Help! Singulair Prescribed for My 3 1/2 Year Old.

Both of my B/G twins who are 4 take it and have been for about a year now. We have had no problems, my son also takes OTC Zyrtec and that seems to help him as well. Good Luck!!

K. - single mom to 4 year old B/G twins.

My daughter took Singular 4 mg from age 4-6 1/2. We did not observe any behavioral or depression issues. She was on it for asthma control. According to the allergy testing she is not allergic to anything, however, she certainly has many sensitivities. I just took her off Singular a few weeks ago because one of the side effects can be eczema, and she also battles with that. I wanted to see if removing the Singulair had any impact on eczema. So far haven't noticed a difference. The other thing is that many websites report weight gain as a "unofficial" side effect. My daughter is definitely husky, unlike her thin as a twig older sister, but whether this is attributable to the Singular or something else entirely is unknown. My advice would be to try it and see if it helps.

My son has been on it since 4, he's 8 now. He hasn't had any problems with it at all. He doesn't have allergies, just asthma. It has worked so far. Good luck.

We started Singulair when my son was about 3 1/2 as well, only he was taking it for asthma. Within ten days he turned into the most horrid little boy! He was a little sociopath! Mean, screaming, hitting, odd behaviors...he had the side effect that was rare but listed about behavioral changes or however it reads. We stopped the Singulair and got our sweet boy back. It was very weird.

I don't blame you one bit for trying it, lots of people including my BFF's child, have had great success with it. I just posted so you could know that the side effects actually do exist...just watch your little boy and you'll know if it's not right for him!

Good luck!

My 8 year old has been on it since he was 3 and we've always had good results with it. We use it during allergy season (Spring and Fall) and when he has a cold. It is good protection for him against asthma attacks.

my son takes singulair, but he is 19. He has been taking it for quite a few years and seems happy with it. I would be concerned about giving it to someone so young as 3 1/2. I believe it is recommended for patients over the age of 12. I know that they had warnings about suicides etc in some kids.
I can't imagine a child that young having such bad allergies.
where did you go for testing? and are you sure about the allergies? I would not just accept a pediatrician prescribing this. I would go to a specialist.

I would consult with a homeopathic or alternative medicine doctor before I would put a little guy onto a medicine that has a gigantic booklet for all the side effects it can cause. There are natural solutions that are safe for children and won't cause problems for their future.

My son has been on singulair since he was around the same age for allergies/asthma. He used to cough a lot (especially at night) and during the day from seasonal allergies. It has worked great for him. He is still on it and no more coughing!

My daughter takes 5 mg. She gets good results - no side effects.

C. T.

My 3 1/2 year old was recently diagnosed with allergies as well. Hers seems more skin reactive than anything else. So a little scratch blows up into big welt anywhere on her body.

Her ped. prescribed Allegra and her response was almost immediate. I, myself, take allegra in pill form, as well due to seasonal allergies. My daughter's med is in liquid form. Both Clariten or Allegra are great and my daughter hasn't experienced any side effects. No sleeplessness or restlessness thru the night. And no more hives and welts!!

Be very judicious when giving son the medicine, the same time, every day to ensure that the medicine is in his system. Trust me you'll know when it's not.

I suggest contacting Dr. Joel Fuhrman. He helps eliminate causes of allergies without medication.
He is in New Jersey, but you can talk to one of his nurses in the office. His number is on his website: www.drfuhrman.com. Good Luck!

Hello, I see you have a lot of responses. I have to tell you that my son went to an allergist when he was 6. We put him through all of the needle tests and found out what he was allergic to. I walked out that day with 6 different prescriptions...Singulair, nasonex, albuterol inhaler, Zyrtec, and on and on. It is really no surprise since there were drug reps in and out of the office the whole time I was there. I left, filled the prescriptions and gave them to him over the next six months. I saw little or no change and became increasingly worried about putting these chemicals into his little body for the rest of his life, or even until adulthood when he may possibly outgrow his allergies. What do we really know about EXTENDED use of these products? I am still on my quest for natural alternatives for him. We have purchased an air purifier, and I have put him on a multi-vitamin and pro-biotic. He has voluntarily increased his fruit intake and tries to follow a healthier diet. (This was a kid who only ate nuggets and fries). I, personally, have changed my cleaning supplies to TRUELY green and non-allergenic. All of this has helped tremendously. It is true that Singulair is prescribed for asthma and my son had a few episodes that were allergy related. There is a dramatic increase in the amount of children being diagnosed with asthma. They have found that our cleaning products can cause major flair-ups and overall, things just floating around in our environment do, too. You owe it to your child to do some research before you put him on anything chemical with side effects. Just get the facts first. If you can help him, naturally, isn't that better? Good luck and blessings to you!

my children- and I know many others that take it. I see no side effects. There is a warning about depression as a side effect so I would watch carefully- especially in older children. as for my 7 and 5 year old they are fine on it- I see no mood changes and it definately helps.

