Singulair and sleep

I have been reading all of these posts and have another question. I hope that someone can help. My daughter, 8 years old, has been on Singulair since she was 4. She is normally a very happy girl with a wonderful disposition. For the last year or so, she has been having trouble getting herself to sleep at night. She says that she hears things in her head such as ringing or "noises". A few hours before she knows it's bedtime, she cries and when we ask her why she's crying, she can't give us a reason. We initially thought that she was crying for no reason because she didn't want to go to sleep. I remember reading about the side effects of Singulair causing mood swings, etc., but her's are not violent mood swings. Just very emotional and has a hard time coming down from the "episode". I'm at a loss...I have not talked to her doctor yet about it, but have told her that we will make an appointment this week to discuss it with him. My husband suggested that maybe it sounded like she was having a panic attack or anxiety attack. I hate to label her as that at such a young age. My mind now goes back to the side effects of Singulair and maybe this is to blame. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! Concerned Mom

Has anyone's kids had trouble sleeping since taking Singular. My son has been on it for a couple weeks and seems not to be able to go to sleep very easy. Also it seems to wear off kind of fast, by bedtime he's stuffy and itchy.

I just wanted everyone to know that I am still here and concerned about everyone who is having side effects from Singulair. Sometime within the next few weeks I am going to post a summary and conclusion about all of the research that I have posted. I hope to come up with a well organized concise statement about why everyone who experiences side effects from Singulair should stop using the drug immediately. Not everyone has an adverse reaction to this drug. For those who do, it is very dangerous to continue this medication even for one more day.

STOP IMMEDIATELY IF YOU SUFFER SIDE EFFECTS FROM SINGULAR. WHEN YOU SUFFER SIDE EFFECTS FROM SINGULAIR, THE REASON IS THAT YOU ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THE DRUG'S GENETIC BASED MODEL.

Singulair targets the CysLT1 receptor, which is a gene. This gene is not the same for everyone. If your doctor does not understand that the mode of action of Singulair has a genetic component, then tell him/her.

My 7 year old daughter has been on Singulair since she was about 2 yrs.old. She has always been very energetic child, but I did notice as soon as she got a little older she began to get very aggressive, angry and mean all of the time. She also has had trouble making and keeping friends because she is so hyper and emotional. I never even associated Singulair with her problems until recently, even though I was told a few months ago that Singulair could be the problem. So, back at the beginning of June, my husband and I kept forgetting to give our daughter her Singulair, and this went on for about 2 months (and her mood was improving immensly). Feeling bad that we kept forgetting her Singulair, (not realizing that that was the problem) we started her back on Singulair again just a about a week ago and in just a few days time she has been truly unbearable! She's been very mean, yelling, throwing things, totally unruly! So bad that I was going to have her completely tested for ADHD and whatever else! So as of today, I am taking her off of Singulair and I am contacting her doctor first thing in the morning! Good luck to all!

I started Singulair in Jan this year.....breathing got much easier but started gaining weight with no changes in eating habits or activity levels....tons of tummy problems...quit taking it in May...starting having to rely more on my rescue inhalator more than recommended so I went back on. Now I'm having paranormal experiences....some psychotic episodes....compulsive obsessive behaviors...major off the wall dreams that continue after I wake up and go back to sleep. All in all I wonder which is worse....not getting a good deep breath or having to live in misery to be able to breathe....Thanks for letting me vent. There must be some other solution.

50 year old male, prescribed Singulair 8 months ago to assist with allergy problems while taken allergy shot treatments. About 2 weeks ago started experiencing numbness/tingling in right foot, then both feet, the spreading up the body to above the waist. The best way to describe the sensation is a combination of the feeling you get when you hit your funny bone and the sensation when you sit or lay in a position that puts one of your limbs to sleep. Had all the blood work tests done at Dr. office to verify no other issues, all blood work is normal, Dr. suggested could be a neuorlogy problem and more tests will be necessary. Receive routine Chiropractic treatments and had him check everything, including new x-rays, nothing there. Read the side effects again for Singulair and realized that this numbness/tingling is just one of the symptoms I have had since starting this drug. The others being unusual weakness, tiredness, which I thought was just part of getting older and severe sinus inflammation, which I had thought was just related to my allergies. Have contacted my allergy doctor that put me on this and he said to stop taking Singulair to see if my side effects go away, since I am near the end of the time that he expected me to take them for anyway.
I will repost after a few weeks or as soon as the side effects go away.

My 16 year old son took Singular for three days. Almost immediately after taking the first dose, he starting having increased blood pressure, rapid heart beat, tiredness, depression, thoughts of death, muscle soreness, tingling in his arms and legs, numbness, weird dreams (when he was actually able to sleep) and decreased appetite. He seriously thought that he was going crazy. It was not until I did some internet research that I finally linked all of his symptoms to this horrible drug. He stopped taking it on Friday of last week and each day since has been feeling better. He is not 100% back to normal yet, but each day seems to be better. It was a scary three day period while he was using this medication. Hopefully it will only take another day or two to get out of his system completely.

