Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Cheryl's Pulmicort Question

From the comments gallery:


Well, we're going to see our peds allergist next week to see whether we go back
to Pulmicort. I'm bummed -- the Singulair is soooo much easier on all of us.
But I'm wondering if I'm overreacting. Do your kids cough and if so, how
much and how often, on a regular basis? It's probably crazy to think we
could eliminate his cough entirely, but then parenting is pretty much crazy
as it is. Also, tell me about Flovent vs. Pulmicort. How old do you need to
be to use it -- with a MDI and spacer, right? I'm just so tired of strugglng
with a daily nebulizer treatment!!!! Cheryl

From my experience (disclaimer: NOT a doctor, just an asthma mom!): My son coughs occasionally. When he develops a cough, it will start with the occasional evening cough. He'll maybe cough 5 times a day between 6:00PM and 7:30AM. We'll usually start him on albuterol 2-3 times per day, and we're often able to head things off. But not always.

We switched him from Pulmicort to Flovent ages ago, when he ceased to cooperate with the nebulizer. Flovent's the same medication, but used with and MDI and spacer - just as you noted. We started him on it around the time he turned two, maybe even a little before then.

He's been on Flovent 220 most of the time since then, although he's back to 110 right now. We've never experienced any noticeable side effects, but we'd love to get him off the stuff someday. There is a possibility of stunted growth, and he is kinda small... Lots of other parents have found that their children are irritable when on Flovent, same as with Pulmicort.

And working with the MDI/spacer is really easy, once they're used to it. It takes about 15 seconds, and we need to do two puffs, twice daily. Just make sure your doctor gives you a demo in the office, and that you're comfortable doing it by the time you leave.

It has been a miracle, though. His asthma has been remarkably better since we started the stuff. His peds. pulm. is pretty sure it's kept him out of the hospital a bunch of times. In fact, we made it all of last winter without a single pneumonia or trip to the ER.

BTW, Cheryl -- he's on Flovent AND Singulair. And for us, that's really been the "silver bullet."

Everyone else -- please chime in with your thoughts and experiences!!!

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Aimee! It sounds like Chas' coughing is right in line with what you describe for your son. Usually, he only coughs when he cries but since stopping the Pulmicort, he just sort of coughs here and there and it sounds junky. Our appointment is next week so if this is a cold developing, it should be in full force or hopefully gone by then.

That's what I hate about this whole asthma thing -- sometimes you think things are getting worse when really, it's just a cold coming on -- which means it IS worse, but will get better.

Sigh. Anyway, we use an MDI and spacer with our albuterol. We have the nebulizer respules, too, but rarely take the time to use it. Normally, we're giving him albuterol in the middle of the night when he has had a bad dream or something and cries himself into a coughing fit -- if we did the nebulizer he'd totally wake up and we'd lose all hope of sleeping!

Thanks for this blog -- it's got a lot of WONDERFUL information and resources. I'll recommend it to any other mom of a kid with asthma I run into!

Aimee said...

Wow, Cheryl. Sounds like Chas and Bryn have very similar asthma.

It's funny - sometimes I feel like he's a little smoker or something. He'll just cough a few times a night and that's that. Usually I'll start albuterol, just to be safe. And it is that "junky" cough, too.

Also, we have the same deal with nightmares. He'll cry himself right into an attack.

Weird!

Anonymous said...

You know, I was hesitant to say this because I don't want to scare people unneccessarily, but you all seem to be pretty level headed, so I'll share. Earlier this summer a 41-year-old friend of ours, very fit, died of a sudden asthma attack. He was found on a sidewalk, albuterol inhaler in his hand. We were shocked, of course. We mentioned it to our peds allergist who said most asthma deaths, and virtually all adult asthma deaths, occur because people stop using their controller meds or under-use them.

Everything I'd read before had me convinced that the Pulmicort would be well worth it, even if Chas did end up an inch or two shorter than he would have otherwise. But this was just a stark reminder. It breaks my heart to see moms stop the controller meds without consulting doctors, and makes my heart soar to hear moms like you guys talking rationally about their use. We all say things we use are "life-savers," but that is literally true in the case of controller meds.

