singulair, weight gain and precocious puberty

Grizzon,

I am devastated right now as my daughter is almost 8 and has the same symptoms...Her doctor says its precocious puberty and she too was on singulair for asthma from about 2-6. At the ti e my doctor assured me that there were no serious side effects due to sigulair but I am reading otherwise...

I find this very interesting, my daughter is now 9, we are getting ready to go through all the blood work just to verify that she has Precocious Puberty although the ped ondo is sure of it. She started her cycle last month, has been developing early for at least the last 3 years. She too is on Singular and Flovent, I never thought about the conection, I am going to look into that some more.

Thanks
Jeanene

Has anyone considered environmental causes for early puberty?
When my daughter was 4 ½ she developed underarm body odor.
When she was 6 ½ she developed breasts and had one bloody vaginal discharge.
She had a bone age scan when she was 7 that said her bone age was 7.
We had an MRI that was inconclusive because it was blurry. They said a small pituitary microadenoma was possible (I am not sure if the doctor will reorder or not). He is on vacation right now. I have searched all over the internet finding claims of chemicals as endocrine disruptors and hormones in non organic milk and estrogen in organic milk effecting children. I called the company we were purchasing our organic milk from and they told me the standard in the industry is to milk cows into their 7th or 8th month of pregnancy. Some claim there are higher levels of estrogen in the milk because of this. My grandfather was a dairy farmer and they always discarded milk from pregnant cows. They would never sell it for human consumption. If your child is drinking or eating any dairy that is not organic they may be getting the bovine (rBGH) growth hormone in addition to the estrogen from pregnant cows.(Cheese could be more concentrated because of all the milk used). We stopped milk and all dairy products completely. It was very hard to do because we ate a lot of milk and cheese. We are drinking rice, almond and coconut milk instead. I changed my daughters hair shampoo, hair conditioner and body wash to products that are Paraben free, Sulfate free, Phthalate free, Propylene Glycol free, pvc free, BPA free and preservative free. We now use stainless steel water bottles. We bought a filtering system for our water. The only meat we eat is ham, chicken and turkey (organic when we can). We eat a lot of raw fruits and vegetables (as much organic as we can). Our doctor recommended 1 tablespoon of organic ground flax seed and broccoli, cauliflower or kale for our daughter everyday to help her metabolize estrogen. We definitely are working with our endocrinologist to rule out physical causes of the puberty. In approximately 5 weeks after we started our new life style changes my daughter’s underarm body odor that she had for 2 ½ years had went away. She no longer needs deodorant. We are hoping her puberty has been caused by something environmental. I hope everyone at least considers the environmental issues if their endocrinologist cannot give them a physical reason for their child’s early puberty. I will keep you posted, it is too early at this point to know if her early puberty will continue or not. I know in a few months we will get another bone scan and blood work. I am not claiming she is cured or her precocious puberty has stopped. We have hope because her underarm body odor has stopped. Only time will tell.

Singulair belongs to a class of medications called leukotriene receptor antagonists, or simply a leukotriene blocker. Leukotrienes are fatty molecules of your immune system that contribute to inflammation in asthma and allergic rhinitis. Singulair effectively blocks the effects of leukotrienes resulting in the relief of allergy symptoms. So, what is the relationship between leukotrienes and estrogen?

According to an article from the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (1984 Feb 15;148(4):365-9.) "data suggest that leukotrienes do not mediate, but rather inhibit, the uterine vascular responses to estrogen." Now a logical conclusion from this statement is that if you block leukotrienes then the effects of estrogen will increase. Obviously, this statement warrants further research with regards to the relationship of Singulair and precocious puberty.

I would recommend to parents who have young daughters showing signs of precocious puberty while taking Singulair, that they report this adverse drug effect to MedWatch/FDA website. If your physician needs scientific evidence of a link between Singulair and precocious puberty, refer them to the aforementioned article. I am a pharmacist and my experience with this event has resulted in the reversal of the signs of precocious puberty when the patient stopped the Singulair. Abrupt cessation of medication may result in return of allergy/asthma symptoms and this must be monitored accordingly with suitable antihistamines and adrenergic agonist aerosol therapies.

