that. He had so many of the depression, I hate myself, everybody hates me, facial tic, stomach ache symptoms . . . Now he is almost two weeks off of singulair and he is throwing screaming fits, kicking, threatening, uncontrollable for up to two hours and more! Is this a side effect of coming off of the medication? Has anyone else had this experience? Please email me at amy-weaver4@sbcglobal.net - I'd really like to hear if anyone else has experienced these symptoms. Thank you! Amy

I am one of many that has decided to stop giving my child Singulair. And like many others, I have noticed a great improvement in her behavior.

My question is for those who have done the same. What medication have you replaced the Singulair with and have you noticed any of the same side effects that Singulair was causing? What are your thoughts on Flovent inhaler?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

IA huge thanks to you guys for putting this info out there, because I'm sure the Singulair website wouldn't go into detail about this, and tell about side effects it has: FYI -->

This was what I found on the Singulair website, no more, no less (see post below this one please)

'm really sad to hear that these things happened to you guys and your children.

My 8yr old (55 lbs) son got a cough that ended up lasting about 4 weeks, so i finally took him to his pediatrician. He gave him a breathing treatment and hinted at him having asthma- but he wasn't sure. We have no family history of asthma and in my mind i thought it was pretty far fetched, but we continued the breathing treatment for about 2 weeks and my son cleared right up.

We came back in the Friday after Thanksgiving for a check up and his doctor said that my son sounded much better. The doctor said that looking over my son's medical history (not much of anything) he said he could have asthma-but he wanted to put him on Singulair for the next 3 months until the winter is over.

He said it would be a preventative measure to keep my son's symptoms from "flaring" up. The doctors said " This is not a steroid, and there are NO side effects. Its a once daily chew able for children." I thought-hmmm that's a first, a drug with no side effects. Then I was thinking" "What symptoms was the doctor referring to?" He had a really bad cough he got while visiting his dad's family (bug going around). But I held my tongue and just nodded. He wrote out the prescription, and I left. I heisted as I pulled out in front of the pharmacy and then kept driving.

I felt uneasy about the whole thing. Giving him a daily medication for a condition (asthma) I doubted my son had. Glad I did my homework, I decided to not fill the prescription. I don't feel the least bit guilty for not giving him the meds.

My 8yo son has been on Singulair for his asthma for about 2 weeks and he has complained of a 'sick tummy' regularly, ending up in tears because he can't do things. We have had a long run of this, perhaps due to the 8 lots of penicillin for tonsillitis, and some tummy bugs going around the schools I work in. The doctor has been suggesting irritable bowel syndrome so we didn't think of the Singulair side effects until it has got so bad that he is not going to school.He has been unusually clingy and almost paranoid about small things that don't usually worry him over the past couple of weeks. We were trying these tablets as he has been on steroid based preventer since he was 3 and we wanted to get him off the cortisone stuff. After reading here he is off the Singulair today and we will report the side effects to the paediatrician.

Singulair was prescribed to my 3 years old son for allergies. After only two days of taking the medicine he was having trouble breathing, belly pains, red hives and screaming out in the middle of the nights. After the second day we had to take him to the emergency room where they had to give him predisone and a breathing treatment. They told me to stop giving it to him (which I was going to do wether they told me that or not!!!!!!!!!!) Now it is the next day, singular free, and he is starting to breath easier. I hope he continues to return to the way he was before.

I wanted to suggest to all those that are looking for alternatives to singulair, that they try Web Md. I am the one who posted about my baby being on Singulair since he was 4 months old. At Web Md they have a color coding chart for asthma that has helped us greatly. We have a set plan of action when it starts to act up. We know what to give first, then second and so on. I have found that the old fashioned hot steamy bathroom can stop an asthmatic cough better that Albeuterol. We do the breathing treatment followed by about 10 minutes in the steamy bathroom. It has worked every time. My son is back to sleeping through the night again and has almost no congestion left. I always thought that the congestion was his Asthma. Who would of thought it was a medicine ment to help him. Other side effects he went through are- extreme irritability-temper tantrums- excessive shaking- chest congestion-extreme thirst- lack of appetite-diarrhea-stomach pains. That is what I know. He is only 2 now, so he can't tell me what I have put him through.

I have been on this medication for about 8 weeks. The first 6 weeks (I initially thought, but now seriously wonder) were like amazing, I felt my asthma was better, no allergies going on, I even stopped my Allegra, which I used to live on for my allergies. Two weeks ago, I thought an enviromental problem caused me to agitate my sinuses/allergies, get worse and develop into a sinus infection (dryer vent tubing came off, lint floated around house for a week before finding).

I went to see my GP, he treated me as sinus infection and gave me Nexium because I was experiencing bad stomach and chest burning. I never had that before in my adult years, I am 38. So, I was taking Singulair, Nexium, amoxicillin, Nasonex and Allegra. By the next evening, I was so sick, stomach burning, vomited, rash/hives, difficult breathing, I went to the ER. They sort of treated me like 'what are you doing here?' but I felt like I was dying. I was scared.

I had the asthma breathing treatment, Mylanta, Prednisone and Benadryl. I asked about the Singulair, they said no problem, take it too. It was after midnight and I actually slept until 6 am, first time in a long time. By 1 pm the next day, the stomach pain came back, the hives and itching, the wheezing.

24+ hours later, I am on the phone with my GP and tell him about the rash/hives, difficulty breathing and he blames it on the amoxicillin. I quit taking the amoxicillin 12 hours ago and am still having the hives/severe itching. Even my genital area is itching.

Through this time, I started researching the side effects online for Singulair. I asked my pharmacist, two doctors and the ER staff and ALL of them SAID NO, IT CAN'T BE THE SINGULAIR. Yeah right. I started doing an inventory and my husband (bless his heart) confirmed that I have been much more agitated the past 8 weeks, I definitely have been having nightmares (didn't really pay attention to the connection until I started reading up on the side effects) which I rarely ever do, usually I can barely remember what I dream about.

I have had malaise, lack of interest in doing what I normally do, find myself forcing myself to get out of the house. I guess maybe I could say a sort of depression since I started this drug.

Here is my list of symptoms I attribute to Singulair and I am stopping cold turkey as of tonight and going back to Flovent.

These side effects started after 6 weeks of use:
sinus infection, swollen-hurting tongue, sore throat, increase of asthma/wheezing/cough, rash, hives, entire body itching including genital area, rash with no itching on stomach, burning in stomach and upper chest, vomiting. I think that covers it. And I once claimed this to be a miracle drug for me. Yeah right.

Good luck to everyone and I am sorry for the loss of life due to this drug. I honestly felt like I was dying and I am still afraid of what may happen to my asthma once I quit taking it tonight.
Michelle