Singulair and hallucinations

Everybody here knows that I have been interested in trying to find out if Singulair (montelukast), which is a quinoline, ionizes and forms quinolinic acid under physiological conditions that lower blood pH. Some researchers have also mentioned that another montelukast metabolite that occurs is known to be a toxin. In other words, until someone can get blood tests that confirm what the toxic metabolic is, we are just guessing but I would bet that it is a good guess.

One of the strongest cases for that argument would be what happens to some people during sleep. There are some people whose CO2 levels rise. If the levels rise enough to cause change in pH to a more acid condition, then montelukast can possibly ionizes just enough to create minute amounts of neurotoxins that could cause bad dreams, hallucinations, sleep deprivation or a number of other neuro-psychiatric problems. Compound the effect of night after night of minute amounts of neurotoxins caused by CO2 and montelukast ionization then it would be easy to understand how depression and personality change results. There are other conditions that cause elevated CO2 levels and acidosis such as COPD.

If anyone has any data regarding their CO2 levels from sleep studies or other bloods tests, would you please send me a private message?

My daughter is 4 and has allergies. Last year she was briefly on Zyrtec and I immediately noticed that she became very aggressive. This year her doctor prescribed Singular. She has been on Singular for 8 days. Her appetite has dwindled. She has complained that her stomach hurt which I thought was due to not eating. Last night, she had nightmares - screaming out in a panic. This afternoon she couldn't sleep. This evening she fell asleep in my arms. Suddenly she sat up with glazed eyes wide open and began to relive when she fell and hurt her hand a few days earlier. I thought she was sleep talking with her eyes open. She was in a total panic but appeared to be sleeping. Yet, when her dad approached she held out her arms for him to pick her up. She eventually fell back asleep only to awaken two more times with similar sceneros played out. I could not get these scenes out of my mind. Given the previous experience with Zyrtec, I looked over the side effects of Singular and the word Hallucination jumped out at me. I spoke with a pharmacist who was not aware of anything I have since read on this site. I decided to Google Singular Side Effects and came upon this site. Tears well in my eyes after I read posting after posting. Thank you, thank you to all who have posted their experiences. You have saved my daughter and our family from a true nightmare. Bless you and your family.

I have been reading research reports that show that montelukast (Singulair) has a higher pKa than many of the other quinoline malaria drugs. That means that Singulair ionizes more easily than even drugs that are known to cause terrible dreams, hallucinations, depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. Many researchers believed that the problem with Vioxx was that it ionized under certain physiological conditions.

I will report again when I can confirm the numbers. I am not sure if it is confirmed that montelukast's pKa is around 5.8 and the malaria drugs is around 4.8. I need to do more work before I can point out that it is not impossible to theorize that montelukast ionizes like Vioxx.

HI,

As with many others I found singulair to be a miracle with asthma. No more rescue inhalers. I am not sure which of my current meds is causing the very vivid, often gruesome dreaming I have been having as THREE of them show this as a side effect. I am referring to Cymbalta, Xanax and Singulair. It may be that the combination of the three is just too much and is causing brain toxicity of some sort. I started cutting down the cymbalta, and also the Xanax days ago. I found myself still waking up remembering vivid dreams that I would rather forget. I remember them all like they just happened in living color and detail, days and weeks later. At first I thought it was interesting, but now I just want to FORGET THEM, anyone have ideas???? Help!!! ( I also developed depression and anxiety after being on singulair for several years which is how I ended up with the two additional meds.

Unusual weakness, stomach upset, diarrhea, dizziness, cough, headache, nausea, vomiting, trouble sleeping, or mouth pain may occur. If any of these effects persist or worsen, notify your doctor or pharmacist promptly.

Remember that your doctor has prescribed this medication because he or she has judged that the benefit to you is greater than the risk of side effects. Many people using this medication do not have serious side effects.

Tell your doctor immediately if any of these unlikely but serious side effects occur: fever, persistent sore throat/earache, flu symptoms.

Tell your doctor immediately if any of these highly unlikely but very serious side effects occur: mental/mood changes (e.g., agitation, depression, hallucinations, suicidal thoughts), stomach pain, muscle aches/cramps, irregular heartbeat, dark urine, yellowing eyes and skin, numbness or tingling of the hands or feet, dull sense of touch, easy bruising or bleeding, swelling, seizures.

A serious allergic reaction to this drug is unlikely, but seek immediate medical attention if it occurs. Symptoms of a serious allergic reaction include: rash, itching, severe swelling, severe dizziness, trouble breathing.

This is not a complete list of possible side effects. If you notice other effects not listed above, contact your doctor or pharmacist
...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................just pulled this off web md,all the side effects are kids had were highly unlikely........yes right more BS

Quinolinic acid and neurotoxicity:

Montelukast contains a quinoline radical. Quinolinic acid, a well known damaging neurotoxin that kills neurons, can be produced from a quinoline and hydrogen peroxide. The body produces hydrogen peroxide for a numbers of reasons. White blood cells produce hydrogen peroxide when activated by antigens such as bacteria, virus, fungus etc. It is also produced under conditions when the body is stressed. It is also produced in the gastrointestinal track.

If we knew how montelukast could break up to free the quinoline radical, then we might be able to define a number of different scenarios under which hydrogen peroxide could cause montelukast to generate the neurotoxin quinolinic acid.

If we could prove that montelukast is capable of produce quinolinic acid under unusual circumstances (doesn't happen to everybody), then we would have a very good explanation for all of the psychiatric adverse drug reactions that are mentioned here which include hallucinations, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideations, night mares, etc. etc.

Anyone looking for answers should try to pursue the possibility that quinolinic acid is causing bad side effects. I wish that I was much better at chemistry. I am stuck here at the moment. I keep hoping that somebody else with more expertise will come here to tell us how it happens.

I'm an 18 year old male and I've been taking Singulair for years; I don't even remember when I started taking it. I've had chronic sinusitis my whole life, and use a Singulair 10mg/ Allegra 180mg combo to control it. I never gave it a second thought. From my adolescent years on, I've been able to sleep (if undisturbed) for 15, 16+ hours a night, and have always felt like I was in a fog during everyday life. Getting out of bed has always been a terrible problem for me.

Throughout high school, I became progressively more depressed and apathetic toward school work, to the point where I dropped a number of classes my junior year. Got put on Prozac for a while, it helped a great deal with the depression, and seemed to give me enough energy to get through the week. I discontinued it after a year or so, everything was going okay (aside from mood swings and tiredness- explained away as symptoms of my age/hormones/going to bed too late), and then I went to college.

I had a mild depression that I think most people get upon leaving home for the first time, but the real problem was anxiety; I had a number of anxiety attacks, and decided to transfer to a school closer to home. I started Celexa and therapy- the celexa seems to take the edge off, but I fear its making me even more tired than before.

I've just heard about the whole Singulair controversy, and I am not taking it from here on out. I really hope that this whole ordeal was brought on primarily by the Singulair. After a month or two, I'll repost to report whether the symptoms went away.

Some common sense observations about Singulair side effects. (As everything on the internet, this is only my opinion.)

Conclusion up front: Ethics in science SUCKS these day. Put enough money on the table and what happens? I don’t mean all scientists, just the few. But, the Merck ghost writers are the tip of the iceberg for those in the schm#ck category. Maybe, if we reveal the extremes of abuse of laboratory animals, the ASPCA will organize and save us all. How about if they find out about the pharma labs that just beat the cr@p out of the lab animals to produce a stress response to find out what chemicals are produced? What was that all about?? Probably military—send our soldiers out to war over politics/oil, then we will have a pill to give them every night to put them back together again for the next day??

