Montelukast and Depression: What Users Say (Page 2)

• jba...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• July 1, 2019

For Asthma "My daughter is 4 years old and developed these behaviors over the course of 18 months. We were not informed about any of these side effects, and no monitoring was done either. Extreme fear, eczema, vivid nightmares, extreme fear of sleeping, facial infections, sleep disturbance, bedwetting, burning genitals and eyes, anxiety, depression, aggression/hostility, attention problems, bad dreams, hallucinations, hearing voices, irritability, memory problems, headaches, sore throat, cough, stomach pain, skin infections, runny nose, itching genitals, confusional state, crying inconsolable, difficulty concentrating, difficulty drawing, intentional self-harm, irrational fear of the dark, growling and hissing. We assumed all this was normal behavior for our, at the time, 2-3-year-old daughter. I wouldn't recommend this drug at all without proper monitoring."

• Su_...
• December 26, 2016

For Asthma, Maintenance "I have been suffering from asthma since the age of 7, and I was recently prescribed montelukast sodium after a bad chest infection, which had me hospitalized. I have taken it previously about two years back as well. However, since I began taking it this time, I noticed I can't fall asleep, I'm badly constipated, and extremely lethargic, depressed, irritable, and get angered really quick. No medicine is worth feeling this way, and I'm stopping this immediately. If a simple drug manifests such tangible changes in your body, imagine what it does to your body silently."

• Hid...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• May 26, 2023

Montelukast for Asthma "I was on this for a year with no improvement in my asthma. Two days after getting off of it, I began to have horrific withdrawals, including severe headaches, exhaustion, irritability, weepiness, depression, lightning shocks throughout my body, severe body aches, and inability to sleep. The worst seems to have occurred for 48 hours straight, with no signs of fever or sore throat to indicate flu. After seeing others in forums, it seems to be this medication."

• Tom...
• May 25, 2020

For Bronchospasm Prophylaxis "Singulair was helping my breathing while I was continuing to use it, but I wasn’t okay at all, and I just figured out that around 15 days since the last dosage, after 7-8 months of using 10 mg, I had hard breathing, headache, feeling nauseous, insomnia, sleeplessness, shaking, and a rapid heartbeat. But the big problem was my mental issue, so my mood changed negatively, and I had depression and anxiety. However, after the hard time visiting many doctors to find the problems, I found that after reading people's experiences over multiple websites, it’s the Singulair. Plus, it returned me back to the past, around 5-6 months ago when I had stopped taking it. I remembered I went to the emergency room and had several side effects until I took it again, once a day before sleeping. I am not recovered 100%, but for sure I will be okay very soon since I quit taking this pill, and I hope everyone is okay. Please ask a qualified doctor before using it and make sure to know the side effects and when to use and stop."

• sad...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• August 9, 2016

For Asthma, Maintenance "My 16-year-old daughter has the typical exercise-induced asthma that many of her teammates have and has used an inhaler for a couple of years. Her Dr. advised us to start using Montelukast. We were a bit wary because of the possible side effects, but her Dr. convinced us. About 2.5-3 months later, all of a sudden, she started experiencing the awful side effects they warn you about: racing heart, sleeplessness, panic, sadness, hopelessness, and anxiety. After a couple of days of this, we finally read the pill bottle and immediately stopped. It has been a week now, and she is better, but still working through the anxiety. Please do your research and ONLY use this medication if you are completely sure you won't experience these side effects!"

• sad...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• August 9, 2016

For Asthma, Maintenance "My 16-year-old daughter has the typical exercise-induced asthma that many of her teammates have and has used an inhaler for a couple of years. Her Dr. advised us to start using Montelukast. We were a bit wary because of the possible side effects, but her Dr. convinced us. About 2.5-3 months later, all of a sudden, she started experiencing the awful side effects they warn you about: racing heart, sleeplessness, panic, sadness, hopelessness, and anxiety. After a couple of days of this, we finally read the pill bottle and immediately stopped. It has been a week now, and she is better, but still working through the anxiety. Please do your research and ONLY use this medication if you are completely sure you won't experience these side effects!"

• Ton...
• April 30, 2018

For Asthma "DO NOT USE SINGULAIR IF YOU HAVE HAD PAST PROBLEMS WITH DEPRESSION OR ANXIETY. Here's my story. I was put on Singulair when younger, so I decided to ask my GP to put me on it again (22 now). It helped with my asthma a lot, but I had to stop after 2 weeks as I was getting bad dreams and had heard that to be a side effect. So I went back on the inhaler and decided to only use Singulair when doing vigorous activities. I took one yesterday, and the dreams came back, and I also woke up today in a bad mood. I decided to take another pill today to keep the asthma under control while working, and within an hour I was easily irritated, depressed, and anxious. This continued, and these emotions amplified until I was extremely angry. At the time, I didn't know what was going on, so I got even more emotional and ended in a dark downward spiral. I've dealt with depression in the past, so I just assumed it was 'one of those days.' It wasn't until I googled Singulair and mood that I realized it was the Singulair."

