Singulair and class action lawsuit

My 4 year old son started taking singulair when he was two. I don't think I picked up on his behavior change right away b/c I thought that he was just entering the "terrible two's". But over time, his allergist added on Nasonex (I know the docs say that it doesn't cause side-effects b/c it's a nasal spray, but I don't buy that...it's a steroid, plain and simple) and more recently zyrtec was added on for his hives. Well, the zyrtec was the straw that broke the camel's back. I mean, he has been a real "handful" since the singulair, but after zyrtec was added 5 months ago - let's just say he was completely out of my control. His meltdowns were so bad that I couldn't go ANYWHERE with him. I either got a sitter or just didn't go anywhere. He became aggressive, defiant, emotional, unhappy. And to top it off he started to have serious "autistic-like" self-stimulatory behaviors (grinding teeth, squinting eyes shut, flapping his hands, punching himself...). At this point my life had become a complete nightmare, and my poor 10 month old son was getting NO attention b/c my 4 year old was so out of control and aggressive. I was afraid for the baby's safety...oh, I could go on all night. This medication has impacted my marriage, my finances, my sanity. Shortly after he started Singulair I had to go on an antidepressant b/c it too so much out of me just to be his mommy. Anyway, a week ago I had him scheduled for a psych evaluation (thought for sure we were going to walk away with either autism or bipolar diagnosis), but two days before I decided to look up the meds he is on and BINGO! All of these posts sound like what we have been going through. I stopped all of his meds that night, cold-turkey, and he has been the most pleasant little boy I have ever met!! My husband and I have fallen in love with him over the past week - we had no idea he was such a sweet child.

Now, while I'm ecstatic that we have found the answer to our nightmare, I also feel SO STINKIN' ANGRY! We lost out on 2 years with our sweet boy, there were times when we raised our voices at him when he just couldn't help himself - he was suffering inside!! When I went to talk to the allergist about my findings this past week, he said, "well, maybe he just had a good day. I'd like to see what happens if he goes off all his meds for a week". Well, there you have it, he has been off for one week and he's an absolute angel. He has an amazing heart and is so caring!!!

Singulair is awful (and so is zyrtec). Please don't give this drug to your children. Research other alternatives (I am giving my son Nordic Naturals Fish Oil, Culturelle probiotics, vitamin c, and am changing his diet - increased magnesium and decreased dairy. I came up with this after hours of research...).

There is a woman on this site whose daughter committed suicide after 3 years on Singulair. This is no joke and the FDA needs to get with it.

BTW, I used to date a Singulair rep (I knew there was something I didn't like about that guy:)

My son is 6 years old, and I started crying when I read the above stories. My son, too, was a completely different person when he took Singulair. Prior to taking it, we had a wonderful, close relationship and he was a well behaved child that excelled in school and got along well with friends. His behavior changed for the worse, but until now, I didn't connect it to the use of Singulair-I thought maybe he had childhood depression but didn't know why, as his life is stable and happy, and no major life changes had happened to cause the mood swings.
He would say his life was bad and he wanted to die for the slightest thing, he would say he hated us and punch us for just simple time outs that he usually complied to and he never ever hit us before. I have had him off of Singulair the past month, and give him Zyrtec occasionally when he really needs it, and he has not had one major moody episode, and he is back to his happy self again. I am joining the class action lawsuit above.

My daughter began taking Singulair in 2003 for asthma and allergies. I slowly watched her deteriorate from a lively, intelligent, and outgoing young woman to a depressed, withdrawn and self-mutilating person who said that she hated herself and everybody else in the world. She was an athlete, a straight A student who had received an academic scholarship to college, she was fluent in German and had been teaching herself Japanese, and she was a staunch supporter for equal rights for children with disabilities and gay and Lesbian teens. On February 3rd, 2007 my daughter hung herself after working at the local community center. I no longer recognized who she had become. I have a degree in psychology, my father is a retired police officer, and my mother is a retired R.N. We were all trained to recognize the symptoms of depression and suicidal thinking, but we were never able to connect it to the medication that she was taking.We must all ban together to prevent other people from suffering the way that our loved ones have! Educate everyone that you know about what Singulair can do to you. They are still prescribing this drug to people without any notification of what the side effects are.