1.The cysLT1 receptor, which Singulair blocks, is a gene, found on the x chromosome (?), part of our inherited innate immune system. It is evolution. The hypersensitive individual overreacts to environmental stimuli causing unpleasant or dangerous symptoms. It is advantageous to intervene to prevent that. Merck’s idea was to block cysLT1 so that the chemicals secreted by the mast cell cannot reach the tissues in the lungs and nasal passages to cause the inflammatory responses-asthma being the more severe.

2.How did Merck develop such a drug? The cysLT1 receptor , a gene, has a profile, a chemical map of the components. Montelukast, was modeled to chemically bond with the receptor so that it does not function. That bond will endure until the liver enzymes break it down. Montelukast blocks the leukotriene response until it is time to take another pill. All that sounds good so far.

3.Now comes the first of the too good to be trues. Montelukast was formulated for a specific gene profile. However, cysLT1 has variations, numbers unknown, but more than several. Even Merck recognizes that it is not effective for everyone because the clinical data shows that. Mis-matches with the gene profile can cause montelukast to be recognized as an allergen. Then, the body mounts an immune response against montelukast.

4.Many of the symptoms that we see here are allergic reactions to montelukast, headache (18%), types of neuro-muscular (10%), hives, nausea, vomiting, leg pain, stomach cramps, and more. Some people will recognize montelukast instantly as an allergen. If the mis-match is slight, the allergic reaction could be acquired or build over time. Montelukast will ALWAYS be an allergen to those people. Doctors will do great harm if they treat allergic reaction to montelukast with other drugs. Those people must STOP taking montelukast.

5.The second too good to be true, is that cystLT1 receptor, involved in the leukotriene response, is only a very tiny part of the immune system, genetically programmed to function as a WHOLE. Now what? It is highly unlikely that montelukast can block the leukotriene receptor - cysLT1 in the brain, lungs, spleen, intestinal mucosa, etc. and not cause some kind of re-structuring of the immune system to compensate for that. Those who take Singulair can expect that they are a new adaptation of human being who can operate without the cysLT1 receptor. Or, they can expect long term damage. How scary is that?

6.What would happen if Merck revealed that montelukast, by definition , cannot work for everybody because it is based on a gene profile with variations? What would happen if patients and doctors started to think about the immune system as a whole? Then Singulair – which means “single thing you need for air – breathe” the logo is even Singul-AIR, would not be the huge money maker that it is. Doctors would find a way to use it, for whom it is effective, in an appropriate way to consider the long term effects. For some people, this drug could have a place. But this drug does not deserve to be a CASH COW-money, money, money!

7.What in the heck is wrong with the FDA? Are they under a spell or hiding under a rock?

I believe that objective sources of information should be posted periodically so that they are not missed.

Adverse Reactions
(As reported in adults)
>10%: Central nervous system: Headache (18%)

1% to 10%:

Central nervous system: Dizziness (2%), fatigue (2%), fever (2%)

Dermatologic: Rash (2%)

Gastrointestinal: Dyspepsia (2%), dental pain (2%), gastroenteritis (2%), abdominal pain (3%)

Neuromuscular & skeletal: Weakness (2%)

Respiratory: Cough (3%), nasal congestion (2%), upper respiratory infection (2%)

Miscellaneous: Flu-like symptoms (4%), trauma (1%)

Postmarketing and/or case reports: Agitation, anaphylaxis, angioedema, arthralgia, bleeding tendency, bruising, cholestasis (rare), diarrhea, dream abnormalities, drowsiness, edema, eosinophilia, hallucinations, hepatic eosinophilic infiltration (rare), hepatitis, hypoesthesia, insomnia, irritability, muscle cramps, myalgia, nausea, palpitation, pancreatitis, paresthesia, pruritus, restlessness, seizure, urticaria, vasculitis, vomiting

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/drugs/montelukast-088375.htm

I don't work for another pharmaceutical company. I don't have any competing interests. People keep asking me that. Why? Is everything about competition and money? I am getting sick of being asked that.

Frankly, I don't see how anybody could go up against all of the high powered lawyers that Merck can hire. If anybody wanted to speak about how this could happen, Merck would have people going through their doctoral dissertations looking for plagerism. Plaintiffs would have Merck detectives outside their houses hiding in the bushes. Merck private detectives would interview their friends and teachers.

All I wanted to do was to show parents and patients that they are not the only complaints. These complaints have been reported before. Whether they resulted in any serious warnings to Merck doesn't really make a difference because people know how they feel or how their child feels on Singulair.

There is nothing that we can do, in my opinion, but to believe in ourselves. We might trying writing to Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands that the American sufferers must have Dutch brains--which allow montelukast to penetrate the blood brain barrier and can she do anything for us? This is ridiculous that we should be getting these responses from doctors.

From the Netherlands 2006.
In three of the cases a positive dechallenge was seen.The fact that the patients (except for one) did not suffer from depressive symptoms before they started montelukast, the short latency, and recovery after withdrawal of the drug all strengthen our hypothesis that depressive symptoms are an ADR related to the use of montelukast. According to the Marketing Authorisation Holder of montelukast, depression will be added to the product information.

Mechanism: The mechanism of montelukast-induced depressive symptoms is unknown. However, montelukast has earlier been associated with adverse drug reactions such as abnormal dreaming, nightmares, hallucinations, agitation with aggressive behavior, irritability and restlessness, which suggests that montelukast can penetrate the blood brain barrier and exert an effect in the brain .

http://www.lareb.nl/documents/kwb_2006_4_montel.pdf.

I was just asked by Dr. ???, if these European reports lead to change in product information in these countries. I did post that I thought that we should try to find that out. I don't have access to that information. But I do see that the Netherlands did require that depression be added to the product information. It doesn't say the date but Merck agreed.

Artie wanted to tell us about the blood brain barrier. Where are you Artie?

The report says:

In three of the cases a positive dechallenge was seen.The fact that the patients (except for one) did not suffer from depressive symptoms before they started montelukast, the short latency, and recovery after withdrawal of the drug all strengthen our hypothesis that depressive symptoms are an ADR related to the use of montelukast. According to the Marketing Authorisation Holder of montelukast, depression will be added to the product information.

Mechanism: The mechanism of montelukast-induced depressive symptoms is unknown. However, montelukast has earlier been associated with adverse drug reactions such as abnormal dreaming, nightmares, hallucinations, agitation with aggressive behavior, irritability and restlessness, which suggests that montelukast can penetrate the blood brain barrier and exert an effect in the brain .

From the Netherlands 2006.

This is the html version of the file http://www.lareb.nl/documents/kwb_2006_4_montel.pdf.

Page 1
Nederlands Bijwerkingen Centrum LarebMei 2007Montelukast and depressive symptomsIntroductionMontelukast (Singulair®)is a leukotriene receptor antagonist available on the Dutchmarket since 1998. It is indicated for the treatment ofasthma as combination therapy forpatients with light to moderate forms of chronic asthma which cannot be adequately controlledby inhalation corticosteroids and short-acting ß-agonists. For asthma patients for whommontelukast is indicated as asthma treatment it can also relieve symptoms of seasonal allergicrhinitis. Montelukast is also indicated in asthma prevention, if exercise-inducedbronchoconstriction is the main factor

Reports On September 20, 2006 the database of the Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Centre Lareb contained four reports of depressive reactions associated with theuse of montelukast.Patient A is a female aged 55 who used montelukast 10 mg once daily for asthma associated with COPD. Concomitant medication included ipratropiumbromideinhalation, salmeterol inhalation, fluticasone inhalation, acetylcysteine, budesonide nose spray and desloratadine. Two weeks after montelukast therapy was initiated the patient experienced nightmares, a depressive symptoms, fatigue and increased dyspnoea. When montelukast was withdrawn, the first three symptoms resolved. It is not known if the dyspnoea resolved. The reporting pneumonologist stated that the increased dyspnoea also could be a sign of progressing COPD. Patient B, reported by a pneumonologist, is a female aged 39 who used montelukast 10 mg once daily for asthma. Concomitant medication included salmeterol/fluticasone inhalation, mebeverine and psyllium seed. One week afterstarting montelukast treatment the patient experienced chest discomfort, malaise,depressive symptoms and dizziness. Montelukast was withdrawn, patient outcomeis unknown. Patient C, reported by a pharmacist, is a male aged 46 who used montelukast 10mg once daily for asthma. Concomitant medication included omeprazole,salbutamol inhalation and budesonide/formoterol inhalation. Six days after starting montelukast treatment the patient got in a depressed state. The patient continued to use montelukast for four weeks but the depression did not resolve. When montelukast was withdrawn, the patient recovered. Patient D, reported by a pharmacist, is a female aged 59 who used montelukast 10mg once daily for mild to moderate asthma. Concomitant medication included mometasone nose spray, salmeterol/fluticason inhalation, oxazepam and paroxetine. Three days after starting treatment with montelukast the patient experienced insomnia and aggravation of her depression. When montelukast was withdrawn the symptoms resolved.

