Singulair Side Effects- YIKES!!

My granddaughter took Singulair for a couple of years. It seemed to make her more agitated. Finally my daughter insisted that she stop taking it. The doctor said that she had to take it because of her asthma triggered by allergies. The doctor prescribed Zyrtec for her (at that time it was available only by prescription) and her allergies are still under control and there have been no side effects.

I would not stop Singulair,or any medication for that matter, without contacting the doctor. Talk with him about using Zyrtec for a 3 yo or ask if there is anything else to try.

Singulair is out of the system fairly quickly. A pharmacist could tell you exactly how long.

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wow, my kids used to take singulair & i am glad we did not have those kind of side effects! we have since changed & they are now on flonase, I am not sure at what age we started this, but maybe you could check into it instead?

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I would take her off the singulair right away and try something else. my son has only taken OTC claritin but I have severe allergies and have taken adult versions of a lot of meds over the years. i personally didn't like singulair (made me antsy), there were others i didnt like as well. i now get shots (and take almost no meds), which i really recommend looking into when she is older IF her allergies are bad.

People respond differently to the different meds and how effective allegy meds are varies for differernt people and with different conditions. have you tried different over the counter meds? i personally find zyrtec very effective. there are also some natural things to try. if you have already tried the easy options, i would ask your doctor to prescribe something else.

in case you don't have personal history w/ allergies, it can take a while to get something that works well for you. allergens are constantly changing levels as is your exposure to them. add that some medications take a few days to build up to be effective and it can be hard to determine what is working.

good luck!

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You really need your pediatrician's guidance on this. There are other drugs that may work as well or better for her (there are some that I just can't handle, either). But do talk to the doc, sooner rather than later. Asthma is nothing to mess around with.

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I personally had crazy side effects with Singulair--no doctor verified that Singulair was causing my anxiety, aggression, and restlessness, but as soon as I stopped it (at the end of my 1 month prescription), these symptoms went away. I was NOT willing to see if the problems would go away with continued use. I kept using the nasal sprays I was also prescribed, and they kept the itchy-face and sneezies away.

If I were you, I'd let the pedi know that your daughter is having these side effects and request she be prescribed something different. I think everyone's body responds differently to various medications. Case in point--my friend's son has been taking Singulair for 3 years with nothing but great results.

Good luck to you!! I hope this helps!

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Is she taking it for allergies or asthma? My son has suffered from seasonal allergies since he was 2 or 3. I found out really quickly that some allergy meds made him a bear. It was awful. He was grumpy, cried a lot, hateful, just not himself. We tried several and they all affected him that way. We ended up cutting the dose in half and started using a prescription nasal spray too. That helped a lot!

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Our allergist says singular works better or asthma then it does to help treat allergies. My oldest doesn't have side effects from it but he did from one medication I called the pediatrician and he called in something different. If OTC weren't really working another thing to consider are nasal sprays flonase works wonders for my youngest.

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I was on it and once those side effects were published I stopped. I would not give it to my children. There are other medicines that are still perscription that might work better than OTC. I take Allegra D (which is still perscription) not over the counter because of the D. Talk to your doctor and explain your experience and your concerns. Good luck!

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My 7 year old son got stomach aches after taking it (the dosage was at bedtime and by 30 minutes later, he would complain of his stomach hurting-- a never before heard complaint). We stopped it about 2 or 3 weeks (?) into it... because that was when I noticed the sudden nightly stomach issues and looked up the label where is says it is a possible side effect.

I don't know about the moodiness. I didn't really notice anything.. but all our moods were pretty up and down during that time: we had just moved into a temporary residence that was half the size we were accustomed to and son and daughter were sharing a bedroom for the first time. (YIKES! They NEVER went to sleep!). He generally does very well with all transitions though, and always has, so if there was moodiness, I wouldn't really attribute it to the house upheaval. He thought it was all great fun to be sharing the room with his sister and have STAIRS(!) (townhouse). LOL
He was a little frustrated with his piano practice. But that continued well after we discontinued the Singulair, ha ha.

It wasn't until much later (2 years?) that I read/heard/saw online some of the mood disorder associations that were being attributed to the drug. As in: suicidal thoughts. SO glad we discontinued it almost immediately.

I would stop the medicine if my daughter had shown adverse behavior due to her singulair meds. Bad behavior can trigger a slew of other issues--the perception that momma is always mad at her, she's "bad", trouble at school, etc.

Are you using the packets or the chewable pills? If you're using the pill form, you could try the packet version--maybe the dosage is too high in the pill form?

I will add, we used singulair for a while and never saw great improvements and finally just used children's zyrtec. Of course it turns out that her congestion was due to a food allergy (which was why allergy medication didnt work well. Changed her diet and her symptoms disappeared.)