Is there any parents who give the drug SINGULAIR to their children for asthma or allergies?

Bruna Antelo - posted on 06/01/2013

my daughter takes several medication for her asthma, so if she has side effects it is difficult to find which one is responsble.
She sometimes has moments of anxiety, aggression, and cryes a lot and complains a lot about life when she is only 5.

She takes:
singulair
flixotide
salbutamol
atrovent

I normally stop giving her singulair during summer, and reduce the dosage of flixotide during summer. salbutamol and atriovent she gets whenever neded.
it is a difficult issue to balance, if you believe singulair is causing trouble vrs the benefits of easing the asthma symptoms, it is a matter each parent shoudl consider.
I would like though, for my daughter not to have too many tantrums, anxiety and bad mood days. but this is only a dream, and the most important is for her to be alive and with us.

Melissa - posted on 08/30/2010

I have just taken my 4 year old son off Singulair!!! He was aggressive, out of control with behaviour, hurting his brothers and tried to feed his baby brother toys which he very well knows is wrong, was having nightmares waking up hyperventilating and had diarrhea the whole time on it! He has been off it nearly 2 weeks and his diarrhea has stopped and just last night and today he is becoming the sweet loving little boy i knew him to be!

Michelle - posted on 08/19/2010

My daughter use singulair and as soon as i saw the change in her i stopped it. i just went back to the puffers. No it dosn't do permanent damange,my little girl is georgous and no tantrums she is beautiful,

Michelle

Denise - posted on 08/19/2010

I need to know how your son is now...My son has been taking this med for 5 years...please let me know if he is better....last night will be my sons last dose...we were desperate when he first started taking the med and it helped but we can't go on this way and he can't either!!!

Tina - posted on 07/31/2010

OMG both of my older chidren were on this medicine for most of their lives one is 10 and the other is 7 and both have asthma. and they were prescribed Singular and they were still on it up till like a month ago because peditrition said they really wont need it again till winter. Both of these children became aggressive and had bad temper tantrums but i would have never thought it was this medicine doing it to them. Now after reading this post i will not be allowing them to go back on it in the winter without having a long talk to the doctor about these side effects. Thank you all for this important information Now im hoping the aggressivness and tantrums will stop now that the medicine was stopped!

Stephanie - posted on 07/31/2010

http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/Post...



Here's the link for those who want to see it.

Stephanie - posted on 07/31/2010

My son had the same problems on Singulair. I didn't realize that the medicine was the problem until i saw the report. I took him off it and within a few months all the trouble stopped. He even made student of the month.

Tenille - posted on 07/31/2010

my son has been taking singulair for the past 1.5-2 years and i have noticed his behaviour is quite untolerable, im at the stage hwre i dont have any other options left apart from changing his medications? i never knew that this could be impacting on his behaviour. he has just gotten worse and worse. i feel so sorry for him as if it is the medication im going to have to cease it although it is helping him from having asthma attacks..mmm what to do????

Theresa - posted on 11/30/2008

I was just re-reading these posts and thought that I should mention that alot of other things everyone has been describing could lead to aggression, temper tantrums etc.Having a oxygen saturation of 81% would make anyone a little crazy. The brain isn't getting enough oxygen to function properly which makes people confused and combative, especially children. Adults can handle lower oxygen levels because their metabolism is lower. Children use up their oxygen supplies quicker so a small variation can cause more side effects. Children with asthma also don't sleep very well because night time is the most common time for attacks .They are lying there for 8 hrs or more breathing in all those dust mites and dander in the bedroom. I get cranky when I don't get enough sleep, I'm sure they do as well. The best thing to do for children with asthma is to take a preventative approach. Cover mattresses and pillows with dust proof covers, wash sheets and blankets in hot water twice weekly to kill mites, replace stuffed animals with ones that can be washed regularly and vacuum a few times a week. If their asthma is severe you might also try replacing the carpet in their bedroom with tile, wood or laminate which is easier to keep clean and doesn't harbor as many dust mites. If your child has pollen allergies make sure you bathe them and wash their hair before bed. All those pollen spores collected on their clothes, body, and hair all day will be re-breathed while they are sleeping. A cool mist humidifier will also help to keep the humidity level up enough to keep dust mites from flying around. Just make sure to clean it daily to prevent mold growth.
I know this seems like alot to handle, but if you've spent one or more sleepless nights up with a child struggling to breathe it doesn't seem so overwhelming for your peace of mind. As an added bonus point...there are no side effects! Good Luck!

Theresa - posted on 11/28/2008

My son and I have been on Singulair for 13 yrs without those side effects mentioned. I work as a Respiratory Therapist and have never heard of Singulair causing mood alterations. I know that oral steroids, Prednisone, Prelone, etc, will cause severe aggression and sleeplessness in some people. Medications affect everyone differently, make sure you talk to your doctor before taking your child off any medication they have prescribed, some need to be tapered off and can cause harmful effects if stopped suddenly.

