Singulair and cough

I can not believe what I'm reading. My 5 year old was also given Singulair to treat asthma/allergies. He began having night terrors that increased in intensity over the past year. I stopped the Singulair on July 1 and the night terrors have reduced greatly. I am concerned about his asthma though. He has a consistent cough at night and I feel like he needs some type of treatment. Any suggestions?

We have an other update. Day four being off Singulair. I have seen a big change, back to his normal self (thank God). Everyday that he is off, he gets better and better. Yesterday there wasn't even a rage fit. He is sleeping better and no more screams at the top of his lungs. The screaming was the first that stopped and every day the fits get less and less. I understand that a growing baby is going to throw a fit here and there but the fits he was having were not normal ones at all. The funny part here is that after I took him off of all meds except the astinel (sp?) he is better all around. No runny nose, no cough, no sneezing, NOTHING!!! Good luck with your little ones. All I can say is everyday that he is off this awful stuff he will return back to you a little at a time.

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.

My 15 month old son was just put on this Friday, four days ago. He had been on Zyrtec since he was five months old and his allergies had recently gotten worse along with a percistant cough. As the weekend went on he became more and more angry and fidgety. Sunday afternoon, after his nap he came running down the hall screaming and crying (this nap is usually 1 1/2 hours long and he had only been asleep for 30 to 45 minutes when this happened). He was very upset for about 20 minutes. He is normally a very happy, fun loving child. Later that afternoon he didn't get his way and took it out on me. He began to kick and scream(at the top of his lungs) , throwing his head back, and then hitting me. Everyone that was with us have been around him from day one and they all said how he wasn't himself and had never seen him act this way. Now, this morning on our drive into town to go to daycare he normally is talking the whole way (45 minutes) but this morning he was just staring off out the window and didn't want to talk or "have a conversation" with me. I knew something wasn't right and had already had it in my head he wasn't getting another dose of this. I found this site and some of the little things began to jump out at me and I know for sure we aren't going to take this again. I just hope and pray that this hasn't caused any lasting side effects, again he has only been on it for 4 days. After reading all of this I have called the daycare to check and the doctor, who hasn't called me back yet. Going to see his ENT tomorrow and we will be having a long conversation about it all. His ped. is the doctor who put him on it. She is trying to try everything before he is put on a nebulizer.

Another side effect named on the Singulair web site is ear infections. This med. should have never been given to my son who has already had one round of tubes because of ear infections. The tubes have already fallen out and within a week he had an ear infection.

I'AM A 69 YEAR OLD WOMEN TAKING SINGULAR EVERY NIGHT SINCE
APRIL I WAS GIVEN IT TO SUPPLEMENT MY ADVAIR (TAKEN AM & PM)
AS I HAVE COPD ALMOST FROM THE OUTSET I DEVELOPED A COUGH
NOT HACKING BUT ANNOYING I LIVED WITH IT NOW I DEVELOPED
A HOARSENESS TO MY VOICE THAT YOU CAN HARDLY HEAR OR MAKE
OUT WHAT I'M SAYING STARTED TO WORRY ABOUT THIS SO CALLED MY PULMONARY DR & HE HAS TAKEN ME OFF IT FOR 1 WEEK STARTING TODAY 6/6 I'AM TO CALL HIM TO LET HIM KNOW IF MY VOICE
CLEARS

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 5 years old son has been on Singulair for 9 months. His allergy symptoms have completely gone away. He’s no longer has his night time cough, bloody nose, and frequent croup due to allergies.
My life has been a living HELL from the moment I started this medicine. Before he was on this medicine he was always a pleasant, smart, well-behaved child. Right after he started singulair he began having temper tantrums, becoming increasingly argumentative, not listening. He gets mood swings like you would not believe cry and/or yell at us over the silliest things, kicking, screaming, nightmares, and became very physically aggressive. We were unable to take him places because we never knew how he would behave in public .He was extremely unhappy little 5 year old boy. He also complained of upset stomach and fatigue. Even his school complained about his behavior and they said that he might have PDD. After consulting with doctors we got the assurance that he does not have PDD, but we end up changing his school anyway.
Being a first time mom I never thought it was the medication, I thought it was just a normal behavior. I thought as a parent I must be doing something wrong! I couldn't believe that other parents have gone through the same nightmare.
Two weeks ago the doctor handed me a report about singulair and its suicidal side effect and ask me to stop using this medicine for a while. Since then I started to notice a dramatic change in our son's behavior. He woke up singing, laughing. He wants to help with chores. He is doing great with his school lessons, and very patient with everyone. He is now a more stable and friendly 5 years old.
Wow, I have a completely different child, and thank God I took him off singulair.
As parents, please let’s do something to stop poisoning our children.

We have all been saying that our issues regard not being informed about all of the possible side effects. And, we know that Singulair works well for some people. Nobody wants to take a good drug away from those for which it probably performs miracles. People who have toxic side effects have a right to know up front.

My observations about montelukast's chemical structure are either general or not quite 100% correct or could be quite vague - so forgive me. I do not claim to be good at organic chemistry. But from doing a little work, I have come up with some observations.

