Singulair and extreme anxiety

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 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.

Behavioral changes started when my son was 3 years old and on Singulair, 4mg chewables. He became more angry, irritable, and even stated a few times that he wished he were dead. He has had trouble concentrating and has frequent nightmares.

i posted in august but am reposting with more information on how to report your side effects to the FDA .It is a site called Medwatch.com and they want to know these adverse reaactions.We are the people that lost our son to a suicide after he was given this drug for 17 days.Our son was a lovable well adjusted soon to be 16 year old .He had a terrible advers reaction to this drug having extreme anxiety, moodiness,agitation and depression.We did not of course have the proper knowledge about this drug to know that he was having an adverse event.We are working with our local senator and assemblywoman to contact a Dr Malson at the FDA he is the director of research and drug evaluation.The information pamplet from the pharmacy did not mention these side effects or we would have realized what was happening.We are trying to get a black box warning on the drug to let people especially parents of children know exactly what this drug is capable of.TAKE ACTION AND CONTACT THE FDA THIS IS HOW A DRUG GETS REEVALUATED!We wish we had found this site while our beautiful boy was still alive .Our child had a normal life and no emotional problems and after taking this poison he had a complete psychological breakdown,the address to writ aletter to tell your story is Steven K.Malson,MD,MPH Director Center For Drug Evaluation and Research Food and Drug Administration 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, Maryland 20857. PLEASE HELP THIS DRUG NEEDS SPECIAL LABELING

Oh my gosh. I am so glad I found this website. My four year old son has been on Singulair now for 2 months. By week two, he was having extreme anxiety that was not normal for him. His preschool teacher has been having such horrible behavioral problems for about a month and a half. She is beside herself because this is not like my little boy. He is angry, throws fits, hits, kicks, spits, defies all adult orders. I am ask him why he does it and he says he can't stop. My husband and I am dumbfounded. I will not be giving him the Singulair again and I plan to tell everybody I know about this. He told me day after day that his stomach hurt and he had a headache. I didn't believe him because I thought maybe he felt that way because he had to go to school and he just kept getting in trouble there. I am hoping and praying that he will come back to me soon, because I miss my angel. If other parents read this, please stop the Singulair.

Please, please! Pay attention to the warnings in these postings regarding the potentially serious side effects of Singulair! After a routine review of possible side effects (there was never a mention of possible anxiety inducement), on our doctor's advice, we started our 12 year old son on Singulair. After about 2 weeks on the medication, he experienced a total melt down. Severe anxiety set in, and he developed school phobia. A normally bright, inquisitive, fun loving child was suddenly experiencing extreme anxiety, and was not able to pass through the doors of his school. Now, one week after being taken off of the medication, he is slowly making strides toward normalcy. While asthma and allergy can be debilitating, Singulair can be deadly. Please be on the alert to potential side effects!