Courtney - posted on 11/28/2008

My daughter and son have both been on singulair for years with none of these side effects. I guess I should count my blessings!

Jennifer - posted on 11/28/2008

WOW!!!!! I used to give my son Singulair every year for Allergy induced " Asthma" like symptoms. It worked wonderfully! I wonder if those side effects occur in adults as well as I take it for my own Asthma! YIKES!!!

Becky - posted on 11/28/2008

My daughter, who is now 6, was on Singular for 4 years. I would have to say that she didn't have any aggressive side effects unless she was overtired. I did notice that the more tired she was, the harder time she had controlling her behavior. Her doc took her off the Singular last year, as she as mostly outgrown her asthma. In hindsight, I can say that her behavior is a bit better but I passed that off to getting older. Still, when weighing the possibility of asthma attacks that require the ER and scare the child so much... guess I'm just glad she outgrew it so that I don't have to make the decision you are all struggling with! Good luck to everyone!

Amy - posted on 11/28/2008

Wow, is this ever scary. My son is 8 and has been on and off of Singulair for the last 3 years. This is the first I have ever heard of these side effects and it has me concerned. I have not noticed any out of the ordinary behaviors from him. He has his moments, but he always has, so nothing alarming. This being said, I will deffinately be calling his Dr. first thing Monday morning to ask her about it. Does anyone know if there are residual side effects after taking children off of the medication? I dont want to if I dont have to because his health has been so much better since I started regular doses. I just want to weigh the risks against the benefits.

Dawn - posted on 11/28/2008

my son is on singulair and he has got abit of a shorter temper but he has alot of other problems and we thourght it was just his way of dealing with things but will def talk about his meds when i next go to his check up but i will say his astmea is such alot better when he is taking it and we can soon tell if he has missed any

Tammy - posted on 11/28/2008

My daughter was put on Singulair in Sept. 07 to keep her asthma in check. She began having more temper tantrums and wild mood swings, but we attributed it to her being almost 4, and never thought twice about the medicine doing it to her. When we started the medicine, those side effects were not listed in the patient information sheet.



Her behavior got worse and worse, and we were really at our wits' end. Our sweet, loving little girl seemed to be disappearing into a storm of tantrums, yelling, hitting, etc. When I heard the news stories about these side effects several months later, we immediately stopped giving her the Singulair. Her asthma/allergy doc tried to talk us into staying on the medicine because he said that statistically, the number of children who had severe emotional reactions was low and the benefits of the medicine were greater than the risks of the side effects. Well, we respectfully disagreed with him and stopped the meds. Within a few weeks our happy, loving child was back. She is independent-minded, so we still have problems from time to time, but NOTHING like we had when she was on the medicine. It was like night and day. When her asthma flairs up, we give her nebulizer treatments with albuterol and that pulls it under control, with no side effects at all. The biggest thing I learned with this experience was that you really have to read every single word on the patient info sheets that come with the medicine. We had refilled my daughter's Singulair, but I didn't re-read the sheet because I had already read it the first time, That is where my mistake was, because they changed it at some point after we first got it, to remark on the aggressive, mood-altering side effects. I felt like such an idiot when I dug out the refill and looked at that sheet. I will never make that mistake again. And, I will always question the doctors more strongly about side effects, and whether there are other medicines that can do the same job without as many side effects!

Lisa - posted on 11/28/2008

OMG! I just gave my 6 month old his first dose last night!!! I'm scared to death. We've been able to avoid the hospital, but he's been having 5-7 asthma attacks a week for the past 2 months. We're desperate. The attacks seem so fast and furious. Thank you for sharing because the info I've gotten hasn't been anything so serious.

Kathy - posted on 11/28/2008

HOLA EH??? I NEVA WOULDA KNOWN ALL THIS IF I HADNT COME IN HERE TONIGHT....I AM SURE GLAD THAT I DID.....MY DAUGHTER WILL BE 4 END OF THE MONTH AND SHE HAS BEEN ON SIGULAR FOR THE BETTER HALF OF HER LIFE, I JUST THOUGHT I WAS THE AGE THING HERE, I NEVA KNEW OF THE SYPTOMS HERE AND NOW THAT I THINK BACK ON IT....THE DAYS THAT SHE WASNT IN THE PISSY MOODS AS I CALLED THEM, I NEVA GAVE HER THE SINGULAR DOSAGE, MY DR NEVA ONCE TOLD ME THAT AND I NEVA ONCE ASKED HIM ABOUT IT. PRESENT DAY SHE IS ON THE PILL AND THE PUFFER, BUT NOW KNOWING WHAT I KNOW I AM GONNA ASK THE DR IF THERE IS OTHER RESOUCES HERE. THANK YOU SO MUCH CAROLYN, THIS HELPS ME TO UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM GOING THROU WITH HER AND I WILL HOPE TO SEE SOME IMPROVEMENT WITH ME BABYGIRL. AND I WILL BE SURE TO QUESTION MORE WHEN SOMETHING NEW IS OFFERED TO MY BABE. I SURE HOPE THAT THINGS WILL GET BETTER FOR YOU & YOUR SON.....THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FROM MY FAMILY CUASE THINGS WILL GET BETTER NOW.....

