Asthma meds created 'monster'
The cherry-flavoured tablet that 'set off a monster' in Chloe
For the past year, Martin Schmidt couldn't figure out why his six-year-old daughter Chloe stopped being a normal and happy girl.
Earlier this month he learned that Chloe's asthma medication Montelukast - a chewable, cherry-flavoured tablet - could trigger suicidal thoughts and actions, depression and aggressive behaviour.
He immediately stopped the medication and, in his words, he got his daughter back.
The Schmidts are among 91 affected Australian families who are demanding a fluorescent warning label about the side effects be added to the packaging of medications with the active ingredient Montelukast, including the popular, brand-name version Singulair.
The families claim their doctors and pharmacists never warned them of the possible neuropsychiatric side effects. There are no warnings on the box or on an information leaflet inside.
In the US, drug makers were ordered to include warnings in the box after a 15-year-old boy named Cody Miller, who had taken the medication for 17 days, committed suicide.
The cherry-flavoured tablet that 'set off a monster' in Chloe
For the past year, Martin Schmidt couldn't figure out why his six-year-old daughter Chloe stopped being a normal and happy girl.
Earlier this month he learned that Chloe's asthma medication Montelukast - a chewable, cherry-flavoured tablet - could trigger suicidal thoughts and actions, depression and aggressive behaviour.
He immediately stopped the medication and, in his words, he got his daughter back.
The Schmidts are among 91 affected Australian families who are demanding a fluorescent warning label about the side effects be added to the packaging of medications with the active ingredient Montelukast, including the popular, brand-name version Singulair.
The families claim their doctors and pharmacists never warned them of the possible neuropsychiatric side effects. There are no warnings on the box or on an information leaflet inside.
In the US, drug makers were ordered to include warnings in the box after a 15-year-old boy named Cody Miller, who had taken the medication for 17 days, committed suicide.
