My son just turned 2 on Saturday, and has yet another URI with fever and wheezing and his lungs are retracting again. I took him to the doctor this morning and he was prescribed Pulmicort along with his albuterol neb. I do agree it would help to take preventative measures since he gets sick so often, but I am concerned about him taking steroids for any length of time. We are going to start it today [2ml vial twice daily] and see the doctor again in a month to see how it's going. I read the list of side-effects, and I wish I hadn't, because now I am even more worried about giving it to him. It says that it will lower your immune system making you more susceptible to illness, cause sudden worsening of asthma symptoms, can affect growth, cause thrush, nosebleeds, and the list goes on. Has anyone had experience with using corticosteroids on young children? He has had pneumonia 5 or 6 times in the last year and each time he has an infection he is usually put on prednisone. So he's had steroids plenty already, but all of the doctors and nurses I've talked to say that the risks for any long term affects are much less when he takes it here and there instead of all of the time.
A little more info : he has been tested for allergies [food and respiratory] and they were negative, and he is otherwise completely healthy. He is consistently in the 80th percentile for height and usually around 60th for weight. He is right on track with his development, and the ONLY time he has asthma symptoms is when he is sick [which is quite often during winter]. Last summer he was just like any other kid- no issues at all.
I guess I just want to hear the pros and cons from someone who has gone through this, and I am also interested to hear if anyone's child[ren] really outgrew asthma and lung issues? Thanks!
My son is 3 and has Cystic Fibrosis. He has been pulmicort for almost 2 years now. As for the side affects I have not seen any of the those with him. He hasn't been sick for months and if he does it is usually just a minor cold that is in his head. So I hope this helps.
J.
My son has been on pulmicort and albuterol since he was six months old, as needed. He is 1 1/2 and is perfect! :) It does make him pee more, but that is very common.
Are you sure you're talking about your child, and not mine? It's uncanny how alike our 2 year olds are! Really, EVERYTHING you said, but the weight and height percentiles (Luke is a little higher in height, and lower in weight) are identical.
Anyway, yes, we have experience using the two inhaled meds (pulmicort 2x daily and albuteral as needed for wheezing). The ONLY side-effect we've encountered is mild irritation to his reflux when taking the pulmicort 2x daily. Since we noticed that, the doc has cut the pulmicort back to 1x daily when healthy, and tells us to bump it up to 2x daily when ill with a cold or URI. Since starting this prtocol, we've noticed his ability to fight off many more colds without antibiotics or oral steroids, and only a few will progress to a full-blown URI. Previously, every cold developed into a URI - it was so frustrating.
As far as outgrowing reactive airway disease/asthma, I can tell you that both I and my niece successfully outgrew asthma by our teenage years, and my nephew is on his way to a similar outcome.
Good luck and hang in there, I think you'll find this is a good care plan for your son, but certainly watch him for any reactions. As you know, those can occur with any medication, but the benefits usually outweigh the risks.
My just-turned-3-year-old has been on asthma medication (pulmicort and Xopenex, a purified form of albuterol, since the regular stuff wasn't working well enough) for 2 1/2 years. He ends up getting prednisone about twice a year. His asthma is also mostly triggered by illness and extreme cold- winters are so hard!- and he had pneumonia last year, but only once. He rarely has a problem any other time of the year. He also has no known food or environmental/seasonal allergies, but we suspect he may be allergic to cats (he had his worst attack at a friend's house with a cat, but he was having symptoms before he got there).
He took Singulair last winter and that made a HUGE difference in preventing symptoms. I just got another prescription for it that I need to fill.
My little guy is in the 75th percentile for height, and 50-75th for weight. He's happy and very active. The only other problem he has are chronic ear infections.
While we have had to use the nebulizer quite a bit this year, his asthma is not nearly as bad as past winters. He is able to play outside if he doesn't have a cold and it is above 20*. That wasn't possible last year. I'm hoping every year will get a lot better. I have a few friends who's kids have outgrown their symptoms, so I'm hopeful.
Good luck!
Hi K.
I just wanted to let you know my son was on albutoral for most of the winter when he was 18 months until 3. he always got croup in the winter. so when ever I thought he might be starting to get sick I would put him on his albuterol. He is now 10 and he had not had any lung issues from 3 until last month when he had phenuminoa(Sp) which cleared up quickly with antibiotics. from what I understand and have read albuterol is much less harmful and with less sever side effects than prednisone. Good luck I hope he grows out of this soon. T.
My DS has been on pulmicort since he was 1 1/2--and now he's almost 10. He, too, has asthma that flares mainly when he is sick, although his also occasionally flares during times of high humidity. We have not seen him having any side effects from the pulmicort (and we have been watching because we are also concerned about the long-term use of the steroids).
We recently attended an asthma "workshop" at our local clinic. The nurse leading the workshop said that the amount of steroids in the daily pulmicort is very small. In fact, she said one course of treatment of oral steroids (which DS often has to go on for 5-7 when his asthma flares) is significantly higher than the amount of steroids received in the pulmicort. (I want to say it was almost like one course of oral steroids was equivalent to about a year's worth of pulmicort. But don't quote me on that because I don't remember exactly!) She stressed that using the daily pulmicort is better (and uses fewer steroids) than having a child flare and have to use the oral steroids. That was reassuring to our family and might also be to you.