Leilani - posted on 11/27/2008

I have read all the stories and haven't noticed another option mentioned for any of you. If I could recommend seeing a naturopath, I was a pill popper and never got any side effects from anything. Then I got big time sick, a migraine and other things that never went away, bed ridden and trying all different things I finally resorted to a naturopath. He was the only one to diagnose me let alone cure me. I now have 2 beautiful girls and we see him regularly. My first born was born with colic and had 30 intolerances... something that occurs before the allergies do. She would shift every 2 months on to other things. I breast fed so I had to get off of all the things she was intolerant to. If I didn't she would have major allergies today (almost 4 years old). Allergies are apparently for a number of reasons and harder to get rid of but can be done. As for asthma, it can be taken care of also, I sent one of my friends from baby time to the naturopath because her son was going to be put on antibiotics at 4 months old and was suffering of asthma. He is perfectly fine and now the rest of the family is seeing him too! Hope this helps any of you. It's an expensive undertaking but well worth it. It also takes a lot of patience because you don't always see results immediately. P.S. they also have remedies for those emotions -with no side effects.

Kara - posted on 11/27/2008

My son was on Singulair and Zyrtec off and on from the time he was about 1-1/2 because of allergies and ear infections. Although we stopped Singulair at about the age of 2, we continued with Zyrtec. He is 3yrs,4mos old and for the last year and a half we have dealt with aggression, temper tantrums that are short lived, but extremely explosive, and lots of hitting, etc. We really just thought his personality was very different from our first son. We were dealing with his behavior with consequences, but it was breaking our hearts. He just seemed so angry! Two weeks ago, I began doing some research and found, as you did, so many parents talking about these types of behaviors associated with the use of Zyrtec.....We stopped giving it to him immediately. We have seen a dramatic change in his behavior. He is still our strong willed and stubborn little thing, but he has appropriate self control for a 3yr. old. In the last two weeks he has had only two or three timeouts, where as before, we were having many timeouts every day. I can reason with him and explain to him now without having an immediate escalation in his behavior. My husband and I feel so terrible because we feel like that medication made it impossible for him to meet our expectations for behavior. We were disciplining him repeatedly for things that he could not control. I pray that these side effects become more widely publicized so that other families do not experience what we have in the last 18 months. Good luck to you and your family. I feel sure you will notice a change in your little boy's demeanor!

Annelia - posted on 11/27/2008

My 2 year old has been on Singulair since he was 9 months, but I just give it to him if I see he is getting sick to avoid a asthma attack. I do not experience any of the abovementioned problems but I suppose that it is because he is not using it regularly.

Brooke - posted on 11/27/2008

My son is on singulair also but he has not been on it long just for a month now..I haven't noticed anything like that but i will ask the dr about this when i ask her for more refills on it.

Carol Anne - posted on 11/27/2008

my son has been on singulair for 1 1/2 years and he has become quite aggressive over the last 5 months. i know that 3 year old's typically are aggressive, but now i'm wondering if it's the singulair. it's funny, i talked to my doctor about it before he started taking it and he said that it's rare that it happens, now i'm wondering if it's happening to my son!

Tammy - posted on 11/27/2008

Wow i have 5 year old twins and one of the Boys is on Singular...and he is having all the things that carolyn just listed up there..i'm going to Take him off it because he goes to Kidni next year and i dont want him to be violent with other children..thank you for posting that because i would have Never known...

Vanessa - posted on 11/27/2008

Thanx I will definately check it out

Carmen - posted on 11/27/2008

My niece takes Singular and so far she's had no problems with it. However if your son is reacting like this it might be due to the medication. There are some nasty side effects that come with this medicine. I took it for a couple of years and I 55 years old. I found myself getting angry for no reason having night terrors suffering with depression anxeity and agression. Take him of ASAP before further damage is done.

Vanessa - posted on 11/27/2008

oh my god!!!!! I just arrived home from taking my 3 yr old daughter to the hospital last night with her 7th attack of croup. She had her tonsild out on the 4th nov prior to that we were giving her SINGULAR. Last night was a serious case her face went purple her heart beat up to 178 and her sats 81 when they should be 100. We are taking her back to the paeditrician whom recommended the drug. After she had her tonsils out we stopped giving it to her and was talking about consulting with the dr to start her on it again. Thankyou so much for your information which has made us more knowledgeable and will be able to interogate the dr about it...



Regards vanessa