October 12th
2008
10:31 PM
My daughter was prescribed Singulair in the spring and it worked wonders.Since her allergies and asthma don't bother her in the summer I took her off for those few months.Since she has been back on the last few months I notice once and awhile an aggression/depression behavior.I thought immediately that it was Singulair causing this but it wasn't everyday it happened.I believe that activity,schedule,and even food in combination with this medicine that was cause this rare effect.It's no news to parents that all of these things can change a persons attitude and behavior.I also believe that Singulair may just make people more sensitive to their true self as my daughter has always been paranoid and has lacked self esteem.I think that it is trial and error as with any medicine.Try it and it may or may not work for you.Taking it off the market would be a disgrace as it has saved many lives.
-- By d27gayle | Reply | (2) replies | Send Private Mail
October 10th
2008
9:11 AM
My daughter is 5 years old and has been on Singulair for about 2 years now. I was at a loss concerning her behavior for the past 2 years. The anger, aggression, tics in her eyes and legs feeling tingling, unable to express herself, and truly not liking herself and thinking we don't like or love her. All this brought us to take her to therapy. And then all this information regarding side effects of Singulair come out. I brought this to her allergist and he like many others brushed it off. I think it is time the medical community looks very close at this drug concerning side effects with children. How many more parents have to come forward with all the same side effects for these educated doctors to realize there is a hugh psychological and neurological connection with this drug for some children. It has been two days now that my daughter stopped Singulair. Her nose is already starting to drip and her cough is back, but I would much rather deal with these side effects of allergies than watching her go though this mental anguish any longer. I have not seen any changes yet, but it had only been two days.
-- By jen1234 | Reply | (3) replies | Send Private Mail
October 9th
2008
7:59 AM
Just wanted to offer a follow-up on our daughters behavior since getting off Singulair and Advair. AMAZING difference. She is a pretty normal 12 year old now. The most noticable thing to me is her voice. On the drugs she always sounded so gruff and angry. Now she sounds sweet. She smiles so much more and is not eager to become angry. I can reason with her more now when there is a disagreement. It will be a long process to break habits of behavior that have developed over the past ten years, (yes, ten years, she started these poisons when she was two years old) We are very hopeful for her future. I am so very thankful that I was led to this site.
-- By bamvanfam | Reply | (4) replies | Send Private Mail
October 2th
2008
7:19 PM
I have a 26-month old grandson who has been on Singulair for "27 DAYS". His pediatrician knows that his immune system is already compromised due to some developmental delays. However, before he started taking his Singulair he was a very happy, funny and loving child. Within 2 weeks on this medicine we started to notice a few changes in him. He started waking up at night "screaming" and he has been sleeping through the night for at least a year now. And when his mother would go in to get him out of his crib, he would be so frightened and afraid to leave her side. It would take her a very long time to settle him down and put him back down for the night. At the same time, he started not wanting to drink his normal daily glasses of milk or eat his regular meals. He was simply a mess most of the day and would fuss, cry, bang his head and we were having a very hard time trying to figure out what was wrong with him. He is not yet talking due to his delayed speech, so he could not tell us what was going on. Yesterday, I told my daughter let's look at the side effects of Singulair since it was the only thing that had changed within the last few months. When I found this site, I could not believe what the parents/grandparents were saying about their children on this drug. We immediately took him off Singulair. This will be his second day without being on the drug. According to my pharmacist, it will take approximately 50 hours for it to get out of his little system. The pharmacist had not heard the latest that aired on the TV station, so she asked me to call her back in a few days to tell her how my grandson is doing. Parents should be able to trust the medications that are prescribed by their Pediatricians, especially at such young ages. My daughter is REALLY UPSET and has a call into my grandson's doctor. Thank God I found this website. I simply searched on "side effects of Singulair in children" and this site came up. I do believe the Lord is watching over my grandson. Thanks.