Page 2
Nederlands Bijwerkingen Centrum LarebMei 2007 Other sources of information drugs are known to cause depressive symptoms. However montelukasthas not been associated with depressive symptoms earlier . A Medline searchbased on the MeSH terms montelukast, leukotriens, depressive disorder and mood disorders did not yield any relevant publication. DatabasesOn September 20, 2006 the database of the Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Centre Lareb contained four reports of depression associated with the use ofmontelukast (ROR 2.1 95% CI 0.8 - 5.7). The same day the database of the WHO contained 3466 reports on montelukast, 43 of these concerned depression (ROR1.2 95% CI 0.9 – 1.6)MechanismThe mechanism of montelukast-induced depressive symptoms is unknown.However montelukast has earlier been associated with adverse drug reactions such as abnormal dreaming, nightmares, hallucinations, agitation with aggressive behavior, irritability and restlessness, which suggests that montelukast can penetrate the blood brain barrier and exert an effect in the brain .Discussion and conclusionLareb received four reports of depressive symptoms in patients using montelukast.Possible confounding includes that asthma itself has been associated with the development of depression . Inhalated corticosteroids can also exert effects onthe central nervous system. Fluticason in combination with salmeterol which isused by patients A, B and D, is associated with hyperactivity and irritability where as budesonide, which is used by patient C also has been associated with depression . The latency of montelukast-induced depressive symptoms variesfrom 3-14 days. In three of the cases a positive dechallenge was seen.The fact that the patients (except for one) did not suffer from depressive symptomsbefore they started montelukast, the short latency, and recovery after withdrawal ofthe drug all strengthen our hypothesis that depressive symptoms are an ADRrelated to the use of montelukast. According to the Marketing Authorisation Holderof montelukast, depression will be added to the product information.

Oh my gosh, I am just shocked after reading these posts. I am taking my son off of Singulair immediatedly!!!! I knew I wasn't crazy!! My son was on Singulair for over 2 years and it was awful. He was so hyper and uncontrollable. He couldn't control his temper. He had headaches everyday. He was put on it due to severe allergies and asthma. He is on other medications as well as allergy shots. I kept telling the doctor that I think the singulair was causing his bad behavior problems. He was just so hard to handle. He couldn't sit still for anything. The teacher couldn't get him to sit still in his chair. It just wasn't normal behavior for him. The teacher even thought he had ADD!! I didn't accept that however. The doctor just thought I was crazy and told me that Singulair wouldn't cause those symptoms. She said it actually would work opposit that and cause him to be sleepy. Well I took him off of it anyways and he did get pretty sick. His asthma acted up ect. But he eventually felt better and his behavior improved drastically. He wasn't so hyper and he could actually sleep at night and wasn't so scared at night. Just within the last week he has been pretty sick due to allergy season, his asthma has been bad and the doctor told me to put him back on the Singulair. So I did he has been on it for four days now and he is HORRIBLE.. It was an instant change. My husband and I can't control him and he can't sleep at night and has headaches every day. I am so glad I found this sight. I am taking him off immediately.
Thank you all so much for your comments. This medicine should be outlawed. I don't care what the doctors say. By the way my son is 9 years old. I certainly had no idea that it has caused suicide. I am so sorry to you all that have experienced such horrible things. Come to think of it my son used to say he hated himself all of the time when he was on this medicine.
God Bless You All

My 13 year old son has been on Singulair for about 4 years. I considered it a wonder drug because he would always get sick from his asthma. For the past couple of years my son has been very inattentive. I blew it off as the preteen hormones. It wasn't until recently his dad made a comment about him never smiling or enjoying things they use to do together. If you saw any of his recent photos compared to his past pics, he appear dazed and depressed. I would always ask he's okay, any new changes in school. OMG! I can't believe they are marketing this medicine to our children.

He always complained of stomach upsets, really bad headaches every week, pain in his legs and hallucinations. I know this sounds crazy, but I would have never considered it may be the medicine, but after reading the blogs, I'm starting to realize it could be contributed to Singulair. It's been two days since I've taken him off Singulair and I can only hope and pray his asthma does not flair up like it has in the past. I also pray that Merck is reading these blogs and will take Singulair off the market until a more detailed research is conducted. I at one time looked at Singulair as being the greater good for my son's asthma, but it's not worth risking my son's mental health. I wonder if Merck would give this medicine to there children?

i am so happy to hear all of these stories of recovery. i discovered my son's singulair side effects in march 2007, after 3 years of use. i can tell you from our experience that the most significant recovery comes within 3 weeks. after the 3 weeks, the more subtle improvements continued to occur for months and months after. without the effects of singulair, they experience life in a whole new way. my son's experiened 3 years of undetected side effects which included: irritability, FEAR, stomach / leg pains, poor appetite, difficulty with focusing / comprehension, restlessness and nightmares. the last 2 months on the 5mg dosage, he also experienced a facial tic, dilated pupils and hallucinations along with an increased in intensity of all the above. i thank god everyday for finding this website and removing my child from singulair.

My daughter will be 7 this month. She has taken Singulair 5 mg. chewables for a few months. A couple of hours after she goes to sleep at night she wakes up screaming and crying, she calls "mommy, mommy" over and over and I tell her I am right beside her, but she seems to still be asleep. She will look into another room and point and say something I can't understand. Her breathing is fast, as is her heart rate. She is sweating. She won't stop crying. It takes about 30 minutes to get her calmed down, (it pretty much has to just run it's course) then she will go back to sleep. Sometimes she is fine and sleeps through the rest of the night, other times she will do this again during the night. It is very hard on the family. We feel helpless when she does this. She doesn't do it every night, but it happens at least once a week sometimes more. I done some recearch online and found something called "Night Terrors" the symptoms are the same as what my daughter has. It is identical. I don't know if the Singulair is causing these episodes but I have quit giving it to her and she hasn't had them in awhile. I have a friend who was taking Singular and he was having visions or hallucinations of peoples heads bursting open. He quit taking Singulair and hasn't had them anymore. Use your own judgement, but if my daughter continues to sleep well, she will never take Singulair again. The side effects far out way the goods in my case.

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

UPDATE:It is now a week since my 6 yr old son stopped taking singulair. My happy boy is back! He has now had a second day in a row with positive reports from school. These are the first 2 positive days of the entire school year!!! Its no mystery anymore! I am 100% positive it was the Singulair he was on. It may work for some people with no side effects and thats great for them. But for those parents out there that had the slightest doubt I am telling you from experience to go with your gut! Speak to your Dr for alternatives and get back your happy children!

I just contacted CNN to give them a tip/heads up to our message board so that they can consider doing a news story about this situation to raise awareness. Please send them your concerns and personal story to:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form11b.html?2
If enough of us email them, they will start to listen.

Lourdes
Mother of Julian
(severely affected by Singulair use)
Suffered severe head drops seizures, obsessive compulsive and agressive behavior and night terror and hallucinations.

