Singulair and medical community

I have a daughter who is almost 3 yrs. old. Her pediatrician prescribed her Singulair when she was 18 months so she's been on it for a little over a year. She has suffered from allergies since she was an infant although we've lived in Atlanta and Cincinnati since her birth - two of the worst cities in the US for allergies and air quality!! I cannot tell you how disturbing yet reassuring it is to read all of your posted side effects..I can relate to so many of your experiences! Its so ironic though b/c the initial reason our last pediatrician put her on Singulair was b/c she was feeling so badly from her allergies...but since she began taking it, she has had SO many more issues with not only her health but mental state. She has had serious aggression issues - taking it out physically on other children, her peers and our poor dogs and cat. She has tons of trouble falling asleep at night, is a very picky eater and has unexplained bouts of anger. When it started, we thought it was b/c like so many toddlers, she couldn't express herself. But she began talking at 18 months and could also sign and always seemed to communicate to us in her own way prior to that so that didn't add up. We've had a lot of external changes in our lives in the past year so everyone I've talked to about her issues has assured me that it was due to these and to keep on trying everything we could; that it was only a "phase". But the one thing I keep thinking about is how different she was prior to taking Singulair and how her mental well being changed so drastically from that point on. She was such a sweet, lovable child who was sleeping throughout the night (since she was 8 months old). She had a great appetite and loved trying new foods. She never had any aggression issues AT ALL before that. I even asked her previous caregiver abt. any aggression issues she had while watching her (which was up until 2 months before she started taking Singulair) and she said she never had ANY issues. In all, like so many of you posted abt. your children, she was a completely different child!! After going to her doctor this morning to have her checked for what I suspected was a sinus infection, he told me to absolutely continue giving her Singulair year-round in addition to 10 mg of Claritin (which is twice as much as children ages 4 to 6 are supposed to take!) and Nosenex spray for the next few weeks. It seemed like an awful lot to give a 2 yr. old so I started researching and came across this site. I am going to stop giving her Singulair today and look into some non-prescription alternatives. I take Oil of Oregano for my allergies since I can't handle the side effects of over-the-counter drugs so maybe my daughter can take this as well? I am so scared of how this drug has affected my child and hope that there hasn't been any permanent damage. I feel terrible that I trusted both of her doctors before researching this drug. I am SO thankful for finding this site and for reading your stories and will report back in a few weeks to update you on my little one's condition.

My daughter is 5 years old and has been on Singulair for about 2 years now. I was at a loss concerning her behavior for the past 2 years. The anger, aggression, tics in her eyes and legs feeling tingling, unable to express herself, and truly not liking herself and thinking we don't like or love her. All this brought us to take her to therapy. And then all this information regarding side effects of Singulair come out. I brought this to her allergist and he like many others brushed it off. I think it is time the medical community looks very close at this drug concerning side effects with children. How many more parents have to come forward with all the same side effects for these educated doctors to realize there is a hugh psychological and neurological connection with this drug for some children. It has been two days now that my daughter stopped Singulair. Her nose is already starting to drip and her cough is back, but I would much rather deal with these side effects of allergies than watching her go though this mental anguish any longer. I have not seen any changes yet, but it had only been two days.

The influence that the pharmaceutical companies, the for-profits, are having on every aspect of medicine ... is so blatant now you'd have to be deaf, blind and dumb not to see it," said Journal of the American Medical Association editor Dr. Catherine DeAngelis, a longtime industry critic. "We have just allowed them to take over, and it's our fault, the whole medical community...........................YOU GO GIRL

Everyone please go to the American Lung Association home page to read the article on their "research study" into the association between montelukast and depression/suicide and write to: ****** with your experiences. I wrote a letter with my son's negative experience, stating why I thought their study was flawed - they only studied 569 children and adults (I think there are more posts of negative reactions in children on this site alone) and urging them to do a more exaustive and statistically singificant study before releasing the results. This drug is unsafe and we need to take action to get it identified as such by the medical community.

What is so frustrating here as we read more and more new posts of what we know to be the devasting effects of this drug,is that the label has been updated voluntarily by Merck 4 times this tear to include these side effects,leading you to believe they know the possibility of this happening,and yet doctors continue to dismiss this,making us feel like our parenting skills are less than pristine or our children have some kind of psych label as kids that are well just not normal,when the evidence is there even by Mercks own admission.What in heavens name will it take to get the medical community to understand,they continue to pass it out like candy,and then when you speak of an adverse effect they blame it on something else, Wake up our children our being poisoned in huge numbers

Posting again because I'm still FURIOUS at how the medical community seems to dismiss the fact that Singulair can be a terrible drug for children and adults of all ages.