1. It would seem to me that montelukast might work quite well for people who have developed mold category related asthma. I observed that chloroquinolin, a component of montelukast, is a good fungicide effective against Aspergillus, Alternaria, Cladosporium, Penicillium and Candida. Dust mites can only digest if helped by aspergillus so they go into the mold category. Molds produce millions of spores so anyone who lives in contact with mold would be chronically sick from their presence. Then people get hypersensitized to that.

I am probably wrong but I could imagine that montelukast is: 1) a ligand that binds to an empty cysLT1 receptor for a period of time 2) 7-chloroquinolin-2-yl which either acts intact or breaks down into a quinoline fungicide so that it kills the chronic mold/fungus infection and 3) a sulphur/methyl anti-inflammatory component that tells the t-cells that they are not needed so they will die. Wow, that would be great for mold asthma if it was completely non-toxic. It would be also great under controlled circumstances for many people who are mold-miserable. If I am wrong, I better go out into my garage and start inventing such a drug.

This is my visualization to try to explain the side effects of neurotoxicity. So adverse reactions could be to the quinoline component as an allergic reaction or dose related so that it just built up to a toxic level over time. There are many signs that t-cell populations are significantly reduced by montelukast. The fact that the Italians can do it in the test tube might be that it's a chemical component of montelukast designed to cause the t-cells to die.

Montelukast is a large molecule so Artie says it cannot penetrate the blood brain barrier. That would be an argument if nobody was complaining about neuro-psychiatric side effects. The neuro-psychiatric side effects are identical to quinoline and quinolones. When I read about Lariam, it just sounds like a more extreme version of Singulair side effects. Chloroquinolins were used before they invented Lariam, which is stronger. The malaria Plasmodiums became immune. Hallucinations, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts are completely consistent in all of the quinoline/quinolones. If montelukast breaks into sub-molecules then quinolines easily penetrate the blood brain barrier.

I find clinical evidence that montelukast may act as more than more molecule. And, that there is a rational for the existence of the chloroquinolin and evidence that it may be the source of toxicity.

I am glad to risk being called crazy. That is what the internet is for. We can present our ideas and discuss. So, just take this with a grain of salt. If I am close to the truth, this post will find it's proper home.

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.

I have communicated directly with Leslie Hendeles, a leading professor of pharmacology and pediatrics at the University of Florida who's direct quote to me was:
"In response to your last comment, I thing Singulair has modest efficacy, and if we take all of our patients off this drug, THEY WON'T SUFFER. This is NOT an important drug for pediatric asthma, as are inhaled corticosteroids."

Ironically, this is the same individual who was quoted in an ABC news article as saying:
"We have hundreds of children on Singulair and have never heard parents make complaints about psychiatric side effects. Moreover, there is no mechanism for this reaction … We will be telling our patients not to worry about this."

WAKE UP EVERYONE...THIS IS AN ADMITTEDLY OVERPRESECRIBED DRUG THAT HAS WORKED WELL FOR MANY, BUT HAS ALSO RUINED MANY LIVES.

The manner in which this drug is casually overprescribed by so many doctors is freakish. I firmly believe that this drug has caused countless misdiagnoses such as ADHD, Bipolar disorder and others. IT FUELS A GOOD PART OF THE ECONOMY TO PUT SO MANY PEOPLE ON THESE DRUGS. I BELIEVE THE PHARM INDUSTRY IS VERY CALCULATED IN THIS MANNER.

Question what your doctors tell you.
See my other posts under matthewct1. I dealt with a situation where my 5 yr. old son was on the road to being diagnosed with ADHD which couldn't have been further from the truth. Singulair changed him. Since he's been off Singulair everyone (teachers, pediatrician, family, etc.) unanimously agree that he does not show the ADHD symptoms like he did on Singulair.

My 9 year old daughter has been on singulair for about 5 months now and she is moody and not a very nice person sometimes. Now she in complaining of headaches and even cry's with the pain I want to take her off but I am a bit scared that if I take her off to quick this might be harmful can anyone let me know if they had any problems when they stopped their childs singulair.
Worried Mum
Australia

has anyone took their child off of singular for more than 2 weeks and has the child had any breathing issues since being off?

UPDATE: Our nightmare with SINGULAIR has not ended! After reading "conerned citizens" report discussing the possiblility of Singulair causing asthma blew me away. My son was put on this drug for food allergies not asthma b/c they thought of his two anaphylaxsis episodes in 5 days. 1 food related the other unknown (maybe outdoor mold?) He had no prior issues with breathing.