Repeating Our Story:

Repeating my post from way down below - IN CASE someone's child with these head drops is looking for someone with similar symptoms. WELL - Thank God! It is so about time! My son, age 6 now was given a very grim outcome/future by two top pediatric neurologists 2 years ago when he started having not the typical seizures we associate with epilepsy (no epilepsy in our family) - his head would drop forward - like his muscle tone in his neck would collapse for a few seconds and he would literally bang his head on tables (this was when he was 3.5 yrs old) - my husband and I always knew in our heart of hearts it WAS THE SINGULAIR he had been taking for 1 year after he had a bad coughing spell the year before - not formally diagnosed with asthma - but the pediatricians insisted it would only benefit him to continue to take it. When we noticed these head drops and his eyes would at times roll back in a matter of just a second or two and he was the most loving, caring and affectionate child and turned into an aggressive and obsessive compulsive child, who also began to have HALLUCINATIONS at night - he would sit up in bed and be seeing things and scream and cry, WE JUST KNEW IT WAS THE SINGULAIR and we stopped it COLD TURKEY on Oct. 31st 2005 - against the advice of the pediatrician. We took him to a neurologist and we told him about our suspicions about the Singulair he, just like the pediatrician brushed it off, but he had an MRI and an EEG - the MRI came back normal, but the EEG was devastating!!! We were told to get ready and pray alot - that our little boy would become a vegetable and would require assisted living for the rest of his life. That he had a rare form of seizure disorder for which there was no cure. We took him then to Duke University Hospital and had him checked by the top pediatric neurologist for a second opinion - he gave him another EEG and the diagnosis from this dr. was even worst - he would probably die an early age due to the severity of his condition and that he would lose all his motor skills and regress to a vegetable. Those were the worst days of our lives. We went back home and put him on anti-seizure medication and prayed ALOT - even strangers added him to their prayer list. Well, the seizures stopped in late January 2006 and just last March of 2007 he had another EEG and it was NORMAL - he was weaned off the anti-seizure medication and is thriving and his a great kindergarten student. Doctors cannot explain how he was cured - there is just no explanation. Aside from the faith we have in God's hand in this cure, we just KNOW THAT STOPPING THE SINGULAIR saved him from further damage and probably loss of life. He is the most affectionate and caring little boy you can imagine and I do want to point out that his speech was affected in our hearts, we know it was the Singulair but in the last year his speech has improved dramatically and he is doing just fine. My husband and I have been struggling to get awareness about the dangers of Singulair and children but the doctors do not believe us. At our last appointment with the pediatric neurologist, I told him, "one day, you will see that we were right about our suspicion regarding Singulair". I do want to add that it was just too much coincidence that when he went for his first EEG in Dec. of 2005, there was another little boy in the room next door that his parents suspected Singulair as the culprit too. If anyone wants to email me and if there is anything I can do to help with my own personal testimony - please email me starwedd2@aol.com - I will be glad to share any other information. LET'S RAISE AWARENESS TOGETHER and stop more damage from occuring. Remember, my son (post is far down) almost became a vegetable and was given a grim prognosis by 2 pediatric neurologists including the top one at Duke. No cure we were told. But we always knew it was Singulair. He was cured and there is no medical explanation. Had he continued to take it he would be the vegetable they had predicted he'd become. Okay, I just emailed DATELINE NBC - please be sure to submit your children's adverse reactions story to them - here is the email address: Dateline@NBCUNI.com I also tried emailing ABC for PrimeTime and 20/20 but they use regular snail mail for story suggestions - please do your part and mail out your story to them at: To submit a story idea to one of the ABC News shows listed below, write a single page letter including your name, phone number, and address. Include photocopies of backup information. On the outside of the envelope, write "Story Idea." If a producer is interested in your story, he/she will contact you. Here are the show addresses: 20/20 147 Columbus Avenue New York, NY 10023 Primetime 147 Columbus Avenue New York, NY 10023 Together we will do something to help avoid more tragedies I went ahead and reported our experience online to the FDA: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/medwatch_online.cfm

my son is 9 and has been on SINGULAIR since he was about 5 for bad asthma and allergies. he has had trouble in school since he started, we thought it was ADD. he started having constant stomach aches and headaches. we started seeing a counselor because he would say things like "I hate my life" and "I don't want to live anymore" thats when he was 6. he had many other issues like hallucinations, night terrors, bed wetting, anger problems, depression, trouble focusing at school, mood swings, emotional ups and downs, just to name a few. we have been to pediatricians and psychiatrists and no one mentioned ever that it could possibly be the singular. we have added other medications like most parents, for ADD which made him worse. about 1 year ago he was diagnosed with bi-polar and was prescribed Abilify, an anti-psychotic. he has since gotten somewhat better but I never connected the Singulair side effects to his symptoms. (note: bi-polar symptoms in children are strikingly similar to bad side effects of Singulair) maybe he doesn't even have bi-polar! maybe he was more subject to having these side effects because of underlying problems. I have stopped giving him the the Singulair a few days ago but i don't see a significant change, yet. Its a very sad thing that parents like myself have so much trust in our doctors that we give our children these medications before we know anything about them. I myself will never make that mistake again and my prayers go out to all those who have made the same mistakes.

Repeating my post from way down below - IN CASE someone's child with these head drops is looking for someone with similar symptoms.

WELL - Thank God! It is so about time! My son, age 6 now was given a very grim outcome/future by two top pediatric neurologists 2 years ago when he started having not the typical seizures we associate with epilepsy (no epilepsy in our family) - his head would drop forward - like his muscle tone in his neck would collapse for a few seconds and he would literally bang his head on tables (this was when he was 3.5 yrs old) - my husband and I always knew in our heart of hearts it WAS THE SINGULAIR he had been taking for 1 year after he had a bad coughing spell the year before - not formally diagnosed with asthma - but the pediatricians insisted it would only benefit him to continue to take it. When we noticed these head drops and his eyes would at times roll back in a matter of just a second or two and he was the most loving, caring and affectionate child and turned into an aggressive and obsessive compulsive child, who also began to have HALLUCINATIONS at night - he would sit up in bed and be seeing things and scream and cry, WE JUST KNEW IT WAS THE SINGULAIR and we stopped it COLD TURKEY on Oct. 31st 2005 - against the advice of the pediatrician. We took him to a neurologist and we told him about our suspicions about the Singulair he, just like the pediatrician brushed it off, but he had an MRI and an EEG - the MRI came back normal, but the EEG was devastating!!! We were told to get ready and pray a lot - that our little boy would become a vegetable and would require assisted living for the rest of his life. That he had a rare form of seizure disorder for which there was no cure.
We took him then to Duke University Hospital and had him checked by the top pediatric neurologist for a second opinion - he gave him another EEG and the diagnosis from this dr. was even worst - he would probably die an early age due to the severity of his condition and that he would lose all his motor skills and regress to a vegetable. Those were the worst days of our lives. We went back home and put him on anti-seizure medication and prayed A LOT - even strangers added him to their prayer list. Well, the seizures stopped in late January 2006 and just last March of 2007 he had another EEG and it was NORMAL - he was weaned off the anti-seizure medication and is thriving and his a great kindergarten student.
Doctors cannot explain how he was cured - there is just no explanation.
Aside from the faith we have in God's hand in this cure, we just KNOW THAT STOPPING THE SINGULAIR saved him from further damage and probably loss of life.

He is the most affectionate and caring little boy you can imagine and I do want to point out that his speech was affected in our hearts, we know it was the Singulair but in the last year his speech has improved dramatically and he is doing just fine.

My husband and I have been struggling to get awareness about the dangers of Singulair and children but the doctors do not believe us. At our last appointment with the pediatric neurologist, I told him, "one day, you will see that we were right about our suspicion regarding Singulair".

I do want to add that it was just too much coincidence that when he went for his first EEG in Dec. of 2005, there was another little boy in the room next door that his parents suspected Singulair as the culprit too.

