if singulair is going to cause mood issues

[ktgrok]

How quickly will that happen? My allergies are driving me bonkers, and doc has me trying singulair with the warning that some people have mood issues on it, and if I do, to stop it. Just wondering how quickly I'll know?

I took my first dose yesterday and already it is helping a ton. I'm not choking on my own snot this morning, and am actually breathing through my nose. So I'm REALLY hoping it doesn't make me depressed or whatever! But want to pay attention in case it does. 

(also having allergy testing next week and they may have me start shots)

[Faith-manor]

I had major problems on that drug when I was put on it for allergies. Major. And it happened very quickly. I literally had VERY dark moods, and would hide out, away from my family because it took every ounce of will to not scream at them for no reason at all, and or just go bonkers. I thought I was losing my mind. Then my daughter, a former medic, told me this is a black box drug known to have a high rate of playing with people's minds, and even suicidality and violent thinking.

I would say I was having issues within a week, and absolutely untenable and family safety was based entirely on me digging deep and talking to myself constantly, "Do not hit. Do not throw things." I felt like I was losing my mind! The NP who prescribed it never warned me, and neither did the pharmacist. I must have missed it in the fine print somewhere on the drug warnings. Mark said he watched me get darker, darker, darker and wondered if I would be able to come back from it. When Dd told us.about the drug, I went off cold turkey and within days felt like a light had been turned on inside my head. It was scary, just terrifying looking back on it. When I told the NP, she just shrugged and said, "It has been known to happen!" No sympathy, no concern. 😠😠😠 Sure because it is totally normal for a perfectly stable human looking for relief from allergies because she has developed a 1/1,000,000 allergy to Allegra to go from happy except the blasted allergies to thinking, " I would like to hit my husband with that pan or drive my car off the Mackinac Bridge" in a week! Sure. I have never been so furious with a medical practitioner in my life.

If you feel a change in yourself, get off that stuff now. Yes, it is wonderful at modulating the immune response, but seriously, from personal experience there are worst things than having to find a new allergy med. Way worse!

I have PTSD, medical PTSD from it. I have zero trust of doctors and NP/PA folks, and it is near impossible to convince me to even try a new prescription of any kind for any reason because I am terrified of becoming that person again. So that makes medical care a major issue. I imagine I will die young because giving me a drug I have no experience with results in me having a panic attack trying to swallow it.

And going off singulair was literally like flipping a switch, but I could remember every detail of how I felt and what I was thinking so once sane again, the horror sunk in of how close I came to violence. I never even knew I had the capacity in me for such emotion, reaction, or thought. 

 

[natalie]

Singulair did not cause mood issues for me.  It did, however, cause me horrible nightmares/night terrors.  It was awful. I could not get any restful sleep at all.  I decided I would rather deal with my allergies, no matter how terrible. The nightmares/night terrors stopped as soon as I stopped taking the singulair.  

[ccolopy]

When Ds21 started taking Singulair a few years ago, his doctor scheduled a follow-up appointment at 3 weeks to check for mental health side effects. I remember she said these effects usually start within the first few weeks, but they tend to become more severe rather than subsiding so she would take Ds off Singulair if he had even mild effects at 3 weeks. When he didn't have any issues, we were told to keep monitoring him because side effects could still appear at any time. He's continued to take Singulair every spring/summer since then with no issues. 

I'm not sure if his doctor is always so cautious or if she was especially concerned because Ds was a teenage boy, but I really appreciated having her check in on him. He had taken Singulair for a few summers when he was much younger (probably age 5-7, then he started allergy shots) and we weren't given any warnings except that it might affect his sleep. 

[KrissiK]

1 hour ago, natalie said:

Singulair did not cause mood issues for me.  It did, however, cause me horrible nightmares/night terrors.  It was awful. I could not get any restful sleep at all.  I decided I would rather deal with my allergies, no matter how terrible. The nightmares/night terrors stopped as soon as I stopped taking the singulair.  