In response to Wewe's post, I've been wondering the same thing. Since taking my daughter off Singular almost 2 months ago, I'm seeing a different almost typical kid. Four years ago about 2 months after starting Singular my daughter was diagnosed with anxiety. As her condition got worse she was diagnosed with depression. We started to see OCD and tics so they were added as a diagnosis It was determined that it was related to strep infections so she was diagnosed with PANDAS. She was started on Zoloft and klonidine. The Zoloft made her worse. Her fears of hurting herself got so intrusive she was hospitalized. Her cholesterol was high too. The Zoloft was discontinued and Prozac was started. She's had therapy all 4 years. She also neede physical therapy due to muscle and joint pain. Now she's doing better, off Singular. Does she really have PANDAS, OCD? I don't know. She's still on Prozac, we just did a slight decrease this week. Is this medication the trigger for underlying conditions. Learned behaviors can be unlearned, but are there lasting physical effects? If a gene has been turned on, can it be turned off? I wish we knew the answers to help all of our kids.

I have been on SINGULAIR for 2 months now, I am a very active person, I do lot of sports. First thing I noticed was severe tiredness that affected me during practicing. Sleep disturbance and insomnia became very common, I had to shift from ZYRTEC to BENADRYL to be able to sleep.
Last week I did a blood test, the scary thing was elevated ALT levels ( almost 3 times the normal level ). I excluded all factors that could cause that. Nothing but Singulair. I have stopped it and I will go for a course of sylimarin and retake the test in 1 month.

My 10 year old son has taken Singulair on and off since he was 5 years old and has been on it for the past 3.5 years. My son at an early age was affected by a bad marriage and then the divorce when he was 5 yrs old. So we always suspected that his behavior issues were caused by this and I had done everything I possibly could to give them the help he needed to get over and through his issues. He was held back his first year of Kindergarden and during his second year midstream he was placed in a special class for behavioral problem children. Nothing ever seemed to help him, everytime we would see some progress and encouragement we were always blind sighted by a behavior that was always worse. Two steps forward and them 5 steps backwards. I always knew that his problems would never get better overnight so I just kept on going. He was diagnosed with ADHD but because he has some ticking issues I had to put him on Strattera which was did not do a thing for him. I always described him as my Dr. Jeckyll/ Mr. Hyde child. He could be really good and sit still and behave but I think he had to try really hard to do so. He eventually was always overpower by the impulse to show negative behaviors. Defiant, extremely impulsive, always negative and completely miserable all the time. He also went through phases of compulsions. There was always a compulsion of the month- germs, bathroom habits, noises, repetitive words. He hated school and always complained of a stomach ache which i thought he was always faking to get out of school. He had confrontations in school everyday for most of the day. I often thought some of this was because of being tired all the time. We had battled over bedtime every single night. He was terrified to go to bed alone, I tried everything to get him to sleep alone. I wore myself out falling asleep next to him, I would then go to my own bed only to be up with him half the night going back and forth. I gave in many a night and slept with him just so we could get a good nights sleep. At age 8.5 I finally got him to go to sleep alone but the lights haf to be on and he has to know that I am still awake before he will fall asleep. He would always say he didn't want to go to sleep because when he does he has bad thoughts about me and people that he loves. He always had an extremely hard time excepting the word "no"- he would flip out and hit his head with whatever was handy, throw things, break things, scream holler etc. It would take hours to get over it. When he did he would be very remorseful and lovable. He was always in turmoil. Finally in February of this year, this graduated to a new level where he would want to just kill himself and would actually go and pull a knife out of the drawer and just shake with anger as he held the knife to his throat. I was terrified although i really didn't think he was going to harm himself he just wanted to scare me. Then at the end of March when i first heard the news about the possible side effects of Singulair, I had only heard about the suicide effect. Oh great just what I needed was this medicine causing him to do that. The doctor was thinking about taking him off if this summer because he wanted to see if he out grew his seasonal allergies so I took him off immediately. Well I had no idea about the other side effects until my son turned into a completely different kid. School noticed a huge difference in him! His grades went up, his is able to control his behavior, he is happy he is NORMAL. I never suspected this drug as the culprit due to the timing of taking it. Our lives have changed completely. When i first found this site, it seemed as though some of the parents were writing about my child. It is amazing. My son still has some old habits to break but overall he is a wonderful and normal 10 year old boy. He did not outgrow his seasonal allergies but Allegra seems to help in through it. I get so angry- his whole early childhood was ruined by this medicine. He is a labled kid in our school system. This whole experience has opened up my eyes. Thank you for letting me share my story.

My son, now 10...has been on singular off and on, since I don't' know how long...today was the second time he was intentionally hurting his cat. He has told me time and time again about visions while he was awake, violent ones, he argues with anyone and everyone. He has no friends at school. Last year I took him off all his medications to see why his behavior was so drastic, he got so calm, it was like a new boy, but then when he started back to public school...he had to be put back on them again, and again with the singular...
If it was not for this site..I would think my son was sick mentally. But after this...he will see his doctor tomorrow and no more singular...
When I took him off all the meds I told his doctor I was really worried about his behavior and they said it will be okay...he went right back to just out of control. Could not sleep, concentrate at school or at home. He is so smart and he is failing school..not because he is slow, but they kept saying he was add...but when I home schooled him and took him off his meds...he was so great, obdient..not perfect by no means, but just a normal boy...
I hear him right now, in the other room, fighting imaginary people...he seems to go go go..and with no sleep...the dreams in the day time I just thought were his imagination...but now that i hear about other children like him...they are to him real..just like he tells me..he also always tells me how mad he stays..he says all the time I am just angry mom, and I would say at what..he just says everything...
Thank God for this site....now i know..it is not in his head, it is just like I told his doctor...it is his medication..now I know just the one it is..
THank you all..
God Bless all the others here suffering with the same problems...it is just shocking that we as parents and patients, even after telling the doctors, are right...I feel vindicated...I will be printing this off and taking it with us to the doctors...

