Singulair behavior side effects?

[LuLuO]

DS, 20 months, has been on Singulair for almost two weeks. His pulmonologist said to watch for behavior changes such as moodiness, aggressiveness, or anything out of the ordinary. He has always been the one to hang back, quiet around strangers, and timid in crowds. While I don't want to look for something that isn't there, DH and I both have been commenting on how he has been quite the stinker lately. Lots of screaming, more tantrums, more fighting with his sister instead of backing down. While I questioned that it may be the meds I sort of dismissed it as his age. But, tonight at a Little Gym open house, he pushed a boy who was much older than him, in an aggressive way (the boy did nothing to DS) and he kept chasing and tormenting a girl who was smaller and younger than him. He also took a ball from a girl and snatched a hulahoop from a little boy. This behavior was totally out of the ordinary for him. Of course I will call his pulmonologist tomorrow but I'm wondering if anyone here has experienced mood/personality changes while taking singulair.

I guess the only way to know will be to pull him off of it for a while and see what happens. I'm scared that it is the medicine because we were really hoping that this drug would be what keeps him out of the hospital due to breathing difficulties.

 

[pennymom]

My DS6 has been on Singulair for about a year and a half, and we never noticed any behavior changes. Sorry, I couldn't be more help! Maybe he's teething, or starting an early terrible twos? Best of luck to both of you!

 

[Sparx]

I've been on singulair for a few years and I've not noticed any mood changes.

 

[marcyinPA]

A friend of mine just took her 10 year old off of Singulair because they thought his anger issues may be connected to it. He was also diagnosed with ADHD recently, so they aren't sure what exactly the cause is. He had been on Singulair for several years though, and has had anger issues for several years.

 

[erincon23]

DS18 has been on Singulair for 4 years, never noticed anything like that, and DS15 was on it for a few months this summer and fall, and didn't see that. But try googling Singulair side effects and see if something like taht's been reported (I know there's a website specifically where you can report side effects -- nothing official, but I got good info there about another medication that I suspected had been affecting one of my boys).

 

[5 for WDW]

My son and I have both been on Singulair for years. We have not had any side effects at all.

 

[MommyMcQueen]

My son, now 7, was on Singulair for about 6 months when he was 4, and we really felt like we noticed extreme mood changes with him when he went on this medication. He was diagnosed with asthma at 18 months, and at 4 we saw an asthma specialist who put him on Singulair - we did notice an improvement in his asthma symptoms but the moodiness and anger in him was much more noticable.

He has always been a very laid-back child, never threw a tantrum, hardly every cried about anything, was quite easy to discipline - if he got a time-out he would quietly go stand in the corner and wait for it to be done. After the Singulair though - he began having tons of on-the-floor-kicking-and-screaming tantrums, he was sassy, would scream and yell at us and his brother, push and shove his brother. He was much more aggressive than we had ever been before. Discipline was a nightmare, he would melt down into these little rages where he would lay on his bed and kick and scream for up to 30 minutes, something he had never done before.

We too wondered if it was the medication or was it his age, or if something else was triggering this, so I did some online searches (after he had been on it for 6 months and we were at a loss as to what to do for his uncontrolable behavior) and after reading some other parents accounts I decided to take him off of the medication. We got some flack from the doctors (his pediatrician and the astma specialist) about taking him off, they really tried to convince me that the medication was not the cause, but his behavior went back to normal after he was off the medication, and I would not put him back on it again...ever. I truly believe it had an effect on him, and maybe it doesn't effect some people, but for him, at that time, we think it did.

 

[bumbershoot]

From drugs.com:

Seek medical attention right away if any of these SEVERE side effects occur when using Singulair:

... aggressive behavior; agitation;...mental or mood changes

From their page: "has been evaluated for safety in 175 pediatric patients 6 to 23 months of age."...so that's not a whole lot of little ones that they tested it on. I would be looking at your experience as being a continuation of their clinical trials, personally, and might call it in to them, for no reason but to just state it out loud to them that someone seems to be having this reaction.


But from the adverse warnings, I think I'd call the doctor to report it immediately, and maybe find something else.