What the heck is going on, just took my 7 year old daughter to the pediatrian today for pubic hair, I thought maybe the pulmicort a steriod could be the cause of course they ordered blood work and the xray of the hand for bone growth, I thought this evening would do a little research of my own never would have thought the singular would or could be the cause it is so scary she has asthma, I feel she needs these meds to decrease her chance of a attack but my gosh, the side affects are scary on her little young body, maybe we should just treat with the medication at the onset of a cold or when they start to wheeze rather than give them these medications on a daily basis. I don't know it is a scary line to walk either way she misses so much school already when she gets down, but look at the problems early puberty can cause, lets stick together and stay on top of getting to the bottom of the side effects of these medications for our precious little children. I have a 5 year old son that started showing affects of asthma and as of right now he has been on the zrytec on daily basis, he will be next for the singular, and pulmicort I am sure, we need answers is it money to them or health of our children.

Oh my goodness! My daughter is 8, almost 9. She has been on Flovent and singular since she was 6. We've noticed her body odor increasing in past several months and even at times within and hour or so after bathing. I have asked her doctor and was told there is no correlation. I've still wondered as I know there is not enough research or reports for doctors to consider this to be a side effect. However, if I can find other parents reporting the same issues... Well that says something to me. Further more, my 6yr old son just started on singulars and Flovent 3 months ago and has gained 12 lbs!!! I must say... I am concerned!!!

gsd, how is it goes with your daughter?

I just want to say that my daughter is 8 AND my son is 6. Both were on Flovent & singulair. After my daughter had been on this medication for about 1 year, we started to notice body odor- mostly underarm. I asked both my pediatrician and her allergy/asthma specialist if it could be the cause. I was told "no" by both. Then about 6 months later, my son was put on both medications & my daughter had Flonase added to her regimen. He gain 12 lbs in 2 months!! Her body odor got so bad that her brothers were commenting in it. It would be noticeable within 1hr of showering. After reading several similar comments on this site & others- I immediately took both off the singulair and her off the Flonase . She in now only using Flovent and I reduced her dosage. I told her pediatrician what I was doing. Within 4 weeks I could see a reduction in my son's round face. Within 5-6 weeks- my daughters body odor is all hut gone!!! Coincidence????? I doubt it!!!! But my doctors still will not agree with me on the side affect is the singulair!

Thank you for this! I have an 8 year old daughter who needs deoderant and is starting to show signs of breast development. I've been concerned about some weight gain as she is active and eats a fairly healthy diet. We have stopped dairy products as they seem to worsen her eczema. I will talk to her doctor about alternatives. I will not give her any more of these drugs.

My son was on Flovent for 8 years.  He started having pubic hair and moustache and hallucinations.  The doctor initially said not medication related.  We started cutting back dosages on our own.  He has been completely off Flovent now for over a year.  Hallucinations are a thing of the past.  Facial hair is hardly noticeable. The pubic hair is stil there but he's 10 1/2 yrs old now.  Taking him off Flovent was the best thing for him.  

My 8 year old daughter has been on singulair for a few years and has the same problems with weight gain, developing breast and underarm odor.  My mom told me to ask doctor if it could be her allergy meds..  Now I fel like it is.  I wish I would have realized this earlier and stopped giving it to her.  

My 9yr old son has alot of the same issues but never thought till now that it could be the singular or even zrytec. This past yr he has had increased night terrors? Also increased weight gain, but his eating habits are a factor. He is 128 pounds, 4ft 10inchs tall at 9yrs old. I am going to be talking with his Dr immediately after reading all the info on this drug.

My daughter is not on singular but is on other meds, she was hospitalized for asthma complications about two months ago. Since then she has gained weight from being on asthma medication every day and she has developed breast tissue and is growing hair in places that an 8 yr old should not be growing. 

Thank you for this post. I started taking Singulair for allergic rhinitis 5 1/2 weeks ago. Normally, my periods are incredibly reliable and my weight has been easily maintained at a very slim healthy weight for decades--even after three children. Within a week after starting Singulair, I began spotting mid-cycle for a few days. Then, I skipped a period two weeks later. At the same time, I suddenly gained 7-8 pounds in the last 2 1/2 to 3 weeks for no apparent reason. I even took two pregnancy tests, because this old veteran knew I felt "off" hormonally in a "could I be pregnant?" sort of way. Both were negative, of course. So, I began to research the Singluair--it's the only thing that has changed. Sure enough...I also found where they had done a couple studies (I found it on a gov't website--catalogs medical studies/trials) one was to see if they could control menstrual flow for teens that are heavy bleeders. The other was on rats--turns out they stopped ovulating on it. In addition to Leukotienes, they know that it also has an inhibitory effect on luteinizing hormone (LH). Attributed to the part that leukotrienes play in a woman's cycle, as you described. Great...I stopped taking it two days ago and now I am hoping my period will return and the weight will drop.