OK, off my soapbox. Or, in this case, YOUR soapbox that I borrowed for a moment. :-)

Aimee said...

Cheryl, my soapbox is always open to you!

Anonymous said...

I would like to chime in on the side effects of Pulmicort (with sort of relevance to the Singulair debate). My son experiences psychosis when on any inhaled steroid. He is 5, and we have tried various drugs over the years and tried each one more than once. This type of reaction is not really in the literature, but I can tell you from the "playground" discussions, it is more common than the drs. will admit. My son gets night terrors, regressed at potty training, had halucinations, tried to kill himself, attacked his 11 year old sister with a sharp object, beat a dog with a baseball bat, etc. This was not just a case of "kicking the dog once in a while" as was suggested of the mom who was withdrawing singulair from her child. Singulair works for my kid--no problems at all. When my child is off pulmicort, he is a perfectly normal kid. I have met moms whoose sons (always, always boys--why?)have been diagnosed with high-functing autism. When they stopped pulmicort, low and behold the kid was "cured." I just met a woman whoose 15 year old son had been in intense pyschotherapy since he was 5. Yes, he was "normal" before being on pulmicort, but his psychotic tendencies required treatment.

This is not to say that either of these drugs are bad or should be taken off the market. But we, the moms (and it generally does fall to us), need to stand up for what works for our kids and insist that drugs that cause problems be removed. Problem is, doctors think they know it all. I work with a pulminologist who has a son with similar asthma and reactions as my son. He "gets it." However, when my son was hospitalized last year, one of the puminologist's partners threatened to have my son placed in foster care so that he would have pulmicort administered!!!!

I would urge any parents who have seen adverse reactions in their children that they suspect are caused by a drug to report the incidence to the FDA at http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/index.html

Sorry to have ranted so long. Had to "educate" a new doc at the pediatrician's office again today as son was suffering from an asthma flare (new terminolgy by the way--not attack).



Chrysa Cullather

Aimee said...

Wow, Chrysa -- that's some story! I've never heard of such a severe reaction to pulmicort. The things they *don't* warn us about.

Same effect with Flovent, or no???

Welcome, btw, and thanks for the link in your other comment.

Anonymous said...

Hi guys I am new to the asthma thing and any help would be greatly appreciated. I would like to say a big Thank you to Chyrsa's comments about the Pulmicort. My daughter is four and we have been struggling with asthma since moving to NC. The are calling it allergic asthma and we are going to see and allergist in two weeks. Riley is on Flonase, Singulair, and Zyrtec. When she flares obviously we use Albuterol and they would like us to use Pulmicort. But her behavior changes so drastically with it, she becomes agressive, can't sleep, nightmares, and melts down at the drop of a hat. My question is have you guys found an alternative to the Pulmicort??

Archana said...

Hi, My li'l one is 2 years 8 months old and has been on Pulmicort for 9 months now. The past 3 months he's been symptom-free and his ped said that we can slowly wean him off the Pulmicort until cold weather hits. I'm looking forward to a break , hoping that he'll catch up on his growth. He's little for his age and that is a constant worry for me since I am small too (although dad is tall). Almost all the kids I've seen who are on asthma meds seem significantly smaller than their peers. What are your observations?

On one hand,I'm excited about taking him off the Pulmicort,but on the other, I'm worried because he's starting preschool and I'm not sure how he can handle a cold without Pulmicort. The last 3 months that he has been symptom-free have also been cold-free months. What are your views/experiences on all this?

Thanks,
Archana

Anonymous said...

My son was born prematurely and is missing 25% of his left lung and the bronchial tubes are twisted into knots in his left lung. He has asthma like symptoms as a result of this birth defect. We used Pulmicort the first 3 winters (which were hard, he never slept through the night) and last winter switched to Flovent (just for the ease of it). However, on the flovent my son stopped eating, began waking up with nightmares, and became physically aggressive (hitting, biting) and has an emotional breakdown over the slightest things. We took him off Flovent for the summer and then started it again this fall. He is now 4 and half years old. The symptoms disappeared over the summer, but started about 2 days after beginning the flovent again. I refuse to give it to my child. However, the pulmonary specialists insisted we go back on the pulmicort. Have been back on it about a week and am starting to see similar behavior issues in my child (especially nightmares). He is also covered in eczema, when he is on this medication.

