Singulair and liver

I have a 15-yr old. She's been taking singulair since she was 7. These are a few of the things that I have noticed over the last year but ignored because I too, as many of you have, thought it was because she a teenager.

1. Stomachache .. she complained all the time. Thought it was nerves because it was usually before she went to a training session or game.
2. Restlessness.
3. Headaches.
4. Moodiness.
5. Tired. Fatigue. Weak. Even after she gets hours and hours of sleep. Figured it was because her schedule is whacked. We've had fights over her not going to bed at a certain time.
6. Menstrual cycle changed last fall followed by acne when as before she was perfectly normal with clear skin. Recently put her on BC because of her hormonal change. Blood tests showed she was normal. We tried it anyway to regulate her periods. Took her off of it after she had her period for 3 weeks straight. Probably won't put her back on BC since taking Singulair might be the problem.
7. Tired all the time. Falls asleep in class.
8. Lost interest in her favorite sport which she rocks at. Thought it was because of a 2-month down time due to an injury.
9. Several times, have seen signs of depression but when confronted she says no she's fine. Depression is probably from being unhappy with her appearance. Being on the pill made this worse.
10. Doesn't want to go to school. Whereas before not a big deal. Most kids don't like school, but lately, she talks about how much she hates it. Usually excited to start the new school year, this year not so much, more like dreading it and her attitude hasn't change about it.
11. We argued last week and it was the first time she screamed at me and told me she hated me. She's never done this before. Her thoughts and moods have been horrible but they come in spurts.

After reading everyone's experiences, I am taking her off Singulair. I know it's not an overnight cure and will take some time, but I just want my little girl back. I find it strange that this all occurred within the last year even though she's been taking Singulair since 7. Do you suppose it's in teenagers and puberty?

I am 34 years old. I am a pharmacy tech. I have asthma and allergies. I have taken singulair pretty much every day since it came out on the market. I've had asthma since i was about 10 years old. I took theophylline as a kid. Steriods on and off especially during times when my allergies are bad. I still use Advair during the fall and spring. Every drug has a side effect. However breathing is pretty good damn thing. Do I have days when I feel low? Yeah. Do I sometimes have nightmares? Yup. Are "natural" products the answer. Not always. The fish oil that some of the posters are touting can also cause GI problems. Some of the natural products contain herbs and other plant derivatives that can be harmful for a child that suffers from allergies. Not proactively treating asthma can be deadly. Some of the parents are suggesting steriods as the answer - those can cause weight gain, growth suppression and can lead to a worsening of asthma.

Singulair has never made me feel like I've wanted to kill myself. I was more depressed and angry as kid when my asthma did not allow me to partipate in normal childhood things. I was sad and hated life when I couldn't keep up with friends at recces because I was having trouble breathing. You have to outweigh the costs with the benefits. I am more irritable when I have asthma flareup then I am on a normal day. For me, I choose to breathe. And singulair has been helping me for almost a decade.

I'm not saying the medication isn't causing these symptoms but maybe there is an underlying cause to your child's depression.

Any drug has a side effect. But without medical research and the medications that come with them - people would still be dying of simple diseases and we wouldn't have vaccinations. As a society, as a whole, we are a culture that looks to someone else to fix things and then blames the people who try to fix it. We need to stop being the "hot McDonald's coffee'" society.

My 3 year old daughter was put on Singulair for her asthma and supposed allergies. I did not notice any behavior issues, but when I read the very very fine print saying that it could cause stunted growth AND had had no clinical trials in children, I took her off. I have cured her asthma with herbal supplements (a combo that fights bronchial inflammation ans desensitizes the liver to minimize/eliminate allergic reactions - from GAIA labs, look up asthma/bronchitis / allergy). She is now 11 and has not needed any treatment of any kind for at least 6 years now.

My son suffered from pneumonia at age 6 months till age 2. They had him on Flovent and Singulair from the age of 1. For as long as we can remember, he has been an aggressive, mean, bitter, angry child. The slightest thing would set him off. The doctors had just had him tested for tumors and cancers and other serious head related problems because he was constantly complaining of headaches. All tests came back normal. Then we heard that Singulair can cause ADD amongst many other side effects, including headaches. We took him off of Singulair and after only 2 days off of it he was a completely different little boy. He is happy and loving, calm and patient. He isn't dissolving in a fit of rage at the simplest thing. We can not believe the difference in how he is acting.
We found about 2 years ago a natural supplement that has really helped control his and my asthma and allergies. It is called OPC-3. It is an incredible anti oxidant that helps with so many health problems! If you would like more info, just let me know. It has been a life saver for our family and many others! Here is a website where it can be found.
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It is under the health and nutrition tab on the left side.
Good Luck!!

Hats off to Dr. Engler. Patients need this type of support. He is a unique individual willing to tell his own experiences.