-- By grammysandy | Reply | (3) replies | Send Private Mail
October 1th
2008
3:23 PM
Well where to start. It started one Weds morning at work. Suddenly came over all dizzy and light headed and felt really really sick. Went home and started with a temperature. Parents say I was pretty spaced out for several days and didn’t really want to talk to anyone. It’s like I was there but I wasn’t. Went to doctor a couple of times and they diagnosed a virus. Problems with sleeping started. Ended up at the hospital out of hours as I was shaking, felt sick, thought I was going to pass out. Nothing found so sent back home. Saw doc again and was referred to a doctor at the hospital who had an interest in viruses. Saw doc and loads of blood was taken for testing. Went back after a couple of weeks and blood tests where clear. By that point I was feeling a bit better so they thought it was post viral fatigue. Went back to work part time and worked myself up to full time. Then it started again. Had to be fetched from work. Colleagues said it was more like I was having a panic attack. Broke down completely. Couldn’t stop crying and was in a right state. Went to docs and was diagnosed with depression and still post viral fatigue. My main symptoms have been, panic attacks, anxiety, faintness, dizziness, nausea, general feeling of unwell, blocked ears, palpitations. There are probably more but I can’t think of them at the minute (Oh yeah, brain fogginess as well !) More blood tests were done and that’s when they said my hormones were a bit low but they didn’t think it was anything to worry about. That’s when I started researching Low hormones and started to come across the problems with Yasmin. I cannot tell you what a relief it’s been. I honestly thought I was going mad and that there was nothing wrong with me and it was all in my head. I sat looking that the screen going ‘that’s me !’ Have stopped taking them straight away. Will see how we get on. Doctor didn’t know anything about the problems and has said he will be interested to know how I get on. I cannot believe they didn’t know. Main thing is I know now and can start getting better.
-- By smithy7uk | Reply | (2) replies | Send Private Mail
September 30th
2008
11:58 PM
Hi,
I'm a 38 year old woman who went on Singulair in September of 2006. By December of that year I started experiencing heart palpitations,dizziness,and nightmares that stayed with me in my waking hours. By January of 2007 I was having full blown anxiety attacks. My doctor ran every test under the sun and I went to several therapists. By the end of January my doctor had me on Effexor, and several other short term aids such as atavan. The summer of 2007 I started experiencing stomach pains and sever diarrhea. As much as I loved my 20 pound weight loss, it was not a lot of fun. Again every test under the sun showed nothing. This spring I heard of the concerns of Singulair and immediately went off of it. Within a few weeks I felt like my old self. I am still weaning off of the Effexor and my asthma is not as good as it was on the Singular, but it is worth having my health and my life back. I feel that Singular almost ruined 2 years of my life. It should be taken off of the market.
September 30th
2008
1:33 PM
THIS IS A HORRIBLE DANGEROUS DRUG!!!!!
Doctors prescribed this to my mother for 5 years!!!! Because of it's devastating side effects it is FDA approved for short term 4-12 weeks and only as a last resort. And NEVER for Parkinson's patients. It is unclear if Reglan caused the Parkinson's like symptoms or if she had it prior. Either way the doctor was so wrong to prescribe this medication to her. She is completely disabled can't walk or even get out of a chair had a auto accident and falls one time a metal frame fell on her head causing a hospital visit another time she fell into cactus! I was horrified to learn that no one caught this error. Not one doctor or the drug store told my parents REGLAN could cause her to end up using a walker and unable to function even the simplest daily tasks and that these symptoms could be permanent.
September 30th
2008
9:52 AM
I got taken off of abilify the very day I started. The doctor prescribed 2mg and the 5mg later if it worked out. I am thanking GOD he didn't start me out on 5mg. Less than 2 hours after I took the 2mg tablet, I was washing dishes and began to feel faint. I had to put my head down on the sink. My parents knew something was wrong. They kept asking me questions but my vision and hearing started to go. I managed to hear my mother tell me to hurry and make a peanut butter sandwich so I tried. Everything was getting darker and soon I couldn't hear either. My mom gave me the sandwich and I got better with each bite. I went to the hospital and they said i had hypoglycemia from abilify and I nearly went into a coma.
