Singulair and pulmicort

My son is 3 and has been on Singulair since around springtime (I think... I've lost count). Anyway, during this summer we noticed his behavior had just gone straight to hell. At first I was attributing it to the wonderful world of the three year old, but it was just getting ridiculous. He was having countless meltdowns, screaming bloody murder (I mean SCREAMING to the point of going hoarse), hitting, punching, slamming, banging, crying hysterically for ridiculous reasons, yelling out during the night, and showing OCD behaviors. I was fearing that he might have ADHD/OCD until my husband stumbled upon this website. I remember hearing stories about teenagers having horrible side effects from singulair, but didn't think it was affecting my son at 3. As I read the entries on this website I felt like they were talking about my son.

I am taking him off of it to see what happens, but now I'm nervous that his asthma will flare. He's had quite a few asthma episodes since the fall allergy season has started. I suppose he'll need to go for awhile to get everything out of his system to see if the behavior changes, and then I hope to find a new preventative. We have Pulmicort and Xopenex and an inhaler ready!

*UPDATE* Well, it hasn't quite been two weeks since I've taken James off of Singulair and - I am not kidding you - his behavior improved the FIRST day. I want anyone who reads this to know that I am not an "alarmist", I DON'T freak out over everything I read, I do a lot of research (kind of obsessive myself :), so please understand that I am not one to usually write things like this...I mean, I pushed my allergist to give it to him in the first place! There are plenty of kids out there that are fine on Singulair, but some are not. I didn't make the connection to the Singulair since the average three year old is irrational and unpredictable anyway, but I KNEW something wasn't right. It wasn't just tantrums and whatever, his overall personality had done a 180. In the last two weeks my son has returned. He still, of course, has three year old moments, but he is back to the caring, loving, curious, excited, social, happy kid I had last year. One of the worst things we were seeing two weeks ago was bedtime behavior. BAD OCD behaviors - everything in his room had to be PERFECT. The curtains couldn't have a peek of light shining through, there could be nothing on the floor, everything had to be in order. He would obsess about things (creatures) coming into his room, when we would say goodnight and close the door he would scream and cry like someone was stabbing him and was petrified. The FIRST night that we stopped the Singulair he laid his head on his pillow, said goodnight and went to sleep. Please keep an eye out for personality changes in your kids.
*November update* it's been almost two months since we took James off Singulair and we haven't seen ONE BIT of the horrible behavior that we had w/ the Singulair! Normal "three-year-old moments", but no return of the "devil child", no OCD, nighttime freak-outs, violence, or any of it.

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.

Have been experiencing the same serious behavioral issues (screaming, launching every toy he has out of his room, knocking over his night stand, hitting, kicking and just being hateful) with my 4 year old who has been on Singulair for 2 years as I'm noticing many of you have here. My wife and I have a wonderful relationship and happy home and tons of love and support from other family that's close buy so the kid has a very nice environment. We have taken him off the medication as of yesterday. I have consulted his doctor but I'm anxious to hear what methods of treatment for the asthma all of have chosen in replacement of Singulair or did you just maintain with an inhaled maintenance program with something like Pulmicort? Also, how long was after taking your child off of Singulair did take to for the outburst to subside and the behavior to become more mellow and normal (what is normal for a 4 year old?). Any info would be greatly appreciated.

After reading all the horror stories on here, me and my husband soon began to realize that we were having a lot of the side effects listed here and not listed on my son's actual Singulair prescription. The side effects my son had were behavioral changes, irrational behavior, inattentiveness, not able to stay on task or stay still -- in fact he broke his arm twice being so hyper, yelling, screaming and just plain mean.

We took our son off of Singulair as a trial for a few days. Immediately we began to notice differences in his behavior. He wasn't as agitated and quick to yell or get angry. (He's only 5 years old). He actually would be listening when we would speak to him. He would sit calmy and read books and the one huge thing he would do was look at us and smile. He even said to my husband once, "I love you Daddy," which just brought tears to our eyes. I never realized what a Singulair fog he was in and what it did to him. Here we were pretty close to getting him evaluated for ADHD or even Aspergers. So now we're in the same boat as others that are searching for other asthma meds to give my son. Right now we have gone back to Pulmicort, Xopenex, Nasonex and Allegra. I'm so glad I read this forum because I was desperately searching for answers for my sons behavioral issues. Oh, by the way he was on Singulair for 1-1/2 years.