• Fea...
• December 13, 2016

For Asthma "This medication is poison. I don't recommend. My 5-year-old was on this for 3 months when I noticed her behavior changed, a bubbly, happy, and active child had turned into a sad, tearful, tired, and unhappy child, with every little thing making her angry and depressed. I urge anyone who's taking or is thinking of giving this to their child, as soon as you see the littlest change, stop! It can really affect you or your child's life. If only I had researched or my child's doctor had advised me well instead of brushing my worries under the table, I would have never given this to her."

• Fea...
• December 13, 2016

For Asthma "This medication is poison. I don't recommend. My 5-year-old was on this for 3 months when I noticed her behavior changed, a bubbly, happy, and active child had turned into a sad, tearful, tired, and unhappy child, with every little thing making her angry and depressed. I urge anyone who's taking or is thinking of giving this to their child, as soon as you see the littlest change, stop! It can really affect you or your child's life. If only I had researched or my child's doctor had advised me well instead of brushing my worries under the table, I would have never given this to her."

• Fea...
• December 13, 2016

For Asthma "This medication is poison. I don't recommend. My 5-year-old was on this for 3 months when I noticed her behavior changed, a bubbly, happy, and active child had turned into a sad, tearful, tired, and unhappy child, with every little thing making her angry and depressed. I urge anyone who's taking or is thinking of giving this to their child, as soon as you see the littlest change, stop! It can really affect you or your child's life. If only I had researched or my child's doctor had advised me well instead of brushing my worries under the table, I would have never given this to her."

• Bet...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 4, 2016

For Allergic Rhinitis "Within days of starting this medication, I became a different person. Anxious, depressed, hopeless. I thought the world had turned against me for some reason and couldn't muster the strength to get dressed in the morning. But the worst part, if you can imagine something worse than constant anxiety, was the fear. It was like being afraid for your life every minute. I began checking the door locks 5 or 6 times because I feared being murdered in my sleep. It was when I was making plans to set up my bed in the closet did I finally have the moment of clarity that this wasn't rational thinking and something was very wrong! Stopped taking Singulair and was back to cheerful, sunny, optimistic, confident self in 2 days. Never again!!!"

• DPa...
• May 8, 2019

For Asthma, Maintenance "This montelukast medication is awful! But at least reading these reviews puts me at ease that I’m not going to go insane because that’s literally where I felt I was heading after just 3 weeks into taking these without realizing it was these. Then, 3 days ago, when I looked at the instructions and other information, I stopped taking them immediately. Never in my life have I experienced mental issues before taking this, and all of a sudden, on montelukast, I was having panic attacks, feeling anxious and depressed, getting tremors, just the most horrible things that I never understood before I felt this! Now I know what people go through. But this drug causes these effects, and apparently, it’s not that uncommon either if you read the instructions, 1 in 100 will experience these side effects. In the scale of things, that isn’t that rare at all, I think. These side effects are dying down, but far from normal yet, clearly, the reviews here speak volumes. Horrible, horrible drug. Stay clear of montelukast!!"

• Han...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 24, 2019

For Allergic Rhinitis "Prescribed this drug after my sinus balloon dilation procedure. I’m 43. Active and fit with a cat allergy. The first few weeks, the drug worked wonders to clear out any post-nasal issues. Loved it. Felt better breathing. By week 6+, noticeable side effects in my mood. Tired, crying, depressed, even suicidal with stress in a short amount of time. Not like myself. I don’t suffer from asthma, so not worth the side effects in my case."

• dan...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 23, 2020

For Allergic Rhinitis "After two weeks of using montelukast, I started having really bad nightmares, waking up early, feeling anxious. During the day, I would feel really tired, with pain in my ankles. Some days later, my memory got worse, I started forgetting words, was really slow, it just felt as if my mind was blank and I didn't know how to do basic stuff. I had very strange thoughts, felt really dark and in a bad place. I started feeling really depressed because of this, I was afraid that I'll lose control of myself, became a totally different person. It was then I read this page and started crying when seeing that there were so many that had the same issues. I stopped taking montelukast immediately, now it's been 72 hours off montelukast and I'm feeling almost back to normal. The first day after the medicine was rough, but slowly it got better. Please take this and other users' experiences into account before starting the drug, it should be forbidden to take it."

• Nee...
• February 20, 2017

For Asthma "Soooo, I started taking Singulair (montelukast) for about a month now. It's been helping my asthma a lot, but I've been having horrible depression. I'm very angry most of the time. Everything and anything anyone says will make me irate. I've been having suicidal thoughts. Honestly, I would rather cough up a lung than be crazy because of this medicine."