-- By catmenrulz | Reply | Send Private Mail
September 29th
2008
12:04 AM
I am a loving mother of a 5 1/2 year old boy. He has been on Singulair for over 3 years. In this past 3 years my son has suffered in an unspeakable amount. He came down with Rota Virus and was hospitalized at 2. He then came in contact with Pneumonia in the hospital while he was there. They automatically put him on Singulair, Zyrtec, Prednisone, and antibiotics to treat the pneumonia. Since that day, my son has gone though more tests than I have in my entire life. He has had asthma, sinusitis, leg cramping ( to the point he cannot walk for 2 years), IBS, Acid reflux,(they gave him laxatives for a year that made things worse and addicted to them also), stomach pain, constipation and diarrhea back and forth. He also got Erythema Mulitforme TWICE, while on this drug. All of which the doctors said could NOT be caused by Singulair. He has had several Upper GI's and CT scans. Along with Barium enemas, several hundreds of blood tests, and many many pokes and prodded that were not necessary. All since he has been on Singulair. He now has frequent bathroom trips, depression, confusion, and anger outbursts. He also has to go to the restroom every 5 minutes. He has had genital swelling, and many other aches and pains. None of which his "doctor" ever said could be a result of Singulair. I am 100% sure it was!!!! He currently has anxiety and emotional sporadic issues causing problems in school The teachers and counselors say that it is so strange because there is no TRIGGER and the outbursts are completely inconsistent. His preschool teacher and director are sure he has ADHD. Well, we had him tested and he does not have any part of it. He has no learning disability what-so-ever. So that brought me back to square one. He is in a positive loving enviroment. How could he be depressed and want to hurt everyone around him? He cannot sit still. He cries and says he is 'stupid" and "can't think" like the other boys. He has nightmares and cannot sleep alone. He is scared of everyone and everything. So, as I sit here crying, I realized that this has all been a reaction of his "medicine" Singulair. He never should have gone through all of those painful tests, only to prove they couldn't find anything. So many treatments and sound full advice speeches from his doctors. How could they be so naive and selfish in the life of my son?
When I called my pediatrician of 5 years, she told me that " parents that have children with behavioral problems will LOOK for something to blame their problems on." She also said "drug companies only put side effects on their labels to PROTECT the drug companies. (as she laughed at me) They are not always valid". Then she said "if you take you child off of Singulair you will be playing Russian Roulette in his life." Then she said that all children around 5 or 6 go though this emotional time in their lives." She told me that if I take my child off of Singulair that she would no longer be a part of his health regimen for his asthma. She told me to see a Pulmonologist for further treatment.
Who is paying who? This is my son's life???????? I decided to go with my mother-gut instinct and get him off of this medicine. No matter what. He has been a different person since. He is currently going though a lot of side effects and withdrawals (leg pain, insomnia, hic-ups, emotional distress) but every day is getting better. How can the drug companies say that this is a "wonder drug?" There are more reported side effected patients then clinical studied patients! How can a "medication" that stimulates the brain not be connected to other problems? This "medication" interferes with the bio synthesis and action of LTs and has been marketed as NOVEL medication against asthma and allergic rhinitis. Who the hell is playing God here??? The pocket books of Merck or our over PAID "doctors?" Who pays the price? Our children? Or us. Thank god I found this before it was too late. I would not be able to withstand the pain of losing my son due to their lack of scientific evidence. They are lucky I am one of the smart ones. I will not settle for less than Justice for the drug companies and their paid "doctors?" You all end up in the same place. HELL
There are 18 million people on this drug. Most of them are children. Please save a life if not your own child's life. Thank You
-- By daisydookes | Reply | (14) replies | Send Private Mail
September 26th
2008
9:55 PM
POLL: If you or your child have been adversely affected by Singulair could you please reply to this and let me know what ethnicity you are and skin tone. (fair, med., dark, etc.) I'm interested in the demographics of this drugs effects.
Thank you!