Hi everyone
My little boy who is nearly two was put on Singulair as a preventative.
I did check on forums when we started using Singulair and I was concerned that there has been descriptions of negative affects. Always trying to be objective I rationalised that the people in this forum are a small part of the greater Singulair population and as a result there was a low risk of negative affects on my little boy.
I have to say I think I was wrong. As soon as he was using Singulair, he had restless nights of sleep. Every night he would cry off and on until 2am and I guess he was so tired he slept. During the day he was very short tempered and became upset very easily. We put this down to tiredness. After 10 days of the lack of sleep for parents and little one, we told our doctor.
He advised to take him off Singulair for 5 days and make observations and then put him back on. Last night, his first night off Singulair was bliss. Not a sound. He had a great sleep. As I type he is now having another great sleep.
Let us see what happens after 3 more days and after putting him back on Singulair.
It would seem that if we are correct and that Singulair is a cause of an issue for my child, am I a quasi beta testing laboratory for a drug?
We are from Australia.
Thank you for reading.

I just started using Singulair a few days ago. I am 54 years old and just started coughing at night only. I would be fine during the day and then never failed, at night I started to cough keeping me awake. I was given antibiotics, narcotic cough syrups but it only helped temporarily and then I went back to coughing nights only again. So as I mentioned, I started taking Singulair a few days ago because my physician thinks I have developed allergies and Singulair is noted to help night coughs. It is helping my night coughs but I still cough a few times at night and now I cough quite a few times in the day when I never use to cough in the daytime. Wondering if Singulair is worth taking as the symptoms are becoming opposite? I hate taking drugs and don't know if I should find a safer alternative? Help, anyone? Thank you

I am finally writing after reading these posts since the end of April. That is when I took my 11 year old son off singulair, in an act of desperation. He has been on singulair on and off for about five years for seasonal allergies. He started again in mid-March so it could get into his system, before the allergies started. Immediately thereafter his behavior changed. He was arguing on a daily basis. He would hit, kick or trip me when he was angry. He was starting to destroy things in anger. He seemed to be fueled by anger. It was affecting the whole family. He was starting fights with his younger brother, my husband's heart was palpitating and I was crying every day. I heard about Singulair side effects and looked it up. I saw that it caused behavioral changes and out of desperation, took him off, not knowing what to expect. We had three days of total peace, then on the fourth day another outburst. Then my son told me he had taken a singulair the night before. That was it. I threw every pill in the garbage. He no longers acts like that. It's been almost two months so I am convinced it was the Singulair. By the way, he always complained of headaches, stomach aches and would scream in his sleep. Who knew - it was the singulair all along.

Well, we just got out of the ENT and he couldn't believe that his ped put him on Singulair. He said he didn't like it, it wasn't a good drug, and hadn't heard of many good things about it. He also told me to take my son off immediately, to bad I already had. He also wanted me to put him back on Zyrtec but only when needed, not every day like he had been taking it. Told him about how the neb. had been talked about so he listened to my little one's lungs and he said that they are all clear and there is no need for one. While I was in this appointment, his ped. called. She said that she had never heard of any side effects with this and she wanted him to stay on it for a week to see if it worked or not. Sorry we aren't doing that, we had four doses of it and that is more than enough to say we aren't staying with it. This is just his first full day off the med and I shouldn't get all worked up but while in the waiting room to see the ENT we had two huge fits and even hit his head on one of the chairs because he didn't get his way. The ENT said to give him about a week to go threw "detox" and get it out of his system and then he should be back to himself.

Also, on top of the big mood changes and swings we didn't sleep good last night and had another fit of rage in the waiting room of the ENT. Not fun at all.

I took my son off Singular a month ago, some slight improvements with the sleep and behavior problems. I voiced my concerns with my doctor twice now he looks at me like Im crazy and then he goes on the PC and says he cant find any of these side affects im talking about. My son was an appointment to see an allergist specialist.

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 am a 41-year old female with allergy induced asthma, who has been taking Singulair for almost 1 1/2 years now. I was diagnosed with depression about 5 years ago (after my sister's death) and was taking 100mg of Zoloft daily, which my doctor upped to 200mg around the same time I started Singulair for allergy problems. I did not know about the Singulair/depression warnings until searching today on Google for drug interactions on the meds I take in hopes of trying to find a reason for my overwhelming depression. For the past 1 1/2 years, I have lived like a zombie, numb to the world and my family, gave up a $72K job, gained alot of weight, have the weirdest and most vivid dreams, and am tired all of the time, only finding rest after 10-15 hours of sleep per day. I am a working professional, have a Master's degree, and have always considered myself a rational objective person, and not a "lemming" that follows the rest over the cliff. However, the side effects I am experiencing ARE NOT NORMAL and ARE NOT IMAGINARY. I do not know if Singulair is causing my symptoms or not, however, I am going to stop taking the medicine today, and switch to something else. For me, QUALITY OF LIFE is the major issue. While Singulair works great to help me breathe comfortably, I can find other meds to do the same thing. However, what I cannot take is a medication possibly responsible for taking my "life" away.