He has been off of it for almost 2 weeks however over the last week he has slowly developed some breathing issues. After getting off of it, he still has his ear infection from the second day of being on it and last Friday after playing some basketball began to seem like he was winded so I brought him in. He was having trouble breathing. I called the Dr. and he said it could be excercised induced asthma. He is a very active boy who runs non stop and has NEVER had breathing issues before Singulair! It seemed to pass after a few hours. The next fews days he coughed a few times when playing and I thought what the heck is happening to him. Monday at school they didn't go outside so he was fine b/c he didn't run around. Tuesday, they came to get me b/c he was having trouble breathing and one of his teachers whose son has asthma said I think you better give him an inhaler. I called the Dr. ASAP and he approved us to borrow another child's. He freaked out and wouldn't let us give it to him. After 2 epi-shots in the previous weeks, he wanted nothing to do with that. At school the next day, we made him take the inhaler if he wanted to go out to playso he did. He didn't cough but a few times. No excercise at all. Then last night, he got really bad. He started to cough and couldn't stop to the point of gaging and it seemed as though he had developed a ton of phlem and kept trying to swallow. We ended up in the ER where we were told that he has asthma! I am so furious! I don't get this at all! If this report is accurate and my son got asthma by going on it - this will be devastating. We kept him home today from school and took him into the Dr. b/c he continued to cough all night. He is now on Flovent, Albuterol and has an enebulizer. I'm probably the only one of all of us who child did not have asthma to begin with.

Has anyone who did not have asthma before singulair now have any issues? Please let me know!

Update...Today is the 11th day my 7 yr. old son has been Singulair free! He was taking it for "cold induced" asthma. He never had the typical asthma where he needed an inhaler. He got RSV when he was almost 3, then whenever he got a URI it seemed to go straight to his lungs, so the dr. prescribed Singulair and Xopenex (to be used with a nebulizer). I had asked the dr. a few times to take him off Singulair because he seemed to be doing much better and I wanted to see how he would do without it. The dr. would say "oh, let's wait until summer or let's wait until allergy season is over" and kept putting it off. I just had some sort of bad "feeling" about it. Of course, I look back now and know with certainty that his wierd behaviors started around the time he started Singulair. I am relieved now because his erratic behaviors are almost totally gone!!!! When I heard the news I decided to take him off the Singulair immediately. I was nervous because he had a cold and a bad cough, but did it anyway. You know what? He is fine! His cough is almost gone now without the help of Singulair! He is much happier and can actually focus on doing his homework without getting up from his chair until he is done. Before he would get up about 10 times and just couldn't sit still. He has a better attitude about everything now! He is doing great! I hope everyone who was taking this and stopped is doing better! I learned a valuable lesson from all this. I won't put him or my other son on anything until I research it! I will not trust anything anymore, and that in itself is sad, but true. Good luck to all!

I am posting this because I am just outraged reading all these e-mails and it is exactly the same thing over and over again. My son is now 6 and has been on singular for a little over a year. He was started on it after a asthma attack over the Christmas holidays. Prior to taking the medication he was a sweet loving kid. Honestly because he was so good we could not wait to have another one. Then came these crying spells for no reason. Then out of no where he would attack and kick and scream like someone was killing him even if you just asked to put your shoes on. It was crazy. Never made the connection to the singular. He started kindergarten and it was the same thing there. One week we happened to be really short on money due to an emergency and could not refill his prescription till the following Friday. And looking back now it was the first week that there were very little problems with him and he got all good remarks that week from his teacher.Well again at the time we did not make the connection.Back on the drug and back with the aggressive and bad behavior. Then our local t.v. news did a story about this medication. We looked at each other in shock and thought how could we have missed this? We decided to do our own test and took him of the medication again. While the hacking cough is back his mood swings have all but vanished and he is back to normal minus a few crying spells the last few days. I am confident keeping him off the meds. those will disappear soon enough to. We are only into day 4 off our test and already the diff. is huge. Something needs to be done about it now.

I cannot believe that there is so much of ignorance in such an educated society. Let me first start by saying I am on no medication absolutely I do have bronchitis I don't take cough medications or allergy medications or inhalers etc etc. I read at the bottom in a post that this 28 year old cries every time she sees te Save the children advertisement. I can tell you I listen to music, I watch tv and every touching or heart rendering story or lyric makes me cry!!! I wonder if i was on Singulair I would certainly be committed to some mental asylum.
I think all you educated people should consider that you do not need to be on a drug or any medication to suffer from depression symptoms or any such other emotional trauma. Why blame one thing alone, blame the governments for putting its citizens under stress , blame your economies for bringing down your county into a recession where your earnings don't meet the cost of living, What we should be fighting for is irrelevant, so some strategy comes into light where all these years, read all the posts, 2 , 5, 7 10 years of using Singulair and NOW you want to complain. Why didn't they complain all these years ago and get the drug recalled.. Don't blame one thing alone. Maybe if people lived cleaner, healthier lifestyles you wont be taking medications.

Be very wary of this drug! My son was on it for a year and a half ...the last six months were a veritable nightmare for him. Severe anxiety issues (had to be hospitalized at one point ) and depression. Doctors kept saying it was not the medication but when I googled the drug side effects and stumbled on a blog about singulair problems , I told my son and off the medication he went. Within a month he was back to his normal self .
Thank goodness he was old enough to tell me how he was feeling ( 17 years old at the time) but what about very young children on this drug...how can they voice their problems when they don't have the vocabulary or knowledge of what is "normal"?