In response to dtrzaski post Im am sending out this question to everyone. We know there have been stool/stomach/weight issues. Are there any other children that it has been discovered to have high cholesterol. My son was discovered to have high cholesterol at around 3yrs old, apprx 6 months after starting Singulair (regardless of a very healthy diet lots of fruit and veggies!) Any thoughts out there?

After reading more posts and comments to others re: SINGULAIR and discussion of side effects of steroids - I am really scared as you could all imagine! Do I need to look for any side effects from the flovent and albuterol? What should Iook for? I am so not the paranoid type but am quickly becoming more now b/c I don't want my son to suffer anymore. I know predisone long term but what about the flovent which is a steroid? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I just came back home from the dr. We made some tests and my 5 years old daughter is allergic to house dust mites and has beeing diagnosticated with athopic asthma. The dr. prescribed Singulair. Now, after reading all the posts, I freaked out and I have not idea what to do. I am really sorry I did't ask about side effect, but I considered, her beeing a dr, knows better than me. My thought now is: I'm not going to give my daughter Singulair.

Some of these stories read like a diary of our life.our son went from a reasonably confident, happy, somewhat easy going 10/11 year old to a now 16 year old with no confidence, somewhat paranoid, dealing with depression and tremors so bad that he could not hold his pencil to draw a straight line in drafting. He often says he hates his life, can't see any hope for the future and feels he is a failure- he is an honors student with a nearly perfect 4.0 average, yet he is never sure it is enough.

some of it we put down to being a teenager, who had inherited hubby's fathers shaky hands. some we figured came from my dad and his troubles with ocd and depression. i have worried, cried, prayed, ranted and begged for things to be different for him.

what changed at 10/11 years of age? he started taking Singulair. at first a low dose but about 3 years ago the doctor uped the dose to full strength, the symptoms also escalated - however he had entered the teenage years and changes they go through.

the allergist last year,put him on Pulmicort and at that point did not need the Singulair but through a misunderstanding we kept giving it to him. hubby is a pharmacist and questioned it, he has never been wild about Singulair because he says it opens you up to infections.

which may answer a secondary question of why he has had more cases of bronchitis and has had 3 bouts with pneumonia, more since the dosage was raised.

i have to wonder if the history of depression in our family made our son more open to the symptoms and side effects of the Singulair. the suicide part of it really scares me as my uncle and aunt both committed suicide, we didn't need any push in that direction. we have talked extensively about it and he assures me he does not consider it an option.

i know some kids take it no problem, but this recent set of reports, and the fact that the FDA has changed the warning labels 4 times in a year, causes me to take notice for him

please pray that we can see some improvement as he is now off of the Singulair. I stopped mine last year due to recurring ear infections. now i am especially glad i did. i have felt very hopeful today that this may be an answer to prayer. two days off and he had a good day today.

Hi All -- I am reading the effects that you have posted, and while I agree that after taking singular for 4 years, I do have the some of symptoms listed... BUT.. NOW I BREATH... I was living from nebulizer treatment to treatment, on Prednisone 4-5 times a year, had no energy and was afraid to do any exercise at all because of lack of breath. I used to negotiate with my Doctors on trying everything before taking Prednisone because of the side effects which are also mood swings and major anxiety... since taking Singular I have had a life -- I am aware of my asthma and allergies but have had pneumonia only once...

PLEASE -- Weigh the options... consider death through lack of breath and life - compared to suicide ... both are not living.

While the anxiety of Singular is real - through experience so is the ability to breath, live and when you are aware of it - the anxiety is manageable. NO DRUG IS WITHOUT SIDE EFFECTS... you need to balance the pro's and con's for you and your family. Make conscious and informed decisions, work with your physicians.

