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Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Singulair NOT linked to suicide thoughts, FDA says

Good news for us asthmatics and allergy sufferers who are taking or thinking about taking Singulair.

According to MyAsthmaCentral.com:
"(R)esearchers for the American Lung Association Tuesday announced that they've found no link between the asthma drug Singulair and an increased risk of suicide and depression."

I hate to gloat. I really do. But I have to quote myself here from a post I wrote aptly titled: Some good asthma/COPD drugs get a bad rap.

"While it is possible that Singulair might have a small chance of causing depression, there is also a good possibility this occurrence of depression was a mere coincidence."

Likewise, I also wrote the following in my post My Dr. now prescribing Singulair for allergies:

"I can understand how allergies can get so bad sometimes, that you might rather be dead. There were times when I was a kid, and even as recently as last summer, where the allergies were just unbearable. (Not that I would ever kill myself, I'm just saying that allergies can cause severe misery). Singulair is a great medicine. It has worked a miracle for this RT. I think all asthmatics should at least try it if nothing else works, it beats the alternative of being miserable all the time."


I'm just saying here folks. I'm saying that every patient taking any medication should take it with a grain of salt. If you suspect some side effect to the drug, then you should stop it immediately and call your doctor.

But lets not panic every time an assumption comes out about a drug, especially one that has been so good for so long for so many people like Singulair.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You may not have experienced suicidal thoughts, depression, anxiety, etc....but a lot of children and adults have. Gloat all you want but it won't bring back the people who died from the medicine nor will it give my son back 5 years of his life.

You may be one of the ten percent who can take it. But you need to wait before you start gloating because this isn't over yet. You will see a black box label on that medication within the year. You'll see. And I guess since it doesn't harm you...that's all that matter.
Shame on you. Just because some very small sample was studied doesn't mean the study is conclusive. Maybe you should take a look at the real people who have written their horror stories associated with this medication.

Rick Frea said...

Listen, there's no gloating here. I'm just happy the drug was proven not to be the cause mental changes in some.

Singulair is an "Opportunity" for many people to live a life free from allergies. To me this is a big deal because I suffered from allergies for 38 years -- but not any more thanks so Singulair.

For the record, it was was less than 0.5% of those taking singulair who "Accused" this med of causing suicidal thoughts.

It would be a shame to the millions who benefit from this medicine to "Blacklist" it.

And, just for the record, all medical studies are based on small samples, and no medicine comes without some degree of risk.

AFter all, you are putting chemicals into your body.

Suicide is no joke, but niether is suffering from allergies.

Anonymous said...

Dear Freedom,
First of all, all we want, parents who have children that did have side effects from singulair, is to have this medication using a "black box" not black list. That means that people prescribed this medication will know to look at the side effects and will know they have changed. The tiny 3 pt font is not enough. Even our doctor didn't know about the changes of the side effects. That is also only one study. I know there are some who benefit, but come on, people are putting it in baby bottles. That is not safe. Babies can't tell you they are having nightmares, or are having terrible thoughts. Mine fortunately was old enough to tell me, but we didn't have any information about the side effects until 5 years after he was taking it. Miraculously some of the side effects stopped 3 days later. This is a horrible thing for a parent to have to face. You blame yourself you think your kid is going crazy and nobody could figure it out. This drug breaks the blood brain barrier and genetically mutates the person permanently (changes dna). There is alot of information out there. All I'm saying is one study doesn't mean that there are no side effects. Try telling that to Cody Miller's mom. I was a lucky one. My kid only lost 5 years of his life. But I will never know what he would have been like and I would have never let my son take that medication had I been informed. The pharmacuetical companies don't care....the FDA is funded by them....just know there are other opinions out there and there are a lot of children and adults that have suffered unnecessisarily from this drug. And there are lots of other medications that work better than singulair. That is a fact. do some research. Maybe visit parentsforsafety.org and read some of the testimonies. I'm sorry, but I am going to go with my gut and not what big business tells me. They are in it for the money. 4.5 billion last year to be exact. Good luck.

Rick Frea said...

I agree with you that the FDA is in the tank of big business. What we really need is a company completely independant of Washington and big buisness to do studies like this. To be honest I never take any new medicine (nor do I give it to my kids) until it has been on the market for a while, because I don't want to be a guinea pig. The FDA has screwed up before and we know it.