Serious Adverse Reactions
Talk to the doctor about:
- The benefit and risks of Montelukast, as many other safe and effective allergy medicines are widely available.
- Any history of mental illness before starting the treatment.
Tell your doctor right away if you or your child experience any behaviour and mood related changes such as:
Dream abnormalities, including nightmares, sleepwalking, trouble sleeping, hallucinations, irritability, feeling anxious, restlessness, agitation including aggressive behaviour or hostility, depression (Uncommon), tremor (Rare), disorientation, suicidal thoughts and actions.

1. What Airfast is and what it is used for 
Airfast is a leukotriene receptor antagonist that blocks substances called leukotrienes. Leukotrienes cause narrowing and swelling of airways in the lungs and also cause allergy symptoms. By blocking leukotrienes, Airfast improves asthma symptoms, helps to control asthma and improves seasonal allergy symptoms (also known as hay fever or seasonal allergic rhinitis).
Your doctor has prescribed this medicine to treat asthma, preventing your asthma symptoms during the day and night.
- This medicine is used for the treatment of adolescents and adults from 15 years of age who are not adequately controlled on their medication and need additional therapy.
- This medicine also helps prevent the narrowing of airways triggered by exercise.
- In those asthmatic patients in whom this medicine is indicated in asthma, these tablets can also provide symptomatic relief of seasonal allergic rhinitis.
- Airfast should only be reserved to treat allergic rhinitis in patients who are not treated effectively with or cannot tolerate other allergy medicines.
Your doctor will determine how this medicine should be used depending on the symptoms and severity of your asthma.
What is asthma?
Asthma is a long-term disease.
Asthma includes:
- Difficulty breathing because narrowed airways. This narrowing of airways worsens and improves in response to various conditions.
- Sensitive airways that react to many things, such as cigarette smoke, pollen, cold air, or exercise.
- Swelling (inflammation) in the lining of the airways.
Symptoms of asthma include: Coughing, wheezing, and chest tightness.
What are seasonal allergies?
Seasonal allergies (also known as hay fever or seasonal rhinitis) are an allergic response often caused by airborne pollens from trees, grasses and weeds. The symptoms of seasonal allergies typically may include:
Stuffy, runny, itchy nose; sneezing; watery, swollen, red, itchy eyes.

2. Before you take Airfast
Tell your doctor about any medical problems or allergies you have now or have had.
If you have been told by your doctor that you have an intolerance to some sugars, contact your doctor before taking this medicinal product.
Do not take Airfast
If you Are allergic (hypersensitive) to montelukast or any of the other ingredients in this medicine. 
Take special care with Airfast
- If your asthma or breathing gets worse, tell your doctor immediately.
- These oral tablets are not meant to treat acute asthma attacks. If an asthma attack occurs, follow the instructions your doctor has given you. Always have your inhaled rescue medicine for asthma attacks with you.
- It is important that you take all asthma medicines prescribed by your doctor. These tablets should not be substituted for other asthma medications your doctor has prescribed for you.
- Any patient on anti-asthma medicines should be aware that if you develop a combination of symptoms such as flu-like illness, pins and needles or numbness of arms or legs, worsening of pulmonary symptoms, and/or rash occur, you should consult your doctor.
- You should not take aspirin (acetyl-salicylic acid) or other anti-inflammatory medicines (also known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs) if they make your asthma worse.
- Patients should be aware that various neuropsychiatric events (for example behaviour and mood-related changes) have been reported in adults, adolescents and children with Montelukast. If  you or your child develop such symptoms while taking Airfast, you should consult the doctor.
- agitation, including aggressive behavior or hostility, attention problems, bad or vivid dreams, depression, disorientation or confusion, feeling anxious, hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that are not really there), irritability,  memory problems, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, restlessness, sleepwalking, stuttering, suicidal thoughts and actions, tremor or shakiness, trouble sleeping and uncontrolled muscle movements.
Use in children
For children 2 to 5 years old, Airfast 4 mg chewable tablets are available.
For children 6 to 14 years old, Airfast 5 mg chewable tablets are available.
Taking other medicines
Some medicines may affect how your tablets work, or these tablets may affect how other medicines work.
Please tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking or have recently taken other medicines, including those obtained without a prescription.
Tell your doctor if you are taking the following medicines before starting this medicine:
- Phenobarbital (used for treatment of epilepsy).
- Phenytoin (used for treatment of epilepsy).
- Rifampicin (used to treat tuberculosis and some other infections).
- Gemfibrozil (used for treatment of high lipid levels in plasma).
Taking Airfast with food and drink
These tablets may be taken with or without food.
Pregnancy and breast-feeding
Use in pregnancy
Women who are pregnant or intend to become pregnant should consult their doctor before taking this medicine.
Your doctor will assess whether you can take this medicine during this time.
Use in breast-feeding
It is not known if montelukast appears in breast milk.
You should consult your doctor before taking this medicine if you are breast-feeding or intend to breastfeed.
Driving and using machines
This medicine is not expected to affect your ability to drive or operate machinery. However, individual responses to medication may vary. Certain side effects (such as dizziness and drowsiness) that have been reported very rarely with these tablets may affect some patients´ ability to drive or operate machinery.
Important information about some of the ingredients of Airfast
These tablets contain lactose. If you have been told by your doctor that you have an intolerance to some sugars, contact your doctor before taking this medicinal product.