DO NOT LET YOUR DOCTORS AND PEDIATRICIANS LEAD YOU TO BELIEVE THAT SINGULAIR IS NOT THE CAUSE OF THESE BEHAVIORAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES. IF THEY DON'T LISTEN TO YOU, FIRE THEM!!!!!!!!!
I have communicated directly with the leading professor at the University of Florida - School of Pharmacology and Pediatrics. His exact quotation to me was "The efficacy of Singulair is modest. If we took all of our patients off it right now they would not suffer" Spread the word to ALL people you talk to on the street, at work, and wherever you may go. While this drug may work for some it is BAD for MANY!!!! Too many people are being misdiagnosed because of the side effects of Singulair.

See my other posts under matthewct1. This is no joke!

Concerned citizen!!!
Just had to share the news! 3 months after stopping singulair and taking omega 3 (for last 3 months) has resulted in my 6yrs olds cholesterol going down from 236 to 202! Absolutely no diet change, in fact he has been eating worse due to throat condition/tonsils. Makes me go HMMMMM!!!

Here is an example of the fact that the medical community recognizes that there are gene based drugs. Because Singulair is modeled to be a receptor antagonist to the cysLT1 receptor and the cysLT1 receptor is a gene, I'd say that Singulair should be described as a gene based drug. I don't really care how anybody wants to play with the definition. CysLT1 is a gene with known variations. Why isn't there just an "across the board" warning for all gene based drugs that unexpected side effects are possible???? And, that doctors should watch out for individual reactions.

WMJ. 2005 Aug;104(6):61-6.Links
Gene-based drug prescribing: clinical implications of the cytochrome P450 genes.Musana AK, Wilke RA.
Department of General Internal Medicine, Marshfield Clinic, WI, USA.

The Institute of Medicine recently mandated an increased effort to improve patient safety and reduce medical error. With the description of genetic polymorphisms in the drug metabolizing enzymes, the field of pharmacogenetics may improve medical care through a reduction in both therapeutic failure and adverse drug reaction. Investigators at the Marshfield Clinic in central Wisconsin are piloting the process of gene-based drug prescribing in a variety of contexts. This paper reviews the field of cytochrome P450 (CYP) genetics and explores factors that impact the utility of this information in clinical practice.

PMID: 16218319

My 15 month old son was just put on this Friday, four days ago. He had been on Zyrtec since he was five months old and his allergies had recently gotten worse along with a percistant cough. As the weekend went on he became more and more angry and fidgety. Sunday afternoon, after his nap he came running down the hall screaming and crying (this nap is usually 1 1/2 hours long and he had only been asleep for 30 to 45 minutes when this happened). He was very upset for about 20 minutes. He is normally a very happy, fun loving child. Later that afternoon he didn't get his way and took it out on me. He began to kick and scream(at the top of his lungs) , throwing his head back, and then hitting me. Everyone that was with us have been around him from day one and they all said how he wasn't himself and had never seen him act this way. Now, this morning on our drive into town to go to daycare he normally is talking the whole way (45 minutes) but this morning he was just staring off out the window and didn't want to talk or "have a conversation" with me. I knew something wasn't right and had already had it in my head he wasn't getting another dose of this. I found this site and some of the little things began to jump out at me and I know for sure we aren't going to take this again. I just hope and pray that this hasn't caused any lasting side effects, again he has only been on it for 4 days. After reading all of this I have called the daycare to check and the doctor, who hasn't called me back yet. Going to see his ENT tomorrow and we will be having a long conversation about it all. His ped. is the doctor who put him on it. She is trying to try everything before he is put on a nebulizer.

Another side effect named on the Singulair web site is ear infections. This med. should have never been given to my son who has already had one round of tubes because of ear infections. The tubes have already fallen out and within a week he had an ear infection.

I am posting this as a new post. I am not against Singulair. I am against withholding negative side effects from the patients. I am against promoting that Singulair is safe and effective for everybody on the planet.

My entire family is health care. My father was a surgeon. I worked for a pharmaceutical company. Pharmaceutical companies are supposed to ethically invent drugs and inform everybody about the safe and effective way to use those drugs. Pharmacists are supposed to police the prescriptions and dispense the correct dosage. Then pharmacists are supposed to be aware of side effects and drugs interactions. When necessary, pharmacist are supposed to intervene to prevent a mis- communication from turning into a disaster. Doctors are supposed to review the recommendations of pharmaceutical companies (who are policed by the FDA) in order to determine if their diagnosis matches the profile of drugs known to be therapies for certain symptoms. I, personally, am madder than hell at Merck. Singulair could really be a good therapy when it is needed. It could correct some bad stuff that happens short term. Why does Merck's need to make every drug a major block buster money maker ruin the market for Singulair?