My daughter was put on it at 3 years old, but she did not tolerate it very well and I had to take her off of it. I have not tried it since as we seem to do okay with claritin for the most part.

The Dr. did say at the time that some kids have trouble tolerating it, but the only way to find out if it works is to try it.

Good Morning T. ~

My son was on Singilair for years and when we switched Peds Doctor ~ the new Doc took him off of it ~ right now he's on Clartin OTC and has an inhaler if it gets bad ~ I know that they had a report on the news that Singluar causes hullenations (sp?) ~ check on WEBMD Or contact your pharmacy.

Good Luck!
R.

Singulair is more for asthma than allergies. My son was put on it and it didn't change anything. He is now on Pulmicort, which is also an asthma medicine. He has severe allergies, including peanut/tree nut, and I have found that Zyrtec OTC works best for him. We tried D'Allergy & Claritin OTC, and he seems to do better with the Zyrtec. Plus, when it's a really bad time of year or he's been in contact with allergens, you can double up on the dosage.

Good luck!

My son, now 12, has been on allergy medicine since he was an infant as well. From age 2 to age 8 or 9 he was on Zyrtec (before it was OTC). He has been on Singulair for the last several years (5mg per day, chewable) and has not had any adverse reactions and it seems to work. We have reduced environmental symptons quite a bit and sinus infections to only one or two per year. I also take Singulair (10mg per day) and have for MANY years and I also do not have a problem with it. If you trust your doctor, I would try it.

Hi T.,

I have a 2 year old who has been on Singular for about a year. He takes 1/2 pill each day. We have not experienced any negative side effects. It is difficult to tell how much he is benefiting from the Singular because he takes other medication along with it. He takes Clariton OTC and uses an inhaler. All of this medication is to control his Asthma and alergies that can trigger an attack. The combination of all three of these drugs has done wonders as he no longer has difficulty breathing.

I take it along with an antihistamine nightly and it has worked miracles with my year round "seasonal" allergies. I used to get multiple sinus infections every winter, not I get maybe one every two or three years. I also have friends who were involved with the trials and know people who took it while pregnant as well.

Several of my friend's children have taken it - even younger than yours and it has really seemed to help them.

Do your homework and make sure you are comfortable.

Hi T.,
Our son has been on Singulair since he was 15 months old, he is two and a half now. We have never had any problems since he started it. When the warnings came out earlier this year his allergist and pulmonologist each discussed it with me and neither were overly concerned about the new findings. I personally feel like Singulair has been nothing but helpful in treating our son's severe asthma and wouldn't even consider taking him off of it. However, Like Nicole mentioned maybe your son won't need to be on it very long. Keep up with his regular follow ups so they can monitor him closely. Good luck!

My son is also taking Claritan and Singulair. He started taking Singulair when he was 6 as the Claritan alone was not helping. He would still be sneezing, coughing, get sick and developed allergy-induced asthma. Since adding the Singular, he does not get sick anymore and only sneezes occasionally. The asthma has not returned and no bad side effects have ever happened. It has been the best thing for him. He has numerous allergies so he has to take both meds every day of the year. Hope this helps - good luck! Jen

T.,
Most of these posts are from the families that have not had any of the side effects that can come from taking Singulair. When my pediatrician prescribed Singulair for my son I freaked out while reading the warning sheet enclosed and went online to see if anyone had experienced any of the dozens of terrifying side effects...I found many, many horror stories and decided not to give my son this drug. We stuck with Zyrtec, Veramyst (low dose nasal spray) and the OTC antihystimine eye drops Zaditor. He wasn't totally symptom free but he got through the spring without being completely miserable. Please read the warnings on Singulair...Good Luck!

Both my children are on Singulair and I am too. They both take it once a day. The trick with singulair is you cannot take it ONLY when you're sick with allergies, it needs to be taken regularly to be effective. It's kind of like depression meds - if you only take them one or two times a week it has no effect for you. SO - therefore, you have to be consistent in giving the medication and not stop it.

I take Singulair twice a day as once a day wasn't effective.

Because of Singulair, exercise, AND watching my diet (you should find out what he's allergic to so you can make life easier for him - molds, for instance, are also in cheese and breads), I went from taking over a dozen meds per day down to only a few.

By the way - I have never heard of children who take it having a side effect like depression like the other woman suggested.

In fact, I'd title it a "miracle" drug for our family.

