Singulair and moodiness

I have 2 sons with asthma that have both been taken singulair (the oldest for 3 years & his brother for 2). My younger son's asthma got alot better since he was diagnosed & he was recently taken off Singulair thanks also to my husband hearing a report about the moodiness caused. When he was on it he would cry for no reason, get very irrational & seemed to think the world was against him. In just 2 weeks he is happy & cheerful and has told me he thinks it is due to being off singulair. His older brother's asthma has gotten worse over the years & I'm concerned about taking him off but he too has crazy moods. Just tonight he started a new soccer team & got crazy & suddenly didn't even want to participate in something he loves (wanted me to let him quit right then) until we argued enough he reluctantly participated. He then came home complained of a headache (which is also way too frequent) and now has been asleep for hours. Are there any alternatives to this drug? I'm a stressed out mom that doesn't deal well with these mood swings. He is normally a social butterfly & a sweet kid but lately seems more withdrawn, more irritable (especially tonight) & complaining about leg cramps in addition to these frequent headaches. I can't deal with too many more of these evenings & wonder if all these things are possible side effects. I'm glad to see my other son doing well but miss his normally sweet brother! Even his siblings think he is acting crazy :(

I have been on and off Singulair for roughly a year and half, and after reading some of these posts I have a much better understanding of where some of my feelings are coming from. When I first began taking Singulair, it really helped me breathe a lot better and I was convinced it was the best drug on earth. Slowly, over time, I began to notice that I was becoming slightly more irritable but didn't really think much of it. I got off the drug for several months because I don't enjoy being on medication. I wanted to see if a nutritional approach would help me ward off my allergies. After a few months of being off Singulair, I began to have difficulty breathing during allergy season and went back on the drug. It really helped my breathing in a big way; however, my irritability began to return. I thought I was just becoming overly stressed, but when I heard about the moodiness that can be caused by Singulair, I decided to once again get off the drug. I was off of it for several month, and have recently begun using the drug again. I haven't even made it through my first 30 days and I'm becoming a monster!! I'm yelling at my wife like crazy. I seriously felt for the first time in my life that committing suicide would be a good thing and I keep telling myself in my head how bad I suck! My temper is off the charts! I feel like I literally have no way of holding my rage back. It's like I'm an audience member to my own MMA fight. I'm absolutely getting off of this product tonight! I will keep you posted on how I feel after a couple of days not taking this drug.

I have been on singulair for almost 2 years and i feel that it helps a lot actually when i don't have it my asthma acts up a lot, but it's only mild asthma so it's not too bad but it makes the difference. occasionally get a headache possibly attributed to it or more likely the zrytech however you spell that, but i like the singulair better than anything else and have had no thoughts of suicide or moodiness or anything weird.

I'm a 30 year old male, and I've been on Singulair for eight years now to treat chronic asthma. Shortly after I started, there was a noticeable change in my mood and behavior. What I noticed included sadness, thoughts of death, anxiety, and fatigue. I knew that there was something wrong, but just chalked it up to changing life experiences. I was always heavily involved in organized sports (little league through college), but abruptly stopped after college. I thought that the moodiness (or depression) came on because I wasn't as active anymore. Correlation maybe? I don't know. But I do suspect that Singulair is the culprit. I would like to get off for a while, but I literally cannot breathe without it. Does anyone know of any comparable alternatives to Singulair that won't bring on these type of side effects? Thanks all for sharing. Blessings!

My 4 year old daughter has been on Singulair daily for approximately 2 months. We started noticing some minor changes in her behavior early on (shyness, separation anxiety, anger, moodiness) but chalked it up to starting a new pre-school and arguing with her older sister. Then about two weeks ago, she started having an obsessive-compulsive type behavior about wiping herself. My first inclination was that she had some type of infection (yeast, UTI, bladder, etc) but all of the tests came back negative. My doctor told us to stop the Singulair, so we have been off for about a week now, but the OCD symptoms haven't lessened. I would say that some of the other behaviors are improving somewhat, but I am not seeing a "whole new kid" effect after being off for one week. Has anyone had a similar experience with OCD type behaviors? I am beside myself with concern! Thanks for any help.