3. How to take Airfast
- You should take only one tablet of this medicine once a day as prescribed by your doctor.
- It should be taken even when you have no symptoms or have an acute asthma attack.
- Always take the tablets as your doctor has told you.
You should check with your doctor or pharmacist if you are not sure.
- To be taken by mouth.
For adults 15 years of age and older:
One Airfast 10 mg tablet to be taken daily in the evening.
The tablet may be taken with or without food.
If you are taking this medicine, be sure, that you do not take any other products that contain the same active ingredient, montelukast.
If you take more Airfast than you should
Contact your doctor immediately for advice.
There were no side effects reported in the majority of overdose reports. The most frequently occurring symptoms reported with overdose in adults and children included abdominal pain, sleepiness, thirst, headache, vomiting, and hyperactivity.
If you forget to take Airfast
Try to take this medicine as prescribed. However, if you miss a dose, just resume the usual schedule of one tablet once daily.
Do not take a double dose to make up for a forgotten dose.
If you stop taking Airfast
This medicine can treat your asthma only if you continue to take it.
It is important to continue taking the tablets for as long as your doctor prescribes. It will help control your asthma.
If you have any further questions on the use of this product, ask your doctor or pharmacist.

4. Possible side effects
Like all medicines this medicine can cause side effects, although not everybody gets them.
Seek immediate medical advice if you experience allergic reactions including swelling of the face, lips, tongue, and/or throat which may cause difficulty in breathing or swallowing (Uncommon).
Tell your doctor right away if you experience any behaviour and mood related changes such as:
Dream abnormalities, including nightmares, sleepwalking, trouble sleeping, hallucinations, irritability, feeling anxious, restlessness, agitation including aggressive behaviour or hostility, depression (Uncommon), tremor (Rare), hallucinations, disorientation, suicidal thoughts and actions (in very rare cases).
In asthmatic patients treated with montelukast, very rare cases of a combination of symptoms such as flulike illness, pins and needles or numbness of arms and legs, worsening of pulmonary symptoms and/or rash (Churg-Strauss syndrome) have been reported.
You must tell your doctor right away if you get one or more of these symptoms.
In clinical studies with these tablets, the most commonly reported side effects (occurring in at least 1 of 100 patients and less than 1 of          10 patients treated) thought to be related to the medicine were:
- Abdominal pain.
- Headache.
These were usually mild and occurred at a greater frequency in patients treated with montelukast than placebo (a pill containing no medication).
The frequency of possible side effects listed in this section is defined using the following convention:
Very common (affects at least 1 in 10 people)
Common (affects 1 to 10 in 100 people)
Uncommon (affects 1 to 10 in 1,000 people)
Rare (affects 1 to 10 in 10,000 people)
Very rare (affects less than 1 in 10,000 people)
Additionally, while the medicine has been on the market, the following have been reported:
- Upper respiratory infection (Very common).
- Increased bleeding tendency (Rare).
- Dizziness, drowsiness, pins and needles/numbness.
- Seizure (Uncommon).
- Palpitations (Rare).
- Nosebleed (Uncommon).
- Diarrhea, nausea, vomiting (Common), dry mouth, Indigestion (Uncommon).
- Hepatitis (inflammation of the liver) (Very rare).
- Rash (Common); bruising, itching, hives (Uncommon), tender red lumps under the skin most commonly on your shins (erythema nodosum), severe skin reactions (erythema multiforme) that may occur without warning (Very rare).
- Joint or muscle pain, muscle cramps (Uncommon).
- Tiredness, feeling unwell, swelling (Uncommon), fever (Common).
Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information about side effects. 
If any of the side effects gets serious, or if you notice any side effects not listed, please tell your doctor or pharmacist.

5. How to store Airfast
Keep out of reach of children.
Store below 30°C.
Do not use beyond the expiry date or if the product shows any sign of deterioration.
Do not throw away any medicines via wastewater or household waste. Ask your pharmacist how to throw away the medicines you no longer use. These measures will help to protect the environment