Singulair increases risk of Suicide? Don't just poo-poo the possibility

This analysis is solely the work of the author. It has not been edited or endorsed by GLG
.
Analysis By:David Engler, MD
Physician, The Allergy Clinic

Implications: It is difficult to imagine why taking Singulair would increase the risk that someone would complete suicide. After all, what does a leukotriene receptor antagonist have to do with mental health? I don't know. But doctors, ask yourself, have you ever had a Singulair patient stop taking it because it caused headaches? I have had dozens of them stop taking it because of headaches. When they attempt to try it again, the headache comes back. But the package insert says that the risk of headache is no greater than it is in people who took placebo. Try explaining that to the patient who got the headache--it's very real to them.

Analysis: The story about Singulair and suicide may be based on some cause-effect relationship. I don't know what that is, but I will tell you story of a patient I saw last week. She is a 19 year old college student, with the usual stresses of college. I have been treating her for asthma and allergies since she was 10 years old, and she had been on Singulair for about 5 years.

She was treated in the town's ER for an intentional Tylenol overdose; she took 15 of them for a headache that wouldn't go away. The usual charcoal to the stomach, with Mucomyst to protect the liver from the Tylenol went fine. While under evaluation, the ER doc also noticed she had been "cutting" her wrists and arms. She said that it relieved stress.

They asked her about the Singulair and she said it gave her bad dreams. Astutely, they stopped it. All this happened a week or so before the recent news headlines.

Is that cause and effect? No way....but remember that MRK is the same company that still denies that Vioxx can increase the risk of heart attack. Oh yeah, Vioxx. That drug would have been great as a niche drug if given to treat pain in those already at risk of a GI bleed. But, no, MRK was encouraging dentists to give it out for toothaches, and most patients in my practice who were on it had no history of GI bleed. MRK wanted Vioxx to be a billion-dollar blockbuster; had it been marketed appropriately, it may still be on the market.

So how will I change my prescribing habits? For patients who have a psychiatric history, including those who take antidepressants, I'll mention the story of this patient to those on Singulair and start asking questions to try to determine if they are brittle or fragile from a psychiatric standpoint.

This may be much ado about nothing, but what if it's not? I've learned to stop drinking the drug company Kool Aid without a few grains of salt.

I think that I can get my head around certain things and try to explain to you that medications do not work for all people or affect all people the same way. Well, that sounds simple enough to say - DUH. But, it is actually quite complicated chemically. Human beings are not chemically the same because we have variations in our genes. Would you be surprised to learn that about 60% of adverse drug reactions involve certain chemicals (in some cases enzymes) that we already know what these chemicals or enzymes are and what the variants are among populations groups? Some times we can predict who would have an adverse reaction to what medications if we knew what gene subgroup the patient was part of. We could also predict whether the patient would metabolize a drug at the same speed as others or not. Metabolize means utilize the drug and then discard the by-products--mostly the liver is the recycling center of chemical waste. Anything that the liver cannot re-use, the kidneys gets rid of in the urine. Speed of metabolism is a very important thing because people who are slow metabolizers might actually experience over-dose. There are other differences caused by genes that can cause different reactions according to the individual person.

I am interesting in following this site because I am wondering if the concept is flawed meaning that other parts of the body were ignored at the expense of controlling asthma and allergies of the nasal passages and lungs. OR - is there just a problem that relates to genetic differences in something such as enzymes and certain populations groups do just fine on Singulair with no problems and other people have some awful problems?

This isn't my area. But, sadly, if I can spend two weeks looking at this and come up with at least a road map of what I am looking for to answer some important questions then people who do this for Merck already know the answers. Why do I say that? Because, the adverse side effects (major categories) correspond to important areas of leukotriene receptor location and activity. Maybe not necessarily this receptor but part of a chemical process that involves this receptor.

The bottom line is that Singulair is the wrong medication for anyone that has adverse reactions. OR, there is a problem regarding the dosage that involves how fast the patient metabolizes the medication. Considering that there is a link to psychiatric adverse drugs reactions in Singulair and some medications for depression are linked to differences in metabolism due to enzymes, then there could be possibly something important to be learned from Singulair adverse drug reactions.

The biggest problem is that pharmaceutical companies are not properly communicating with the doctors who prescribe their medications. Why not communicate to doctors to look out for side effects and be aware that there are gene variations among people that are directly linked to how the patient might respond to the medication?

What happens if the patient belongs to the gene group that will have problems? If the pharm company does not tell the doctor to be on the alert, then the doctor tells the patient that it is not the drug that is causing the problem. Then the gene groups with the problems, go on the war path.

I am a 49 year old female. I started taking Singulair for grass allergies. Went to the DR. for a physical and blood work came back for elevated Liver Enzyems. According to WebMD this is a common side of effect of this drug. The other things that was happening was odd pains in my head. Not headache but sharp pains on the sides of my head. This too is a side effect of this drug. I stopped the drug and everything went back to normal.

Drug induced hepititis. Increase liver enzyms.