Okay so I'm reading all of your postings and I about to totally flip out. My 6 yr old was diagnosed with a very mild case of asthma (an occasional cough that got worse with colds) when he was around 3. The doctor prescribed him Singular and I'm almost positive they started him at 5mg and now I'm reading that it's not recommend at that dose until 6yrs. He is very prone to severe mood swings....one minute screaming "I hate you!" and making commits like "I'll get a knife and kill myself!" to acting like there is nothing wrong and the previous outburst had never occurred. As a rule he is an extremely lovable kid but has these sudden outbursts. Having said this he has been off the medication since October with out any noticeable change. My concern is that if this medication has these types of side effects could it have long term or permanent effects on such young and still developing children. Has anyone else out there had their child off the meds for more than 6 months and not seen improvement in their behavior?

I'm just heartbroken over this. My 6-year old identical twin boys have been on Singulair for 4 years to help control severe asthma. Looking back...I now realize there was a definite "personality" change in both of them after going on it. I've been living with it for 4 years now and have just "gotten used to it." Since October, one of my sons has experienced severe back pain, abdominal pain, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes (though I don't know if this is related), and sadness. I have put him through tests because I just knew something was wrong - he has had an MRI spine, CT chest, abdominal ultrasound, and lymph node biopsy (all negative). I am just crushed because I wonder if I have put him through these tests for absolutely NO reason. That all along, it has been the Singulair. My other son has had insane mood swings for the past 4 years and I had just chalked it up to his personality. He can be extremely mean to his brother and has indicated to me that sometimes he just doesn't "want to be."

The only positive thing out of this is that I learned how insightful my pediatrician is. He took both boys off the Singulair about 6-8 weeks ago. I have noticed a slight improvement in his symptoms, but they have not yet all gone away. I'm hoping there's not lasting damage...

My daughter has been taking Singulair for almost 2 years now. She's 71/2 years old now. It seems like she's very hard to wake in the mornings and complains that she's still sleepy despite 10 hours of sleep. Also she makes a very strange sound during the night like she's scratching her throat and complains of sore throat in the mornings. Has anyone else had this experience with Singulair? I want to take her off. Is it safe to stop this drug without weaning it?

my son was prescribed Singulair melts to put in food for allergies. on day two he has developed a cough that will not stop, a fever and was up before the sun this morning also a bad dream last night. after giving him Tylenol for the fever and Elysium for the cough it hit me that he just finished antibiotics so i checked the web for side effects. i was never told by our family doctor about ANY side effects. i am outraged and he will not be taking this toxic drug ever again. i know my experience is small compared to most of the other stories on this web page but these are our children, our pride and joy why do we want to give them toxic drugs for a runny nose or sneezing and in return we get sleepless, cranky, devil children with night terrors? i think something should be done to stop this drug from being given to any child. what kind of world do we live in? i am appalled at the doctors for letting this happen.

I had a really bad cough and cold, the allergy doctor gave me Singulair and Xyzal. I've never had this bad of a headache, I hurt all over and my ears have lots of pain, I can' wait to stop taking this poison. I will never take this again. Please check out this product before using it as the side effects are many.

My 9 year old daughter has been on Singulair for almost 6 months. Her asthma symptoms have completely gone away. She no longer has her night time cough, post nasal drip, and frequent colds due to allergies. However, she has gained almost 10 pounds, has been tired and has complained of sore muscles. She has had night mares and leg cramps at night. She has also had frequent mood swings. I thought this was just due to her age. She used to be a sweet, kind, patient girl most of the time, and she has been quick to have temper tantrums, cry and/or yell at us over the silliest things. She is a very active girl- dance, soccer, swimming, etc. and she eats healthy foods for the most part. I could not understand why her face was looking so bloated and her pants were all getting too tight all in such a short amount of time. We are taking her off of this medication immediately!

Hi. My eight year old daughter has been on singular for 6 months. She has had chronic stomach pains that she says feel like pressure. Her appetite is terrible. She always says she isn't hungry. I have to search for anything I think she will eat. She is very tall and very thin for her age. She grew an inch in the last year but gained no weight. First time her growth just stopped. No surprise as she doesn't want to eat. I took her to the doc several times and they think she has acid reflux and have given her 2 different acid eliminators ( which freak me out as well) Said she should see a gastroenterologist. We have appointment in March . I started reading this site and thought well maybe it's the singular. So I called her allergist and told them I was taking her off to see if that's why she has the stomach problems. They said I could since it wasn't a big trigger time(seasonal) and she wasn't sick with any cold or flu) She gets mild asthma when sick. Her allergist asthma doc thinks her stomach aches are related to the mucus dripping into her stomach. I have taken her off all meds to try to see if it could be the Singular. She also has been very tired and can't keep up in her dance classes. Her school teacher had to put her in the front of the class because she said she wasn't paying attention. She seems to lose it over anything that requires focus or attention.She also seems kind of depressed. She is worried that something is really wrong with her. This child used to eat normally and is gifted academically .Her tests results(taken while on the Singulair) went way down from last year. She was put in gifted pull out program from last year results but would have barley made it in this year based on her much lower scores. That does not make sense to me. Never has had attention or focus problems before. I will keep everyone posted. Does anyone know how long it might take to get this drug out of her system? Has anyone else had this kind of reaction to this drug? I also wonder whether she had reflux before but this made it worse? I had her blood tested for Celiac and general stuff and nothing showed up.I wanted to get the Singular out of her system before we see the G.I. doctor. anyway thanks, Elizabeth

My normally healthy 3 year old daughter came down with a cough that she couldn't shake. My husband and I have both had the same thing, but I still thought I'd better take her to her pediatrician. He said he did not think she had asthma, but he would give me a 30 day chewable sample of Singulair to get rid of the cough. My husband nor I could really understand why we were giving her an asthma/allergy medication for what we took to be a cold with a cough (again, we both have had the same thing ourselves), but we figured the doctor knows better than us.