September 25th
2008
5:23 PM
Along with uncharacteristic depression from using singulair for only a few months- I experienced ( and still now, after 1 week prior to ending my daily dosage) terrible lower calf cramps I have never experienced before. Not only do I get quick searing pains in my legs at night, but my calf muscles are very sore whenever participating in brisk physically activity. I hope these side effects will terminate shortly- because for an athletic thirteen year old high school freshman, depression, lack of energy and physical pains are not making the beginning of young adulthood a very enjoyable experience
-- By ilapapaya | Reply | (3) replies | Send Private Mail
September 25th
2008
11:48 AM
My Daughter has been the same way .. she had the headaches, stomach pain, very depressed .. she has missed 6 months of school she was afraid to go to school, shopping, and being left alone.. I have put her on medication for her depression, and anxiety . i have her in therapy for this... she is not the same child i just want my beautiful daughter back..We are having a hard time with her from school to he social life.. and from her tring to kill herself.. My daughter is only 13 years old...I think someone needs to pay for this... please there must be help out there...How long must this go on before people (FDA, Merck, ALA, etc.) will take this seriously?!?!?!?!
I want my beautiful katelynn back........................
--
September 25th
2008
11:18 AM
I am going to be attending the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) walk on Sunday, October 5th here in St. Paul, Mn. Dr. Paula Clayton, the AFSP National Medical Director will be there and I will have an opportunity to talk with her. Does anyone have any advice for me? I will also be handing out flyers about the dangers of Singulair and spreading the word about the grass roots efforts of Parents United for Pharmaceutical Safety and Accountability. If you have any advice for me please let me know.
Thank You.
-- By sarahsmom | Reply | Send Private Mail
September 25th
2008
10:40 AM
My son Tyler was 5 when he started taking it. He was on it for approx. 2 weeks when he started bleeding out from his ears. I phoned Merck and made them do an incident report and mail it to my sons primary care doctor as well as myself. Tyler was in the 2% that had that had happened to. I was infuriated and I tell everyone I know how the I was deceived by not being told of all the side effects.
-- By coop | Reply | (2) replies | Send Private Mail
September 25th
2008
9:02 AM
This past winter we found out that my son had developed asthma. His allergist /asthma doctor put him on Singulair as his preventative. Not two days later a report came across the news that Singulair has depression as a side effect. I immediately called my son's allergist / asthma doctors and was told that these symptoms have been found ONLY in children in their teens. That they are linking something in the med with hormones and it spawns depression.
Even though this is terrible for the parents of teenagers, my son is 6 years old... the chance of this happening to us was slim. Or so I thought.
One morning, to my horror, two weeks later my 6 year old son whom never really watched anything on television without his parents (with the exception of Noggin programs) is talking about how he wished he was never born. That no one would care if he was to die or disappear. That maybe he should just go to sleep one night an just die..... he was getting so angry for no apparent reason, throwing things and yelling all the time... telling me, his mother (we have always been so close) that he wished I were dead and that he hated me...
Needless to say I immediately called his doctors and they told me to stop the Singulair right away. The doctors were shocked that this has happened to a 6 year old and had filled out reports for the FDA that I had to give detailed descriptions of what happened to my son so they could start warning other parents.
Now, four months later and we have our happy go luck son back. No preventative, but the inhaler is doing the job.
Good luck out there if you agree to put your child on this medication. I understand it does not happen to everyone, I just cannot tell or describe to you how horrifying and traumatizing it was to go through seeing my happy go lucky son become this extremely depressed angry aggressive child within two weeks. We are still battling the aggressive behavior, but hey, he is 6 and that could be normal... right?
September 25th
2008
7:48 AM
I will never be sure Singulair changed my daughter because she is a very complex little girl. I just know that when we made some changes that included taking her off Singulair she has done nothing but improve!
My daughter is adopted, she was in Foster Care, she is a very vulnerable little girl. She has been on singulair since the age of 2. We needed to add an anti psychotic to her list of med's some time last year, because she was threatening to kill herself at 8 years old. She often complained of having a bad man in her head that would tell her to do bad things. When we heard about singulair side effects it just felt too coincidental. We made a decision to take her off ALL meds. Since that time she has done nothing but improve she is happy and working hard, the bad man is gone and everyone who knows her says she is a different child. Again we changed many things in her life I don't think we will ever know if singulair is the true cause of her behavior but we aren't taking any chances.
-- By tmdtb2006 | Reply | (2) replies | Send Private Mail
September 24th
2008
7:57 PM
I also want to add that he has been having nightmares a lot as well. And exhibiting some behavioral issues on and off at school.