i'm a mother of 1yr 8mths son. my son gets flu n cough about once every month. we went to this doctor that practiced phlegm suction (because babies have phlegm in their bodies). but since he knows how to reject the tube into his mouth, we think we can try another doctor. so we went to see a specialist. after telling her the history of our son, she came into a conclusion that our son has a mild asthma. then she prescribed a ventolin and singulair. the stock is only for 2weeks then we shall continue the medication for 2months. he shows very positive effects- easily sleep (which is very rare except he gets too tired), sleep soundly and gets better quickly. until recently he got high fever and we went to the regular doctor. he said it is not good to feed the baby with the medicine that heals cough quickly because the phlegm won't got out. then we stopped the singulair. when the fever gets higher and shaking, he's admitted. there at the paediatrics we got another opinion saying that early stage of asthma we don't use the singulair. they said, besides expensive it also not appropriate for the kids. though our son got admitted but luckily we got very useful information from the trustful sources! as for our son, he acts like so active like never before. i'm not sure it is because of the side effects or kids are like that..
just 1 thing i don't understand, why people that called themselves paediatricians, children's specialist, don't really know what's best for the kids..what a pity..i think they should read more..

My 17 year old daughter started Singulair last July for Asthma. She is brilliant and scored in the 99% on the ACT college entrance exam. She won 3 scholarships totaling over 60,000 and earned 27 college AP credits while still in high school, volunteering for the Red Cross, singing in choirs, and playing the lead in her high school musical and 3 plays. She was funny, sweet, and had many friends.
She left for college 3 weeks after starting the medication and saying she was breathing better. Her grades were terrible, even though I was able to check to see she went to class every session, as posted online. She became very depressed, withdrawn, staying in her dorm room. She was sleeping up to 20 hours straight without waking up. She didn't call her friends when she came home and only wanted to sleep. She was like a different person. She was so aggressive that she tried to run out in the middle of the night and attacked me when I tried to block her way, to the point I had to call the police. They diagnosed her with new onset major depression and ADD. They started her on Zoloft for 2 months and she got much worse and was removed from Zoloft as a result. She said she was too tired to stay awake even in class. We had a sleep study done for Narcolepsy and it was negative. Until reading these posts, I didn't connect the Singular. Everything I am reading is so familiar, it makes me feel ill. I can't believe I didn't know, I am a nurse. The guilt is horrible. I hope to get my daughter back, but she lost all her scholarships and only managed to pass 16 hours in one entire year of college. I can't afford to send her back without the money she lost. They even put her on a one time only probationary period to ever get Federal or State Financial aids and loans again. Singular had to be to blame. I am simply thankful my daughter is still here, she was very suicidal. My heart breaks for those of you that lost your children to the side effects of the drug. We have to get the word out by each filing a complaint to the FDA, and filling out adverse event forms.
Please don't let Merck get away with this. We need to act, even if your child was one of the lucky ones and is back to normal now.

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.

A friend told me today that she took her son out of Singulair because of the terrible nightmares he was having whilentaking it. I have not slept well in the last year and a half that my 2 1/2 year old son has been in Singulair but never though it was due to the drug since he was doing so well with the post RSV related asthma. I am taking him off today, I hope he can sleep better and his bad temper and aggressive responses cease. He was never like that before. I can believe that so many people have gone through the same situation with their kids and I never heard about it until today

My almost 3 year old daughter has been on singulair for almost a year and we have noticed severe mood changes in her behavior. She is become aggressive with sever temper tantrums. This has also affected her nighttime sleep and daily routine. We just decided to take her off singulair and we are hoping that her mood changes. Please be aware of the possible side effects even if your doctor says that the medication is safe to take.

My son (27 months old) has been taking Singular for about a month and a half now to treat his asthma. His asthma is doing great, but since he started taking Singular he has been having awful nightmares. At the suggestion of his doctor we started giving him his medication in the morning instead of at night to see what happened. That just started effecting his naps and night-time sleep.
The doctor is now suggesting taking him off the Singular to see if he nightmares stop. I'm hoping everything improves after stopping Singular, but don't know what to do about the asthma.

I was put on Singulair about 2 years ago because of my COPD. No allergies were ever mentioned by my Doctor. This site has been a god send for me.
Since starting Singulair I have been put on Digoxin for an irregular heart beat that I never had before. I have been put on Gabapentin for leg pain and cramping in my feet whenever I put my feet up or laid down to TRY and get to sleep. I have been put on so many pain killers for back pain, leg pain, neck pain I can't even count them all. I won't take them, they make me so sick. Now I find that I wake up with a headache every morning, feeling sick..oh yes, I was given medication for nausea also. And I don't want to forget the six months of experiencing never ending dizzy spells. That was another medication to ad to the list of ALL THE MEDICATIONS I HAVE TAKEN OVER THE PAST 2 YEARS for the side effects of Singulair. I stopped taking it a couple of days ago and I woke up this morning feeling so good. Oh, lets not forget the Xanax, Prozac and Cymbalta for depression.......OMG! I'm looking forward to see how many of these medications I can toss now that I've stopped taking Singulair. I just wish I had found this site two years ago, oh yeah, I am on Advair also. I've been, lets say "in a chronic bad mood" too. Some would say a "B". I've already noticed a difference there too.