My daughter is three and a half. She has been a Singulair since she was 18 months old. She has also been on oral pred, xopenex, pulmicort for her asthma. Last fall, her pediatrician (the same doc who put her on Singulair) diagnosed her as hyperactive and probably attention deficit. She is often difficult to manage. Her pre-school teacher has complained that she is disruptive in class. She speaks at a shout, is demanding and interrupts people constantly. She has been gaining weight -- and I'm worried that even though she is 3 1/2 she is wearing a size 5. She has also developed the hard-blink tic. Her pediatrician has recommended she see a neurologist for the tic. Thanks heavens a neighbor saw a news story on the side effects of singulair and told me about them. I am taking her off the drug now.

my daughter has been on Singulair for 4 days now. She is 2 years old and has bad food allergies that cause very bad eczema. She also has been diagnosed with the start of asthma. After going to an allergist, we were told that she should try Singulair and Allegra for a couple of months to treat her seasonal allergies which have been causing coughing at night and skin break-outs, etc. A day or so after she took the medicine ( Singulair chewable tablets- I haven't started the Allegra yet, it seemed like too much for her to be on ) she has been having very loose stools, and quite a few throughout the day. Also she has hive- like bumps on her back. I stopped giving it to her the day before yesterday because the medicine was the only new thing she had been introduced too. The stools seemed to slow down and the hives seemed to be going away, but she was coughing bad last night, so I gave it to her again thinking maybe all she had was a stomach bug. But this morning we made countless potty stops and her back is bumpy again. Does anyone else have this problem?

My daughter will be 2 in June and she suffers with asthma she has been taken diff meds such as xopenex, pulmicort, orapred, and now singulair. i researched all the other meds and took her off but the asthma specialist said she needed the pulmicort and i asked her pediatrician what he thought and he prescribed singulair he said it was completely safe and i had nothing to worry about but now i am very much worried because my daughter is only 21 months old and can not tell me exactly what wrong if anything. she has only been taking this singulair since last night so it has been twice she has taken it and last night she had a nightmare. she was fussy going to bed, it took a long while to wind her down she normally falls asleep between 9 and 10 pm last night she went out around 12. her lungs r very sensitive and i want her to get better but a lot of these meds have really bad side affects and who's to say what will be the long term affects and thats what i worry about the most. i just don't know what to do and I'm very worried. i came across this site by accident but I'm glad i did cuz now i know that this is not safe to give my 21 month old daughter.

Okay- A friend just emailed this site to me, my son is 4 and has been taking Singulair for about 2 years. He has seasonal allergies which seem to be year round, asthma and food allergies. He is on Singulair and Allegra daily, this in it self freaks me out. What I have noticed for at least the past year is that when he is running around or moving a lot he hold his right side and says he has a pain in it, we now call it a "stitch". it happens not from strenuous activity, our doctor just says its growing pains, that doesn't make sense. something is bothering him it happens with somewhat frequency. I am really thinking about his behavior, it seems to me he can change on a dime. from happy to very angry, outbursts and then right back to sweet, yes this could describe any 4 year old, but not any 4 year old is on Singulair. I remember saying to him where is my sweet boy? I feel like that might have been when we started the meds, i am so used to his behavior now that it seems almost normal but there was a time he acted differently. and i do remember saying that.... was it when he went on Singulair???

My 2 year old son has been taking Singulair for about a month. He had a bad asthma attack in September and was on albuterol and prednisone. Then the dr. prescribed Pulmicort and after giving it to him for 3 days and reading the literature, I stopped giving it to him because it had terrible side effects. The dr. was not happy with me and I agreed to put him on Singulair since it wasn't a steroid.

He has always been clingy and never a good sleeper. Recently he's been sleeping terribly and having awful night terrors. He can't really talk much yet, so I can't ask him what is wrong, but he'll wake up looking terrified and shaking and pointing at the celing and nothing is there. I can barely get him calmed back down. He also has gotten worse about not being with me. He has to have his hand on me at all times when we around other people. As I said, he's always been clingy, but he's just been worse lately. Also, he's had a stuffy nose since he went on the Singulair. He can no longer breathe out of his nose at all. When he's sleeping he snores terribly and sometimes gasps, which scares me. It's like an apnea thing. He's also been sleeping until 10 - 10:30 am which he's never done.