Again I can not tell you how scary this is. I have no clue where to start or what to tell my congressman. What do I say? Do I make specific reference to Singulair or do I just medicines in general? No offense, but right now my concerns are selfish, and I need to find another alternative to Singulair. I cant bear to have my son experience what I have to deal with everyday with my depression.
He says things like
"I hate myself" and
"This is the worst day of my life"
I am so scared I plan to call his Dr first in the morning.
-- By jenmac | Reply | (2) replies | Send Private Mail
September 24th
2008
7:52 PM
This is so scary!! I was just looking up "my son says he hates himself" on google, because I was concerned, as I deal with depression and wanted to find out if a little boy saying this (6 yo) is normal or if it may be signs of depression. Weirdly this link for singular came up.
My son DOES take singular for his asthma and has been taking it for about a year on and off. I have tried to take him off because I hate feeling like a pill pusher, but then his asthma flairs up again. So I put him back on it.
But today he has just been whining and crying (he is still crying and screaming for me loudly now!) and I began to get VERY concerned that my son was exhibiting signs of depression. If this is true, we may need to file a lawsuit against the drug companies as there are too many similarities and coincidences with this singulair. It wasn't even a THOUGHT or consideration that the medicine could have been causing this. I just thought that he was growing up and just goind through stages. Now I feel stuck because I don't know whether I should take him off and risk his asthma flaring up, or keep him on and risk his depression gene flaring up. This is VERY scary....
September 23th
2008
12:59 AM
My 9 1/2 yr old son started Singulair in July 2004 when he was 5 yrs old.Looking back now we realize that he started showing signs immediately. We only gave him Singulair in the fall when he had the most trouble with his asthma. His asthma was under control immediately but was not worth the damage that was done. He complained of pains in his legs that I just thought was growing pains. He would sometimes run a fever with no other symptoms of being sick and then the fever would go away. He would also feel like he always had to go to the bathroom, especially after he went to bed. I gave him Singulair at 7pm before he went to bed. The biggest change we noticed in him was the signs of attention deficit. We first noticed that he kept getting out of his seat at dinner time. No matter how many times we told him to sit down he would sit down and then a little while later he would get right back up. We realized after a while that he wasn't doing it to be defient he just couldn't help himself. I asked his Kindergarten teacher if he had trouble sitting in his seat or with attention but she didn't think he was any worse than any of the other Kindergarten kids. In 1st grade, at the beginning of the year, his teacher said he had trouble keeping his attention but then by January she said he was a different kid. We usually stopped giving him Singulair in December. The same thing happened with his 2nd grade teacher. I question his allergist in the fall of 2nd grade but his allergist said Singulair wasn't the cause for his ADHD symptoms. When his 3rd grade teacher contacted us in Oct 07 with the same complaints I realized that it must be the Singulair. I looked online for Singulair side effects and came across this website. I couldn't believe it. I was so disappointed in myself for not doing it sooner but we took him off Singulair immediately. I called his allergist the next morning and questioned him for a second time and he told me that sometimes parents of kids with ADHD just look for something to blame for their childs behavior. I couldn't believe he said it to me. We made an appointment at Children's Hospital Boston to have him evaluated for ADHD just in case but couldn't get an appointment until Feb 08. When we had him evaluated he had been off Singulair for over 3 months. The neurologist said he did not have ADHD. When I asked him if he thought Singulair could have been to blame for the symptoms he was showing and he said there was "compelling evidence" that showed Singulair does cause ADHD symptoms in some children. We were happy that he did not have ADHD but were so sad that we gave him this medicine for 3 years without realizing what damage it was doing. My biggest fear now is that there may be long term damage. All his symptoms have gone away but sometimes he still seems a little out of it and I don't know if it is just his age or his personality or if it might still be some long term effect from the Singulair. He is such a sweet, loving, caring boy and I hope that I didn't do any long term damage by giving his this horrible medicine. I hope that something will be done soon to get this medicine off the market. My prayers go out to all the families who lost children on this medicine. I can't even imagine the pain you are feeling but I thank you for getting your story out and saving other children! I am thankful that I was able to get informed by this website because God knows my allergist wasn't looking out for my son! His asthma has been under control since being off Singulair and just seems like a happier child over all!