My daughter, just turned 3, was put on Singulair this past January for allergies. She had chronic runny nose, sinusitis, coughing, often leading to infections. The allergist put her on Singulair combined with Hydroxyzine every night. Now that I have read these postings, I recall that we had one really disturbing episode with her, although I can't now recall exactly how long after starting the drugs. Like some others have described, she woke in the night, seemingly terrified and at the same time in extreme pain. We could not find any way to soothe her or relieve her pain - she simply fought and flipped around, alternately reaching for us and kicking us away while screaming and crying and writhing on the bed. After a time, maybe half an hour, it seemed to just pass and she finally went back to sleep. But then we endured a couple of months of repeated wakings at night, sometimes when she was restless for an hour or more, sometimes upset. She might wake 3, 4, or 5 times in one night.

Lately I have become concerned about her increasingly aggressive behavior towards us, but recently towards others. And I am also very concerned about her physical growth. She is 41" and over 40 pounds and turned 3 a week ago. I am now buying her size 5T clothes. I have finally gotten proactive (why did I wait??!) and consulted with her ped., who has agreed that we should screen her for anything we can. My daughter has been diagnosed with developmental delays (pre-Singulair) and is in a preschool with similar kids. We have been dealing with behavior issues for the last year, and I am astounded that an allergist would put her on Singulair with the current controversy about it's side effects. I took her off it immediately as soon as I found out there were negative reports - thankfully our experience has not been as extreme as many others. But I feel ill at what could have happened! I am now praying that she has not suffered any irreversible damage...

Bless all of you in your struggles.

I am so glad I found this web site I just wish I had found it BEFORE I took my Singulair this evening. I am a 54 year old mother of 12 year old twin boys and I only just begun taking Singulair 9 days ago for lingering asthma problems I could not shake. My difficulties with Singulair started right away with headaches (though I didn't realize what was going on till I found this site) and by day three I was starting to have the dreadful nightmares that everyone is describing. Now it is also obvious that an extreme depression has settled over me and seems to be getting worse every day. I feel like I am living in the shell of myself and almost as a third party observe the awful way I have been treating my family. It makes me feel so miserable all I want to do is to be by myself, shut down and sleep. I read in the other letters about body/back aches but not about what I have been experiencing. Just a few days ago - terrible leg pains/cramps began pulsate along the back of my upper legs and sometimes the lower back. I am stiff and uncomfortable during the day but at night it is terrible. Each night it has gotten worse. The pain in my legs is nearly unbearable even as I write this and is what propelled me to get back out of bed at midnight and to the computer and to this site. Thank goodness and thank everyone who has written - it is obvious you have saved me much pain and grief - hopefully my letter will help someone else. But for right now this six month supply of Singulair is going in the trash immediately!
Lauri

Restless Sleep, depression

I have a three year old son who has severe allergies. He's been taking singulair for 2 years on & off just in the allergy season. He started taking, singulair again in the beginning of April. One morning he woke up and both eyes were really swollen and red, I called his doctor's office and told them i thought he had pink eye, after 2 different drops and no change I brought him into the doctor's to see if it could be his allergies, and they agreed and started him on Zyrtec. I still was not impressed with the results so i brought him back yet again to see if we could see a specialist. Instead they put him on nasonex to try.
In the beginning of March I started to see a change in my usual happy fun loving son. He was scared to sleep in his bed, waking up in the middle of the night from bad dreams, uncontrollable screaming fits that would last up to an hour, saying he wants a Boo Boo. At first we thought it could be jealously over his new brother, or maybe something at his school.
Then i found this website and everything clicked, how scary it must be for a child to have these horrible thoughts and not be able to understand or stop them. What are the people at merck thinking??
Can any one tell me when the symptoms stop. He's been off for a week and we see some improvements. But he still has these fits with almost an OCD tendency to them (mainly when he's overtired), stomach pains, lack of appetite.

My son is almost 9, he has been on Singulair for 3 years. Last Friday the pulmonologist took him off of it. My son has been sleep walking since about the time he started singulair, have noticed major behavior changes. He gets very angry over nothing, he is extremely sensitive, he is not the happy little boy he once was. He has horrible dreams. Over time this has gotten progressively worse. I have to say that since last Friday when he was taken off the singulair, I have noticed a huge difference. My happy little boy is coming back! I told the Pulmonologist my concerns ans could this be side effects and he replied "YES", Also, he feels that my son has outgrown his asthma which is wonderful. I feel so horrible for all these children and families going through this. Parents, remember you are your child's best advocate. don't let the children suffer.

My nephew is 7 and has been on Singulair for probably 4 years. His symptoms developed over time but recently have exploded. He has epilepsy so most of the things that he has experienced has been blamed on that. However, today his doctor took him off singulair and said he believes his symptoms are caused from the drug. He started having head drop seizures, fell out of his desk and cut his face one day. He has also been depressed, had severe anxiety attacks for the past 8 months. Several months ago, he started having such severe nightmares that it is almost impossible to get him to go to bed and go to sleep. Recently he began "seeing dead people" and "monsters" that we trying to kill him even when he was awake. He has also cried many nights with leg cramps and severe stomach pain. I will update this page in two - three weeks to let you know if these problems go away now that we have stopped the singulair.