My husband did not want him taking it from the start, but I was stupid and did what I wanted instead of listening to him. Now I realize his gut feeling was right on and it makes me almost cry. He is too little to be telling me if his head or body hurts or what he is feeling, so he may be feeling even worse than I suspect.

I am going to research diet changes and see if that is something we can do to control his asthma. We're also seeing a chiropractor and trying some things to boost his immune system so he won't get sick and have it lead to asthma attacks.

Thank you all so much for sharing your stories. I appreciate it more than you know. I hate that any of our children (or you adults) have had to go through these things, but sharing your experiences makes it worth it so that others won't have to go through the same. Thank you!

I have allergic asthma/copd. I use 2 inhalers: Pulmicort and Spiriva. A recent visit to Ga. with exposure to the acrid smell of the smoke from the forest fires affected my breathing terribly.
Took Singulair for 10 days. My breathing vastly improved. However, on the 11th day, I awoke with severe leg cramps, toe cramps, and the beginning of a rectal irritation. Are these things a common occurence and why are they not mentioned in the official side effects listed.
I have stopped taking the Singulair. Is anyone else having these problems?

My son is six years old and been on Singulair for 2 weeks, on the 3rd day he started complaining of stomach pain. That night he had a horrible nightmare and everyday since it has been something else it seems to get worse everyday. Sleepwalking uncontrollable rage that we have never seen before. He gets out of breath very easy and his comprehention is very bad since he has takin this drug. He is on day two of no Singulair and is still having trouble sleeping but the other effects are slowly ending thank god any parents thinking of this treatment for their child needs to do more research my doctor did not think it was the meds that it is just a normal child stage he is going through. (bull-h--t).

My daughter, now 6, has taken Singulair on and off for the last 2-3 years for asthma. It works but the side effects are not worth it. My daughter has had encoupresis (severe constipation causing accidents) since starting the drug, as well as mood swings. Because she has also had to take Flovent (also Advair, Pulmicort) and Albuterol we have never been sure which drug was the culprit. We took her off Singulair at the end of the summer in 2006 and kept her on the Flovent and Albuterol (as needed). We got the encoupresis under control and her mood dramatically improved. This January 2007 she started having allergic reactions everyday at school and was going to the school nurse to get Benydryl. We decided to put her back on the Singulair a couple of weeks ago. The encoupresis symptoms have returned and the moodiness is horrible. We are stopping the medicine from now on, does anyone know of an alternative that helps with food, grass and animal allergies??? Thanks for your help.

My 7 year old son has been taking Singulair for about 2 years now. He has suffered from asthma since he was an infant and started with Pulmicort, then Zyrtec, then Singulair with Claritin (adding Albuterol and Flovent during periods of wheezing) as he aged. We have changed meds often due to concerns about staying on a steroid (Pulmicort) and noticible behavior problems (Zyrtec) and were assured by his doctor that Singulair does not have the same side-effects as the others. After reading so many of the other postings on this site, we are pretty certain that his unusual behavior (ADD like attention problems, fits of crying for no reason, inability to explain why he is doing things, acting out, etc.) are possibly the result of the Singulair. Like many others who have posted on this site, my son had always been a sweet well-behaved child who people loved to be around. However, over the past couple of years we have noticed more and more incidents of inappropriate behavior in school and nothing we have tried has worked to resolve the behaviors. He basically annoys others to the point that they avoid being around him and recently classmates have asked his teacher to move them to another table so they do not have to be bothered by him. Yesterday he cried uncontrollably for over 20 minutes when a toddler broke apart a Lego design he had just finished. I am going to stop the Singulair today and see if we notice any improvements over the next few weeks. I know we are at risk of asthma attacks without it (it definitely controls his asthma as he has not had an attack since going on it), but will continue the Claritin and have Albuterol if needed. NO medicine is worth taking if it can have such an impact on a child's behavior! I just hope, if it is the meds that have caused his behavior, that it is reversible after he is off and he will go back to beging the great kid that he used to be.

