Please respond if on monkelust or have been in past...

[wiserlady]

I was put on this in May and took it for three months. For the first month I felt terrific, best I had felt for many years, for the first time ever loads of energy, bright, sparkly, no problems, no mucus, no coughing, less depression, it was marvellous.

But after a bit this started to slide back and back with lots of aches and pains taking their place. I stopped taking it for two weeks and for a bit felt better, but then the mucus and cough got so bad I had to try to go back on it again recently.

Please tell me if your own experiences. Thank you.

[LHP118]

Montelukast is one of those medications that has very different side effects in different people.

I have found that it dampens my body ache, difficulty in breathing, etc. Like you, I took a break Jan - Apr (when it was apparent that my allergic asthma was fairly manageable). I have been back on it since.

[wiserlady in reply to LHP118]

Thanks for response. How are you on it now?

[LHP118 in reply to wiserlady]

I'm still using it. It seems I have a number of other allergies that trigger asthma and allergic reactions...

Ultimately, I'd like to come off, as I want to resolve the core issue. It's not easy with allergies but I'm 'diarising' it.

[wiserlady in reply to LHP118]

You can get these things put right through acupuncture, know several who had that done very successfully.

[asthmaK]

I've been on it for years. I tried to stop taking it for about 2 weeks but my allergies got bad, which in turn made my allergic asthma act up...so I'm back on it again. The pulmonologist said I didn't have to take any additional allergy medicine if I was consistently taking Montelukast, but I still do.

[wiserlady in reply to asthmaK]

Thanks. May I ask what other medications you take and why?

[traciphoto]

I just got off it about a month ago after taking it for years. You wouldn’t believe how clear my head felt after being off of it. Some people have no problem with it and others have serious horrible side effects. There is a new “black box” warning for it now too. There is a support group on Facebook for people who have had effects from taking it. It’s called Montelukast (Singulair) Side Effects and Discussion Group.

[Ynnam30 in reply to traciphoto]

I could of take it. The pulmonologist told me to take before bed. If I had to get up in the middle of the night it made me so dizzy that I was afraid of falling.

[wiserlady in reply to Ynnam30]

I found at the start it would make me feel spaced out dizzy and sleepy so know what you mean.

[wiserlady in reply to traciphoto]

I am considering trying to stop taking it. I went onto it in May and kept with it. At the start I was struggling with energy, breathing, mucus and all sorts and when I started taking the pills that all went away very fast, I was feeling terrific, but gradually that crept back. I got dizzy and spaced out, a lot of pain in shoulders and arms, which is due to it playing with your adrenal glands and cortisol levels, it was agony, I felt so depressed, it was hard to do anything physical, even go for a short walk.

I stopped taking it for a few days and felt better and then bit by bit the original stuff with mucus and breathing came back and I went back on it after a two week break.

But I now find that the benefits I got when I first went onto it have almost disappeared. The mucus is bad, the breathing and coughign is back. Once again I wake up choking on mucus early in the morning and have to use a nebuliser and/or inhaler etc. So I wonder what the point is of taking it, its seems side effects is all I get now.

I tried acupuncture before and it helped but its a long way to go, it costs a lot of time and money to keep going, and it can work for a bit and then stop working where you would have to keep going back and forth for the rest of your life, it would be like a new lifestyle. All my time and money going on that. Am looking at the possibility of getting my own acupuncture machne so that it is much cheaper and saves me all of that tme on travelling there.

How are you feeling now you stopped taking it? Have your original symptoms come back or stayed away?

When I researched it all it said these pills are a luketreine inhibitor, and natural luketreine inhibitors are things like quiercetin, so I am now taking them and will see if they help. But if the tablets stopped working after a few months that seems pointless too.

[Breathing101]

I take it at night. Never had a problem with it. Been taking it for years.

[wiserlady in reply to Breathing101]

glad to hear it

[Ynnam30]

I take an injection called fasenra. I have been taking about 1 1/2 years. I too had so much mucus. The pulmonologist did a specific blood test and found out that I have eosinophilic asthma. It is entirely different than regular asthma. The injections basically have saved my life. You may want to speak to your doctor about this medication.

[wiserlady in reply to Ynnam30]

thanks for that info. I am in england. here you can only get basic medication from doctor then they might refer you to a consultant a fair distance away to see them in about six months or so - and as we now have lockdown they wold say no and do it on phone or not at all. have never heard of this medicine but will research it, i never had asthma until recently and am 63, its a nightmare at times isnt it, it can take over your life if you are unlucky, people dont realise because they cannot see you with bruises or broken limbs

[Ynnam30]

Yes. I am 70 and got it at 67. I went through several hospitalizations and had to use a breathing machine every four hours. I do not smoke nor have I ever. I am still on sprevia and Symbicort daily but have much better control since I have been taking the fasenra

[wiserlady in reply to Ynnam30]

Thank you so much for your post, it has been a big help to me. I have been struggling to understand what was happening to me, getting very stressed with the not knowing and the symptoms and dealing with it all, when I had been to see consultants they were clueless, often just guessing something in an instant that ignored many of the symptoms and which I could easily have sorted out through my own doctor much quicker if it were true. One year I was repeatedly rushed in and out of hospital and there for a week each time. Each time just getting antibiotics and steroids for a week. It made more sense on insisting I stay at home for the week. I was losing my business and income and dogs because of it. Am sorry you have had to deal with this and so pleased you are feeling better now. Were you using the breathing machine in hospital or at home? What machine was it? I was glued to a nebulising machine at home for a long time. I find the whole thing very debilating and people dont understand, they thin k all u have to do is snap out of it or use your blue inhaler and it will all go away. Like you I never smoked. I dont drink. Yet it was often assumed I must have.

[Ynnam30]

Hope you will get better soon.

[wiserlady in reply to Ynnam30]

Thanks. It would be good to know if it was a nebuliser you were on regularly and if this was at home. Take care.