I have been on Singular for the past three years. I usually take a tablet in the evening at the same time I take a baby aspirin and Nyaspan (cholesterol). I didn't seem to have any problems except waking up periodically throughout the evening; thought this was due to age (63). I was without my Singular for about 10 days and then got a new prescription filled. When I took the first tablet I went to sleep and was awakened by a "burning, prickly" sensation im my arms, chest, face and thighs. I went into the bathroom and found myself covered with what I would call hives. I felt hot. Thank heaven I had some liquid Benadryl. After about 30 minutes I finally could relax enough to get back to sleep. By the next morning all that was left was a slight red "glow"; could have thought I went for a tanning session. The pharmacist couldn't give me an answer; I am now waiting for my doctor's input. In the meantime...I'll skip the Singular. (next time it may affect my breathing)

Is this a clue,I have an older son that was born with a birth defect,we live in a city that prides itself on its health care,when i would take him to the mylo clinic,we would see orthopedics, neuron surgery,nutritionists ,neurologists etc everything we needed, now my youngest son,with allergies and asthma,when we would go to clinic also available were behavior specialists and sleep disorder doctors hmmmmm

My son is almost 6 yrs old. He has been taking Singular for approx 3 years, in addition to Claritin and Nasonex. This is all for his allergy to mold. His doctor started him on these meds after a 6 month episode with sinus infections leading to asthma-like symptoms. We have not noticed anything unusual about his behavior until approx 3 months ago. He started waking up every night (2-3 hours after going to bed) with bad dreams. At first he would not fully awaken and fall back asleep immediately. After a month or so of this happening most nights, he had two nights in a row where he woke up screaming and was inconsolable for about 30 minutes. We initially thought it was night terrors, but he was not scared or fearful, he was just upset/angry. He would hit the bed repeatedly and yell. He didn't know what he was upset about but would talk about how he thought we hated him, he was dumb, etc. After about 30 min he would 'snap out of it' and return to his normal self and go back to sleep easily.
At first we thought these were night terror brought on by a recent fever, but he had another episode last night. He has also been falling apart at the littlest things and getting quite violent (for a 6 yr old). He was sent to his room yesterday evening because he was complaining about the dinner his mom made (lots of complaining these days..). He had a total melt down an started throwing things and hitting the door so hard he put a hole in it.
Some of this behavior I would chalk up to normal kid stuff, new baby brother, etc. But I am suspicious about the negative thoughts, bad dreams, and instant melt downs... I stopped giving him Singular today and we will see what happens. God bless you all as we figure these things out...

I spent the weekend reading about the development of Singulair. The early studies recognized that the first phase of the acute asthma response bronco-constriction was probably not caused by leukotrienes. They identified histamines and prostaglandins as the probable sources. I don't think that changed because the Singulair literature states that it should not be considered as a treatment for that. Leukotrienes were a source of inflammation caused by eosinophils and mast cells present in greater numbers (than normal) in airway tissue. So, it was beneficial to find a way to decrease that.

The cysLT1 receptor was identified as source of the signals that tell the cells to produce leukotriene. The receptor, a gene, consist of 337 (they think) amino acids. They modified a compound that would bind to that receptor thus blocking the cells ability to produce leukotrienes. This compound is very specific. It was formulated to bind to the "model" receptor. This compound will not even bind to cysLT receptor sub-types. (That is the good thing.) There is an enormous amount of research that discusses the genetic variability of the chemical reactions that occur in the leukotriene (calling it this for simplicity) pathway. We are also seeing that a number of researchers would like to use gene profiles to predict whether patients will respond favorably to different asthma/allergy drugs. ALL PATIENTS HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW IF IT IS INHERENT THAT SOME PEOPLE WILL NOT RESPOND TO SINGULAIR OR RESPOND ADVERSELY.

There are many studies from the 1998 era that conclude that montelukast is not effective for everyone. Those researchers stated that it can be predicted that those people who are going to respond favorably will do that within the first 14 days or so. That conclusion would be consistent with a genetic component for efficacy and safety of Singulair. Those doctors concluded that those who did not respond within that time frame should not take Singulair for fear of harming them. That makes good sense.

The Italian researchers wanted to know if there was more going on than blocking leukotrienes in the action of montelukast. They set up a "test tube" study regarding montelukast, the cysLT1 receptor, and some t-cells that they selected. Why? Researchers always have something on their minds. They observed the death of these particular t-cells.

Montelukast is a quinoline. We basically know of quinilines and quinolones as compounds that were invented as broad spectrum antibiotics. They work because they interference with bacterial DNA so they cannot replicate themselves. Montelukast is a quinoline modified to bind with the cysLT1 receptor (a gene) and prevent that gene from activating. That's consistent with what a quinoline/quinolone does.

So what does montelukast do in blood plasma if it does not bind to the receptor because of genetic mis-match? (If montelukast does bind, then a chemical reaction has occurred and the liver will break down the by-products. Montelukast metabolized in 10-12 hours.) What happens if it doesn't bind? How long before it breaks down? Does it produce toxic by-products?

I want to know what happens to lymphocytes such as t-cells just because montelukast is a quinoline. Maybe nothing but what's up with the Italians researchers? I want to know if montelukast has the capability to interfere with lymphocytes who can clone themselves. That could be a good thing under circumstances when these lymphocytes are causing inflammation. But it could be a bad thing in the case of normal individuals with no problems.