Post-Marketing Experience

The following adverse reactions have been identified during post-approval use of Singulair. Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure.

Psychiatric disorders: agitation including aggressive behavior or hostility, anxiousness, depression, disorientation, dream abnormalities, hallucinations, insomnia, irritability, restlessness, somnambulism, suicidal thinking and behavior (including suicide), tremor

I recognize that this drug works entirely differently than albuterol, so I'm not comparing the drugs themselves here... But when I take albuterol, I become nearly homicidal. Sure, I can breathe, but for the next hour or two I'm thinking about how I can breathe in order to carry out nefarious schemes against everyone in the room b/c I hate them so much all of a sudden. Albuterol is BAD news for me. I am doing my darndest to keep away from the western drugs for the asthma (chiro care, careful diet, using black coffee and/or nettle tea at the FIRST sign of an attack, all of which work really well for me 99.9999% of the time), but when I do need the inhaler, I breathe in about 3/4 of the way, take ONE puff, and breathe out immediately. I don't hold it in any more. That tiny amount usually helps me breathe but keeps the ugly thoughts (and severe tremors) away from me.

Oh and when I reported those symptoms to my prescribing doctor, he was not surprised, and said that I just needed to deal with it (I was pregnant and he said it was the safest for us...so I figure it's the safest when not pregnant as well). He'd definitely heard of that sort of symptom with drugs that stop asthma attacks.


Best of luck! Hope that helped, even if it wasn't peaches and cream and sunshine and happiness.

 

[drag n' fly]

Our Dr. put ds16 on Singular and it lasted 2 weeks before I took him off of it. I guess we are one of the few families that did have the side effects

 

[smkiya]

I'm sorry to revive an old thread, but I just had to post. My dd6 has been taking Singulair off and on for about 3 years. She was such an easy going child. Just this year she has been moody, depressed, aggressive, and irritable. Her mood swings are terrible. I was going to consider getting her a therapist until I happened to see that the side effects of Singulair were exactly the behavioral changes she was experiencing. We re-started the Singulair again this winter when she had an exacerbation and I never connected the dots. I did some Googling and I found countless stories of parents whose experiences were almost identical to mine. It was the Singulair that caused the behavioral changes and within days and weeks of stopping it, their child's behavior had noticably improved or went back to their baseline. I called my doctor today and I am going to stop the Singulair.

I am writing this because I hope I can help another parent who is considering this medication for their child. My dd's asthma and allergy symptoms significantly improved with Singulair, but it is not worth her sanity to continue it. I hope that I see some improvements in her behavior as I am not 100% that it is the Singulair, but my maternal intuition says that it is.

 

[marcyinPA]

I had posted earlier in this thread about my friend's DS being on Singulair. Since then, my own DS12 was prescribed Singulair and has been on it since May. He has had no problems on it whatsoever.

 

[StephMK]

My DD was prescribed this in May & the Dr warned me about those possible side effects. She complained of being tired but no mood swings. Actually, she has forgotten to take it this week since we were traveling and has been fine. I never know if she really needs daily meds or not but hate giving & taking meds unless absolutely necessary.

 

[marcyinPA]

My DD was prescribed this in May & the Dr warned me about those possible side effects. She complained of being tired but no mood swings. Actually, she has forgotten to take it this week since we were traveling and has been fine. I never know if she really needs daily meds or not but hate giving & taking meds unless absolutely necessary.

My DS's allergist said he needs it from March-July for allergic rhinitis. He had an awful time with pollen this year. It seems that this was the worst pollen season in a while. He was completely stuffed up, but also had THE WORST case of eczema he's ever had. I finally got him an appointment in May, and they put him on Singulair right away. I will wean him off of it at the end of the month, although I'm worried that maybe he'll be bothered by fall allergies. Who knows?

 

[beachcomber]

I have three children on singulair, all started on it by 18 months. That may have been too early to see behavior type issues emerge. In our cases....breathing and allergy control trumps behavior control....and they all NEED the singulair (as well as other allergy and asthma drugs). Plus, we have noticed that when asthma is in control, appetites AND growth are far better (in addition to far less rescue meds).

