Singulair and whole time

I forgot to add my son was also on zyrtec & claritin b4 singulair & they caused similar side effects as singulair but not nearly as severe & I didn't realize all this till after I stopped the singulair & started looking up all the old meds. he was on

Hello to everyone, I just came home from a parent teacher conference for my son who is 7 yrs. old, and heard the same old thing, "he is restless, impulsive and has a short attention span". He has been taking Singulair for about 3 yrs.. Since he has started school I have had these complaints and have also been told he displays symptoms of ADHD, which ironically has been for the last 3 years. Like any parent, I question" if I am doing something wrong with my parenting, is his diet good, etc. etc.", I am also a nurse, I realize that medications are needed and beneficial in some circumstances, however I firmly believe and was taught in nursing school that medication is last resort. That being said, I have been very adament about NOT giving my son ADHD medication after doing alot of research on the different meds and their side effects. So, we started him on all natural vitamins, changed his diet some ( kids got to have candy once in a while) and started a more structured routine( the best we can since we both work) and also enrolled him in Sylvan. The teacher says there is a 50% improvement but he is still impulsive and still does not pay attention like he "COULD", again suggesting he needs ADHD meds. I came home in tears and started to do more research online to see what else can I do besides putting him on psych meds?....Then I came accross this site, I just want to cry after reading all these posts. I wonder, could this be his problem, the Singulair?.. About a year ago he use to get up in the middle of the night, 5 out of 7 complaining of nightmares, hearing things at times, headaches, decreased appetite, stomach upset, all AT TIMES, not all the time so I never thought alot about side effects of Singulair. When the school started complaining I did look at side effects of Singulair and seen HYPERACTIVITY and mentioned it to his pediatrician and she shrugged it off saying she never heard of it being a problem. She's a great MD so I listened to her because his asthma was bad when he was younger and it is now under control. But then I think maybe he is outgrowing the asthma. I am afraid to stop Singulair and him have breathing problems again but then I can't help this strong feeling in my heart that says this may have been his problem with everything else all along. We are going to stop the Singulair tonight and see what happens. If anyone else has a child with asthma any suggestions for alternative treatment would be appreciated. I already know what's out there but sometimes it's nice to hear from another parent going through similar situs. Thanks for reading, Bobbie

What a range of emotions since the news broke,found this sight so helpful, so happy i wasnt alone,Had hope ellation anger and today i am sick to my stomach what have i done to my son,why didnt i see

Our story is like so many of yours…My son, 7, started Singulair at 2 ½ after a hospital visit and too many rounds of oral steroids. When he started Kindergarten at age 5 his behavior became increasingly problematic. It was hard for him to meet new people - something we had noticed at birthday parties in preschool, where he clung to me the whole time. He became more and more anxious, ran out of the class, didn’t really socialize, chewed his shirt, wouldn’t talk to people he didn’t know (or even look at people). I thought - he’ll adjust, he’ll be ok - he did well in preschool (although looking back, there were some repeated behavior problems there as well). By November the teacher told me she was really starting to worry about him - that he was depressed. I took him to a psychologist and he was diagnosed with anxiety.

In the summer I tried to enroll him in an art camp - but he ran around like a chicken with its head cut off and they kicked him out. In first grade he hid in the back of the room for the first few weeks. More shirt chewing, wouldn’t take off his coat, threw things, hit kids. At home he was capable of acting normal, but then every so often would act - well, psychotic. Mumbling to himself, overreacting to everything, screaming. Meals were hard, bedtimes were hard, getting dressed was hard. I had him evaluated and he was put on an IEP for behavior/emotional issues. More and more he was talking about death - wanting to die, wishing he was dead, saying that he hated himself.

Throughout all this time, I wondered, could it be the Singulair? I asked the doctor, the allergist, the psychiatrist - have you heard that this medicine could cause this? No, no, no- they all said after looking it up.

Finally, I looked on the web and found this site back in January, 2007. I read enough postings to recognize that other people were having similar issues. I told my doctor I was taking him off. She tried to get me to wait until after winter, but I didn’t. I just stocked up on pulmacort and albuterol and figured I would be ready with the nebulizer.

I watched my son carefully that first week, and it seemed like a cloud had lifted from him. He did not instantly change all of his troubling behavior, but as time passed it became less severe and more manageable. He became capable of things that he couldn’t have handled in the past. Almost immediately he learned to read. He had been almost reading for so long, but was so self-conscious about reading aloud to anyone. He took swimming lessons without a problem - it had been impossible to take him to any new class or camp where he didn’t know anyone before.

