Singulair and upper respiratory infections

My son has been on Singulair off and on for two years. He goes off in the summertime since his asthma is mostly due to upper respiratory infections. He recently went back on it, maybe three weeks ago. He is 7 years old. Every morning now he wakes up with nightmares. This morning he said that he had a nightmare that all six of his webkinz were killed, except for one. The night before he said a tornado had blow our house away. There have been other nightmares too.

I decided this morning to stop Singulair, then called the allergist. The allergist agreed we should stop it and see what effect would happen. Today during school, the teacher had to call me because he was yelling at other students and was hitting books because he wanted a prize for fund raising. She said he was inconsolable.
During the summer, he was a totally different child -- easy going, laughing a lot. Now he seems stressed out, anxious and depressed.
I also noticed he has begun oversleeping.
Even worse, he was diagnosed with ADHD back in April. All of the surveys filled out by teachers and by me were from when he was on Singulair.

I know that drugs can do this to adults. I was once on a birth control pill that made me so paranoid and neurotic, I had never felt that way before. A different pill was fine and never had that happen again.

I don't think I will find much more to research. If you have allergies or asthma, the immune system has become hyper sensitive. But, we cannot allow medications to suppress our immune system in general for the sake of controlling certain symptoms that we are having. Everything in the immune system has a purpose. So good sense would tell us to use as little intervention as possible to keep the entire system running. How to do that is very individual.

If you have a hyper allergic children, read about the immune system first so that you can ask your doctor the questions that you need to ask. Try going to a site that is written for the public.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/immune-system.htm

If your doctor cannot explain how a medication works and only knows that it's FDA approved for asthma or allergies, then on to the next. Any doctor should be able to explain if one part of the immune system is suppressed what happens to the other parts. If you ask the question, what happens to the nasal passages if the receptors are suppressed and the neutrophils don't know that there is an infection? Will my child be more inclined to get sinus and upper respiratory infections? That is just one example.

I posted on this forum last December...(see Mon, 20 Dec 2004 01:46:35 -0600 by Guest, #8483). This is a follow-up to that post. I have continued to take Singulair daily since then, despite reading the postings. I still feel the heaviness in my chest, especially at night, and a weird sort of buzzing/vibrating when I exhale that started when I first began the drug. I can't tell if it is coming from my chest or my nose. Also, my joints are very achy. I started to think I was getting arthritis in my fingers, but then remembered the side effects others were having on Singulair. In addition to the pain, I am lethargic, especially after I take the pill each night. There has been a marked change in my personality. I am angry, impatient and depressed. I used to be one of the most tolerant and patient people around. I have gained approx. 13 lbs. since December. I have also experienced multiple sinus and upper respiratory infections since being on the drug. In general, I just don't feel great. I feel much weaker, overall. I don't know what to do since the Singulair has had a huge positive effect in combating my allergies and asthma. It's a catch 22.

Well you all convinced me NOT to take this drung. I've had persistent sinus infections and ear infections and upper respiratory infections for years now. I've been on zyrtec, flonase, astelin, nasonex, abuterol, benadryl ( works the best in my opinion) claritin, anti-biotics-- out the yin yang-- and now my new doctor was suggesting singulair. Umm...I don't think so given what I have read in here.

I am already on the heavy side and DO NOT need to gain ANY weight. I could 't even think about not sleeping properly and having nightmares and I already deal with a bit of anxiety and take Xanax occasionally.

This drug DOES NOT sound as if it is for me!! I'd be a complete mess!!!

Thanks for all your insight. I'll tell the new doc to come up with another solution!

Tori in PA