My son has been on Singulair for allergies and asthma since before his 1st birthday. He is almost 3. He has always been a "spirited" child, but I am now attributing some of his aggression and challenging behavoir to Singulair. We took him off for the summer and noticed that he was less agressive to us, as well as other children.
While on the medicine, he would have these "fits of rage," where he would clench up, bite down on something and scream. We had almost none of these while off meds for the summer. We started Singulair last week and I have already seen 3 (not including what I am missing while he is at daycare).
Needless to say I am taking him off the meds, effective today. He has an appointment at the allergist next week (hopefully for a new prescription), but in the meantime what should I give him? He has mild-moderate allergies, that left intreated flare up his asthma.
What presciption or OTC drugs worked for your kiddos?
We use Allegra on a daily basis for allergies,but before she was on that we used the dye free benadryl. My almost two year old has a condition called mastocytosis so her body produces too much histamine so we always stay on allergy meds. I noticed the benadryl worked as well as the prescription on her and she did not have drowsiness. You might also try the Claritin that is over the counter. Hope that helps. T.
childrens claritin which is OTC now works pretty good for my four year old son.
Hi,
Both of my children have allergies and asthma related problems. My two and a half year old is on both singulair and zyrtec. I haven't really had any problems so far. Also, give your child local honey. They say that eating local honey helps build up a resistance to allergies because the bees pollinate the local plants. Good luck!
Dear Jennifer,
check out this web site www.ecoquestintl.com/garrett
I was on allergy med till I found this product. It is a air machine.Not a filter machine .They don't claim to cure just cleans up the inverment.Theyhave people that have gotten off their asthma med. Good luck and God Bless
J. G
I use two natural things and one OTC one for my children:
Xlear is a nasal spray that coats the inside of the nose so the allergens can not even stay around---it makes the nose too slippery. 90% of allergens come in from the nose.
Quercetin is a natural histamine balancer. I have a liquid form that is yummy...a lemony flavor my kids love.
These two usually work if I stay on them. If I get behind or don't catch the season....I give the children's Zyrtec.
Hi Jennifer!
My daughter does very well on Zyrtec. I know that they made it OTC, but I don't know at what age it is for...my daughter is almost 5, and takes one pill a day, it is grape and chewable, very small - easy to take...she swallows hers as she doesn't like to taste ANY medicine. I still get it as an RX - not OTC.
Hope this helps and good luck!!
L. F.
Move from the area you live in! My son had the same symptoms from day 1 of life when we lived in North Eastern Pennsylvania. We moved to Kansas and he was symptom-free for 2 years. We went back to PA for 5 months to visit family and in transition of a move to Georgia (my husband is in the military), and that is the first time the doc prescribed Singulair (prior to that he had just been given nebulizer meds for entire winters) since he had more breathing issues. We left PA and got to GA and he has been off of it for a year again with no flair-ups. Now I am on my way back to PA for Christmas and realized I only have 15 days worth left since I was planning to start him on it a week before we left to get it into his system. I think I will take him to the doc and see if they can give him a refill. that will at least keep him from ending up in the ER on steroids!
Hi Jennifer,
I have a friend whose son had major asthma symptoms (used to have to take steroids, etc). She found some supplements that worked for him and I believe he's off all his medication. You will probably need to ask her what ones she gave him and amounts. I started giving my youngest one of the supplements she uses called Isotonix OPC-3 for his seasonal allergies and he's been symptom-free this year. Her name is Del-Metri Williams and her e-mail address is ____@____.com you can also reach her at ###-###-####. She is always happy to help and if you want to send me your contact info, I can have her call you. Best wishes for you in finding a good alternative.
We use Zyrtec - which is now available OTC and much less expensive than most alternatives! We also use Nasonex and although it is expensive, it is worth every penny. Does your son see an allergist? We see Dr. Tanna and we adore him! You may want to see or call the allergist about the issues that you are having.
I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. Singulaire made my husband crazy, too--but he's 37, so at least he could talk about it and we could figure it out (although for a while there we thought he really did need to get into therapy!). From talking to friends who are doctors, Singulaire is well known to cause anxiety attacks in some patients. However, there are few effective RX's for the combination of allergies and asthma (my husband's problem, as well). SO, my husband switched to homeopathic and naturopathic (herbs and diet) treatments. He still has some allergies, but they can now be treated with the occasional claritin, plus he can breathe and isn't crazy! I'm sure the doses and such would be totally different for a little one, but here's who I suggest you contact for more information:
1) Mike's healthfood store on the NE corner of 75 and White in McKinney (their staff are very knowledgeable).
2) Angie Shapira at North Dallas Shiatsu (PM me if you'd like email/phone number). She practices naturopathic medicine, as well.
Good luck finding what works for your son!
If I were you I would go to NAET of Amarillo. The doctor there is Dr. Connie Danner and she is an alternative natural doctor. She specializes in allergy elmination. I guarantee that if you go there your son will be cleared of his allergies. It would take a little time, but a little time with the result of not having to take medications anymore is faaaar worth it. The number is ###-###-####. I take my 14 month old there and he is perfectly healthy and has never been sick since day one.
My grandson (age 4) does the same thing. He has been on allergy meds of some sort since he was 3 months old. Breathing treatments, Singulair, etc., We discovered he can't take anything with an antihistamine. We had to discontinue the Singulair and have to be really careful of those over the counter cough and cold medicines. It makes him "mean" and totally changes his personality. He has a normally sweet, sensitive personality and rarely even gets in trouble. His day care even commented one day that he had gotten in trouble several times that day. His mom told her that he had started a new medicine the day before. It usually shows up within 48 hours. She took him off it and the next day he was fine, so others notice the change as well. He appears not to even feel pain when he takes it. It's like it numbs his feelings and he does not care what he says or who he hurts. He will tell you "no" over and over and bite or hit his pears. Took a while to figure it out, but we discontinued the Singulair and the doc prescribed him meds without the antihistimine and it has really helped. So now, any time he begins a new medication, we watch him closely. If he starts acting up or being mean, we know to discontinue it. He is back to his old sweet self now, so we just keep an eye on him when he gets sick and is prescribed something he has not had before. We noticed this problem last year, but once we realized what caused it, it is easy to recognize now. Good luck with your little one!
My son had the same issues with many of the allergies RX's we've tried. We always seem to come back to Claritin. It is over the counter and in liquid or chewables! Good luck. One thing we've noticed is that the ones with red dye seem to effect his behavior even more although that hasn't been the only factor.
