Singulair

Nearly 20 million Americans suffer from asthma, with 45 percent of them being children, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. In many cases, these patients have been prescribed montelukast, which is marketed as Singulair. Reports suggesting a link between Singulair and suicide have prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to require the drug’s maker, Merck & Co., Inc., to include a special warning on the drug’s label.

Singulair is a leukotriene receptor antagonist that is prescribed to children and adults in oral granule, oral tablet or chewable tablet form. The drug blocks leukotrienes, which are chemicals the body releases in response to an inflammatory stimulus, such as when a person breathes in an allergen. Singulair is used to treat asthma, including exercise-induced asthma, and to treat allergy symptoms that include sneezing, stuffy nose, running nose and itching of the nose. For children, the drug is prescribed to prevent asthma. For adults, it is used as a maintenance therapy regime.

In August 2009, the FDA ordered an update to the drug’s precautionary labeling to state that neuropsychiatric events had been reported in some patients taking Singulair. The reported events included post-marketing cases of agitation, aggression, anxiousness, dream abnormalities and hallucinations, depression, insomnia, irritability, restlessness, suicidal thinking and behavior and tremor. Depression is a serious mental illness that can be treated through medication, therapy or a combination of both.

While depression is the most serious side effect to be associated with Singulair (commonly misspelled as “Singular”), there have been other notable side effects, including stomach pain, heartburn, dizziness, fatigue, rashes, headaches and cold and flu symptoms.

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