I'm totally frustrated. Feeling like a bad mom. I don't want him on all of this medicine. I feel like I'm in a catch 22. If I stop all the meds, and he catches a simple cold, we could be in for a real hard time, but if I leave him on the meds, we can hardly control his behavior, nor do we get any sleep.

Are there any natural remedies to help with the symptoms? Or other meds that any of you have tried that you might suggest for us to try. Since my gut instinct isn't matching what the doctor tells us, I'm just not sure where to go from here.

Sorry, I went on so long. Looking for a way to vent and maybe get some feedback.

Aimee said...

Tami -- I'm so sorry! I'm posting just for you.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the input. I'll give the vaseline a try. Anything at this point.

I am in a major metro area and working with a top pulmonary specialists at a Children's Hospital, so I feel like we have the best possible doctors.

My son has now been on the pulmicort for a little over a week. He rambles until about midnight in his room, and then gets up about 5 a.m. Definitely not enough sleep for a little body. He also started with the raspy, hoarse voice yesterday. His mood has settled down the last two days though.

donnac14 said...

I HAVE 2 YOUNG CHILDREN ON SINGULAIR AND ZYRTEC. THEY HAVE BEEN ON THE MEDS FOR 5 OR 6 YEARS. ONE ALSO HAS ASTHMA. THEY HAVE BEEN ON MORE MEDS SO FAR THAN I EVER WAS IN MY WHOLD LIFE. THAT MAKES ME MAD. I AM WEANING THEM OF THE MEDS TO SEE IF THERE WILL BE A CHANGE WITHOUT THEM BECAUSE THEY HAVE NEVER REALLY ENCOUNTERED MUCH OF A TIME WITHOUT BEING ON LOTS OF MEDS. I HOPE THEY WILL BE OK. CAN I HAVE YOUR OPINION OF THIS SITUATION. THANKS. FRUSTRATED IN MISSISSIPPI

Anonymous said...

HELP!!!!! My son is 7, was dx w/ asthma this past winter after a lifetime of treating what different ped's "thought" were simply nasal infections with antibiotics. We have recently went from zyrtec, to oral steroids, now on to pulmicort, albuterol and singulair. I am VERY afraid as my son is already a sensitive and emotional boy. It sounds like the pulmicort is simply a BAD med??? Does anyone have any homeopathic advice on treating asthma? My mom is permanently disabled from medications that were not properly tested and monitored,,,,,,, I am in search of help, not more hurt!!! - Tammy

Anonymous said...

Well...this will be the first comment I've posted online before. I have a 5 yr. old son w/ asthma. He never wheezes. Only coughes. But, boy can he cough! This started around 1 1/2 years. He would cough at night till he'd make himself throw up. My husband argued with me for a long time stating he didn't believe it was asthma because he didn't wheeze. He was taking pulmicort and it just didn't seem to do "the trick". He's been taking Flovent for a month and has been doing great! I wish you all the best!!!

raretreasures95 said...

I am new, but desperate to find some advice. My 4 year old has asthma and has been on albuterol, pulmicort, singulair, and prednisone for a few years on and off. His 6 year old sister brought a cough/cold home from school last week and now he is battling it. All of the parents of asthma children know that when they get a cold/cough...it's SOO much worse for them over other children. I'm at my wits end, he is coughing and coughing for days now. The doctor told me to do the regular routine...albuterol/pulmicort in his machine. It doesn't seem to be helping, he has made himself vomit 2 times from his coughing attacks. It's now Saturday night, 6:30 pm and he's coughing nonstop. He isn't wheezing, but his breathing is fast. The cough is the worst, and I don't seem to be getting much help from his doctor.