Wish I had listened to my gut reaction. I only had her on Singulair 2 days before deciding I needed to find some more information about Singulair. In those 2 days, she immediately began complaining that her belly hurt. She wouldn't eat, had trouble sleeping, became even more temperamental and moody than she's ever been. She woke from a fitful sleep the second night and even though I was sitting right beside her, she cried that she couldn't see me. I have had her off Singulair for 4 days now and tonight was the first time she's had any appetite since she started the medication. I'm hoping she's on her way back to her normal self.

I am so glad I found this website before I gave her any more of what I consider to be a poison. It outrages me that I took her to the doctor for a cough and instead put her through this. It bothers me to no end that kids who don't even have asthma or allergies are being given Singulair. I've always trusted our pediatrician, but now I have serious issues with going back to him.

I began taking Singulair when I got a cough that would not go away. My doctor felt I had an asthma related cough. I am now taking Asmanex and Singulair and have developed horrible chest pains and stomach pains. After reading all of the entries I am going to stop taking this medicine tonight and see if the symptoms go away. I am very nervous about how I have been feeling and feel that this may be the answer.

I just returned from the ER with my 8 year old daughter who was put on Singulair again. She initially took it for about 1 year about a year ago or so. Her pediatrician felt the current cough and stuffy nose was due to allergies, I insisted yes, but also causing her asthma to flare and said that in the past the Singulair did not stop the progression of the symptoms into a full blown multi medicine needed to control her asthma occurrence and perhaps we should use Proventil and Advair to get her back on track. Now after 5 days of Singulair she is on oral steroids, Proventil Inhaler and possible has pneumonia and she has HIVES all over her body! The ER doctor said not use the Singulair and in 2 days I could start the antibiotics if she is still coughing and has fever, Oh yes, I forgot to say the past 2 nights she has had a low grade fever 100-101.2 degrees.
I think MD's are to quick to push a drug they think is safe and newer instead of using good old fashion time proven remedies like Proventil and a short burst of oral steroids.

IA huge thanks to you guys for putting this info out there, because I'm sure the Singulair website wouldn't go into detail about this, and tell about side effects it has: FYI -->

This was what I found on the Singulair website, no more, no less (see post below this one please)

'm really sad to hear that these things happened to you guys and your children.

My 8yr old (55 lbs) son got a cough that ended up lasting about 4 weeks, so i finally took him to his pediatrician. He gave him a breathing treatment and hinted at him having asthma- but he wasn't sure. We have no family history of asthma and in my mind i thought it was pretty far fetched, but we continued the breathing treatment for about 2 weeks and my son cleared right up.

We came back in the Friday after Thanksgiving for a check up and his doctor said that my son sounded much better. The doctor said that looking over my son's medical history (not much of anything) he said he could have asthma-but he wanted to put him on Singulair for the next 3 months until the winter is over.

He said it would be a preventative measure to keep my son's symptoms from "flaring" up. The doctors said " This is not a steroid, and there are NO side effects. Its a once daily chew able for children." I thought-hmmm that's a first, a drug with no side effects. Then I was thinking" "What symptoms was the doctor referring to?" He had a really bad cough he got while visiting his dad's family (bug going around). But I held my tongue and just nodded. He wrote out the prescription, and I left. I heisted as I pulled out in front of the pharmacy and then kept driving.

I felt uneasy about the whole thing. Giving him a daily medication for a condition (asthma) I doubted my son had. Glad I did my homework, I decided to not fill the prescription. I don't feel the least bit guilty for not giving him the meds.

My 8yo son has been on Singulair for his asthma for about 2 weeks and he has complained of a 'sick tummy' regularly, ending up in tears because he can't do things. We have had a long run of this, perhaps due to the 8 lots of penicillin for tonsillitis, and some tummy bugs going around the schools I work in. The doctor has been suggesting irritable bowel syndrome so we didn't think of the Singulair side effects until it has got so bad that he is not going to school.He has been unusually clingy and almost paranoid about small things that don't usually worry him over the past couple of weeks. We were trying these tablets as he has been on steroid based preventer since he was 3 and we wanted to get him off the cortisone stuff. After reading here he is off the Singulair today and we will report the side effects to the paediatrician.

I am 25 and I've had asthma since I was 5. I have taken Singulair for 4 days now, and I noticed I developed a cough that doesn't stop as if my throat itches. So far that is the major side effect which is already making me think about stopping Singulair.