Unfortunately my lawyer told me that they do not want to take our case because of the lack of evidence that Singulair has caused our daughters problems. :(

Does anyone out there have a pending class action lawsuit that We may be able to get in on? I have tons of proof that Singulair has caused our daughters problems and loss of almost 5 years of her elementary school career!

My phone number is *** and my email is ****** if You email me please put "Singulair" in Your subject line so I know it pertains to this posting.

Thank You in advance,
Chuck & Brenda
Jamestown New York

Hi guys,
I came to this forum after a client at our firm told me to check out whats happening with singular. I am not a lawyer, but I am a secretary for a med mal firm and I can tell you that we have already started taking these cases. I saw a few questions posted about whether you had to wait 9 months for the investigation to finish, but that doesn't stop you from filing suit. If it were my baby boy, I would switch meds, but if you can't--make sure you journal EVERYTHING. Take videos of outbursts, etc. We have one client who's son is self mutilating after using singular. If thats happening to you, try to document the episodes. Like I said, im not a lawyer, but I work for some so I can answer a lot of questions and I would be more than willing to help. I am so disgusted by what I have read. Please email me if you have any legal questions, etc. If i can't answer them, my boss will and if its a medical question, we have a staff nurse so I will give her a call. Again, I am so sorry for what everyone is going through. I pray to god I can help in some way.

Our allergist was very understanding about taking my son off TG!! either way I didnt care if they would of been understanding or not there's no way in Hell He will ever go back on that med. ever again!!

I handed her a note explaining what side effects he has had this last year & she did say they are getting a few complaints & that they are telling ppl to take them off it ASAP if u see any mood/behavior probs, So Hopefully they report my son's symptoms to the FDA I did write in that letter that I already reported it to them

I'm also wondering about this class action lawsuit?? & what that is all about?? this drug has ruined our lives :(

If anyone else is preparing for a class action suit please contact me so our attourneys can share information. The more of us that stick together the better chances we have of making the Merck company pay for thier lies about the so called "Mild Side Effects of Singulair!

Everytime I read these side effects, I am still amazed about how the stories are so similar. My youngest son and I went to the doctor today. I think my son's doctor does a very good job. However, he is still suggesting the Singulair. He checked for updates on Singulair. Since the "FDA" has not sent any information with some of these serious side effects, it is still the green light. That is fine. But, I will not be administering this medication to him or my other child. These stories and my sons' side effects are substantiated enough for me. I think it is a matter of time, and we will all blessed after its findings. I am reading all these side effects again because my youngest son is again sick with diarrhea and puking. This has been happening a lot this year, and he is suppose to be taking the MAP testing. This stresses me since he has missed so much school. Last year, for quite some time he suffered with separation anxiety, and it took my husband and I forever to get him to school. Sometimes when we got him to school, he would not get out of the car. Sometimes we had to go inside with him and negotiate to get him inside the classroom and try to tell him we would be fine. One morning it was two hours, and another morning I finally left the school with him and took him to his father. I was exhausted!!!!!!! The school counselor would try to help too. I just do not think this is my child's disposition......................

If anyone lives in the western New York Area and want to get in on a class action lawsuit along with My family contact me ASAP!

I have already consulted with my lawyers office and they are going to consult with another firm from Buffalo.

Get all of Your child/childrens medical records together!

Email me at behindthesecret AT gmail .com with Singulair lawsuit as Your subject.