Any advice on how to help the cough even a little bit other than his albuterol/pulmicort/prednisone. I feel like I'm overmedicating him today. I'm so stressed, he can't stop coughing.
I'm not sure if it's time for a trip to the ER, but not sure what else they can do for him, we have all the meds right here, it just doesn't seem to be helping.

Aimee said...

Sounds crazy, I know, but we can't always hear them wheeze - but we CAN always hear them cough.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to start by saying that I'm a nurse & I do understand the need for my asmatic son to be on Flovent. He has been out of control to say the least for the past year and a half. I am not sure what made me search side effects of Flovent, except that I've exhausted every other option. The energy level is exhausting. I fear that he is going to hurt himself. I have nightmares about not getting to him in time... Whether he's jumping from the 6th step, trying to climb up our stair banister, hitting me, hitting his sisters, throwing tempertantrum, ect. I really could go on and on. I figured for a while that this was 2 for a boy, but it isn't getting any better. His asthma is induced by colds, so this time of year he's on 4 puffs 2x a day. Does any one know of any other meds w/ out these side effects for a 2 1/2 year old? I love how Flovent controls the asthma, but thinking that our sweet son is in there somewhere is also heartbreaking. Any thougths or advice? Thanks,
Jenn

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to share... our boy was coughing and wheezing all the time from when he was about 2. We used Albuterol nebs all the time and Pulmicort when it was bad. As he got older we really just did Albuterol as needed and it seemed manageable with exception of when he was down with a cold. He had been to the hospital once or twice. We had Advair prescriptions but did not use it because did not thin we needed to. But at 7 years old during a cold he had a severe attack. We were giving him albuterol that day and then it just happened so fast that he almost stopped breathing and we had to call 911. It was the worst thing that ever happened to us and seemed we were very close to losing him. Since then we have been giving him Flovent. He does not seem to have any side effects at al from it and its been like a Miracle drug for us. He's been good even through colds. We don't want to have him on it because of possibly stunting growth but its worth it. We will never take him off preventatives again without doing it carefully with the DR. oversight.

Anonymous said...

My son has asthma, but recently I took him off his meds and have been giving him antioxidants..the best I found so far is the amino acid NAC, it has been wonderful. He was having so many side effects from the meds, also we are doing lung detox too. You can get these at any health food store. Just wanted to tell of some alternatives. The NAC I heard about from neighbor on lung transplant list, since taking this antioxidant she no longer needs the lung transplant. Also another alternative is to get tested for delayed food allergies and get rid of biggest culprits this should help decrease asthma if it contributes to the trigger/ or is the trigger. The delayed allergy is IgG which is differ from immediate IgE allergies. IgG allergy is a blood test.

Aimee said...

Some discussion we've got going here, huh?!

Anon - great idea about the antioxidants. Of course, as always, I caution you all to *please talk to your doctor* before taking your child off controller meds and/or adding new treatments.

As far as Flovent side effects, I wonder if they are different if you switch corticosteroids and go to Qvar or Pulmicort instead?

Also, when #1 son was flaring less, he was taken off Flovent and kept on Singular. I wonder if that's an option for any of you?

Anonymous said...

My son is on singulair and plumicort. He has had "asthma/breathing" problems since he was six months old. He was put on the meds the summer bw pre-k and kindergarten. He was a perfect student in Pre-k, but ever since he has been in trouble in school. He just started the first grade and his teacher has asked me to have him tested for ADHD. I do not want to medicate him anymore than I have to. I have read that singulair and plumicort can have these side effects on children. But he needs them to survive!! The dr told me today I can take him off the singulair for a week and see if there is a difference.

Anonymous said...

