Side Effects

I suffer pretty heavily from allergies. My first experience being treated for them was at the age of 4. If you've never been tested for allergies, let me explain one way of doing this. You get injected with a bunch of common allergens, and then sit there for 20 minutes and watch how many of the injection sites start to swell up in hives. And I was 4 the first time I had this done.

I don't remember it, but my mom tells me that I started off pretty brave, but about halfway through the 20 injections, I was sobbing and screaming, "I wish I wasn't me!!" The results of that test indicated that I should come in for 3 weekly injections. I think the theory is that if they keep injecting me with dust, mold, pollen, etc, my body will get used to it and it won't bother me anymore. And I guess it worked, because I do remember as time went on I would only have to get those injection every 2 weeks, then every 3 weeks, then just once a month, and after a few years I was off the injections completely and only needing prescription pills for my allergies (hidden not-so-well in my ice cream every night).

At some point I stopped taking that prescription medication as well. It's not that I didn't suffer from allergies anymore, but I guess just avoiding the things that I was allergic to was enough to keep things under control. But for about the past 8 years, that hasn't been a good enough plan anymore. For a long time, I wasn't really contributing my sinus problems to allergies, and my ENT wasn't aggressively treating my allergies either. Nasonex doesn't really do much for me, at which point that doctor basically gave up and said, "Well to treat the chronic sinus infections that you get due to allergies, just call me whenever you get an infection and I will call in antibiotics for you. No need to come see me. Just keep taking drugs." I don't see that doctor anymore.

But I did actually let him perform surgery on me a few years ago; straightening my deviated septum and cutting out a bunch of swollen tissue from 5 of my 6 sinus cavities. The procedure seemed to be really successful, up until a few months ago. I'm assuming that over time, the sinus tissue that still remained just decided that it finally had it's turn to start swelling up a lot. So I'm currently suffering from my 3rd sinus infection in the past 3 months.

I saw my new ENT yesterday (I've been going to him for about a year now and he's really awesome). He looked at my chart to review my allergy medicine routine, which currently has consisted of OTC anti-histamine, and some occasional nasal spray when I'm feeling extra congested. He said if we don't get my allergies better controlled, we aren't going to have much luck keeping my sinus infections under control. It's really refreshing to have a doctor that is concerned about the frequency of my infections and wants to try different things to prevent them from reoccurring, as opposed to my old doctor's mentality of, "Let's just pump you full of antibiotics and steroids every 2 months for the rest of your life."

So I was given a 2-week sample supply of Singulair, as well as a prescription (and a coupon card) if I think that it's working and I'd like to continue using it. So, I'm reading the info sheet that came with the drug:

BEHAVIOR AND MOOD-RELATED CHANGES: Tell your doctor right away if you have any of these symptoms: agitation, aggressive behavior, hostility, bad or vivid dreams, depression, disorientation, confusion, feeling anxious, hallucinations, irritability, restlessness, sleep walking, suicidal thoughts or actions (including suicide), tremor, trouble sleeping

THE MOST COMMON SIDE EFFECTS ARE: upper respiratory infection, fever, headache, sore throat, cough, stomach pain, diarrhea, earache or ear infection, flu, runny nose, sinus infection

OTHER SIDE EFFECTS INCLUDE: increased bleeding tendency, low blood platelet count, allergic reaction, dizziness, drowsiness, pins and needles/numbness in arms or legs, seizures/convulsions, palpitations, nose bleed, stuffy nose, heartburn, indigestion, inflammation of the pancreas, nausea, intestinal upset, vomiting, hepatitis, bruising, joint pain, muscle aches, tiredness

THESE ARE NOT ALL THE POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS. ASK YOUR DOCTOR FOR MORE INFORMATION.

Great. I'll be sure to tell my doctor right away if I experience suicidal actions (including suicide). And I'm really glad that one of the most common side effects is "sinus infection."

I did have a "vivid dream" last night of someone's skull having been removed, and doctors kept shocking his brain, and it kept swelling bigger and bigger. In my dream, I was smart enough to realize his brain was going to explode, so dream-me covered my eyes. And after his brain did explode, he was still alive and talking. So I suppose it could have been worse.

I might just stick with antibiotics for life though...