Does Singulair Cause Suicidal Tendencies?

It Helps Relieve Asthma: is it Exacting a Price?

My wife has asthma and uses Singulair for treatment in pill form on a maintenance basis. This is referred to as a preventative medication and dose as opposed to what is called a "rescue medication."

Medications that are used for the control and treatment of asthma are Singulair, which is a leukotriene modifier, reducing the number of leukotrienes that are released during an asthma attack and cause swelling; LABA medications which are bronchodilators; corticosteroids that come from an inhaler and minimize inflammation and swelling and, finally Theophylline which is used for nighttime symptoms. All of these medications are essentially used for maintenance treatment and the prevention of an asthma attack.

Short-acting "rescue medications" (for asthma attacks), include Atrovent and short-acting beta-2 agonists which get into the system quickly and last for a short term of from four to six hours.

My wife has never had any symptoms of suicidal thoughts although she has had depression at times. These episodes were very mild and it is hard to say whether or not the symptoms were related to Singulair usage.

According to Fox News, the FDA has changed the labeling of Singulair four times in the last year due to symptoms of depression, tremors, anxiousness and suicidal behavior. Also, there were claims of four suicides reported.

It needs to be understood that no correlation has been proven between Singulair and suicide. Further, it may take about nine months for the results of the study to be completed.

Also according to Fox News, The Merck Company who manufactures Singulair, despite no research proof, has added a suicide warning to the label.

As is often the case, The Food and Drug Administration has been criticized for not acting more quickly on this issue.

In evaluating Singulair, since it is a leukotriene, it is technically the only long-term medication that directly blocks the leukotrienes that are released during an asthma attack.