Every now and then, I get a comment like the one I just got from Tami. She's got a son with severe asthma who needs to be on Pulmicort or Flovent, but goes a little psycho when he's on the stuff.
It's a horrible situation to be in. Unfortunately, steroids are considered the strongest weapon in our anti-asthma arsenals. And as a message board buddy once put it, she'd rather have a kids who "kicks the dog" but can breathe than one who's in the ER every other week.
I think we'd all have HAPPY kids who can breathe.
At the end of the day, when we're not happy with the results we're getting from our doctors, the first checkpoint should be other doctors. I realize that some of my friends here don't have the luxury of being in major metro areas like me, but if you can find another pediatric pulmonologist or asthma/allergy specialist, get there. If you've only been dealing with your regular peds -- take the 2 hour drive to see the specialist. You'll never regret it.
Tami, I don't know what other meds your son is on, but you sound smart and I imagine you've been asking all the right questions and tried lots of different things. We're doing well with Flovent, but I know others who've seen positive changes by switching to Qvar and other brands of similar steroids. Maybe your son can do Singulair instead of steroids? Worth asking...
We've got lots of smart moms around here -- I'm sure someone can offer grounded, sensible advice. (Ahem!)
One note on the eczema -- there's a boy in my kids' daycare who had THE WORST eczema I've ever seen. He was constantly scabbed and bleeding. So sad! Recently, I noticed a drastic improvement, and I asked his parents about it. Would you believe their miracle cure was VASELINE? That's right -- they switched dermatologists, and the new doctor recommended that they bathe him every day (seriously!) and coat him with Vaseline within 2 minutes of getting out of the tub (and barely drying him off) to seal in the moisture.
Worth a shot, right? (With your doctor's permission, natch!)
3 comments:
Hi Aimee,
I really like the blog, you've got a ton of helpful information for people dealing with asthma, or dealing with kids with asthma!
I wanted to let you know about our new site, WEGO Health. Our site identifies, ranks and organizes the most helpful health and wellness content online and makes it easy to access by everyone.
I'd love to talk to you more about what we're doing at WEGO and particularly about the asthma content we have on the site, please feel free to email me at: mariec@wegohealth.com
Cheers!
Hi Aimee--
I just realized that my son's story is in Tami's link too. I am happy to report that my guy is now 7.5 and doing rather well. Shortly after posting that e-mail in 2005, he was switched to Advair. He has only had 1 ER trip in the last 2 years and no hospitalizations. Plus--no psychotic symptoms!!! Since then, he has been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, which may have contributed to the psychotic symptoms on steroids. His tonsils and adenoids were removed less than a month ago. The ENT believes we will see further asthma relief since the surgery (all I know is that he sleeps better and doesn't snore!).
Thanks, Chrysa - see my post from tonight. Maybe I'll ask the PP about Advair if B has to go back on 'roids.
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