• Oki...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• March 6, 2022

Montelukast for Asthma "To the moms reading these reviews because your kid is taking this medicine but you can tell something isn’t right and wonder if it’s Singulair-listen to yourself. My son was on Singulair from the age of 5 until 19. While it did help his asthma, the side effects are not worth it. As a child, he could never sleep, had tremors, sweated like crazy, had anxiety and depression. Watch your child when they get to high school because something can change at that age and it seems the depression gets worse, suicidal thoughts began. My son stopped his meds on his own. Felt a lot better. Started having asthma issues, so he started it again at college for a couple of weeks. He is old enough now to be able to identify his feelings. He told me he stopped taking it and will never take it again because it made him suicidal."

• Ann...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 23, 2018

For Bronchospasm Prophylaxis "Montelukast is pretty effective at blocking your histamine reaction to pollen and other allergens. I must say, it works. However, if you read the information that comes with Montelukast from your pharmacist, you will see many different side effects. One of these side effects is depression. I ignored this for some weeks, but after viewing a sad incident (not related to me), I became depressed. Ordinarily, seeing that incident would have disturbed me, but I would get over it and bounce back. But my sadness has lingered on, and I blame the Montelukast. Be aware of any sadness or depression with this drug. Also, for allergies, I recommend a natural product which contains quercetin among other herbs. This stuff is amazing. At first, take 2 caps twice a day and you can go to 1 cap twice a day. Even asthmatics have praised this product on Amazon. Sudafed and 1 Claritin a day can be taken with the Breathe. Best wishes to you all."

• Boa...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• September 24, 2019

For Allergic Rhinitis "I was prescribed this Rx for chronic sinusitis one year ago by my PC physician. Due to the powerful effect of this drug on me, I could only take 1/4 of a 10 mg tablet each day. The drug worked well for a few months, but suddenly the results tapered off. Coincidentally, at this time I started experiencing moderate depression, dark thoughts, paranoia, nightmares, and lack of energy and motivation. My husband has clinical depression and anxiety, and I became concerned when I started experiencing similar traits. I have never been depressed, but now I have developed it from taking just 2.5 mg per day. Better product guidance on packaging for patients and physicians may be helpful."

• Boa...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• September 24, 2019

For Allergic Rhinitis "I was prescribed this Rx for chronic sinusitis one year ago by my PC physician. Due to the powerful effect of this drug on me, I could only take 1/4 of a 10 mg tablet each day. The drug worked well for a few months, but suddenly the results tapered off. Coincidentally, at this time I started experiencing moderate depression, dark thoughts, paranoia, nightmares, and lack of energy and motivation. My husband has clinical depression and anxiety, and I became concerned when I started experiencing similar traits. I have never been depressed, but now I have developed it from taking just 2.5 mg per day. Better product guidance on packaging for patients and physicians may be helpful."

• Os5...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 9, 2017

For Asthma, Maintenance "Spent almost the full month on montelukast. Thought it was working okay, felt some sleepiness but was told that was normal. By the middle of the month, I had experienced almost daily panic attacks and mood swings. By the end of the month, depression arrived, which got even darker. Felt like myself again about three days after stopping the dose. Anyone prescribed this should be aware of this possibility before they start, not by finding help online like I did. It can be helpful, but in my case, was completely not worth it."

• Ano...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 9, 2020

For Asthma, Maintenance "Do not take Singulair (montelukast)! While on, I had severe mental health issues and was very down and depressed. Could not focus in school at all, and it was such a low point for me. Really didn’t notice much of a difference in my allergic asthma at all either."

• Ano...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 9, 2020

For Asthma, Maintenance "Do not take Singulair (montelukast)! While on, I had severe mental health issues and was very down and depressed. Could not focus in school at all, and it was such a low point for me. Really didn’t notice much of a difference in my allergic asthma at all either."

• Dau...
• April 30, 2015

For Asthma "I started this medicine about 5 years ago. Sometime in December of 2014, I started experiencing terrible separation anxiety, general anxiety, and depression symptoms. After about three months of my boyfriend helping me work through these experiences, I remembered that this medicine has possible side effects listed as mood changes. On my last visit to the doctor in the second week of April, my doctor took me off this medicine. Since I stopped, my side effects have mostly subsided. I've always been an emotional person, but I'm no longer having massive screaming, crying, crippling breakdowns. I'm 17, it worked great for my asthma, but the cost (my mental health) outweighed the gain."

• Vit...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• August 13, 2016

For Allergic Rhinitis "My 8-year-old suffers from year-round allergic rhinitis. He started taking montelukast, and it helped him sleep through the night without snoring, nor did he have breathing problems or a runny nose the next morning. But he started getting depressed and complained about 'feeling sad for no reason.' I've stopped the meds, let's see how it goes."

• Men...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• January 11, 2023

For Allergic Rhinitis "The boxed warning side effects are real. I have been on montelukast for many years. In the last 5 years, I have been diagnosed with depression, mood imbalance, and behavioral changes. All very unexpected by those who know me. I stopped taking montelukast and am seeking alternative treatment for allergic rhinitis. I have noticed a difference in my mood and a decrease in depression. For anyone taking montelukast, make your fam/friends/coworkers aware you are on this medication and to be mindful of any changes they notice in you."