My 8 year old boy was recently prescribed Singulair by his doctor, last summer he also put him on it for about a month, he developed a cough which would not go away right after being put on the medication, as soon as he stopped taking it, the cough seemed to disappear. When his doctor wanted to put him back on it I was a little surprised and I reminded him of what happened last year, he said it was a good medicine and being that he is a little older it would be fine. He has been on it for 6 days and my husband and I both have noticed that he has been very emotional and has had several episodes of crying, and acting out of sorts. He is normally a very laid back well behaved boy. I decided to look up the side effects and came across this website and could not believe what I was reading. Just this morning he came downstairs and told me that he had a terrible nightmare, and tonight he was complaining that his knees were hurting real bad, he is not a complaining type of kid, this is all that I need to see, we will deal with his viral asthma without singulair, I feel betrayed, I think that parents should be aware of these side effects, I thank god that he has only been on it for a few days.

My daughter is 5 years old and has been on singulair for 1 week. i have already noticed a dramatic change in her behavior. she has become irritable, mean, nasty, and emotional. she has had me in tears on a daily basis. she has turned into a monster. we will be calling the doctor in the morning!

My 6 year old son has had all of these more or less. He has been on Singulair for about 5 months. We took him off last Friday when he started having seizures. It is only now that we are connecting the things he has complained about. He is still going through testing but everytime a test is done it is negative. He is in perfect health. The dr.s are stumped. What happens is, he smells a wierd smell. Then he sees lights. After this he has a bad headache and becomes weak so he lays down. Shortly thereafter he stiffens and starts shaking his arms and legs while clinching his hands. He also grunts and makes a buzzing sound and appears as though he only breathes out. the dr.s say it is not seizures but movement disorder and if it is Singulair it should be out of his system within 3 days... He is still having the seizure type fits and its been a week since we took him off singulair. He is still losing his temper and having horrible dreams as well. Cat scan was normal, EEG was normal, blood work is ok, they want to do an MRI but does this sound familiar to anyone?

I began taking singulair on Monday, March 26th for a severe allergy/sinus condition with a chronic chough. My family Dr. prescribed a combination of Singular, Claritin and Flonase to combat my allergies or at least to make them less harsh.

Prior to beginning the regiment, I was given a Z-pac to clear up sinus infection. This was one week earlier.

I took the singular at night as instructed by my doctor. I took the Claritin and Flonase in the morning.

I was hoping that the Singular would be the one drug to help stop the annoying cough. On day 6 of the Singular I noticed my cough becomming deeper in my chest. My doctor told me that it takes about 10 days for Singular start working. By day 7 it was difficult to get a good breath between coughing episodes. I am making an appointment with my doctor to see if i should continue on this med. I also experienced some dizzyness. I will probably stop taking this due to this horrible deep cough and thickening of the mucas that is occuring.

Doctor prescribed Singulair for our 4 year old son because of mild asthma: cough after exercising. He had been taking the medication for about 4 months. During this time previously friendly, active boy turned into a terror: hyperactive, aggressive (hitting, throwing things at people, yelling, screaming), tantrums, very irritable. He started waking up at nights telling he has had bad dreams. We are glad we linked such a drastic change in his behavior to Singulair. Haven' t given the stuff for a week now and slowly things are getting back to usual.
What made me unhappy was that prior administering Singulair I consulted to pediatricians - one in the US and another in Europe. Both assured the side effects are very rare, the medication is absolutely safe (!!!!!) and the best one so far!!!!! However, the doctor in the US told me I should give the medication about 3 - 4 hours before sleep as child might gate 'little too active'.
It was not worth giving the drug because of the side effects that were so tough on a child and were very difficult for me, my husband and child' s nanny to take care of, we simply did not understand what is going on with our child.
I am very thankful to this site.

I am horrified to read what awful side effects some kids have had from Singulair. My 4 year old is on Singulair since December 2006 (slightly persistent asthma - cough after exercise).
My observations are - child is hyperactive. For the first month it was fine, but now for the last month his behavior is not as usual. He is active biy but not hyperactive!!! I took him off for 5 days and things went back to normal. However, I should admit his cough has dissapeared.... don' t know what to think, will be talking to doctor.