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

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

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

Thank You in advance,
Chuck & Brenda
Jamestown New York

I have communicated directly with Leslie Hendeles, a leading professor of pharmacology and pediatrics at the University of Florida who's direct quote to me was:
"In response to your last comment, I thing Singulair has modest efficacy, and if we take all of our patients off this drug, THEY WON'T SUFFER. This is NOT an important drug for pediatric asthma, as are inhaled corticosteroids."

Ironically, this is the same individual who was quoted in an ABC news article as saying:
"We have hundreds of children on Singulair and have never heard parents make complaints about psychiatric side effects. Moreover, there is no mechanism for this reaction … We will be telling our patients not to worry about this."

WAKE UP EVERYONE...THIS IS AN ADMITTEDLY OVERPRESECRIBED DRUG THAT HAS WORKED WELL FOR MANY, BUT HAS ALSO RUINED MANY LIVES.

The manner in which this drug is casually overprescribed by so many doctors is freakish. I firmly believe that this drug has caused countless misdiagnoses such as ADHD, Bipolar disorder and others. IT FUELS A GOOD PART OF THE ECONOMY TO PUT SO MANY PEOPLE ON THESE DRUGS. I BELIEVE THE PHARM INDUSTRY IS VERY CALCULATED IN THIS MANNER.

Question what your doctors tell you.
See my other posts under matthewct1. I dealt with a situation where my 5 yr. old son was on the road to being diagnosed with ADHD which couldn't have been further from the truth. Singulair changed him. Since he's been off Singulair everyone (teachers, pediatrician, family, etc.) unanimously agree that he does not show the ADHD symptoms like he did on Singulair.

My daughter, now 7 years old, took Singulair (4mg crystals) every evening from 12/29/2004-4/3/2008 (with 5 days off in 2/2008 ONLY). She developed significant mood disturbance/mood swings, sleep disturbance/frightening dreams and anxiety/unexplainable fears during this time, which we have now attributed to the drug, Singulair - the ONLY MEDICATION SHE WAS TAKING besides occasional antihistamines (which caused no problem). The drug Singulair clearly caused significant psychiatric symptoms in my daughter which are strikingly similar to symptoms now being attributed to the drug by MANY parents across the country. I suspected Singulair of negatively affecting my daughter and talked to her allergist about taking her off it in 2/2008 (before any news broke about links between Singulair and suicidal thoughts/behavior). The effects of Singulair on the brains of children are NOT UNDERSTOOD and/or NOT reported. I believe that this is a dangerous drug. It has been very difficult to connect the use of this asthma/allergy drug to behavior/mood issues in young children for two reasons. First, improperly trained physicians confuse drug "side effects" with normal child development (a "phase") or psychiatric illness. Second, Singulair has been heavily marketed as "SAFE" (to the medical community and directly to patients and their parents) and therefore has not been suspected when these serious psychiatric disturbances are reported to doctors. Pediatricians and allergists have said for years, "It couldn't be the Singulair" because that is the impression SOLD to them by Merck.