If anyone wants to email me and if there is anything I can do to help with my own personal testimony - please email me ****** - I will be glad to share any other information.

LET'S RAISE AWARENESS TOGETHER and stop more damage from occurring. Remember, my son (post is far down) almost became a vegetable and was given a grim prognosis by 2 pediatric neurologists including the top one at Duke. No cure we were told. But we always knew it was Singulair. He was cured and there is no medical explanation. Had he continued to take it he would be the vegetable they had predicted he'd become.

Okay, I just emailed DATELINE NBC - please be sure to submit your children's adverse reactions story to them - here is the email address:
*******

I also tried emailing ABC for PrimeTime and 20/20 but they use regular snail mail for story suggestions - please do your part and mail out your story to them at:

To submit a story idea to one of the ABC News shows listed below, write a single page letter including your name, phone number, and address. Include photocopies of backup information. On the outside of the envelope, write "Story Idea." If a producer is interested in your story, he/she will contact you. Here are the show addresses:

20/20
147 Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10023

Primetime
147 Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10023

Together we will do something to help avoid more tragedies

I went ahead and reported our experience online to the FDA:
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/medwatch_online.cfm

FILE YOUR REPORT - TOO.

My son started on 5mg Singulair in 1999. Later that year and the next at the age of 10, my husband and I realized he seemed really depressed. I took him to his pediatrician, who talked to my son at length about anything that might be bothering him, if someone had try to touch him, etc.,etc. Nothing. He had been a really happy outgoing child. Now he was not. The next year in 4th grade he seemed to be worse. We kept an eye on him. There were no warnings whatsoever about Singulair causing emotional problems, depression etc. at that time. Shortly after he started 5th grade, we moved to another city with almost no air pollution in the area we picked to live, and he was still "down". But a few months after we moved, even though we left long time friends, etc., I took him off the Singulair, as he was not really having asthma. The kid got happy again--he was was my happy cheerful boy! I don't believe this is coincidence. Then when he started Middle School in 6th Grade, his school was old and dusty with no doubt mold problems and he started having breathing problems pretty bad again. We started him on Singulair again, for the next three years that he was at this school. He tanked emotionally. Hated himself. Was so depressed it was scary. I kept telling him it was adolescence and it would get better. Then he started a new high school, and was off the Singulair for 6 months, and he was happy again. Then he got flu and bronchitis and was back on it and emotionally tanked again, and never really came out of it. Though out these episodes a few times he told me he thought the medicine was making him feel weird. He last took the 10mg Singulair in 2006, the beginning of his sophomore year when he was sick. His depression exploded and he became suicidal. He was diagnosed with depression in April of 2007 and went on Zoloft. He was not on Singulair then. Then he became suicidal again in August of 2007. His depression medication was changed. He got worse. We found a psychiatrist who was able to help some, but could find no background reason for depression. There is some depression in the family, but none of these relatives became depressed until adulthood. He became suicidal again in November of 2007 and went through outpatient care at the local children's and psychiatric hospital. He came out somewhat better, with skills to help monitor himself. He had more med side effects and has changed meds again. Now he is on 40mg Prozac daily now and doing a lot better, and since we saw the news about Singulair a few days ago, he is extremely better. He is almost back. I would rather go the emergency room 5 times a year then go through this again. We were not given a choice. What are the long term effects of this drug for someone who has been on it through adolescence? No one knows. How can a drug with this sort of side effect for children be allowed on the market? I feel blindsided by the FDA and Merck. If his Dr. in 1999 knew about this side effect she would have never put him on this drug, nor would I have allowed it. I say sue the bastards.

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 almost four year old son has been on singulair for a little over two years now and I am SICK to my stomach after reading all of these entries.
Our son was such an amazing baby, he was very even tempered and behaved beautifully. After some chronic sinusitis and environmental related allergies he was placed on Singulair 15mg granule packets once/day. It was a gradual change in his behavior but very noticeable.

Our wonderful child became very irritable, hipper, restless, moody, and overly sensitive, Our son went from sleeping trough the night to waking several times a night. We are lucky if we have a couple good nights a month. He has also been tougher to get to sleep at night he goes from 8am to midnight on most days (no naps) and will stumble and fall - and he will still protest sleep. On other days he is so hard to keep awake sometimes crashing after school, missing dinner, and going thought the night.

He too like others has been complaining of leg cramps, but I just thought it was a tingly foot....after he would continue to walk around for hours limping, I just thought he was joking. But, the funny leg cramp would always make a reappearance.....and now this could be why????

He is very physical with us and his brother....always hitting and kicking intentionally. His behavior was only exacerbated by the recent birth of our 6 month old. My husband and I have been brought to tears and worn out by his extreme behavior. One moment he is happy - then aggressive or moody and brought to tears....he is like an emotional roller coaster.

He always has a blast at pre-school but completely loses control and freaks out when it is time to go, he says he hates school and is miserable there, he cries so much he throws up. He also goes through hunger strikes, when he is so emotional he choses not to eat. It did not used to be like this!

Coincidental or medical poisoning????

After reading all of these entries, there is no doubt in my mind that Singulair is the culprit.

This drug should be recalled and the pharmaceutical company should be held liable and accountable for this. Our lives have been disturbed and our children's health compromised, what for....a PROFIT?

The FDA needs to do more extensive testing on pharmaceutical drugs and implement more stringent guidelines. and the prescribing doctors shouldn't push these drugs so emphatically.

As of last night we stopped the medication and are relying solely on the Zyrtec OTC. I pray for a change.....we miss the little boy we used to know :-(

My daughter was prescribed singulair about six months ago when she was 4Yrs. old, after about a month on the medication she stated complaining about stomach pain, headaches, and refuses to eat. She recently started running high fevers at night and has been very emotional. The doctors only had great things to say about singulair,it makes me wonder if our childern's doctors may be getting some kind of financial incentive for prescribing these medications to our children.

I have been taking Singulair since it came on the market almost 10 years ago. I am now 26 years old and working on a Masters in Psychology. My theory is about this drug that people that are experiencing depression, and suicidal thoughts are prone to having this without the drug. I cannot skip a day without this medication or else I start having severe flair ups. I am writing because it always seems when there is a good drug on the market it gets pulled because of the side effects. I hope Merck does extensive testing and surveying to make sure of these allegations before the drug is discontinued. Also I took Singulair the entire time I was pregnant and my child has no kind of birth defects etc.

WELL - Thank God! It is so about time! My son, age 6 now was given a very grim outcome/future by two top pediatric neurologists 2 years ago when he started having not the typical seizures we associate with epilepsy (no epilepsy in our family) - his head would drop forward - like his muscle tone in his neck would collapse for a few seconds and he would literally bang his head on tables (this was when he was 3.5 yrs old) - my husband and I always knew in our heart of hearts it WAS THE SINGULAIR he had been taking for 1 year after he had a bad coughing spell the year before - not formally diagnosed with asthma - but the pediatricians insisted it would only benefit him to continue to take it. When we noticed these head drops and his eyes would at times roll back in a matter of just a second or two and he was the most loving, caring and affectionate child and turned into an aggressive and obsessive compulsive child, who also began to have HALLUCINATIONS at night - he would sit up in bed and be seeing things and scream and cry, WE JUST KNEW IT WAS THE SINGULAIR and we stopped it COLD TURKEY on Oct. 31st 2005 - against the advice of the pediatrician. We took him to a neurologist and we told him about our suspicions about the Singulair he, just like the pediatrician brushed it off, but he had an MRI and an EEG - the MRI came back normal, but the EEG was devastating!!! We were told to get ready and pray a lot - that our little boy would become a vegetable and would require assisted living for the rest of his life. That he had a rare form of seizure disorder for which there was no cure.
We took him then to Duke University Hospital and had him checked by the top pediatric neurologist for a second opinion - he gave him another EEG and the diagnosis from this dr. was even worst - he would probably die an early age due to the severity of his condition and that he would lose all his motor skills and regress to a vegetable. Those were the worst days of our lives. We went back home and put him on anti-seizure medication and prayed A LOT - even strangers added him to their prayer list. Well, the seizures stopped in late January 2006 and just last March of 2007 he had another EEG and it was NORMAL - he was weaned off the anti-seizure medication and is thriving and his a great kindergarten student.
Doctors cannot explain how he was cured - there is just no explanation.
Aside from the faith we have in God's hand in this cure, we just KNOW THAT STOPPING THE SINGULAIR saved him from further damage and probably loss of life.