I am starting a new post in the hopes that others will see what I am trying to say about the delayed reaction in those that took Singulair for allergies.

If it is consistent that Singulair does not stop allergy symptoms immediately, then the pathways that eventually stop allergy symptoms involve a change in the mast cell function, development and migration (or some combination).

I asked this question for a reason. Are allergy symptoms stopped immediatedly. My question below:

I have a question that will help me continuing looking for information. I can understand that in the case of asthma that Singulair would provide immediate relief. If it is used for seasonal allergies or other allergies without asthma, does it work right away or does it take a period of days or weeks to be effective? If it takes time, could you tell me how long it took in your situation?

My thinking was going in the right direction if the answer below is consistent of everyone or most.

about 2 hours ago on Apr 11, 2008 by catherineevans, #7045
My granddaughter was put on Singulair for allergy symptoms without asthma. Itching, red eyes, terrible congestion, etc. dark circles under her eyes all the time. When we first put her on this, we didn't see any consistent results for 2-3 weeks, then it seemed to 'kick in.' I don't know if this helps. By the way, she was 9, now she's almost 12 and was immediately taken off when this story came out 2 weeks ago.

Then after seeing one response, I gave my reason for asking.

I asked this question because I have a theory of how montelukast really works for allergies as compared to how it works for asthma.

Asthma is a hyper-sensitive state that gets going because the mast cell has a receptor (the leukotriene receptor that Singulair blocks) that sends a signal along a pathway that causes lung tissue to have that extreme response - the wheezing, the airway constriction.

On the mast cell is another receptor the histamine receptor that causes the secretions that make our noses runs and and stuff up. This is not the same immune response as the asthma response. When I saw a post that somebody's doctor said that Singulair is an anti-histamine, NO it is NOT.

So if Singulair does not block histamine immediately and your child's allergies did not go away immediately, then maybe Singulair is working through some other means such as changing normal mast cell homeostasis.
I know that this seems like "what does this mean?" I am really writing this hoping to God that there are people reading this site that know what I am talking about.

Thank you so much for responding. Your answer actually told me what I wanted to know and confirmed my hypothesis. More answers will help. I hope others respond.

PLEASE respond about the length of time that allergies disappeared if you took Singulair for allergies.

chris555 should be listed as a side effect. I'm one of the ones whose son committed suicide while on singulair and had the mood swings and such before hand. chris555is causing headaches and making people sick because chris555 is an ass!

We've been searching and wondering for the last 4 1/2 years what happened that November night that our 15 year old son suddenly took his own life. This boy was a fun, loving, jokester that was loved by everyone he came in contact with. We always had a stream of kids in and out of our home. He had just gotten his drivers license, went to homecoming and played on the football team.
Andrew had been on Singulair for about 3 years. He would get the stomach aches, leg cramping, odd sleeping habits and moodiness at times, but we attributed it to a young boy going through puberty. He also experienced the shakes which we were told were from the inhaler.
We had no dramatic warning signs nor was there a note. It all happened so fast that evening. He walked out of the house and 10 minutes later he was gone. Our whole community was in disbelief and devastated.
After speaking with Miller's and reading many, many testimonies on numerous sites, We feel we may have our answer to our years of wondering.

I have been experiencing the same disturbing symptoms that were described in the report...depression, laziness, unmotivated, extreme moodiness, etc. I have been on an antidepressant for the last year and have tried to stop taking it several different times without success because the symptoms return within days.

I tell all of you this so that you know I know what you're going through. But I have to admit, the thought of blaming my doctor never crossed my mind. Let's be honest, here. Is it really their fault? If the drug companies didn't realize it was a side effect, how can you expect your doctor to know it? Personally, I trust my doctor and believe that he has my best interests in mind. If your first instinct is to blame your doctor for not knowing the drug was a problem, then perhaps you should find a new doctor because you obviously don't believe he is trying to help you.

