Sunday, August 26, 2012

AngryAsthmaMama makes ... Best of the Web? Really?

Another comment worth sharing...

Although I'm late posting this one, possibly because I've moved to Canada over the last month, I'm very proud to have been named one of the best Asthma sites for 2012 by Healthline.com.

Here's the note I received:

Hi Aimee, Healthline editors recently published the final list of their favorite Asthma blogs and your blog made the list. You can find the complete list at: 
http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/best-asthma-blogs 
(in no particular order). We encourage you to share your status as one of the best blogs on the web with your friends, family, & followers. Please let me know if you have any questions. Congrats & continue the great work!
Warm Regards, 
Tracy
Thanks to everyone at Healthline, especially Tracy, for this honor. And apologies for the late acceptance!

Here's the uber-cool badge, which I may well have made into a t-shirt!

asthma blogs

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Pulmicort and Mood Swings

This came in through the comments today, and I thought I'd share it. While my kids never had issues with mood swings related to their corticosteroids, over the years I've had many comments about kids who have.

If you notice your child is have severe mood swings, talking about suicide or doing anything especially weird while on inhaled steroids, PLEASE CALL YOUR DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY.  Trust your gut: If you feel like something's wrong with your kid, something is probably wrong with your kid!

Anyway, to that point, here's the comment I wanted to share:

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. 
Thanks so much for sharing this. It's obviously very personal, but I think a lot of other parents benefit from this level of honesty. Let me know if your doctor puts your son on a different medication and how that goes.