He is the most affectionate and caring little boy you can imagine and I do want to point out that his speech was affected in our hearts, we know it was the Singulair but in the last year his speech has improved dramatically and he is doing just fine.

My husband and I have been struggling to get awareness about the dangers of Singulair and children but the doctors do not believe us. At our last appointment with the pediatric neurologist, I told him, "one day, you will see that we were right about our suspicion regarding Singulair".

I do want to add that it was just too much coincidence that when he went for his first EEG in Dec. of 2005, there was another little boy in the room next door that his parents suspected Singulair as the culprit too.

If anyone wants to email me and if there is anything I can do to help with my own personal testimony - please email me ****** - I will be glad to share any other information.

Well all i can say is it is about time they investigate this stuff! My daughter was put on this 2 yrs. ago and was on it for 1 year off and on. It was a complete nightmare. She experienced nightmares, leg pains, crying all the time, getting into trouble at school, teacher would call every week about something, several urinary tract infections,which lead to many test of why. Really bad mood swings, and aggression. I used to hate it when she got of the school bus. Because i knew it was going to be on the minute she walked in the door. She would cry to me and say she" hates her self" and "mama i do not know why I am so mean." I kept taking her back to her ped. and she would ask are you still giving her the singulair and one day i said no. The doctor got mad at me because i told her i did not like that stuff. She said it was fine to give it to her. I told everyone i knew not to give it to their child because finally i realized it was making my child depressed and feel worse. I am so mad about this. It makes me sick. I want to sue the makers of this drug.

My 20 year old daughter suffered with asthma since the age of two. She took theophylline for years, but once singulair came out and we switched it was like a 100% improvement! However, looking back , what I thought may be teenage angst, I can see the correlation between the way she wrote her poetry and the use of singulair. She was never suicidal but did have some symptoms of anxiety and sleeplessness. She ended up having such bad sleep problems in her freshman year of college, that she could not sleep at all for 6 days in a row. She was admitted to the hospital when she was found in her dorm in nothing but a bathrobe and slippers, crouched on the floor, non responsive and in a state that they thought perhaps she had overdosed on drugs! After clearing all drug tests, she was admitted to a state mental hospital and put on risperdal for two weeks. She eventually came out of the hallucinations and the anxiety went away. After being released, she had to withdraw on a medical leave from school and eventually weaned herself from the risperdal and stopped taking the singulair. Her follow up appointments with psychiatrist were positive, they changed her diagnosis and said she was not, after all, bi polar and they did not renew her prescriptions for any anti-psychotic meds or any bipolar meds. Since then , she has not had any recurrence of sleeplessness or any episodes like that. I have started a ******* page so that we can all keep in touch with our stories and give the support and feedback in one community. Please go there, its free,******

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.

Interestingly, the side effects reported by other people here are mentioned in the Singulair package insert in France, which I found online in a 2005 edition on the manufacturer's French website. I don't think the same list is included in the American package inserts. The French distributor is "Laboratoires Merck Sharp & Dohme-Chibret" which appears to be a Merck-related entity. So if Merck has known about these side effects at least since 2005 and includes a warning in the French packaging, I think people should be asking Merck and the FDA why the French warnings are not given to U.S. patients and physicians. It may be that our laws need to be improved. Here's the info in French, then in English:

4. QUELS SONT LES EFFETS INDESIRABLES EVENTUELS ?
Comme tous les médicaments, SINGULAIR, est susceptible d’avoir des effets indésirables. Il a été décrit la survenue de douleurs abdominales et de maux de tête lors du traitement par ce médicament. Deplus, les effets suivants ont été rapportés : réactions allergiques incluant éruption cutanée, gonflement du visage, des lèvres, de la langue, et/ou de la gorge pouvant entraîner des difficultés à respirer ou à avaler, démangeaisons et urticaire, fatigue, fébrilité, agitation y compris comportement agressif, irritabilité, étourdissements, hallucinations, somnolence, rêves anormaux ou cauchemars, insomnie, fourmillements/engourdissements, convulsions, malaises, douleurs articulaires, douleurs musculaires, crampes musculaires, sécheresse de la bouche, nausées, vomissements, troubles digestifs, diarrhée, hépatite, augmentation de la tendance au saignement, ecchymoses et oedème, palpitations.

Si vous remarquez des effets indésirables non mentionnés dans cette notice, veuillez en informer votre médecin ou votre pharmacien.

4. WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE ADVERSE EFFECTS? Like all the drugs, SINGULAIR may have adverse effects. There have been reported incidents of abdominal pains and headaches during treatment by this drug. In addition, the following side effects have reported: allergic reactions including rash, swelling of the face, lips, tongue, and/or the throat, possibly including difficulties with breathing or swallowing, itching and hives, tiredness, fever, agitation including aggressive behavior, irritability, dizzy spells, hallucinations, somnolence, abnormal dreams or nightmares, insomnia, tingling/numbness, convulsions, faintnesses, arthralgia, muscular pains, muscular cramps, dryness of the mouth, nausea, vomiting, turbid digestive, diarrhea, hepatitis, increase in the tendency to bleed, bruises and edema, palpitations.

If you notice adverse effects not mentioned in this note, please inform your doctor or your pharmacist.