I have an 8 year old son who has been on singulair for about 2 years now. We have a very busy schedule with school, scouts, and football. So we often times would forget to take the pill as the Dr. recommended to take it before bed. Well around November we began taking the medication on a daily basis as prescribed. And since November the number of side effects from this medication has been alarming. I never made the connection to the medication until I came across the information on this website and on other forums. Since November my son has been on his medication consistently and over the past 5 months I have seen so many changes in him. Many that alarm me and have caused me concern but many others that through this website have come to light.

My son has always been a shy but outgoing child. He is very caring and loving and recently he has turned into this selfish, depressed, paranoid, and emotional child. His teachers have made comments saying they don't know what it is with him but they see a change and they were not sure what the cause. I was not sure either. Recently we went for a walk at the park and he said, "I feel like everyone is looking at me". I just shrugged off his comment and said, everyone is looking at you. You are a handsome boy and we are at the park. People enjoy watching other people. Then he would often times tell me he was sad and he did not know why. Said I have a whole in my heart and I don't know what to do to make it better. My heart would just break for him. I felt helpless for him. He has also been aggressive. He has been in 3 fights in the past 3 months. My son also experienced rashes on his body. He has a batch of rough dry irritated skin on his belly and it has now cleared up. He had 3 patches of dry skin on his back and that also has began to clear. His legs also were achy and he has not since complained about leg pains.

This past week we were on vacation for spring break. Well being vacation and not being at home threw our normal schedule for a loop. So we took the regular AM medications (Flonase, Pulmacourt inhaler) but forgot all about the Singulair evening pill. He has not had a pill for 9 days now. Last night we had football practice and I noticed how eager he was to do well and I noticed how much more excited he was about it. I thought it was because he was enjoying it and learning something new. Now I feel like I have a clearer vision into what was REALLY going on. I will NOT give my son Singulair EVER again! I feel misguided that my doctor did not tell me that these were possible side effects. I trusted him and was at my whits end in finding a reslution to my sons asthma issues.

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

The instructions that come with this medication clearly indicate that this medication , and is typed in caps USE OF THIS MEDICINE IS NOT RECOMMENDED IN CHILDREN under the age of 15. Please talk to the doctor about the risks and benefits before giving this to your child.

Now that is with the print out you get when you pick up this medicine from Kaiser, and other drug stores, so I am really shocked to read all these stories of people giving this drug to so many small children. Always research your medication BEFORE you give it to yourself or your child.
I have had many bad reactions, and had to learn the hard way for myself and mor my aging mom, she almost was rendered brain dead from a drug I did not research. Do your homework FIRST! I will never make this mistake again. Hope this helps someone.

My daughter was born with a breathing condition(never pinpointed) that kept her in intensive care for almost 2 weeks. As she grew she seemed ok. Then pneumonia appeared at 1 1/2yrs. and she has been hospitalized 5 times since with various forms of pneumonia(walking, single, double) since. We moved from the city to the 'burbs and all seemed well. She would take the occasional Xopenex(Abuterol made her nuts). To make a long story short, after 2 years in the new house new symptoms appeared. All of a sudden there was coughing at night that would not stop. We went to a new Dr. and he prescribed Singulair. This was October of '06. Soon thereafter, the behavior began to get worse. Tantrums and extreme moodiness began to become more frequent and her school work began to suffer. We've just been informed that the school is recommending holding her back. When I talked to the teacher, she indicated that my daughter has gotten "worse" since Christmas. Teacher also does not believe that there are any learning disabilities. I know that it is the Singulair. She has the constant stomach ache and no appetite to speak of. All of the professionals are assurring me that Singulair is safe. She is not on this nasty drug any longer... Waiting for changes...

Started taking sinulair about a month ago and I thought it was a gift from god...it worked great! I have depression anyway (controlled by meds) and noticed that things were going downhill moodwise about 10 days ago. I'm stopping it today after going online and seeing all the people who've had "moodiness" and depression....for me it could start a tailspin I can't risk.

boys boobs a side effect from singulair? my 12 yr old is getting weight and I see that his breasts are large for his body, he is getting weight but not that much, his pediatrician noticed that, I read that the condition is called gynecomastia and is many times cause for some drugs or medications, my son is "only on singulair" for about 4 yrs, it works wonderful for his asthma but now that I read some of the side effects such leg cramps, stomach irritation, moodiness, stc, c'mon he is a child, he is healthy (to a degree) because all this symptoms can not be just a coinsidence, is like before singulair no leg cramps, moodiness, tireness, he was sooo slim and now all these side effects?.. does somebody else has this side effect with the boys breasts? please reply

No side effects. My 6 year old has been on it for a year and it has controlled his asthma. No breathing treatments. No problems with moodiness. Great drug so far. I hope he does not develop any of the many side effects listed on this site.