I had that, too.I just stopped taking it at night and took it in the morning and didn’t have that problem anymore. It didn’t change my mood, but my son was on it for a while and it gave him the jitters.

Edited March 5, 2022 by KrissiK

[Dianthus]

My ds took when he was 8 nearly 9. I was so concerned about the warnings. Our doctor said she prescribed it all the time and only ever had 1 child with a mood issue. My ds had no problem and it helped his allergies so much that season. He had a strange fall allergy (maybe mold) that he had not had before or since. He took it in the morning. No nightmares or any side effects of than stopping coughing and being able to breathe.

[TravelingChris]

2 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

I had major problems on that drug when I was put on it for allergies. Major. And it happened very quickly. I literally had VERY dark moods, and would hide out, away from my family because it took every ounce of will to not scream at them for no reason at all, and or just go bonkers. I thought I was losing my mind. Then my daughter, a former medic, told me this is a black box drug known to have a high rate of playing with people's minds, and even suicidality and violent thinking.

I would say I was having issues within a week, and absolutely untenable and family safety was based entirely on me digging deep and talking to myself constantly, "Do not hit. Do not throw things." I felt like I was losing my mind! The NP who prescribed it never warned me, and neither did the pharmacist. I must have missed it in the fine print somewhere on the drug warnings. Mark said he watched me get darker, darker, darker and wondered if I would be able to come back from it. When Dd told us.about the drug, I went off cold turkey and within days felt like a light had been turned on inside my head. It was scary, just terrifying looking back on it. When I told the NP, she just shrugged and said, "It has been known to happen!" No sympathy, no concern. 😠😠😠 Sure because it is totally normal for a perfectly stable human looking for relief from allergies because she has developed a 1/1,000,000 allergy to Allegra to go from happy except the blasted allergies to thinking, " I would like to hit my husband with that pan or drive my car off the Mackinac Bridge" in a week! Sure. I have never been so furious with a medical practitioner in my life.

If you feel a change in yourself, get off that stuff now. Yes, it is wonderful at modulating the immune response, but seriously, from personal experience there are worst things than having to find a new allergy med. Way worse!

I have PTSD, medical PTSD from it. I have zero trust of doctors and NP/PA folks, and it is near impossible to convince me to even try a new prescription of any kind for any reason because I am terrified of becoming that person again. So that makes medical care a major issue. I imagine I will die young because giving me a drug I have no experience with results in me having a panic attack trying to swallow it.

And going off singulair was literally like flipping a switch, but I could remember every detail of how I felt and what I was thinking so once sane again, the horror sunk in of how close I came to violence. I never even knew I had the capacity in me for such emotion, reaction, or thought. 

 

My dd2 cannot do Singulair and I  think hers came on quickly. Allegra was a no for at least dd2 and me and I think dd2 too. That one  came on more gradually. We did not have that strong reactions. DD2 did have the murdurous or killing herself reaction on Paxil, I think,  which again never did anything like that to me. That was a very quick reaction and we stopped it after only 2 doses, I think. 

But unlike, you FaithManor, both dd2 and I, are alive  because of medications we take. So while we both always research before taking any medications because so often doctors do not know what medicines are not supposed to be given to people with x difference (like giving a headache medicine to a person who has Raynauds and there is a very strong warning not to give it to them, or like me who was having 10/10 nerve pain after my surgery and my doctor gave me a sample pack of a med that helped constipation but also took away the helpful affects of opioids.  My constipation had nothing to do with the opioids I was taking-since I didn't ever have it with any opioids when I didn't have abdominal surgery- but everything to do with my spinal surgery having affected my abdominal muscles).  In fact, a new study came out a few days ago how ACE inhibitors also inhibit the opioid receptors in the brain and I am on lisinopril and will have to change blood pressure medication.  Because I don't need to be having either more pain or injesting more opioids to counteract the lisinopril.

