11/22/2024
Some updated concerns about montelukast (SINGULAIR):
🚨Don’t EVER stop taking a medication without talking to your physician. If you decide together that this medication is no longer appropriate for you, they may need to monitor you as you titrate down your dosage. 🚨
From the article:
“The researchers found that the drug, sold under the brand name Singulair and generically as montelukast, attaches to multiple brain receptors critical to psychiatric functioning.
The behavior of montelukast appears similar to other drugs known to have neuropsychiatric effects, such as the antipsychotic risperidone, according to FDA slides reviewed by Reuters. The FDA has cautioned that its studies are ongoing, and results have not been finalized.
When the FDA added the black box, it cited research from Julia Marschallinger and Ludwig Aigner at Austria's Institute of Molecular Regenerative Medicine.
The two scientists told Reuters on Thursday the new data showed significant quantities of montelukast present in the brain. The receptors involved play a role in governing mood, impulse control, cognition and sleep, among other functions, they said.
The research does not show whether that binding mechanism leads directly to harmful effects in individual patients, or who is particularly at risk, the two scientists said. However, Marschallinger said the new data bolsters reports from people who reported suffering side effects.
"It's definitely doing something that's concerning," she said.”
U.S. government researchers have found that a widely prescribed asthma drug originally sold by Merck & Co may be linked to serious mental health problems for some patients, according to a scientific presentation reviewed by Reuters.
