singulair for hayfever?: hi has anyone... - Asthma Community ...

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singulair for hayfever?

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hi

has anyone else tried singulair for hayfever or noticed an improvement in hayfever symptoms when on singulair? a friend who is a nurse practioner noticed it being sold in canada for hayfever relief. i have started on it today combined with my usual desloratidine and was wondering if any one else has had any luck.

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17 Replies

Hi

i've been on singular for about 4 years, although it is working wonders for my asthma it doesnt seem to be helping my hayfever i still have to take piriton

Roy

I am on singulair 4 asthma also - it is very good too.

But I'm still taking all sorts (not the liquorice!) for my hayfever.

Singulair is marketed in the USA 'for all your seasonal allergies' as well!

I have taken it twice: once for 6 months and then for a 2 month period, neither times did I find it helped my hayfever, but it did help the night time cough which maybe, possibly, perhaps during the summer of last year, could have partly been pollen induced?

I found I had too many extreme side effects from it, and it also interacted badly with my Aminophylline.

Sus

Kendavis359 profile image
Kendavis359

Any adviceJust started taking singular three nights ago. When if any will i start to feel the benefits Do they increase peakflows or fight infection. Doc tells me nothing and the leaflet in the box doesnt seem that helpful. So i thought i would get better help on this website. Look forward to your replies. Thanks.

Kendavis359 profile image
Kendavis359

Any adviceJust started taking singular three nights ago. When if any will i start to feel the benefits Do they increase peakflows or fight infection. Doc tells me nothing and the leaflet in the box doesnt seem that helpful. So i thought i would get better help on this website. Look forward to your replies. Thanks.

hope this will help you when I started taking singulair my asthma nurse told me that you would not start to notice an improvement for about 3 to 4 weeks for it to take efeect which it did had the odd headaches but they went once i got use to taking it. at least i can now sleep at night and not be awake coughing and wheezing all the time got fed up after 3 months of not sleeping through the night. But i still need to take my hayfever tablets once a day at the moment.

My consult says it takes 3months for the full effect of singulair to kick in. Hence, why I'm trying it again for the 3rd time but going the full 3 months this time.

Hope that helps!

Em

Hi, my doctor told me singular works on some people and not on others, i dont have any side effects, i noticed an improvement in my asthma in a week of using it.

since ive been taking singular ( 4 years) my chest has been a lot better it seems to add to the seretide by giving me that little bit extra

actually i first saw singular being advertised on tv when i was in the states 4 years ago and when i came back, i asked my gp for it.

Singulair is montelukast sodium, a leuktrine receptor antagonist, and it works in the airways to reduce the ""allergic"" component of asthma.

It has recently been licensed in this country for the treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis - that's hayfever to you and me. So it is recognised that for some people it does work on your hayfever too!

Kendavis359 profile image
Kendavis359

Confusing

I dont seem to suffer with hay fever, so why do we need to take them in the winter as well? Mine is asthma and copd. Not noticed any miracles yet but as they say it can take a while to be affective, how long i am not so sure as yet. Thank you for the replies.

I take singulair year-round but have found this year that it has helped with hayfever, which is an added bonus. Take care

Brynne

PND

PND (Post Nasal Drip) can be a major contributary factor in patients with chronic asthma symptoms, particularly night time ones.

My experience of taking Singulair helped the PND component of my asthma, so therefore helping the asthma indirectly. I wasn't taking it for the allergic side of things, interestingly enough, and was 1st prescribed it by my Asthma Nurse at the GPs, staying on it for 6 months before it stopped working and I began encountering side effect issues. 6 months seems to be quite a normal period of time before in some people, before it ceases to be of real use.

My 2nd attempt with the Singulair was during a lengthy admission but I gave it up after a month due to the enormity of the side effects.

It is interesting to read Cathbear's comments about Singulair now being licenced for Rhinitis. That is certainly what the USA television commercials are targeting it for. It seems it has something to do with calming the irritability of the nasal passages and therefore lessening the asthma via that route, or that's my understanding, in total layperson's terms!

One way or the other, it can be an extremely useful drug in many asthmatics, and again, another step up the treatment ladder before getting to the Aminopylline and long term oral steroid route, so generally, has to be tried.

Kendavis359 profile image
Kendavis359

Many still confusing things here as to what does the singular actually do. anti imflammatory or just a reliever. Any ideas

Hi Ken,

I've copied some info about Singulair for you and tried to rewrite it so that it makes sense to none medical minds like ours!

Singulair is a ""Leukotriene (pronounced luke-o-try-een) antagonist"". This means that it blocks leukotrienes in the body.

Leukotrienes are chemicals which occur naturally in the human body, and like some other chemicals in the body, leukotrienes can affect the breathing passages (airways, bronchi).

Leukotrienes are involved in asthma, and seem to have a major involvement in both the acute asthma attacks as well as the hypersensitivity of the airways in longer-term chronic asthma.

Leukotrienes can cause effects such as tightening of the airway (bronchoconstriction) and can increase the inflammation and mucous/phlegm in the airway as well.

Because Singulair blocks the action of some of the leukotrienes, this type of medicine can reduce the occurrence of acute asthma attacks when taken regularly.

Singulair is also known as montelukast (pronounced monty-loo-cast), and it comes as tablets for adults or children over 6 years of age. Singulair is NOT a corticosteroid.

Singulair does not work like a blue (reliever) inhaler either. Therefore, during an asthma attack other reliever medication should be used.

So in answer to your question Ken, I would argue that Singulair can best be described as a sort of anti-inflammatory drug re its effect on reducing hypersensitivity of the airways.

BTW I tried Singulair for six months. At first it seemed to help my symptoms, but then the positive effects wore off and I got severe headaches all the time, and at the end some very strange dreams!

However I know Singulair works well for others so give this medicine a good try!

Take care

Mia

Kendavis359 profile image
Kendavis359

Thanks for that imfo, what amused me the most was the dreams issue that you had. Well since i been on these all i have done is sleep and feel tired when awake but also been on a strong course of anti biotics which i thought was knocking me out, but maybe its the singular. Only time will tell as i am stopping the antibiotcs today or changing them after seeing the doctor. I need my head in good condition to remember all the medication that i have to take. Oh the joys of asthma and copd. Thanks once again.

yaf_user681_26410 profile image
yaf_user681_26410

singulair

I was releived to read that singulair takes 3-4 weeks to be effective because I have now been on it for just nearly 3 weeks. the 1st week was a good one and I though perhaps it did work straight away. the reactions I did have were very slight not the swelling face and airways that I had been getting, but just a tight chest. However since then I have had one reaction after another with barely a day inbetween. I was ending up exhausted with a frequent tight chest and incessant coughing until I eventually had yet another nebuliser and started on oral steroids. I am looking forward to the time when the singulair works. Judging by people's comments it may feel like a long wait. Haven't suffered with any bad headaches but it has irritated my stomach, but then my stomach is often affected along with my asthma anyway.

Mia-just read the end of your post. You are like my double. 6 months of use, then headaches and weird dreams. That is totally ditto me! I tried it again, same thing, yet this time I also had a severe interaction with the Amino.

I once came across a forum in the USA for people with weird side effects from common drugs. Singulair was cited a lot. Weird dreams, psychosis, depression, very blue depression, real tears type of depression, and those headaches must have been mentioned 101 times.

But, the drug actually does work, or rather, did!

Have banished my Singulair to room 101, have to add!

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