I posted about 2 weeks ago about being hesitant to give my 3.5 year old son allergy medicine. I finally decided after my post that I would get the prescription for Flonase filled and start using it. He has done very good with it, he even asks to do his nose spray every day. I do think it is helping him breathe better and sleep better.
My problem is this, I also think it has turned him into a mean little troll. He has been using it for a little over a week, and I started noticing some major behavior changes on days 2 and 3 of using it. He has been in trouble at pre-school the last 4 days in a row and we are having problems at home with him too. I understand part of it is his age, but I know what he was like before he started using Flonase and what he is like now and they are two completely different little boys.
Has anyone else had this kind of experience with Flonase? Tomorrow I plan on not giving it to him for the rest of the week and will wait and see if his behavior improves.
Flonase is a steroid-based medicine...while it might be helping him - it's a steroid and can affect moods..
I would talk with the doctor and find out if there is a non-steroid medicine you can use for him...
GOOD LUCK!!
Flonase is a corticosteroid - anything with steroids, or derivatives, can affect mood. My son would take steroids as a toddler for severe asthma episodes - sometimes it would make him cranky, sometime not, so it was hard to tell if it was the meds, or just a toddler mood swing.
Before stopping the medicine cold turkey - because some meds you should taper off, instead of just dropping - call your doctor and talk to them first. I looked up Flonase and did not see irritability listed as a side effect (which really just means it is not a common effect).
There are other allergy meds that work well in toddlers - I know, my son took everything imaginable at one point or the other. Flonase may not be the right one for your child. There are several other nasal sprays - You may need to work with his doctor to find the one that is right for him.
Good Luck
God Bless
Have you googled "side effects for Flonase"? Looks like you might not just be imagining this...
Sorry, no experience with Flonase, but I do recommend checking with your pediatrician before stopping his meds. With some meds, this can make the original problem much, much worse -- to the point that you've got a very serious medical condition on your hands. I have no idea if this applies here, but I wouldn't experiment without checking in first.
Yes, many allergy meds cause behavior problems with kids. The pharmacist at Walgreens explained it to me. He said it dries out their sinus' and they can't really say "My sinus' are hurting like crazy". They know something is wrong but can't pinpoint it.
The pharmacist told me to always start allergy meds with a minimum of 1/4 dose then if that works you know they don't need more. I know with Flonase you don't have a choice as to how much medication is administered. I would talk to the pharmacist as soon as possible, several of our pharmacists over the years beyond the Walgreens one have told us the same things about allergy meds and the correlation to bad behaviors, that's why most are not recommended for kids.
not with Flonase, but with every single antibiotic I've ever taken.
We use nasonex with our son-maybe that's an alternative.
Thing is tho-he's 3.5...I'd tend to say it's coincidence and that it's just that...he's 3.5! :)
I gave my son flonase and he was fine, but we only gave it before bed since he was stuffy at night only.
we did not have these side effects but i have heard of some who have...my daughter takes it at night, not sure if that would make a difference or not