Daughter was sick for 6 weeks with what started as a virus . Dr.'s said virus needed to run it's course and allergies were also bad so they put her on Singulair. When she wasn't improving they said she had mono. No improvement, still mono. Still not improving, more specific test, not mono. Dr's chalked it up as she had a virus and was now just depressed from being down for so long. Well when you have mono u r told not do anything and only rest. After weeks of doing this she was depressed and weak. Then we were told that the diagnosis was wrong and we were had been trying to nurse the wrong sickness. Dr's said to send her back to school. By that time our daughter was so far gone it wasn't possible. Every time we left the house she would scream and panic. Experiencing exhaustion and not her self (She loves school & was always a very happy child) I knew there had to be something wrong with her. They sent her to the hospital lab twice and found nothing. Still trying to say she is only depressed but now being rude about by saying that we were just giving her, her way. My husband & I decided that the Dr.'s were not doing there part and trying to get to the bottom of her illness. So we began looking at what had been different in her life over this period of time (5 weeks).The only thing that had changed in her life other than her catching a virus was that she was put on Singulair. We had enough common sense to know that some people may have a reaction to some medicines that others won't. And just because not every Dr. has experienced this doesn't mean it can't happen.We read the pamphlet and all of the side effects. Even the rare ones she was experiencing. Shaking that looked like seizures, body aches, numbness in fingers and toes, extreme fatigue, loss of appetite, weight loss, irrational behavior, anxiety, paranoia, coughing, depressed, swelling of the lips, hallucinations, blurred vision,screaming every time she left the house, and complaining of constant pain. We felt like that had to be what it was. So we researched it and found on medications.com story after story of children who had gone through the same thing that she was experiencing. Dr was very rude and said she had never heard of that before and just send her back to school. So my husband ad I made the decision to take her off the med. The day before we rushed her to the hospital was her last day on the Singulair. That turning point was the seizure like shaking,hallucinations, saying that she couldn't hardly see us.That night in the ER they ran a CT Scan and found nothing. They admitted her in the pediatrics unit and we began a week that felt much like a month. They started her on an IV. They called in different Dr's...resident Dr's, pediatricians, etc. Everyone said our theory on the Singulair was possible but since they had never personally experienced a case of that they just weren't sure.When no one could figure out what was wrong they then called in a neurologist. He was very concerned and immediately started assessing her and ordering blood work and tests. She had an MRI and an EEG. All came back normal. He listened to our theory and said it was possible but to be sure he wanted to test for for everything else to make sure nothing was being missed. She had lost 5 lbs before her hospital stay and not sure how much more after that but while in the hospital when I bathed her, it was so sad to see her stomach all shrunken in. They put her on 5 different medicines while in the hospital that we were so upset and torn because then we felt like she was being drugged. They had her on an IV the whole week she was there and hooked up to monitors.She had a couple of really bad episodes while she was there where she felt like she couldn't breath, couldn't stop shaking and then she lost her speech which scared us to death. They ended up sedating her to calm her down. That one episode was on a Wednesday and then Thursday they gave her another medicine and it looked like she was having a bad reaction to it....her eyes were open but she couldn't move her body. We were freaking out thinking something was wrong. I ended up crashing and had to be carried away. All the result of everything going on of course.Everyone on the staff was very frustrated at not being able to help her. We felt like we were loosing our baby.We continued slowly getting through the end of the week and weekend dealing with all the symptoms still. Dr came to the conclusion that he felt she had got a bad virus. Although, he never dismissed the fact that it could be the Singulair but said unfortunately there was no test to look for that. He said parents usually know their kids better than anyone though.Dr. said when she was released she would have to go to inpatient rehab because of the anxiety issues and because she had not walked for so long (4-5 weeks).Dr came in Monday morning and said if she did not start drinking more she was about 2 days away from a feeding tube. During the day she started drinking more and when he came back in that night he said she had drank enough and he took her off the IV and said she could go home and we could do outpatient rehab. We were so happy to take her home even though we knew it would be hard. So the next day, Tuesday, was very hard and we had very serious episodes with not talking, loss of hearing, shaking, still not walking and passing out. We called the Dr. at the hospital and they said it was all due to the anxiety. We were praying over her so hard. Well Wednesday she woke up and said she had no more pain, she was hungry, and she started walking again. We got our baby back! And there is no doubt in our mind that it was that Singulair. We know that it was. From the time we took her off of Singular to the time she was totally restored was 9 days. It happened just like the all the other parents had described. As soon as it was out of her system she all of a sudden came back to us. We decided to not take her back to those pediatricians. I recently took her for a follow up with her Allergist,who was not aware of what had happened and after hearing the story said that he had experienced two of his patients being allergic to Singulair and they had hallucinations. They were pulled off the medicine immediately so their cases were not as extreme as hers. Please be cautious! This was a devastating experience! Please feel free to email us. I have documented our whole story if you would like it emailed to you.

My six year old daughter started taking Singulair for winter allergies about 1 year ago. After a couple of months she woke up seeing floating bubbles. These were very real hallucinations. We were back and forth with specialists for about 6 months. After she was taken off of the Singulair in the spring, the hallucinations gradually went away. We did not notice the connection. She has been back on the Singulair for one week, and last night she woke up seeing ants crawling on the bed and on her. I am stopping the medication and contacting the doctor. I would really like to know if anyone else has had similar problems.

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.

I am simply astonished by what I am reading my 8yr old son has been taking singulair off and on for about a year he too would complain about his legs hurting to the point where I would be in tears just watching him. Most recently we started him on meds for add/adhd i noticed the days when he would not take the singulair he would do wonderful in school,however when he took the singulair he would have low attention span, disruptiveness,etc. now after reading this post I'm wondering if he really has add or if it was the singulair. --Thanks lgbeaumont

I can't believe what I'm reading tonight on this page, I decided that today was the day I needed to check up on side effects of singulair, since my 5yro, needs his 3rd refill. Three weeks ago I took my boy to the doctor, because of severe weeknes,fatigue. irritability,lose of interest in studying, in sports, in home works, and lose of appetite one of my main concern, I ask his ped if maybe these could be side effects from his singulair, She said no way she hasn't heard of such effects from this drug, and that the side effects form singulair was realy mild, I took her word on it and continue my poor lillte boy in the hell he is living in, oh. she send him to the lab and draw blod for a series of exams, but find nothing so I continue my days wondering and suffering for my child, My mother-in-law even recomended counseling for my boy since we have a new baby at home, tonight I decided before getting his reffill why not do some research and find out what other people are saying? this is the first page i ran in to and I know that I dont need to read much more to take my boy off of this singulair.
ps. we can not rely on our doctors to talk bad of any drug.

For all of you "doubters":
This site is not full of a bunch of "gosipers" "trolling for a lawsuit".
It took me 6 years with my son on Singulair to realize it was the the
medicine causing his behavioral problems. Our family went through years of hell and major psychology expesnes as a result of this medication. Oh it was real, ask any mmber of our family. The lab results we had showing his liver enzyme (ast/got) sky high was real too. That was just before we took him off singulair. The liver enzyme returned to normal by one month off the med when he had his labs repeated. His behavior changed from violent (attacking people) to calm and reasonable also within the months time.
Would I like to see a lawsuit-yes !!! This medicine should be recalled. I have no doubt in my mind. Although evertyone reacts differently to all meds., there have been far too many reports that sed up red flags for this med.

UPDATE: Today is the second day that I haven't taken Singulair and I feel 100% better. I am no longer experiencing the panic attacks, hallucinations, shortness of breath, ear ringing, leg cramps, etc. I went to the doctor on the 23rd and he was reluctant to think that any of this was caused by taking Singulair. I am now convinced that it was, since I haven't felt any of the symptoms I was having for the last few months. I am going to a cardiologist on Aug 1st and will have to wear a heart monitor to "rule out" a heart condition. I also have to get my ears checked because my doctor thinks this could be an inner ear problem. I will go through with all of these check-ups just to make sure that I don't have any underlying medical issues. Seeing how quickly my symptoms have stopped after going off of Singulair makes me totally convinced that this is what was causing this in the first place. I am greatful that I found this site and read all of the comments from people having similar symptoms!

I am 30 years old and I've been on Singulair for about 2 1/2 months now. I noticed about 2 weeks after taking it that I started getting a pain in the left side of my head accompanied with shortness of breath. Within weeks I started having rapid heartbeats, shortness of breath, dizziness and slight hallucinations (like shadows out of the corner of my eyes). I would experience these episodes for only about 5 seconds at a time. I also noticed that I my ears were ringing a lot, and I was having leg and foot cramps more frequently. At first I thought these were panic attacks because I am in the process of moving, and have been under more stress than usual. I now think it could potentially be a side effect from this medication. I woke up 6 times last night with all of the symptoms and was considering going to the emergency room. I am going to the doctor today to find out what is causing these problems and if it is related to singular. Today is the first day that I am not taking it.

I'm 15 years old, and I've been taking Singulair since late February of this year, so about 4 months. My asthma and allergy symptoms seemed to have almost disappeared, but just recently, I've had headaches, and I've been irritable and moody according to my mom. After reading these posts, I've discovered that some weird things I've been experiencing may be linked to taking this medication. I've had weird hallucinations, in which I've been seeing and hearing things that aren't there. At first I thought it was just because I was tired and/or dreaming, but reading these other experiences, I'm starting to think otherwise. I don't think these symptoms are bad enough to quit taking it, but its starting to worry me a bit. I've told my mom about all the posts I've read on here, and that I've been experiencing many of them, but she think I'm just a hypochondriac. Any suggestions or anyone with similar symptoms?

My four year old son has been on singulair for 6 weeks. He has started complaining about nightmares, wetting the bed and has become irritable and easily agitated. In addition, he seems to go into these wierd episodes of not being able to control his body...like someone high on drugs. Has anyone had a similar experience?