Ladies, I just wanted to chime in....I have a 17 year old who grew up and grew OUT OF his asthma. That is the good news for all of you with little ones, when they develop asthma at a young age they have a good chance of growing out of it. Adolescent asthma is much worse and you never grow out of it. My oldest was only on Albuterol and PREDNISONE. I will say that in talking with DR's as the years have passed, I have come to find out that the ORAL steroids have grow issues associated (under OR over growth...OVER for my son)
I also now have a four year old with Asthma. We have spent the last three winters (while on Pulmicort)in the hospital. WE just switched to the flovent/singular combo and have high hopes (especially after reading this blog).
I really wanted to say to the Mom whose son is coughing, vomitting and you have done the pulmicort, predisone and the neb's. The hospital can do one more thing that we can not do at home (OXYGEN),that rapid breathing (look for the flaring nostrils, sinking in the center of the chest or "flaring" ribcage too) all signs that he needs more help-he is not taking in enough oxygen.
I am sure that you all know but that vomitting is caused by the coughing..but also the excess muscus being produced. Vomitting actually clears some of that out-so as awful as it is...at least it is doing some good. The body is trying to help itself.
I hope you all get to experience the RELIEF of having your child outgrow all this...each year gets easier. Thank God for women/parents who support one another like this!

Amanda said...

Hi all. My 5 year old daughter, Emma, has level 4 asthma. I did not know there were different levels, but, there are. Level 4 being the worst; it is referred to as Severe Persistant Asthma. It is a DAILY problem, not seasonal like we thought.

If you do not want to use Pulmicort, do give Flovent a try. Emma has been on Flovent since she was 18 months old. Along with singulair, claritin, nasicort nasal spray, albuterol inhaler, albuterol nebulizer solution, etc. She has been on steroids many, many times. She is on a steroid right now for the next 16 days.

I thought with having been through all of this "asthma" stuff with my child for YEARS now, I sat there thinking I was oh so educated and knew so much about it. In reality, I had no clue.

I did NOT know that my daighter was walking around DAILY not being able to FULLY breathe. I also did not know that a child can NEVER "out grow" asthma. My daughter saw an asthma specialist from Johns Hopkins Hospital and she explained to me that when a child has "childhood asthma", it NEVER goes away. Once the child is more "grown", they may very rarely ever have another asthma problem.

My daughter, Emma, who has been the one suffering with asthma for more than half her life, is also allergic to bee stings. She gets an anylphlaxis reaction; at which time can CAUSE her to have a SEVERE asthma attack. (Which, yes, it did, and I had NO CLUE that could happen). Even WITH OUT the bee sting allergy, ANY CHILD with ASTHMA should have an Epi-Pen!!!! If your child has a sudden attack, and the fast acting inhaler isn't enough, an Epi-Pen in the ONLY thing that will save your child's life. The asthma doctor told me that my daughter will ALWAYS have to have an Epi-Pen with her AT ALL times. I even had to do role playing with her to teach her how to inject it into herself if she ever had to.

Just giving some futher education to all of you moms who have also been helping me by sharing what you have learned and experienced. Thanks so much!

Anonymous said...

another note that if none of the meds are working, if the albuterol in particular is not working, and they are still coughing nonstop, it is time to go to the hospital. This happened to our son for the first time in the middle of the night, and I called the Pediatrician, who said go to the hospital. I thought he should just take the prednisolone they had given me before, but no, Dr Mom was NOT right. He was having an exacerbation and we should have gone in earlier. GO IN. Don't wait. If you have a question, bother your doc. That's what they are there for.

Editor said...

Hi Everyone,

I have a 4 year old asthmatic son. They reacts to both allergic and viral infections and has been in the ER on at least half a dozen occasions. I am using and integrative approach to supporting his health. Meaning - I do use Pulmicort 1x/ every other day, but I also do A LOT of alternative and complimentary treatments. Here is my "script" based on about 2 years of research into natural healing. If you have any questions at all - please email me at julia@esteemli.com

1-Structural support: I take him to a pediatric chiropractor at least 2x/week. This has made a very significant difference.

2-Gut Health: Probiotics (at minimum 5 billion strain) every single day. Also - cut sugar low to cut down on yeast overgrowth in his system (which is ALWAYS a by product of the medications and fuels the asthma).