Click on my name and read my other posts! I am wondering after reading soooo many posts, how many of you felt like you couldn't "shut your brain off" when you were trying to sleep? (OR how many of your children described their bed time this way?) The big link seems to be that people (especially kids and teens) are having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, and that the lack of deep sleep is resulting in most of these mood swings, depression, outbursts, etc... and Singulair is causing this sleeplessness! Sleep deprivation is a form of torture. Singulair causes sleep deprivation; therefore, Singulair =torture! (sorry, merck, but you are reaping profits off our children's suffering!)
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please visit my free my space page for support! we need to join together to make a difference!
******--you may have to cut and paste this into a new tab or window. setting up a ****** page is free, and you can add my site to your friends list ! keep in touch long after the media hype quiets down.
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lets file a class action lawsuit. My attorney WALTER *** and his law firm in Beaumont Texas are the best at class action law suits. Google. it! I put a link to their website on my ****** page.
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My daughter did not just suffer sleeplessness. She was found in her dorm hallway in a zombie like state, not responding to questioning and hauled to a hospital in an ambulance. They initially thought she had overdosed on drugs!!!! (she tested negative for drugs, by the way) The next two weeks were living hell for my daughter and our family, but once she was out of the hospital and not taking any Singulair, life returned to normal. Not just normal, exceedingly spectacular!

I have been on here for 6 months now. Please read the rest of my postings. My son is now 5 and doing great! I have my child back. He has been off Singulair since October 07. It took a few days to see little improvement. It took a month to make strides. And now we are almost home. Thank God. I too until I found this website was so distraught. My son had every test in world, comes from about as stable as you can get happy loving catholic home. We eat healthy organic foods and I am a medical professional to top it off. So for anyone to get on here and questions a parents "parenting" or to call them ignorant for not stating their complaints until now is simply a moron! I see the side effects first hand this has had on children. I too was unaware of the problem myself until my son became the victim at only the innocent age of 4. Merck knows what is going on. There needs to be a class action lawsuit. I am so proud of Kate whose son became the victim of Merck who took his innocent life. She went beyond blogging and took it to media. Imagine if all of us became motivated enough to realize the drug company used and abused our children or selves. Write oprah, bill o riley, merck the fda, everyone. Everyone I come in contact with I warn them. I email everyone I know and urge them to forward it and so on. The one god given duty that we were given was to protect our children. WE NEED TO DO THAT!! I am so proud of the parents who are speaking out and realizing their kid is not a pyscho. Kudos to you!! I am holding Merck responsible for this traumatic event it caused my entire family let alone my four year old son. They owe us big time, not just for the medical bills that endowed for all the tests, doctor visit, and psychiatric visits. But also for our mental anguish!! Be active and we will make progress!!!

READ THIS:
I'm posting this again for the sanity of the concerned parents on this board to let you know you're not alone:

My 5 year old son was diagnosed with mild asthma and put on Singulair. Within a few months he began having uncontrollable fits of rage, displayed self-loathing behavior, had night terrors, and was inconsolable during these episodes. He became very destructive and was a danger to himself and our family. He even talked about killing himself and would say things like "I don''t want to be in this life anymore" and "I want to kill myself". He would threaten my wife and his siblings and told them he wanted to kill them. It was a truly terrifying experience. Our pediatrician was clueless to these side affects and recommended we have our child go through a psychological evaluation. I knew this was not my child''s normal behavior so I searched the internet for Singulair side affects and found some message boards where parents just like myself were telling their stories of their children''s aggressive behavior. I immediately took my son off the drug and within a couple days he was back to his normal self. He told us that he no longer has "that feeling inside of him". Five year old children don''t even know what suicide is and to see my son talk like this was extremely frightening. He is a sweet, intelligent, loving boy who had never exhibited behavior like this until he went on Singulair. We have not seen this behavior after taking him off the drug.

Our son started taking Singulair three years ago at age 4. Last year he started having really bad headaches and stomach aches. After taking him to the doctor, we thought he was having migraines and was lactose intolerant. He's always been a kind, gentle, well mannered child until this school year. He's in the first grade and has been starting fights, saying mean things to his classmates and hitting other children for no reason. He also has terrible nightmares that are very gruesome for a 7 year old. I've been wondering how in the world his little mind could come up with some of the horrible stuff he tells me he dreams. It scares him enough for him to come into our room and sleep with us. I'm so angry that we were never told of the serious side effects this medicine can cause. We're taking our baby off of this medicine immediately. I agree, we should all file a class action lawsuit - and I have the disciplinary reports from my sons school to prove how his behavior has changed. We're praying for all the children and families that have been victims of the greed of the drug companies once again. This is a shame.