My son is 61/2 yo, and i am telling you i have a wonderful little boy. I have notice with his behavior, i just assumed oh he is just a boy. My son starting taking singulair 3 years ago. I get phone calls from school at least once a week now. His grades are A/B'S. The director of his private school suggested i get him tested for adhd. Well i told her she needed to be tested! I was at the end of my rope on March 8, 2007. Something told me to google singulair for side effects. I don't know why it just hit me to do this. When i started to read all of these stories, i began tio cry. My son's symptoms are bad dreams, can't sit still very hyper! The school was telling me to change his diet, well my son is a very healthy little boy. HE eats very well, and he doesn't eat alot of junkfood. He has been complaing about cramps in his legs, and i also notice him putting his fingers in his mouth alot. He bites his nails alot, which these things started happening in the last year. He has been labeled at his school as a bad litlle boy. As his mom I WILL AND I SHALL TURN THIS SITUATION AROUND FOR MY SON!! I AM GOING TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GO AGAINST THE COMPANY THAT IS SELLING THIS DRUG TO THE DR'S. I KNOW THESE DR'S KNOW BY NOW THAT THIS DRUG IS BAD FOR OUR CHIKDREN. DON'T MISUNDERSTAND ME THE PILL DID TAKE AWAY THAT BAD COUGH THAT HE HAD FOR A VERY LONG, BUT THE SIDE EFFECTS ARE HORRIBLE. WELL I STOP GIVING HIM THE TABLET YESTERDAY, SO I AM GOING TO WAIT AND SEE WHAT CHANGES TAKE PLACE. IF ANYONE WANTS TO CONTACT ME, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DO SO. MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS dmi5262000@yahoo.com. PLEASE TAKE YOUR CHILDREN OFF THIS DRUG. WE AS PARENTS MUST DO OUR PART TO PROTECT OUR BABIES.

@ Guest 37781

How did you stop taking singulair?i mean are you on some alternative medicine or has your asthma subsided?how come?

Actually pregnancy and its complications really really worry me....i am about to be married in a year and asthma frightens me of what future may bring.I have read and consulted many doctors and all confirm that allopathic medicine has no *cure* for asthma though it can prevent it ....and we have to depend upon medicine quite a lot.But many many people say that homaeopathic medicine can completely cure ....all we need is to find the right kind of a doctor...these days i am on homeopathic medicine....and weaning from singulair was really difficult ....with all the terrible results...i just use inhalor these days when needed....it is mucosy asthma with a lot of cough.But the good news is i am improving a bit....and am really hopeful that one day i will do without any kind of medicine.Do pray for me.

With singulair i experienced excessive falling of hair,stiffness and pain in joints and addiction to singulair.

It really disturbs me to see a few months old babies suffering from this ailment. i developed it when i was 21...it is difficult to imagine what misery they go through. May God bless all.

I have been reading a lot of these side effect stories since I gave my son his first dose of Singulair this morning. Our doctor suggested giving it to him during the day and his QVAR puff at night. My son hasn't used his Ventolin inhaler for over 18 months and the QVAR was reduced to a single daily dose over 6 months ago. At this moment he has just shown an increase in his shakiness and a mild bit of diarrea. But at this point I will not continue with another dose til I talk to my doctor after the weekend. With my son having an increasing amount of febrile seizures the past 3 years, I will not increase any risk of future seizures by keeping him on this medicine. He was going to be taken off the QVAR and Ventolin entirely at the last clinic but he had a mucasy cough this winter that lasted for almost a month. The only reason we got any meds was of the "asthma" my son had in our old apt(black mold etc.) but since we moved from that suite over 14 months ago we haven't had any problems. Thankyou all for your posts on this drug, I would never have known anything than just what warns us on the little side effects paper in the box.

My 32 m.o. daughter had a mucous-y cough for about a year. Then I noticed that her cough was worse when she lays down at night, and after jumping on the trampoline. I (her mom) have asthma, and it runs all through our family. After a bout of the flu early January, where she was hopitalized for 2 days, I talked with her pediatrician about the "asthma-like" qualities she is showing. Dr. prescribed zyrtec along with 4 mg of singulair at bedtime, with a follow up 3 weeks later. Also prescribed ventolin with a spacer, which we havent had to use yet. (I use inhalers regularly.) We followed up with the Dr, and I told her that her cough is pretty much gone now. So we stopped the zyrtec and are on singulair for a few months. The thing is, I have noticed that she is more aggressive and more irritable than her normal self. I dont know whether to attribute it to the "terrible-two's" or the new medicine. She always wants to hit someone or something. And yes, I notice that her night-time sleep patterns are different. She falls asleep great, but she wakes up in the middle of the night (3 or 4 am) and has a hard time gonig back to sleep. It is the agressive behavior that has me worried, because she does not want to listen or be told what to do, and she is hitting other kids at her pre-school. After reading the comments frmo other Moms below, I gues it acutally could be the medicine and not the terrible-two's!

My son is 3 and has had a cough all of his life. Everytime we would take him to the doctor they said his chest sounded clear and they couldn't pin point the problem. I took him to an allergy/asthma doctor where he was allergy tested. Tests showed very minimal allergies. We have no pets, no smoke, and no carpet in our home. The doctor said he didn't have asthma but prescribed him Singulair. After about 6 weeks he was very agitated, to the point I could hardly deal with him. Very aggressive with everyone in the family, could not sleep at night, and had severe hallucinations of bears in his room and he would see sharks in the bathtub to the point where he was crying and begging to get out of the bathtub. When I read the small print on the side effects I knew that it was the medication.