3-Low Gluten: There have been countless studies that have linked both asthma and spectrum disorders to gluten sensitivies

4-Organic Diet + NO FOOD COLORING!: Pesticides in food, food coloring etc. are all very real contributors to asthma - I also only use non toxic cleaning products (this is HUGELY important)

5-Vitamins & Supplements-daily:


*Asthmatics benefit from high dosages of Vit.C, daily I give my kids 1000 mg of C and when sick, no less than 3000 (500 every hour).

*Omega Fish Oils (at least 10,000 IU), I use Barleans Lemon Smoothie - 2- 3 tablespoons daily (so yummy). This is anti-inflammatory and helps with mood disorders of all kind.

*A great daily multi vitamin w/minerals (I use Child Life)and also a good Magnesium Supplement w/Calcium (Child Life). Magnesium is critical for mood issues (a many kids on meds have behavioral issues)

*Again Probiotics DAILY.

6-Last, but not least. We have our whole family now on raw milk - meaning non pastuerized...there have so many studies that have shown that raw dairy is a major contributor in preventing and healing asthma and allergies..by the way that it impacts both gut health and immune response. People are scared of raw, but in all truth, much of the world drinks raw milk and the cases of ecoli you hear about tend to be from taco bell - not your local amish farmer :)

7-Finally - I am a massive user of essential oils...I have a special protocol for which oils I use with my son. I use a specific therapeutic grade brand and have found incredible results for his allergies, asthma and overall immunity. If you are interested in getting more details on this (too long to write here) - email me at julia@esteemli.com

Hope this helps someone...
Julia

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to say thanks to all of you. I have learned a lot reading all your posts. It has helped in my research, helped me not feel so alone, and I realize I am doing many things right. Mine is 2 1/2 noone has officially diagnosed her. She had 4 bouts with pneumonia her 1st year and has been on albuteril, pulmicort, singular, and something else. I have weaned her off everythig and have lways wondered if I did the right thing. I did not want to drug her so much without knowing what exactly was going on. Her sister brought home a cold last week and now my little one has been steadily getting worse, cold sympotms, with a very nasty junky cough. I am going to give her albuterol tonight and take her to see a specialst soon so that we may have an actual diagnosis and treatment plan. I am hopin for an inhaler and not the nebulizer. I also like the epi-pen idea. In case of an emergency.

Anonymous said...

Hi all - I have learned a lot from these posts. However, I do need to discuss the raw milk issue.

I am in Food Safety & the organic food industry & I would NEVER give my child raw milk. To say that it is free from e-coli is not being responsible or educated. I love all my farmers I deal with & just because I love them & their cows does not mean that I will not believe scientific data that points to this being a huge & unnecessary risk that could leave my child disabled or dead as result of my choices.

Tracy said...

My son was recently put on Pulmicort twice daily to help control his asthma. A day or so after he started the Pulmicort, his mood started changing. He was suddenly obsessed with questions about dying, crying everyday, and kept talking about "thoughts" he could not get out of his head. He kept saying, "My brain keeps telling me to kill myself, but I would never do that." He insisted that the thoughts won't go away. The thoughts progressed into visions of other people dying and questioning beliefs in God. We realized all this began when he started taking Pulmicort so we decided to take him to the Dr. that prescribed it. He told us to take him off it immediately and that we should see a difference in 2-5 days. Well today is day 3 and I have my happy, loving, and kind son back. I normally don't write on blogs, but felt this is so important to let others know who may be experiencing the same thing with their child. It was helpful to me to see others going through the same thing and to know that it can get better once the Pulmicort is stopped.

Anonymous said...

My little boy has allergies and asthma, though the doctors don't lable it beacuse he is only 1 year old. At 5 weeks old he was hospitalized with RSV. 1 week later we left the hospital with flovent and ventolin. for about 6 months we struggled with being in and out of the hospital ( hard because we have 2 other children as well ) We had to find new homes for our 2 cats and dog, switched the house into fregrance free and carpet free. Now he is on flovent 125mg 2 times a day with singlair 4mg daily. when he gets sick the flovent increases to 2 puffs , 2 times a day. for the past 4 months , since we added singlair he hasn't had an athma attack!! I am so happy, but I worry about all the meds he is on. The things i struggle with are family. no one understand that animals bother him, flowers bother him, second hand smoke bother him. is someone is sick and visits him, almost in a week he is sick. so many people have told me he will grow out of it and his lungs just need to get stronger. that i put him in a bubble and he needs to be around sick ppl to develope antibodys. no one sees him when he is struggling to breath, eyes bluging out screaming beacuse he can't catch his breath, and once he turned blue. everyone sees a happy healthy little boy. Thats my rant. done.

aberinato said...