I will be calling his dr. in the am.

My 6 year old son has had all of these more or less. He has been on Singulair for about 5 months. We took him off last Friday when he started having seizures. It is only now that we are connecting the things he has complained about. He is still going through testing but everytime a test is done it is negative. He is in perfect health. The dr.s are stumped. What happens is, he smells a wierd smell. Then he sees lights. After this he has a bad headache and becomes weak so he lays down. Shortly thereafter he stiffens and starts shaking his arms and legs while clinching his hands. He also grunts and makes a buzzing sound and appears as though he only breathes out. the dr.s say it is not seizures but movement disorder and if it is Singulair it should be out of his system within 3 days... He is still having the seizure type fits and its been a week since we took him off singulair. He is still losing his temper and having horrible dreams as well. Cat scan was normal, EEG was normal, blood work is ok, they want to do an MRI but does this sound familiar to anyone?

My 7 year old, active and happy, son began taking this drug in January 2007 and hasn't been the same since. He had the following side effects: fever(nonstop unless on Motrin), diarreah, depression, rashes, nightmares, hallucinations and uncountable days missed at school. We thought it was a virus or flu and even had bloodwork done to see if it was something much more serious. When asked by our family doctor about why he was so sad he didn't know why, and when asked if he ever wished he was dead he responded with "yes sometimes". We were devestated and had not researched this drug until today. We took him off the Singulair on our asthma "specialist" advice to see if this would stop the fever and instead it stopped all the symptoms. Two days ago we started it again to be sure this was what was wrong and almost immediatly we had the same symptoms as described above. I will NEVER give this drug to my son and tell every parent I can not to either. This could have taken our childs life due to poor research on our part and doctors not making us aware, even when we were crying out for help, when they prescribe these lethal drugs. Any parent who reads this please monitor your childs behavior if you choose to give them this or any drug that you are not familiar with. I'm grateful for websites like this that help us understand and see what some modern medicine is capable of. Thank you to everyone who sent their side effects in it may have saved my childs life.

Wow! I had absolutely NO idea Singulair had so many "issues"!! My heart goes out to ALL of you who have suffered with or because of this drug!
Our six-year old was given it for mild asthma and within a few weeks was complaining of dizziness and panic-like feelings! We called his allergist and he said that within the last 6-8 months, he has had scores of people calling with side effects like hallucinations, panic, heart-racing issues and more! We took him off of it immediately and the symptoms have completely gone away. I realize this is a miracle drug for some, but with side effects like this, it's NOT worth it! Take care!!

My son is 3 and has had a cough all of his life. Everytime we would take him to the doctor they said his chest sounded clear and they couldn't pin point the problem. I took him to an allergy/asthma doctor where he was allergy tested. Tests showed very minimal allergies. We have no pets, no smoke, and no carpet in our home. The doctor said he didn't have asthma but prescribed him Singulair. After about 6 weeks he was very agitated, to the point I could hardly deal with him. Very aggressive with everyone in the family, could not sleep at night, and had severe hallucinations of bears in his room and he would see sharks in the bathtub to the point where he was crying and begging to get out of the bathtub. When I read the small print on the side effects I knew that it was the medication.

My mom (age 80 yesterday) has had a bad cough and bronchitis for about 2 months and for some reason the doctor prescribed Singulair. She had one dose last night and the side effects were immediate. She had extremely vivid dreams, hallucinations continuing today, talkativeness, nausea, pain in her hips, and tingly hand. She said she fell 4 times last night - tipped over, and asked her grandchildren and son-in law to help her - they were not really there though. It was a hallucination. She's also shaky and heart palpitations, but she had that already. I will never give her this again.

My daughter (now 4 1/2) has been on Singulair for two years. It has completely controlled her asthma but I was unaware of the serious side effects.

She had trouble sleeping after taking it. Looking back now she had what I would call "night terrors" where she woke up crying with vivd details about a dream. At the time I did not connect the two.

Due to the sleeplessness we now give it to her in the morning.

She also complians of itchiness, which we thought was sensitive skin. Now that I am connecting the dots seems like this only would occur right after taking the meds.

Lately, she has had severe behavioral problems. I am now wondering about hallucinations with some of her complaints about the "noise" etc.. and not being able to control what she does.

I was this close to seeing a behavioral psychologist but looked into the Singulair instead. The company's website even lists these side effects. When I called the doctor he WAS NOT EVEN AWARE of them.

We are off it now and the improvements are immediate. Today was her first smiley face day at preschool in a couple of weeks. It saddens me that she (and the rest of the family) may have had to suffer needlessly.

Be very careful and watch for these symptoms.

I wrote about my 8yr old son in April/06, a beautiful, sweet and easy going child who turned into an anxious, worried boy who was plagued with nightmares & "bad thoughts". The only change in his life was that he had started Singulair a couple of months before. After reading this web site, I immediately took him off it. I am happy to report that he is surely, but slowly coming back to himself after being off of if for 3 weeks.

When I initially called pharmacists, Merck Frost and the allergy Dr, I was told that it was "highly" unlikely it was the singulair. Well, they were wrong it was the singulair. He was taken to our family doctor, who strongly believed it was the singulair & brought out a big thick medical book with some post market side affects in children that described my son ..."hallucinations, bad dreams, restleessness". As an added precaution we took him to see a pediatrician who was also going to re-evalute his asthma. His assistant told me that I was the 3rd mother recently to describe those side affects in their child since being on singulair. The pediatirian was also aware of these side affects in many children. Our family doctor & the pediatrician both estimate it will take a good month for the drug to clear his system. As a result of this experience, we are also taking him to a child psycologist to clean up the residue of this whole experience. While, he is almost himself again, the whole experience was quite frightening for him and doesn't want it to ever happen again.

I am reporting this to the Canadian Drug Adverse reaction Agency. I encourage everyone else to do the same in their country. Perhaps this isn't as "rare" as they say.

I just want to thank all of you for these posts. I had gotten online about a year ago after reading about hallucinations and nightmares from Singulair use in kids. I only found company-linked sites then. My son had been having night terrors and once told me there was a clown in his room sitting next to me ( I know, creepy). He also had bruises all over his legs, but his doc at the time said "Well, he's three. " It looked like he'd been beaten. I took him off it immediately, and his asthma worsened. His pedi convinced me it was a bad decision to pull him off ( He is also on Flovent), and that Singulair is one of the best preventatives, etc. So, we put him back on it. Over the last year, (he is now 4 and 1/2) he has also gotten worse and worse. I have had to restrain my son on many occasions, and he often seems to "switch" without warning from a great mood to a monster. He also throws toys, hits me, screams abruptly for no reason, has horrible anxiety ( has progressed from chewing his nails to biting the skin from his fingertips), and has destroyed almost every toy he owns for the past 2 years, despite pretty harsh punishment on our part (removing all his toys from him for progressively longer periods of time, throwing away toys he chews on or breaks) None of it has mattered, and my husband recently brought up the possibility that he needs to see a psychiatrist. Well, the medication thing came back to my mind, and I've had that feeling in my gut lately. His very loving grandmother recently said he seems so angry and negative, and she has repeatedly referred to him in the past as a "tender soul" , always happy, loves everyone. I have been so sad lately, fearing that others will never know the real him. SOMETHING has happened to our son, and I am thanking God I found this site. He will get no Singulair tonight. I will post again after a few days and let you all know if there is a difference.

My son who is 4 yrs old, was fine for the first week or two although he did complain of nightmares and did have trouble sleeping. Now, it has been over 1 month of taking the singulair- he still has this nasty cough (which is the original reason for being prescribed) and he has TERRIBLE nightmares, is irritable- cries a lot, woke up shaking this morning and terrible sore throat and he's starting to have hallucinations.... THIS MEDICATION IS HORRIBLE! DON"T USE IT! your child will suffer from it...