I want to know if the bad side effects are due to the fact that the body has to break down and metabolize a quinoline that did not bind to the receptor for which it was created. The side effects of Singulair are strangely similar to what is observed in the quinolones such as levaquin. I have not as yet been able to compare montelukast as a quinoline to levaquin as a quinolone. I am hoping to find something on these categories. There may be no reason to worry that they cause similar damage. But frankly, I think that there is. There is some terrible chit happening to some people. The scariest is the neurological damage.

All of these questions would be in the everybody pharma knows to ask category. I don't know where the answers are. I haven't found them as of yet. Maybe there are no answers. We have to remember that Singulair and Vioxx were released in the same year. They have continued to be drugs under the current executive management of Merck. If the Vioxx marketing promoters had their ghost writers, why not the Singulair marketing promoters. The genetic component appears to be widely accepted but we haven't heard one thing about even that.

I think that it is sad that maybe the marketing of Singulair as one stop shopping for asthma/allergies may have destroyed the original concept. I really think from reading the original work that they knew that they couldn't engineer a drug for one size fits all. Everybody gets harmed when information is withheld.

Shame on the allergist who yelled at the mother who wanted to discuss issues. Does he know exactly who is allergic to Singulair and who isn't? Get him a dunce hat. Just because Singulair is marketed for allergies does not mean that you cannot be allergic to it. See the power of Madison Avenue? The ad agencies focus group these drugs to death. The ad agencies cleverly craft the product information. A good piece of legislation would be to prohibit consumer drugs ads.

I am a 50 year old women. I had bronchitis that turned into severe asthma.
Could not stop coughing. I have been on Singulair for over a year. Have had weight gain, Hand numbness,Stomach problems. Even had an colonoscopy but turned up nothing. Now I understand after reading all these posts. The weight gain alone was driving me crazy. Limiting myself to 1200-1400 calories, eating only lean meats and vegetables.Exercising and loosing MINIMAL weight over a 4 month period. I felt like I was doing something wrong. Ive thrown my Singulair away after reading your posts. Will figure out something else if my allergies and or asthma flairs. Just not worth it. Will repost after Ive been off a while.

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.

I took Singulair for a little over a year. In that time I have quit my job of six years, dropped college classes that I was previously excited about, and generally didn't give a damn any more about anything. My dreams became dark and horribly violent nightmares leaving me shaken throughout the day. I couldn't concentrate and was thinking I should seek professional help. My wife was worried that it was her and I couldn't figure out what my problem was.

About 6 or 7 weeks ago I heard there had been links to mood swings and depression from taking Singulair and immediately stopped taking it. It sounds cloche but it was as if the clouds parted and the sun began to shine again. I have become much more like my old happy and motivated self. My wife has noticed a huge difference as well as my friends and former coworkers. I am still having a little bit of a hard time staying on task but each day gets better and better. I sleep much better and the nightmares have stopped.

I think I'd rather deal with the allergy symptoms rather than take the FDA sanctioned poisons put out by firms like Merck. Their practices are criminally negligent but nothing will probably come of it because the regulatory agencies are in their pockets. It's all about the bottom line profits--public health be damned.

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?

My son is 5 years old. He was put on Singulair in August following a case of pnemonia. He has asthma. I found it worked well since I was barely using inhalers anymore. His eczema was even getting better. So I was happy with the medication. He also seemed to be getting more agitated with us. At least three times a day he would have an outburst towards his brother or us, like he was going to punch or hit us. Then I would say "why are you mad at me" and he would say "I'm not mad, I'm frustrated" and then burst in tears. He was getting a lot of time outs. Then two months ago he started saying "this is not a good day" or "this is a sad day". I was wondering if singulair was to blame, but it wasn't until I heard concerns from other moms. I took him off it as an experiment and noticed the next day was without his outbursts. Then I just never gave him anymore...and I am relieved to say he is as "normal" as I remember him before Singulair!!! He also was unable to get to sleep easily on Singulair, sometimes 1, 2 and even three hours to get to sleep. Now he is out in 20 minutes if not less. I haven't talked to the Doctor yet. I have noticed his eczema is flaring up again and he has used his inhaler this week (although he has a cold). I think I can deal with that without Singulair and the problems I am suspicious come from it's use.

**Reporting back on my 17 year old son, 7 years on Singulair**
After enduring so much for the past several years, I think that I am seeing definite changes **YEAH** It has been just over 4 weeks since he took his last dose of singulair. He reports "I slept like a baby....I hit the pillow and lights out." I think that singulair somehow disrupts the normal sleep patterns of some individuals resulting in many of the emotional / behavioral disturbances that everyone writing on this website is reporting. If any of you have been sleep deprived for several days -- taking care of a child or relative or for any other reason, if you are like me, you tend to be a grouchy, short tempered and basically not in a very good mood. If Singulair has been depriving our children of a good night's rest for however long they have been taking it, think of how that will affect their daily behavior. I would say my son is much calmer and happier now and he is definitely noticing that he sleeps much better than before.

My 5 year old son was taking Singulair for about 2 years when I came upon this site. I immediately called his allergist and got no answers, so I decided to take him off of it. Within 24 hours I noticed a big difference. He use to not sleep. He would be up all night. he uncontrollable outbursts at school, and home stopped. He is now the sweet boy I remember. I really think he was over medicated. He takes Zyrtec in th morning and was taking Singulair at night. I am appalled at the fact that doctors are over medicating our children.

Thank you for this site. I now can love and hug my child agan.