This has been fascinating and very helpful to read. My daughter is 4 and 1/2 and recently was prescribed Singulair and Flovent. Her doctor warned me of possible side effects (mood changes) with Singulair so I decided to not give it to her. We used the Flovent for a little over a week and noticed a difference in her cough after just a few days. I also noticed a huge change in her behavior as well. Constant meltdowns/crying/arguing over small things. I stopped giving her the Flovent 2 days ago and I'm hoping to see a change in her behavior. If I don't see a change I'll assume it's dramatic 4yr old stuff and probably put her back on the Flovent. It really seems to help. :)

Aimee said...

Aberinato - if your daughter's behavior has dramatically changed after starting Flovent, ask about Qvar. Pulmicort or another inhaled corticosteroid. Parents here have reported a change or reduction in side effects just by switching to meds within the same class. Based on what I've seen here, Pulmicort nebs seem to produce the most dramatic side effects; Qvar the least.

But I can honestly say...Flovent has saved my kids' lives, for sure. And, for myself, when I'm flaring, I notice a dramatic difference within a day of starting Symbicort or Qvar. HUGE. The stuff is nasty, but it's *magic.*

SH said...

Hi. I am a stay at home Mom of 4. My oldest son had regular asthma. He did a couple of years of xopenex and pulmicourt and now at 10 1/2 he has been off of all the meds for a long time and does fine. I did notice that with pulmicourt he was cranky and edgy. My 5 year old daughter has allergy induced asthma. We tried all the pulmicourt, albuterol, xopenex, claritin. Her meds for a while have been clartin and flovent. The flovent is much easier to give her than the nebulizer. We use a spacer. Now after a visit to the allergy/asthma specialist we are changing to qvar and staying on the claritin. Her main symptoms continue to be a cough. Mostly at night. But we have managed to control it with the two medicines for a couple of months now. The singulair was AWFUL. She would go up to people and slap and just basically be a mean little thing. Off of that she is SO much better. It is nice reading stories of Mom that are dealing with the same things. Here's to hoping we all get them over the worst of the symptoms. :) Regards to all of the Moms here. :)

Anonymous said...

My 4 yr old has severe food allergies, environmental allergies and asthma. He takes Qvar, Pulmicort, and albutetol. Singulair turned him into a monster... very aggressive and never slept. Allergist changed him to Qvar and Pulmicort... still a little rambunctious, but not as bad! Singulair just wasn't for us!

Anonymous said...

As I'm reading all the replies I can't help but notice all the complaints about night mares and night terrors both my kids have asthma and have been on every asthma medication there is it is getting much better as they get older but we did have to stop taking the singulair because it was causing so many mood swings fits and nightmares we also noticed a huge change when we started using local honey a teaspoon a day helps them develop immunity to local pollens as always speak with your doc first but it works for us just thought id add my two cents lol

benson said...

My son has been on Pulimocort for 4years now. He was doing two vials a day the first 3years and then went down to one per day and now is doen to one every other say. He has not been to the hospital in 4years! He hasn't been sick either. I do get him the flu shot every year. Pulmicort has not had any affect on his behavior whats so ever because it is not a systemic drug. It goes right to the lungs. Prednisone is a systemic drug therefore, it will have all kinds of affects on the body. Dr says that the amount of prednisone my son was needing each time he had pneumonia was equal to beinh on two vials of pulmicort per day for three years!! The pulmicort has done wonders for my son. He never has a runny nose anymore either. I find that giving it to him in the nebulizer, is a sure way of knowing that he is getting the amount he needs. Perhaps, some who don't use the nebulizer could be inhaling it wrong and possibly not getting enough.