diff --git a/lib/cursor/changeStream.js b/lib/cursor/changeStream.js
index 55cdecfcdc..b41e2379e8 100644
--- a/lib/cursor/changeStream.js
+++ b/lib/cursor/changeStream.js
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
  */
 
 const EventEmitter = require('events').EventEmitter;
+const MongooseError = require('../error/mongooseError');
 
 /*!
  * ignore
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ class ChangeStream extends EventEmitter {
     this.bindedEvents = false;
     this.pipeline = pipeline;
     this.options = options;
+    this.errored = false;
 
     if (options && options.hydrate && !options.model) {
       throw new Error(
@@ -33,19 +35,36 @@ class ChangeStream extends EventEmitter {
       );
     }
 
+    let syncError = null;
     this.$driverChangeStreamPromise = new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
       // This wrapper is necessary because of buffering.
-      changeStreamThunk((err, driverChangeStream) => {
-        if (err != null) {
-          this.emit('error', err);
-          return reject(err);
-        }
+      try {
+        changeStreamThunk((err, driverChangeStream) => {
+          if (err != null) {
+            this.errored = true;
+            this.emit('error', err);
+            return reject(err);
+          }
 
-        this.driverChangeStream = driverChangeStream;
-        this.emit('ready');
-        resolve();
-      });
+          this.driverChangeStream = driverChangeStream;
+          this.emit('ready');
+          resolve();
+        });
+      } catch (err) {
+        syncError = err;
+        this.errored = true;
+        this.emit('error', err);
+        reject(err);
+      }
     });
+
+    // Because a ChangeStream is an event emitter, there's no way to register an 'error' handler
+    // that catches errors which occur in the constructor, unless we force sync errors into async
+    // errors with setImmediate(). For cleaner stack trace, we just immediately throw any synchronous
+    // errors that occurred with changeStreamThunk().
+    if (syncError != null) {
+      throw syncError;
+    }
   }
 
   _bindEvents() {
@@ -92,10 +111,16 @@ class ChangeStream extends EventEmitter {
   }
 
   hasNext(cb) {
+    if (this.errored) {
+      throw new MongooseError('Cannot call hasNext() on errored ChangeStream');
+    }
     return this.driverChangeStream.hasNext(cb);
   }
 
   next(cb) {
+    if (this.errored) {
+      throw new MongooseError('Cannot call next() on errored ChangeStream');
+    }
     if (this.options && this.options.hydrate) {
       if (cb != null) {
         const originalCb = cb;
@@ -126,16 +151,25 @@ class ChangeStream extends EventEmitter {
   }
 
   addListener(event, handler) {
+    if (this.errored) {
+      throw new MongooseError('Cannot call addListener() on errored ChangeStream');
+    }
     this._bindEvents();
     return super.addListener(event, handler);
   }
 
   on(event, handler) {
+    if (this.errored) {
+      throw new MongooseError('Cannot call on() on errored ChangeStream');
+    }
     this._bindEvents();
     return super.on(event, handler);
   }
 
   once(event, handler) {
+    if (this.errored) {
+      throw new MongooseError('Cannot call once() on errored ChangeStream');
+    }
     this._bindEvents();
     return super.once(event, handler);
   }