I am a 57 year old man, who has been suffering from asthma several years. This spring my doctor put me on Singulair as an additional medicine to my cortisone-inhalator. after one month I feel symptoms of depression an mood-changing, severe ups and downs.
AND - as an additional symptom i have partially lost my feeling in some fingertips, and now parts of my left thumb and even a feeling of "cold2, mostly in my left hand.
anyone who share that symptom?
M.

Our son started taking Singulair when he was 2 for severe allergic rhinitis and cough variant asthma (in addition to Zyrtec, which didn’t control all of his symptoms). He is 5 now. For the last three years, he has been an increasingly violent, difficult, defiant, argumentative, volatile child who has intense mood swings--one minute he’s laughing uncontrollably, the next he’s weeping over nothing. His doctor and therapist recommended that we see a psychiatrist to have him evaluated for bipolar disorder, which used to be unknown in children. Because he has such chronic sleep problems, the doctor also suggested we take him off Singulair (and increase his Zyrtec dose) to see if it improved his sleep issues. Within a week, he was sleeping much better and was a calmer, happier, gentler boy. He suddenly could take “no” for an answer without flipping out and trying to hurt me. We thought that we were just in an unusual, calm window that would shift either to mania or intense sadness or both, any minute. We also thought that his behavior change might be due to sleeping better. We were enjoying the rare reprieve. Over the last weekend, his springtime allergies really flared up. We gave him Singulair on Monday and by noon, he was completely out of control. I had to strap him into his car seat at one point to keep him from hurting either me or himself. It finally occurred to me that Singulair might be causing his “bipolar” disorder. Of course, we stopped the Singulair. After two days he was a new boy. Yesterday, I Googled “Singulair bipolar children” and got a few hits. I am stunned to read how similar other families’ experiences have been to ours and I feel sick that we gave this drug to our child for three years.

While I do agree that research and public awareness of the possible side-effects should be done, there are some of us that take Singulair without negative side-effects. I have been taking it for eight years, since I was 16 and have never had any of these side-effects. There was a couple of months that I did not take it because of financial issues, and the only thing that I noticed was that my asthma and allergies were horribly worse. These were both relieved dramatically when I resumed taking it. Without it, I would spend my days in an allergy/anti-histamine fog not being able to breathe while still taking my inhaler 4+ times a day and several during the night. That is just the beauty and flawed nature of medicine: they work perfectly for some but for others the negative side effects outweigh the benefits. I am sorry that so many have had negative experiences with it themselves or in their family, but please have an objective attitude toward it. Some people need it to live normal lives.

My 9 year old son was on Singulair for about 4 weeks. His whole personality changed. He cried all the time, he would not sleep alone, he had headaches, dizziness, tummy aches and horrible nightmares. His whole bodyy broke out in a rash and even now after 2 months of taking him off he is still covered in a rash. He was so sad all the time and so irritated. He would yell at us and was so angry all the time. He still is not back to himself. I see where people say their kids are back to their old selfs. I know my son is better but he still is having a hard time focusing in school and crys easily. He seems as though he is not the same child. I wonder if these side effects can cause permanent damage in some way. This is all so scarey. Drs. need to talk and help these children, NOW

I wrote an earlier post but I am now reading alot of your posts where you say your child experienced FEAR on Singulair. That is so interesting. When my son was on it for around 3 years he would never sleep alone in his own bed and he would have episodes every night that would last up to 3 hours at bed time because I would try to get him to sleep in his own bed, even at 8 years old. I thought he was possessed!!!! He would scream and fight me and I would literally have to hold him down to get him to stay in bed. It was horrible. I'm not sure how a hullicination would be described but maybe that was part of it. All I know is that he turned into a totally different child. It was something out of a horror movie. I eventually gave up and let him sleep in our bed cause it was exhausting. He would just make blood curdling screams and the terror in his eyes was horrific. Then the next morning he would be fine like nothing had ever happened.
Now that he is off of Singulair he will sleep in his own bed with the light off all night. It was an amazing turn around. He also told me he's not scarred anymore.. Who knew????? Has anyone else experienced anything like that with their child????

I AM 65 YEARS OLD. I TAKE SINGULAIR ON AN AS NEEDED BASIS. I HAVE NOTICED THAT AFTER 2 DAYS I HAVE BEEN GRITTING MY TEETH UNTIL MY JAW HURTS, I GET VERY IRITABLE AND SHORT TEMPERED, I AM RESTLES AND CANT SLEEP, I HAVE RINGING IN MY EARS AND THE BLOOD PULSES IN MY NECK WITH A GUSHING SOUND, I HAVE MUSCLE CRAMPS AS WELL, I GET BLURRED VISION AND HEAD ACHES. I THINK I WILL STOP THE SINGULAR.

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

Thanks to all of you for sharing your stories! My son is 9 and has been taking Singulair for almost 7 years. These symptoms that have been posted are so true in my son. He was diagnosed with ADHD at 5, has had a temper/attitude problem and has been sleep walking and having night terrors severely recently. I can't believe some of the things that I have read here. My daughter is 5 and she has been on Singulair for almost 2 years. I have never heard of these side effects until the other day at pre-school a teacher told me that she heard a story about how Singulair can cause suicidal thoughts. This really got me concerned. I have told my husband not to allow either child to take it again, so we could see if this is the main cause with all my sons’ issues recently. Again, thank you all for sharing and I hope the children involved have no long-term effects from this medicine! Melissa in Ohio