My son had a cough for most of the winter last year. This year we made enough fuss that they looked into it. They did chest x-rays and they were clear. They put him on antibiotics and robitussin w/codeine and singulair. He is 5. The cough went away I was so excited. Then like 3 weeks in he started this throat clearing grunt. I thought it was just a bad habit he picked up at school he also got nasty and emotional and couldn't concentrate and this is a very quit witted 5 year old who's pre-k teachers are always threatening to send to high school, anyway they had me set up an appointment with a ped. pulmonologist. His RX ran out before the visit so I just let it go thinking if he needed it they would tell us at the visit. The day before he started rolling his eyes up in his head then the day after the visit (sat.) I hadn't gotten the new rx's yet which were singulair & albuterol and flovent inhalers. Sat night the eye rolling was getting worse and he started jerking his head to one side and opening his mouth to the side and after he went to bed he had an asthma attack. Sunday the eyes and mouth and head jerking was worse and I was in tears scared to death. I gave him the singulair and the inhalers and made an appt with his ped. I gave him the singulair on monday too before I found this site. I was horrified but relieved to find people who had similar experiences with this med. Mon. was his last dose and it is now friday and the eye rolling, head jerking, grunting and the mouth thing are all gone he is doing a little eye twitch where he looks down and to the side but only a few times in an hour. Used to be almost constant. His ped didn't think it was the singulair neither did the pulmonologist. It's so scary that these doctors have no idea. I made an appt with our chiropractor who is also a great homeopathic dr. to find out what we can use instead of singulair.
If there are any lasting side effects from this med.....

My mom (age 80 yesterday) has had a bad cough and bronchitis for about 2 months and for some reason the doctor prescribed Singulair. She had one dose last night and the side effects were immediate. She had extremely vivid dreams, hallucinations continuing today, talkativeness, nausea, pain in her hips, and tingly hand. She said she fell 4 times last night - tipped over, and asked her grandchildren and son-in law to help her - they were not really there though. It was a hallucination. She's also shaky and heart palpitations, but she had that already. I will never give her this again.

I have the following situation.
I got abad sinus infection and my doc also suspected that I might have asthma because I was wheezing alot.
So he put me on 10 days of Amoxicillin to kill the infection, gave a steroid nasal spray and also put me on Singulair.

I have the following symptoms.

1. I have a horrible aftertaste in my mouth especially when I cough..it takes like metal or blood.
2. My breathing becomes really horrible in the evenings (right before bed). I wheeze a lot and loud. Lots worse than it was when I first went to the doc. I do not know if there is a connection, but I wonder if what causes the breathing wheezing problem might be either Singulair or the nasal spray. Any ideas? has anybody experienced the same?
I stopeed amoxicillin today. So I can narrow it down to either spray or Singulair that is causeing this.
Please let me know if somebody experienced the same problems, or know what is going on.

P.S. I have been on all this meds 10 days only so far.

Thanks

I'm done with Singulair after a week. I've now got a cough and phlem in my throat that I've never EVER had. I'm also very sleepy and feel like my arms and legs weigh a ton.

My son has been on Singulair and Flovent for the last 8 months straight and on and off of both since he was 1 1/2. As soon as we take him off the medications, his asthma kicks in and starts with his typical asthma cough that takes weeks to go away. My concern is and has been over him taking this medications for such a long period of time. The medicine definitely helps him, but I don't want him on these medicines and am desperately wanting to find alternative methods, but am also skeptical as to whether or not alternative methods work and don't know who to turn to.

I started my son on a children's fish oil supplement and a children's probiotic, as well as a very good multi-vitamin and vitamin c supplement - however those are not enough to control his asthma.

I would love to hear from others who are in the same situation and who have had positive experiences with alternate methods.

My 4 year old son has been taking Sigulair for three weeks. He has started showing signs of restlessness. The past two weeks he jhas becime very aggressive at school. I started questioning this medication a few weeks ago. I decided to research the side effects and I am so pleased to have found this sight. He was even restless in his sleep. The is out of character for him. I am stopping this medication immediately.

I have had terrible sinus drainage and coughing all of my life. I have recently been prescribed Singulair and although I've only been taking it a short time, I've noticed immediate results for the better! My cough has stopped and my drainage is gone. This is the ONLY medicine that has helped me and I've tried everything. I'm very greatful for it and highly recommend to anyone having similar problems.

Hello, I've been taking Singular for about 3 months now, and for the past month I have felt sicker than I ever have in my life. Whenever I take one of thosed accursed pills I get a fever, abnominal pains, dizzyness, I even feel as though I want to faint. My body gets sore, and then I go into a cold sweat. It gets hard for me to breath, and I cough like crazy. I even developed Broncidus! O_o So, I stopped taking it for a few days, and I felt great, no today to end my test, I took one, and I feel worse than any other time I ever took it! If you are taking this pill and you feel like this, I would stop, I feel as though I'm going to die. I'm glad I'm stopping too, it's like $120 a month!

I'm 56 years old and was recently diagnosed with adult onset asthma and started on Singulair. I'm not a smoker, and never have been, but I've had a cough and other respiratory problems for the past couple of years. At first, the Singulair seemed to help with the cough, although I've had problems sleeping from when I began taking it. Also, in the past couple of weeks I've developed flu-like symptoms (I don't have the flu), and a severe sinus infection. I didn't realize these could be side effects of Singulair until I began to do some reading. I'm discontinuing the Singulair tonight, and hopefully these symptoms will disappear.