[Tap]

The serious side effects typically happen right away, within the first two weeks is the most common. The nice thing about Singulair, is that you will know if it works for you or not within the first month. 

[ktgrok]

Thanks all! My ARPN was very clear that this CAN cause problems, and to watch out for them, and if any issues stop taking it right away. But my allergies are making me so miserable that we decided it was worth trying, now that my mood is otherwise more stable. So far, so good...but only 1 day in, lol. 

If anything, I feel better than normal. 

[SoCal_Bear]

Singulair has black box warning. I was on it for intermittantly, and then the last time it was bad. Like dark, scary bad. I didn't recognize myself. I was on it before there was before the black box warning. I did not get warned it was possible. I stopped it myself and told my doctor. She didn't think it was possible because it was not reported at the time only in children. Now there is finally a black box warning. What I do now is a combo of Advair + flonase. 

Edited March 5, 2022 by calbear

[kbutton]

I have not had issues with Singulair, and I hope I never have to stop taking it due to a bad reaction because it's helpful. My doctor said it's more common with kids, but I don't know if that's current information or not. 

 

[SoCal_Bear]

10 minutes ago, kbutton said:

I have not had issues with Singulair, and I hope I never have to stop taking it due to a bad reaction because it's helpful. My doctor said it's more common with kids, but I don't know if that's current information or not. 

 

That's true, but the black box warning came later ONLY because adults patients and adult parents of child patients sued about this. They denied this was happening for YEARS. 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S221321982100307X?dgcid=rss_sd_all

https://www.azfamily.com/2021/11/03/maker-popular-allergy-drug-not-required-study-long-term-mental-health-impact/

https://www.drugwatch.com/singulair/lawsuits/

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by calbear

[kbutton]

2 minutes ago, calbear said:

That's true, but the black box warning came later ONLY because adults patients sued about this. They denied this was happening for YEARS. 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S221321982100307X?dgcid=rss_sd_all
https://www.drugwatch.com/singulair/lawsuits/

 

Good to know! Thank you!

[sbgrace]

I have one teen who has taken it since toddlerhood without issues. It helps his allergies immensely. I have another who couldn't tolerate it-It's been a long time ago, but I recall the mood issues starting quickly. I'd say within that first week. 

[JumpyTheFrog]

On 3/5/2022 at 8:03 AM, ktgrok said:

How quickly will that happen?

DS2 tried it when he was 11. It seemed to work pretty well, but about 5-6 weeks in he started to have mood issues. The PA had warned us this could happen, plus the bottle had a warning on it. I wasn't sure if his moodiness was from being 11, or a side effect. The day he finally ran out of the house yelling for no reason at all, I knew it must be a side effect. (I know the mood issues took a while to be noticeable because I renewed the prescription once.)

Edited March 17, 2022 by JumpyTheFrog

[ktgrok]

Ugh, that sucks, that it can happen in a delayed fashion. so far, no issues mood wise, and it DEFINITELY helps my allergies. I can breathe through my nose on the regular! No choking on my own snot from postnasal drip, etc. SOME postnasal drip, some stuffiness, but WAY more manageable. I start allergy injections on the 5th. 

[kbutton]

4 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

Ugh, that sucks, that it can happen in a delayed fashion. so far, no issues mood wise, and it DEFINITELY helps my allergies. I can breathe through my nose on the regular! No choking on my own snot from postnasal drip, etc. SOME postnasal drip, some stuffiness, but WAY more manageable. I start allergy injections on the 5th. 

Good luck with your shots. They were life-changing for me. I will warn you that starting this time of year might be...challenging. My doctor started in the fall when ragweed was wrapping up for this reason. 

I would stay away from raw honey and other homeopathic allergy stuff right now--I couldn't handle any of that while getting shots. Raw honey, bee pollen, etc. is like having allergy shots without a controlled dose and without accounting for your individual needs. It's going to be challenging enough with pollen flying this time of year, though maybe it's year-round in FL.