Reply on 12:20 AM on Apr 07, 2008 by losthope18, #1539
THANKS FOR RESPONDING... THE TRAGEDY WE'VE ALL ENDURED IS... AS YOU SAY BEYOND WORDS AND MORE THAN WE COULD PROBABLY OR EVEN POSSIBLY WRITE. PRIOR TO STARTING IN JAN 2005, I WAS ALREADY SUFFERRING WITH MANY OF THE PROBLEMS AND UNTOLD LOSSES OF MY LIFE, MOST ALL MY RELATIONSHIPS ETC. WHEN I WAS 28 YRS OLD I HAD A SEVERE HEAD INJURY AND AM A TEXTBOOK CASE OF A TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY SURVIVOR. MY LIFE WAS MAYBE 95% DESTROYED AT THAT POINT. EVEN STILL I HAD SOME FIGHT LEFT IN ME TO FIND OUT WHAT WAS WRONG & HOW I COULD GET BETTER. THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY AT LARGE STINKS AND DRS WHO THINK THEY KNOW "EVERYTHING" ABOUT HOW THE BRAIN WORKS AND WHAT EFFECTS IT ARE IGNORANT FOOLS. ONLY ABOUT 2 YEARS AGO, AFTER DOING MY OWN RESEARCH DID I FIGURE IT OUT AND NOW THE DR'S ARE NOW FALLING IN LINE & SAYING... YEP... THAT'S IT. NOT THE 50 PSYCH DIAGNOSIS THEY STUCK ME WITH... I AM 50 YEARS OLD NOW AND LOST, FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES MY ENTIRE ADULTHOOD TO AN UNDIAGNOSED T.B.I. THEN IN JAN 05, I STARTED THE SINGULAIR... I KNEW THE LAST COUPLE YEARS OR SO I HAD BEEN GETTING WORSE & WORSE. NEVER MADE THE CONNECTION. I STOPPED THE SINGULAIR A WEEK AGO THE LAST FRIDAY. DAMAGE ALREADY DONE. THE REMAINING 5% OF MY LIFE AND LOVE IS GONE AND I DON'T HAVE ANY FIGHT LEFT IN ME. I'M TRYING TO HANDLE THE REMOVAL OF THE SINGULAIR AS SCIENTIFICALLY AS I CAN TO DETERMINE WHAT'S WHAT. BOBANDSHERRI, I HOPE IT'S STILL TWO OF YOU... DOING/LIVING/EXISTING/FIGHTING ALONE WITH EVERY DREAM YOU EVER HAD AND EVERY PERSON YOU LOVE, NOW PRIMARILY MY PAST. MY MARRIAGE GONE. MY FAMILY... I WAS SO CLOSE TO MY MOM & DAD...LOTS OF BROTHERS & SISTERS... THINK IT'S ALL PRETTY MUCH IN MY HEAD. I DON'T KNOW WHAT OR HOW MUCH IMPROVEMENT I CAN EXPECT... I'VE BEEN SO SICK/DESTROYED ETC. FOR SO MANY YEARS. BESIDES MOST ALL OF THE PROBLEMS MENTIONED, I LEARNED A VERY SMALL BRAIN TUMOR-MENINGIOMA HAS GROWN 3MM FROM 7MM TO 1 CM. WHAT'S WEIRD IS... IT'S ON MY LEFT FRONTAL LOBE, ALTHOUGH AT THIS POINT NOT CAUSING ANY OF THE PROBLEMS. IF IT GROWS ANY FURTHER... BRAIN SURGERY FOR ME. WHAT I DON'T GET IS... I READ SOMEONE ELSE HAVING A MENINGIOMA TUMOR ALSO LEFT FRONTAL LOBE... WONDER WHAT IF ANYTHING IT HAS TO DO WITH SINGULAIR... PROBABLY NOTHING... I GUESS?? CLING TIGHT TO EACH OTHER AND REMEMBER HOW FRAGILE LIFE IS. I'M NOT FEELING BETTER YET...(ABOUT 8/9 DAYS WIHTOUT). IN RETROSPECT, I HAVE A GREAT DEAL MORE CLARITY AS TO WHY I'VE WORSENED SO MUCH IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS. I HOPE WHATEVER IMPROVEMENTS I WILL HAVE HAPPEN SOON! THERE IS SO MUCH MORE I COULD SAY BUT I'M ALREADY FORCING MY FOCUS HERE TO WRITE THIS MUCH. MAY BOTH YOUR LIVES BE BLESSED BEYOND ALL YOUR DREAMS & THANKS AGAIN! losthope18

To mlkeene who's working on your Masters in Psychology:

5 year old children do not know what suicide is and do not have natural thoughts of killing themselves. I pray you are not the common student in the bright future of Psychology.

If the drug works for you that's fine. My opinion is that this is a very dangerous drug for small children and the parents who have seen these side effects can tell you firsthand. Bottom line is our medical community needs to be more aware of the possible side effects so they are not blind to what they're prescribing to our children. You obviously do not have children.

I have a 19 month old baby and she was prescribed Singulair when she was 15 months old after a bad bout of pneumonia. So she has been on it for 4 months and I haven't seen any severe side effects. To be honest, I am one of those people that follows whatever her pediatrician recommends and I trust that after 25 years as a doctor, he knows what he is doing. But all of these reports are now terrifying me. I haven't noticed any change in her behavior or moods, and she has always been a very rambunctious baby so if there has been any change (like increased aggression or anxiety) it is hard to tell in such a small child. Has anyone had any experience giving Singulair to a child this young (under 2)?