My daughter, now 6, has taken Singulair on and off for the last 2-3 years for asthma. It works but the side effects are not worth it. My daughter has had encoupresis (severe constipation causing accidents) since starting the drug, as well as mood swings. Because she has also had to take Flovent (also Advair, Pulmicort) and Albuterol we have never been sure which drug was the culprit. We took her off Singulair at the end of the summer in 2006 and kept her on the Flovent and Albuterol (as needed). We got the encoupresis under control and her mood dramatically improved. This January 2007 she started having allergic reactions everyday at school and was going to the school nurse to get Benydryl. We decided to put her back on the Singulair a couple of weeks ago. The encoupresis symptoms have returned and the moodiness is horrible. We are stopping the medicine from now on, does anyone know of an alternative that helps with food, grass and animal allergies??? Thanks for your help.

After reading these postings I hope that the cause of my daughter's psychological problems is being caused by Singulair. She always showed signs of adhd because of her activity level and distractabilty. However, after becoming asthmatic at age 3 we put her on Singulair as a last resort at age 4.

I thought her tantrums, increasing moodiness etc was caused by jealousy of her new baby sister. I also thought she was being manipulative.

She just turned six and her moodiness increased to the point where she has threatned to kill herself three times and actually ran to the street saying she wanted to get run over by a car last Friday all because i ordered her to put her hairbrush away!

I have started taking her to a psychologist and am starting psych testing because the problems may not be from the Singulair although i hope so.

Her activity level and lack of focus at school has also been a big problem with respect to her teachers.

I'm praying she'll get better soon. I have to say that although many people say their doctors didnt believe them my daughter's allergist did immediately. She said she doesn't like Singulair although she prescribes it because it is effective in controlling allerygy symptons. But she completely believes that it can cause the symptons listed on this website. She said it's all or nothing though. Either the child gets better in no more than 3 weeks or they don't. No in between.

I have a 9 year old son who's been treated for allergy-induced asthma for several years. About 2 years ago he was put on Singulair and it seemed to help quite a bit. I eventually weaned him from it and he did really well until about 2 months ago, when he had a bout of allergy/asthma. His ped put him back on Singulair and started albuterol, along with the Flonase he was already taking. Just over the past 2-3 weeks we've noticed a complete change in his demeanor.

He normally is a bright, loving, sweet kid who excells in much of what he does. Lately that has all changed. The first big red flag was seeing him hit himself when asked to do something more than once (ie make his bed). He'd hit himself and call himself stupid. He went from that to saying he just "needs to go away". And finally admitted that he wants to kill himself sometimes. Has a "plan" and everything.

I read some of the reports similar to the ones here and took him off both the Flonase and Singulair. His moodiness increased and even went toward mania in the two days that followed removing the med. 5 days after stopping the meds, he leveled out considerably and also had an asthmatic attack that night. Sounds to me like the "levels" of meds dropped at that point.

We are now 1 1/2 weeks past stopping the meds and things are returning to normal, though he is still struggling somewhat.

He also has exhibited physical "tics" - throat clearning, sniffing, rubbing his chin on his chest, head shakes, shoulder shakes, etc. on and off since first being put on Singulair. Those have escalated with the other symptoms. And he's also complained of achy legs.

I wonder if there is any way to report these issues and have them taken seriously.

I just switched to Singulair from Accolate, simply because my insurance company prefers Singular and the co-pays are significantly different.

Has anyone who has taken both drugs noticed any difference between the two?

Also, and I realize I might be asking in the wrong place, but are the moodiness symptoms described here for Singulair common for Accolate as well?

Thanks,
LDK