December 4th
2007
10:26 PM
27 yr old healthy male. Have red-irritated eyes, occasional sneeze and runny nose, live in Denver (highly polluted). Come to think about it, never started having symptoms until after about 1 yr of living here. Symptoms have persisted for 2 yrs now. Maybe I should move?
doctor thought was allergies, so tried: Patanol, Singulair, Claritin, Duramist = no help. Eyes are still itchy, eyelids are embarrassingly red (I look like I'm high all the time). After 4 months on Singulair, noticed significant weight gain, dehydration, and sensitivity to light. Couldn't work out, play paint ball. Urine was always dark yellow. Singulair seemed to help at first, but as time went on, symptoms were worse and had additional problems, weight gain, etc. Things seemed to be spiraling out of control, and I am really depressed b/c there seems to be no solution.
I complained of some loss of vision (i.e. blurriness, hard to focus), so doctor sent me to ophthalmologist. They prescribed glasses and said I have dry eye like that person posted on Nov 18th. They told me to wash my eyes with baby soap. No help! These people have no idea what to do, I got fed up and quite taking Singulair after reading this website. I hope to lose weight and start working out again. I can't believe that doctors prescribe Singulair and have no idea (NO IDEA!) of all of us who must suffer from this terrible drug.
I don't do drugs, drink occasionally and have really cut down trying to get this problem solved. I have become sensitive to caffeine, if I drink coffee, my eyes hurt so bad, I can hardly keep them open. I'm going to do as much research as I can to find a solution. I trusted my doctors - bad idea!
-- By mareksvatos | Reply | Private Message me
March 12th
2007
7:39 PM
Hi,My biggest side effects are the hair loss,limb swelling,insomnia,halucinations(unless my dead dog really is a ghost),memory loss,numbness in legs and arms,tingling in arms and hands expecially when I cough or sneeze,sinus stuffiness and infections and cronic bronchitis.Allthough I have these side effects I personally think that I am better off taking the singulair for my asthma(does not help my allergy symptoms at all) than when I was on all the allergy meds and streoids.I used to have a bag load of those and I was allways having attacks,was depressed and thought of suicide but then I did the study for singulair about 15 years ago and thought it was a miracle cure so I waited for it to come out on the market.I know it is not a miracle cure but I don't have to take those other meds anymore and I only use my fast acting inhailer mabee once a month now.I am now 6 months pregnant and will be looking for an alternative treatment from a hollistic/natural Dr. after I have the baby.There has got to be a better way to control this disease,I hope,naturally through diet and other remadies with less or no side effects to treat my allergies and asthma.If anyone knows of such tratments,please post it.Thanks.LR
-- By nomoretruckn | Reply | (2) replies | Private Message me
April 21th
2006
2:55 PM
I'd rather have allergies than take this medication again. Actually, I'm going to appeal for an Rx for Allegra, which gave me no problem.
The side eeks from Singulair I experienced were: clenched teeth, hard time falling asleep, racing thoughts, awful body aches, hard time waking up and a feeling of general malaise.
I'm sure this drug works miracles for some folks, but for me? I'd rather sneeze and drip.
April 3th
2006
6:09 AM
About a week or so into taking Singulair for asthma and allergies, I thought it was an absolute miracle drug! I am extremely allergic to cats and when I am anywhere near them I get horrible asthma and allergies which in several cases sent me to the hospital. The ultimate test was after taking singulair I was able to spend the weekend with my friend in her small apartment and 2 cats without even a sneeze. We couldn't believe it given my past. However, it was too good to be true. Around the same time I noticed pretty dramtic hair loss. At first I just thought I was brushing too hard, I couldn't fathom actually losing my hair. However, it become so dramtic it was coming out in handfulls and I wasn't the only one to notice or be alarmed by this. I immediately stopped the medication but lost close to 70% of my hair as a result of taking singulair. I've read about this happening to others but Singulair and my doctor deny it.
-- By kitty4546 | Reply | (1) replies | Private Message me
January 12th
2005
4:09 PM
I am 35 yr old female and have been on Singulair for at least 3 years, maybe 4. I stopped taking it 3 weeks ago and I am feeling better than I have in ages. I had no idea there were so many side effects until I started reading the posts here. I had read on packaging inserts about the higher incidents of Singulair causing ear and respiratory infections. I have had numerous infections in the time I have been on this med. I have also had problems with nightmares, teethgrinding, tension in the jaw area and severe headaches. Now I read that others taking Singulair are experiencing the same! The nightmares are terrifying and vivid, something that had not troubled me before. I recently found out I have elevated liver enzymes which the dr cannot figure out why. I now suspect it might be the Singulair or even the combination of taking it with Zyrtec. I really wish I could get off Zyrtec, but I sneeze non-stop and itch like crazy the three times I have tried to stop. Help!
-- By wtptoo | Reply | Private Message me
May 6th
2008
6:52 PM
We have all been saying that our issues regard not being informed about all of the possible side effects. And, we know that Singulair works well for some people. Nobody wants to take a good drug away from those for which it probably performs miracles. People who have toxic side effects have a right to know up front.
My observations about montelukast's chemical structure are either general or not quite 100% correct or could be quite vague - so forgive me. I do not claim to be good at organic chemistry. But from doing a little work, I have come up with some observations.
1. It would seem to me that montelukast might work quite well for people who have developed mold category related asthma. I observed that chloroquinolin, a component of montelukast, is a good fungicide effective against Aspergillus, Alternaria, Cladosporium, Penicillium and Candida. Dust mites can only digest if helped by aspergillus so they go into the mold category. Molds produce millions of spores so anyone who lives in contact with mold would be chronically sick from their presence. Then people get hypersensitized to that.
I am probably wrong but I could imagine that montelukast is: 1) a ligand that binds to an empty cysLT1 receptor for a period of time 2) 7-chloroquinolin-2-yl which either acts intact or breaks down into a quinoline fungicide so that it kills the chronic mold/fungus infection and 3) a sulphur/methyl anti-inflammatory component that tells the t-cells that they are not needed so they will die. Wow, that would be great for mold asthma if it was completely non-toxic. It would be also great under controlled circumstances for many people who are mold-miserable. If I am wrong, I better go out into my garage and start inventing such a drug.
This is my visualization to try to explain the side effects of neurotoxicity. So adverse reactions could be to the quinoline component as an allergic reaction or dose related so that it just built up to a toxic level over time. There are many signs that t-cell populations are significantly reduced by montelukast. The fact that the Italians can do it in the test tube might be that it's a chemical component of montelukast designed to cause the t-cells to die.
Montelukast is a large molecule so Artie says it cannot penetrate the blood brain barrier. That would be an argument if nobody was complaining about neuro-psychiatric side effects. The neuro-psychiatric side effects are identical to quinoline and quinolones. When I read about Lariam, it just sounds like a more extreme version of Singulair side effects. Chloroquinolins were used before they invented Lariam, which is stronger. The malaria Plasmodiums became immune. Hallucinations, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts are completely consistent in all of the quinoline/quinolones. If montelukast breaks into sub-molecules then quinolines easily penetrate the blood brain barrier.
I find clinical evidence that montelukast may act as more than more molecule. And, that there is a rational for the existence of the chloroquinolin and evidence that it may be the source of toxicity.
I am glad to risk being called crazy. That is what the internet is for. We can present our ideas and discuss. So, just take this with a grain of salt. If I am close to the truth, this post will find it's proper home.
-- By concernedcitizen | Reply | (12) replies | Private Message me