After reading a few recent posts I feel compelled to speak. I have been in the medical profession for 10 years. I have seen the good and the bad of singulair. Yes it works great for some people with little or no side effects. BUT there are more than a fair share of kids who it does not. Singulair does and cause suicidal and psychotic thoughts, especially in young children. Does that mean every kid that takes it this will happen, NO. Parents just need to be aware of it. The FDA is also to blame along with the drug company. This drug has not had extensive research on kids and long term use. There lies the problem. I want to remind those of you who are blogging that there may be many parents who are quick to blame their behavioral problems on other things rather than looking at themselves and what they can do. I can tell you first hand though there are parents on here that have truly seen the ugly head of Singulair. Just ask the woman whose son committed suicide. You need to be sensitive to that. You always think it won't happen to you. After being in emergency medicine I can tell you that is the first thing every parent states after being told their child, and yes young ones too committed suicide. It is very scary. My child himself at the age of 5 had no other organic so to speak reason to have a psychotic break or all the other symptoms he experienced. There was no explanation, I was at a loss. I took him off Singulair knowing amongst the medical community of it's ugly reputation at times. GUESS WHAT!!! within 2 weeks he was back to his self within a month I had my kid back! His pediatrician, neurologist, and psychiatrist all concurred it was the Singulair hands down. He had every test under the son that is why he seen the neurologist and the psychiatrist. SO just beware it could sneak up on you when you least expect it. But hey all wasn't loss at least his asthma didn't act up. After all it may have worked great for that but the side effects by far was not worth it. It took a year before the side effects reared it's ugly head. So please be sensitive to those who post on here. Yes it may work for some. This site is designed to share side effects not to bash parenting skills or make others second guess what is the right thing to do.

Are there people that have not experienced any side effects of Singulair I saw a question, and the answer is that they are the ones that are not going to post here. Millions of people and especially kids are fine with this medication and have no reason to look for this site. Will some people get side effects from Singulair, yes, but unfortunately there is not a drug out there that will cause no side effects.

People saying this could cause all kids to suicide is a bit disturbing. If you want to take a look the most popular allergy medication, Zyrtec has had suicide listed in their information for awhile. The reason these allergy medications have to have them listed is because they are heavily prescribed because of the great amount of allergy sufferers and any time some one passes in a car crash, accidental death, or unfortunately even suicide they have to list all medicines they are on. Obviously with popular medications more people from these cases will exist than the less popular ones. Drug companies are protecting themselves because of the litigious society we live in and have to place all kinds of occurrences there and not to say in this case, but a lot of people are always looking to blame others for something instead of taking responsibility for themselves.

I don't think doctors are prescribing these medicines because they do not want what is best for each of their patients. There is no conspiracy, and I would trust their view and years of studying and practice to someone's inexperienced diagnosis on this forum when I have no idea what their background and job is on here. I do not look to consult my son's teacher to fix a leak in my roof, so I go to my doctor for advice on medicine and not consult someone not in the field.

Sorry about this harshness, but someone showed me this board and as a parent who has their son on Singulair with great results and even trusted my doctor when they suggested to try it in my one year old son I will continue to listen to their advice. I have heard numerous people in the medical community tell me Singulair is one of the cleanest drugs out there, but again there isn't a drug with no side effects. I am sorry that not all parents have achieved the great effects my kids have had with this drug, but I think most have and thus not had the need to find this board.

I repeat what I've seen here in so many posts. I can't believe it took so long, how did I not realize, my poor child has suffered etc... etc... His side effects were: restless sleep, night mares, NEVER slept through the night. Less and less willing to go to bed at all. Combative, aggressive, began biting, short tempered. Extreme and rapid mood swings, physical, throwing toys and household items. Disinterested in socializing with other children, afraid to be with anyone other than immediately family. Poor self image ("I'm a bad boy"). Plus others.
I have a similar story to many. My 3 year old has been on Singulair for over a year. He had sleep disturbances early on, but the doctor changed the time to administer the dose and it improved... at first. The unfortunate thing I have realized with this medication is that the side effects are gradual and varied. This makes it difficult to make a connection especially in small children. It wasn't until he had a frightening 4 hour night terror episode last week that something clicked, I did a web search, found this website and realized it was probably the singulair. I stopped giving it to him immediately. Within days his behavior improved. Within 2 nights he began sleeping through the night, his personality is completely opposite of what I've dealt with for the last year. He is evolving each day and while I feel guilty for not catching it sooner, I am so elated to watch him shine. I thank all of you for sharing this information, without it I may not have yet realized that my son was suffering.

I contacted the company and they said that all these things have been reported "after marketing" what this means to me is that salespeople can market this to the medical community and not mention theses side effects because they did not occur (or were not documented) during the trial period. I suggest that you share your story with your friends and get the word out. If this medication works for a patient that's great, but I think patients/consumers have the right to know what they may be getting themselves into.