Thank you!
September 22th
2008
10:03 PM
This is just amazing to me. My son was prescribed singulair for asthma when he was 8, he is 19 now. I only kept my son on this medication for about 4 weeks. I noticed a HUGE change in his personality, defiant and very fired up. I took him off, because there was just no talking to him. It made a difference, he was back to normal. I said something to his doctor, and he didn't know what to think, he said that the drug shouldn't alter his personality, it's an asthma medicine. I'm glad i listened to my gut instinct and took him off. My doctor just prescribed singulair to me for severe allergies and i wanted to see what the side effects where. I had NO idea i would see the side effect, that i knew my son was having 10 years ago, when this medicine first came out. I am speechless...
-- By julbast4 | Reply | (1) replies | Send Private Mail
September 19th
2008
6:55 PM
My 1 year old son got into my box of chocolate Ex-Lax and ate about 3 or 4 pieces. Called Poison Control and they didn't have any suggestions except to keep him hydrated. I put him to bed that night, he was still in a diaper, and he had a bowel movement during the night. In the morning his butt had huge blisters where his stool had laid. The senna in the Ex-Lax caused severe chemical burns. He had to be admitted to the burn center at Akron Children's hospital. Most people aren't aware of how dangerous this product is because adults wipe after using the bathroom, but imagine what this chemical in Ex-Lax is doing to the inside of your stomach, intestines, and colon. I would like to make people aware of the seriousness of this drug, especially parents whose kids, like mine, will eat anything chocolate. I always assumed Ex-Lax was so safe, as they even claim on their box and that it would just cause you to use the bathroom without harm(as obviously even the Poison Control Center doesn't know the dangers), but Ex-Lax is very dangerous!
In 1999, Ex-Lax company changed the main ingredient to senna because the old main ingredient caused cancer. Ex-Lax and other senna-containing product companies don't want people to know about this. It's not even labeled on their box or website! They definitely know about it because I have called the Novartis Company and they have also had many other similar incidences. Please pass on.
V. Donaldson
-- By donaldson8 | Reply | Send Private Mail
September 19th
2008
10:50 AM
I just came across an article on the online "Huffington Post" by Dr. Doug Bremner, who researched the connection between accutane and depression, called "If Prescription Meds Don't Kill You They Might Drive You Crazy" He explains the link between Singulair, Leukotrienes in the brain and depression. There are numerous articles by him as well that are definitely worth reading.
Jenna M.
Parents United for Pharmaceutical Safety and Accountability
September 18th
2008
10:04 PM
My daughter has Aloepecia Areata. Has anyone taken Kenalog to grow hair back. My doctors saying this may work and did mention about the dimpling effect. Not in the detail I read here, though. He made it sound like it would just be a dimple. I did not get the shot in his office, wanted to research some more. By the way, she is only a 11 yrs old. Not sure whether to try this stuff after reading all this.
-- By nancboutique | Reply | (2) replies | Send Private Mail
Singulair (151) Gardasil (4) NuvaRing (4) Yasmin (3) Adderall (2) Reglan (2) Loestrin 24 Fe (2) Zyrtec (2) Excedrin Migraine (1) Simvastatin (1) Risperdal (1) Strattera (1) Zantac (1) Nasonex (1) Mirena (1) Kenalog (1) Effexor (1) Femcon FE (1) Xanax (1) Advair HFA (1) Ex-Lax (1) Abilify (1) Compazine (1) Flonase (1) Levaquin (1) Adderall XR (1) Zocor (1) Lipitor (1)
October 13th
2008
11:58 AM
im 17 years old and my mom thought it was a good idea to get this shot. and i went along with it. i didnt think anything of it. after my first shot i've had a headach everyday. not a single medication works. the dr. prescribed me something to take before bed. it does not work at all. i recently just got my second and i feel worse. with the on going headachs and sowlen throat. and feeling weak and tired and irritable,and depressed. im scared but i may be im being a baby.
-- By kasper_2626 | Reply | Send Private Mailwhat to do is the question without my parents constantly telling me im physincing myself out.