During this time, he also got lots of support at school and I enrolled him in group therapy. But I know that he would not have made as much progress as he has if I had kept him on the Singulair. Back at his worst he was like another child - haunted, crippled by intense anxiety and self-hatred. We wondered - what could be the cause - abuse? - but it just didn’t make sense - there were no other signs. I have an older son - who never went on Singulair - who has the sunniest disposition. Yes we have some history of mental illness in our family - but most people start showing signs either from birth or in their teens. My son was a happy baby, a friendly toddler, and all along, was very loving in his good moments to his close family members. Things just weren’t making sense. We were looking all over for an explanation. Now that we have it, even though we feel relief, we also feel tremendously sad.

I wonder - how many kids out there with crazy behavior are getting punished, are falling behind in school, are being institutionalized? I will be writing my senators, congressman, state and federal, as well as notifying the FDA.

This is what bothers me the most - all of us across the country go to our doctors and ask about these side effects. But (except for those who posted here) we don’t report the side effects, because everyone tells us they are not caused by the medicine. So our individual reports were never taken seriously because it never got past the doctor’s office.

I feel bad I didn’t post earlier, but I was intimidated, and almost embarrassed to “blame” my son’s behavior on the medicine, rather than taking responsibility for it as a parent. Thank you to all the parents who had the guts to post, and especially to the parents of Cody Miller who brought this to the public. I am so sorry for your loss - and I am so sorry for all the parents and children and teens and adult Singulair users who have suffered. I feel like we should form support groups because we have all been through a terrible trauma. I live in Massachusetts and would love to hear from those who live near me.

My son started on 5mg Singulair in 1999. Later that year and the next at the age of 10, my husband and I realized he seemed really depressed. I took him to his pediatrician, who talked to my son at length about anything that might be bothering him, if someone had try to touch him, etc.,etc. Nothing. He had been a really happy outgoing child. Now he was not. The next year in 4th grade he seemed to be worse. We kept an eye on him. There were no warnings whatsoever about Singulair causing emotional problems, depression etc. at that time. Shortly after he started 5th grade, we moved to another city with almost no air pollution in the area we picked to live, and he was still "down". But a few months after we moved, even though we left long time friends, etc., I took him off the Singulair, as he was not really having asthma. The kid got happy again--he was was my happy cheerful boy! I don't believe this is coincidence. Then when he started Middle School in 6th Grade, his school was old and dusty with no doubt mold problems and he started having breathing problems pretty bad again. We started him on Singulair again, for the next three years that he was at this school. He tanked emotionally. Hated himself. Was so depressed it was scary. I kept telling him it was adolescence and it would get better. Then he started a new high school, and was off the Singulair for 6 months, and he was happy again. Then he got flu and bronchitis and was back on it and emotionally tanked again, and never really came out of it. Though out these episodes a few times he told me he thought the medicine was making him feel weird. He last took the 10mg Singulair in 2006, the beginning of his sophomore year when he was sick. His depression exploded and he became suicidal. He was diagnosed with depression in April of 2007 and went on Zoloft. He was not on Singulair then. Then he became suicidal again in August of 2007. His depression medication was changed. He got worse. We found a psychiatrist who was able to help some, but could find no background reason for depression. There is some depression in the family, but none of these relatives became depressed until adulthood. He became suicidal again in November of 2007 and went through outpatient care at the local children's and psychiatric hospital. He came out somewhat better, with skills to help monitor himself. He had more med side effects and has changed meds again. Now he is on 40mg Prozac daily now and doing a lot better, and since we saw the news about Singulair a few days ago, he is extremely better. He is almost back. I would rather go the emergency room 5 times a year then go through this again. We were not given a choice. What are the long term effects of this drug for someone who has been on it through adolescence? No one knows. How can a drug with this sort of side effect for children be allowed on the market? I feel blindsided by the FDA and Merck. If his Dr. in 1999 knew about this side effect she would have never put him on this drug, nor would I have allowed it. I say sue the bastards.

Sorry, I just posted, but I wanted to say that I too have experienced the sleeplessness, especially lately. It's been just as another poster said where you feel as though you've been awake half the night. I describe it as feeling as though you're thinking instead of dreaming. It's been just awful, feels like insomnia. However I can't say that I've had the trouble sleeping the whole time I've been on the medication. Sometimes I sleep quite well, so again, not sure I can totally blame singulair.