My son has asthma and is back on singular and pulmicort we are concerned that the singular is causing anxiety, night terrors as well as he is complaining of headaches, stomach aches and also got the weakness in his arm and the shaking in his legs. We just went to his peditrician recomened us to stop it. In the past when he was on it we only noticed the headache and stomach ache and also that he wasn't as hungry. The new symptoms of the weakness, shaking, and anxiety have only been since we started back on the drug. singular

My son ,23 months old, started on Singulair this past spring 06, after pulmicort wasnt doing the trick at taking away his sick asthma. Singulair has worked thus far, but I have noticed if I forget to give it to him, the next day he is irritable and miserable. It doesnt seem coincidental anymore because over the summer I tried cutting back a little on the meds because typically illnesses occur during the winter months. And he seemed to be more irritable every time i cut back. I will be going to his specialist soon and discuss this with him. Hopefully we have a better winter this year and he can be off all his meds soon. Also, he will not go to sleep if I give it to him at night, I use it after his afternoon naptime.

I am a 47 year old woman recently diagnosed with asthma and on Pulmicort twice daily. I also have spring allergies and was recently prescribed Singulair. I have been having leg and foot cramps on a daily basis lately and notice that muscle cramps is listed as a less common side effect. Anyone else experiencing this?

My daughter whom is 8 years old has been diagnosed with asthma since age 3, she has been on a nebulizer with Pulmicort since then. Well in December of 2005, our Pulmonologist put her on Singulair. In January of 2006 she began losing her hair. We have been to 6 different doctors, she has had a scal culture and a biopsy of her scalp tissue done as well. All tests have some back good. Then our dermatologist tells me yesterday that Singulair can cause itching. So now I am wondering if the itching on her scalp is causing the hair to break and fall off. The top of her head is so thin because the hair has fallen off. Not the root, it is breaking before the root. Do any of you know if this has happened before. My daughter sees a Pediatric Lung Pulmonologist at Children's Hostpital. I really think if this was a side effect from the med, wouldn't he have told us? He did see her balding in Feb. Any ideas would be appreciated... Thanks alot, Rhonda

My 6 year old daughter has been on Singulair for several months now. She was recently diagnosed with Asthma by a pediatriac pulmonology specialist. She was also put on Pulmicort and was already on Flonase. She has been having behavior problems at school. Mainly not listening, not able to sit in her seat, not following directions, aggressive and impulsive at times to others. At home we noticed the same behaviors and when asked why she does what she does she will say, "I don't know, it's just my brain isn't working right." She also would say she was stupid and a dummyhead when she didn't so something right. At first we thought it was the pulmicort and the doctor said that those side effects, although rare could happen (*as noted in the literature provided to us with the medication). After taking her off of that and putting her on the Flovent inhaler instead the behavior did not change. I never thought it would be the Singulair because she had been on it in the past and didn't seem to have the problems she is having now. After reading all of this information I am ready to have her stop that medication and try other methods to deal with her problems. Luckily she is not extremely bad and really only has problems if she develops a cold. Thank you all for your time and effort to put the information on here.

I need help ASAP.My son is 13 months old.He was put on singulair 4 days ago.I noticed constant crying,fits and his eyes itch all the time.Does it take longer then 4 days for these side effects to start or should I stop the medication? He is also on Xopenx every 4 hours,pulmicort twice a day and has been on predisone on and off since he was 2 weeks old but mainly on one for the last month.Please email me at ******

My 16-year-old daughter was taking Singulair, Pulmicort and Flonase for allergies and asthma. For a while, all was well. The she suffered from nausea. Her allergy doctor said it couldn't be her medications, maybe she had acid reflux. Then they thought she was depressed. My honor student starting doing poorly in school, got arrested shop lifting, and then threatened suicide.

Of course, no side effects of this type are listed on the Singulair website!

I found this forum and took her off Singular immediately. She was back to her old self in a few weeks and she is doing well with her allergies and asthma without it.

Thank you all for writing in, you probably saved my daughter's life.

I urge all of you, follow your instincts; do not trust your doctor; always get a second or third opinion; do not trust drug companies.