[kittynurse]

I didn't want to hijack the other thread but I wanted to explore this a little more.

MyTwoAs mentioned anxiety issues with Singulair and I'm wondering what other parents' experience with this is?

We took DS1 off of all medications (including Singulair) because we thought it might be at the root of his behaviour issues. They did improve greatly but we are still having problems. We've come to realize in the last six months that he experiences a great deal of anxiety in certain situations. I assumed it was due to his underlying diagnosis (which we don't know what it is yet) or due to genetics (I have anxiety as well as ADHD).

In retrospect, I believe he did have some anxiety prior to the Singulair and we assumed that since it didn't go away when we stopped the med that it was not related. But now I'm starting to wonder if maybe it was made worse by the Singulair and we are still experiencing the after effects of that.

Has anyone else been through this with their child? MyTwoAs, I would love to hear more about what you have been going through with your DD.

Martha

 

[my3peanuts]

The Singulair definitely changed my dd's behavior. She cried much more than usual and got upset easily over everything. Once we took her off the Singulair things got much better!

 

[williamsmommy2002]

Singulair has actually helped my ds's behavior. Probably just because he is getting sick less and he feels better in general.

 

[MyTwoAs]

Hi Martha,

Here's the long story.

In October of 2007, my daughter was hospitalized for a respiratory virus. After that hospitalization, the pediatrician decided to try Singulair to help control her asthma (she gets sick every October, this was the first overnight hospitalization).

We started Singulair in November and I noticed that she started to have major separation anxiety. She turned 4 in late November and is developmentally delayed (autism spectrum) so I figured that it was merely a sign of growth and didn't think much of it.

Then the weird household anxieties started. She was petrified of vents - and I mean petrified. She wouldn't walk under them, wouldn't sit near them, etc. Anytime we'd walk anywhere, she'd do a vent check. After awhile, she decided that rectangular vents were OK, but that's it. I chalked it up to just an autistic obsession and reassured her about vents every chance I got.

She also wouldn't go anywhere in the house without anyone with her. We've lived in this house all of her life and she used to roam it without a care in the world. She flat-out refused to go into her bedroom for months (even though her bed isn't in there, her clothes and some toys were) - the vent in her room was right at the entry way - no way to sneak around that.

So all of these odd anxieties/fears had been going on for some time and we just kept thinking it was part of how her autism symptoms were presenting.

Then the depression started. It is so hard for me to think of the term depression when describing a five year-old but I honestly feel that is what it was. She'd talk about death and how no one would miss her if she was dead, no one would care if she was dead, etc. It was very out-of-character for her as she was usually a very happy child (yes, children with autism can be happy hehe).

After about a month (or so, I forget now) of the talking about death and crying every night, I decided to call the doc. The doc suggested we take her off of Singulair and see. She said give it a week, if she is better then we are to never give her Singulair again. If she didn't get better, then we'd need to look at other causes.

Well, the depression completely disappeared. The anxieties got a little bit better but are still there. She will now go into other rooms by herself during daylight and seems to have forgotten her fear of vents. My son is very anxiety-prone and so this may just be her normal or it may be the after-effects of the medicine.

I posted about this on my blog and had a mom respond with a link to a website that focuses on Singulair, anxiety and depression. Here's the link in case you're interested: http://www.parentsforsafety.org/

It was hard for us, from an asthma management standpoint, as the Singulair was a "miracle drug." She was taking a break from her nasal spray at that time so was only on her nebulizer treatment and an herbal treatment.

We've since been seeing an asthma and allergy specialist to treat her asthma (dx is moderate persistent asthma) and he said that he has had a handful of patients with similar reactions.

While writing my blog post, I did some research on it and the FDA has been performing safety reviews of the drug for some time now but nothing 100% conclusive has been determined.

Okay, so there's my long story. If you have any questions, just ask!

 

[LauraLoo]

You may want to check this out:

http://www.askapatient.com/viewratin...name=SINGULAIR

My ds took Zyrtec and had a host of issues that once we took him off the med, mostly went away. Some people just don't tolerate meds like this very well and fall into the rare side effects.