chest infection increase with singulair

[Moose1]

Those that have mild / moderate asthma and are on singulair, has anyone felt they've had an increase of chest infections from getting a cold since being on singulair?

I know it is one of the 'side effects'

Christine

[Hidden]

So far no & hopefully not ever!! I did read on the singulair info sheet that side effects were chest infections but i've been ok (thank goodness)

Ju x

[Hidden]

Hopefully CathBear (or one of our other medical bods!) will confirm this, but have had a quick look at the Singulair info sheet and can see no mention of chest infections as a side effect.

Am I going blind?!

[Hidden]

Yes, I did wonder if I was going a bit bonkers - so I've double checked with both the BNF and my own Singulair information sheet and can find no mention of ""chest infections"" as a side effect. Certainly I can't figure out how this should come about, thinking about the way the drug works.

[Hidden]

Your not going blind!! Its not on the information sheet, its on their website.

[Moose1]

I must be going crazy lol I'm sure I saw it on there but just looked and it's not! sorry!

Guess i can't blame the singulair for feeling yuk

Christine

[Hidden]

Well I've trawled through the prescribing information (and what a joy that was) on Singulair's website. The only thing I could find related to this was:

""In placebo-controlled clinical trials, the following event was reported with SINGULAIR with a frequency ≥1% and at an incidence greater than placebo, regardless of causality assessment: upper respiratory infection, 1.9% of patients receiving SINGULAIR vs. 1.5% of patients receiving placebo.""

In English, this means that during the trials of Singulair, 1.5% of the placebo (sugar pill / no treatment) group got upper respiratory infections, whereas 1.9% of the Singulair group got upper respiratory infections. If you were to do a statistical analysis on this, considering the large number of the sample, I'm not sure it would come out as a significant difference. However drug companies are obliged to report ALL adverse effects which occur during their trials, whether or not they may be related to the medication (hence that bit about ""causality assessment"").

There is no mention anywhere about chest infections - note that ""upper respiratory infections"" does not mean chest infection, which is a LOWER respiratory tract infection. Call me pedantic by all means, but it's an important differentiation. Upper respiratory infections can cause cough/runny nose/sore throat etc.

[Hidden]

Its a good job theres a doctor in the house. Makes sense upper respiratory being the

ENT i supposed then. I got a bit worried thinking it can cause chest infections.

I've had no problems with it, infact its helped me.

I've learnt in the past its not always best to read ther side effects. If you feel abit funny then read them. It just makes me paranoid!

[Moose1]

Thanks for clearing that up cathbear :o)

I have an URTI at the moment, aka, a cold lol but I think I may now have a chest infection :o/

Singulair has done wonders for me during the summer months. Normally I get 1 cold a year (around september) and it's fine but i'm now having a 2nd cold so far this year and last time and this time, it has gone straight to my chest, last time tho, i was at home, this time i am not and not sure what to do for the best, may ring NHS direct in the morning :o/

Christine

[Emer1000]

No ... opposite actually.