Good luck,

S

From a more natural approach, we are actually going to the allergiest today for a scratch test-ugh but anyway, I started taking her to the chiropractor (3 yrs old and actually the infant too!) reducing toxins in the house (cleaning products, detergents, etc..) doubling up her vitamin, trying to give her more proteins (not working so well) and Shaklee also suggested alfalfa (not sure how I am going to pull that off!) We'll see what the allergist says today and as we are all new to this allergy thing in the last week or so. Depending what she prescribes, if any, I can let you know later on. Good luck. I am a little sad about the allergy diagnosis at such a young age as I am sure you are too especially since we know for sure it's cats and dogs!

My daughter was on it for asthma at age 3. I was very leery because the chewable pills contain aspertame and I had read reports of it causing behavioral issues. It really didn't do much for her asthma and she was taking Zyrtec for her allergies (which works great!)

At age 4 her pulmonologist took her off Singular and I was very happy. I don't think it's worth it. There are other drugs, such as Zyrtec.

Hi T.,
My 11 year old son was prescribed singular and I noticed a difference in his behavior about a month on the pill. He seemed depressed. So I pulled him from the pill and just use over the counter meds. I don't think the risk is worth it.

Good Luck,
A.

I have three of my four children on Singular. It really does help them with their allergies. My fourth took it for a while and seemed get a lot of ear infections while one it. Once we took her off, she never got another one. The doctor didn't know if it was just coincidence or not. The other three are great and never had any problems.

Hello~
My (now 6 year old) daughter has been on singulair for almost 3 years for her allergies. We have had wonderful results with it....she went from being a literal snot fountain to no more runny nose. She is also on nasacourt as well, both taken once a day at bed time.
We have not had any side effects other than increased thirst especially at night, so she has a cup of water with her that fixed that.
With that one exception, she has done great!
Good luck!

Hi T.~

Have you looked at the household cleaning products that you use??...There was link to our family allergies do to the products in our house.

If you would like more info, please visit or call:

www.FindTotalWellness.org
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J. T.

My son and also my neighbor's kids have been prescribed singular for allergies. It seems to help quite a bit & haven't noticed any unusal "side effects". Good luck.

My 3 year old daughter has been on Singulair for over a year and has not had any problems. It has helped control her allergies/asthsma. Our pediatrician and pulmonologist recomened Singulair. I am happy with the results so far. Hope this helps.

We have been having our 2 1/2 year old son on Singulair. It was ok, but I hated having him on adult meds.

We are now taking our son to a doctor that does the NAET technique - tests the kids for about 80 different allergies and it is technique that actually ELIMINATES the allergy. It is awesome. You can find out who is near you by going to www.naet.com

We go to Dr. David Tam in Lombard. He works with kids all the time to eliminate allergies - even kids with ADD ADHD Autism, Asthma and unexplained things that are often allergy related.

We went to a regular allergist prior and all he did was put our son on 6 different meds to suppress the very few allergies he tested him for. He has allergies and asthma.

I am so glad I heard about NAET!!

My son was also prescribed Singulair. We decided to go a more natural route and we took him to a chiropractor. I would suggest the same because it is all natural and my son has been extremely healthy since we started having chiropractic adjustments. I would recommend trying that before I would start Singulair. I saw a report that linked Singulair to depression in children. I'm not sure where you are located but if you are near Naperville/Aurora then you should try Dr Bill Buchar at Buchar Family Chiropractic. He works with a lot of children and he is excellent. Good Luck!

Hi T.-

My son was also put on it at around 3 1/2 years old, maybe younger. We watched for symptoms of problems but he tolerated it very well and we never had any problems. The only thing that I would urge is to not get complacent and keep your son on it forever. I had suspicions that my son didn't need it anymore but the doctor was secure in keeping him on it. We, fortunately, ran out of meds on a vacation and found that he didn't need it any longer at the age of 5. So, he has now been off of it for almost a year with no problems.

I hope this helps. Stay on top of it and I think that you will be happy with the results.

Regards,
N.

My son has asthma and was on singulair back when he was 5. He didn't have any problems taking it, but it didn't work well so we discontinued it. Two of my kids have seasonal allergies and we use Zyrtec. I have found however for my own allergies--and for the kids nothing works as well as Benadryl.

T.,

My name is M., I'm a mom and a grandma. In 1999 I was diagnosed with asthma and was put on Singulair. I've had some very bad side-effects including restlessness, trouble sleeping, very vivid night terrors, rage, mood swings, weight gain, just to name a few. I took myself off it last August, 2007 and I've been a completely different person. My point about kids: check out http://www.medications.co.uk/effect/view/14043 or http://www.medications.co.uk/effect/view/29385. This stuff is BAD NEWS. M.