For those that had to go off, what other medications replaced singulair? I do like to know what other allergists are prescribing...just in case we rethink our asthma/allergy plans with our allergist.

 

[Fortune1211]

My DS 7 was put on singular 2 years ago for sinus issues. Within 72 hours of being on it, he scared us something awful. He actually talked about dying, along with the general out of sorts and horrible behavior. He's for the most part a pretty mellow kid and singular made him say things I would never wish a parent to hear their child say

 

[LuLuO]

I'm sorry to revive an old thread, but I just had to post. My dd6 has been taking Singulair off and on for about 3 years. She was such an easy going child. Just this year she has been moody, depressed, aggressive, and irritable. Her mood swings are terrible. I was going to consider getting her a therapist until I happened to see that the side effects of Singulair were exactly the behavioral changes she was experiencing. We re-started the Singulair again this winter when she had an exacerbation and I never connected the dots. I did some Googling and I found countless stories of parents whose experiences were almost identical to mine. It was the Singulair that caused the behavioral changes and within days and weeks of stopping it, their child's behavior had noticably improved or went back to their baseline. I called my doctor today and I am going to stop the Singulair.

I am writing this because I hope I can help another parent who is considering this medication for their child. My dd's asthma and allergy symptoms significantly improved with Singulair, but it is not worth her sanity to continue it. I hope that I see some improvements in her behavior as I am not 100% that it is the Singulair, but my maternal intuition says that it is.

OP here. After about a month on singulair, we did end up taking DS off of it and kept up with daily pulmicort through the nebulizer and albuterol through the nebulizer as needed. After taking him off singulair it took about a week for his mood to improve. Also I didn't mention this in my original post but DS had begun having night terrors shortly after beginning the medicine which only continued to get worse and more frequent the longer he was on the medicine. Those also subsided after being off the medication but he still gets them a couple of times a month. Before singulair he had never had a night terror.

On the flip side, a friend's daughter has been using singulair for years and has not had a problem with it. Like with any drug, I think it is good to be aware of the potential side effects.

 

[3smithboys]

We had to take our son off of Singular too. It made him moody and contrary...he became a different child. We had no idea it was from the Singular at first. Then I came across a news report about the side effects it had on some children, and the started researching about it. I talked to the dr and told her that I wanted to take him off. She really did not think it caused the side effects that were being reported... but I told her that I wanted to see for myself. Within 2 days of him being off of the Singular, he was a different child! I 100% believe it was this medication - I saw it for myself! I am not saying it causes this side effect in every child, but it sure did in mine!

 

[beachcomber]

OP here. After about a month on singulair, we did end up taking DS off of it and kept up with daily pulmicort through the nebulizer and albuterol through the nebulizer as needed. After taking him off singulair it took about a week for his mood to improve. Also I didn't mention this in my original post but DS had begun having night terrors shortly after beginning the medicine which only continued to get worse and more frequent the longer he was on the medicine. Those also subsided after being off the medication but he still gets them a couple of times a month. Before singulair he had never had a night terror.

On the flip side, a friend's daughter has been using singulair for years and has not had a problem with it. Like with any drug, I think it is good to be aware of the potential side effects.

All of my kids have horrible night terrors on Zyrtec! (So do I...and things like Nyquil!) My oldest son still won't talk about a couple of "technicolor nightmares" he had.

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

4 years ago I became agitated after my first dose of singulair and remember pacing the kitchen.

A couple months later I started having homicidal thoughts one night about my husband- how to kill him and get away with it.

That was the last time i ever took singulair. I reported it to my Pulmonologist and he pooh -poohed it but i am glad it has warnings now to look out for behavior changes.

I take Zafirlast instead of Singulair. Pulmonologist had to write a letter to get it covered.

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

My DD ended up with facial tics from singulair!!! That stuff is AWFUL. it took a while to diagnose, we ended up finding that singulair is known to have that, but it is an undocumented side effect. glad they are starting to publish other things. She didn't have the mood swings, but the facial tics were awful, I felt so bad for her. After being off of the med, the tics are gone!