Hi Kristen,
This sounds just like my son! He will soon be 3 and was prescribed Pulmicort 9 months ago. Very similiar circumstances - he had a very bad spring and was sick all the time, one right after another. He, too, was treated with oral steroids a few times and then finally our dr put him on Pulmicort. (He was also hospitalized with RSV when he was 9 months old, this was the beginning of the neb treatments) She told us that they usually try to ween them off of it in 6 months and see how they do, but that would have meant this winter/flu season and since that is the bad time of year, she said we would leave him on it until spring and see how he does over the summer without it. I, too, was very reluckant to put him on this and I do not like it one bit. My brother grew up with and still has very severe asthma and took meds everyday for it. My little boy is nothing compared to him, but still has issues. I recently took my son to see a chiropractor and they did some testing and told me that he is allergic to glutin!!!! I am still not sure what I think about this because he doesn't have any of the symptoms for it! But she says that it is causing his immune system to over-react which is causing him issues in the form of asthma. She also said that he is allergic to cats, which the allergist did not find. My son was 6 weeks early so his airways have always been sensitive and everytime he gets really sick, he sounds like he has croup. I am told he will grow out of that too. The allergist we took him to tested him for a bunch of stuff and they were all negative and said that his asthma is viral induced and that he should grow out of by the time he starts school. I can also tell you that my son has NOT had any of the side affects. I actually really like the pulmicort, just because he has NOT been sick and hasn't had any coughing (which he usually has). Does your son take his treatments with a mask?? My son didn't until recently and it has made a huge difference!! With the mask, it doesn't matter if they are breathing with their nose or mouth, the meds still go in... so if you are not using the mask, you should try that. So, in the end, I am still searching for some answers. I don't know if I believe the chiropractors assessment. But could that also be because I don't want to strip him of all the things (food) that he LOVES...???!!! I don't know what to do either. I don't like that my son takes steroids everyday either....
Good luck and I wish you the best with your little boy!
I'm sorry you guys are having to experience this! My DD (now 4 1/2 yrs) started to have the same symptoms as you describe, wheezing/retraction/rapid resp rate, just when she got sick; of course we started her on albuterol, atrovent, and pulmacort. She was diagnosed with reactive airway disease; was your son diagnosed w/this as well? If not, he might have it and they just haven't used these words w/you, and it might be helpful to read about that on the internet. I never used the steroids continuously w/my DD; we just used them when she started to get a runny nose, with the hopes that their preventative effects would kick in before her wheezing did. (This was a decision made w/suggestion of our doctor. We too were given the option of every day preventative nebs.)
They always told us she might grow out of RAD. So far, she still gets the same symptoms, and I'm only giving her albuterol nebs at this time when she gets colds. Luckily, she never got any pneumonias. Crossing my fingers she does grow out of it! And your son as well.
Good luck!
ETA: She does get sick much less often now, cold/flu wise, which I think is just age-related. Also occasionally she will not need nebs w/being sick. But mostly she still does.
If you decide to NOT use medications for your son let me know. I am one that does NOT like meds just because it is foreign substance and down the road always seems to have some side effect - but I also understand the need for them at times as well.
My son (now 11)used a nebulizer because of slight asthma and terrible long term coughs. Once we started the "BEST" nutrition he has been fine and can't remember the last time he got sick. My youngest son is 4 now and started using this at 3 months. He never seen a Dr for a sick visit! Much different than my older 2 children. So I am a firm believer that our bodies are miracles and if given the correct balance of nutrition our bodies know what to do with it :) Keeps us healthy!
PS Not all nutrition products are created equally!
Blessings,
L.
My son has been on Pulmicort since 11 months. He too only gets his asthma when he gets sick/cold so we only take the pulmicort 1 daily during winter months and 2x daily when he starts getting a cold.
Once he started the Pulmicort I think he seemed to actually get less sick. He does get nosebleeds quite a bit but it may be inherited (his father gets them too). He also gets his nosebleeds even in the summer when he is not on the pulmicort. We counteract the nosebleeds using a little bit of vaseline up the nose each night before bed (recommedation from ENT). Anyways...no other bad side effects.
Actually we started trying the generic this month too which is much cheaper. Haven't seen any differences except in my pocketbook. If cost is an issue ask your doc about the generic. For a while last fall I think they took it off the market while the two drug companies were fighting over production rights and I was unable to get it but in January they did have it available again. The generic is simply called Budesonide.
My daughter is 2 1/2 and got bronchiolitis for the first time last march. Ever since then it seems like every cold she cathces she ends up with bronchitis and even mild pnuemonia. They put her on the q-var inhaler for an everyday preventative, a little over a month ago. And it has affected her sleeping!!? It's like she has insomnia all of a sudden.....we are going to stop the inhaler and see if that is the problem.
My sister and grandmother both has asthma as children and out grew it.
My 6 year old son uses Pulmicort and albuterol daily. He has used them for approx. 3 years. (He was prescribed Pulmicort after a bout with pneumonia.) He has never suffered any of the side-effects. When he is particularly congested he uses Atrovent instead. Atrovent dries up lung secretions. My son also has a mild case of asthma.
My son now 6 has been on pulmicort/flovent and albuterol since age 1 1/2. His symptoms are worse with colds. He hasn't had an asthma "attack" but, he does struggle a bit with shortness of breath now that he is in sports. Now we are proactive with the albuterol before the activity. To be proactive with the colds in the winter, we have continued with the flovent inhalers on a daily basis and have notice a HUGE decrease in winter illness. We have tried to stay consist with the flovent during the summer too. We haven't seen much for side effects in him, other than ezema which can be common with asthma as well. Be sure to rinse their mouths and brush their teeth after the inhalers/nebs, they can be very hard on their teeth. Good luck with it. We also hope that he grows out of it.
Your situation sound alike what we went through with my older child. We had no side effects and the meds did help with his breathing. My son is now 6 and he has seemed to grown out of the serious URI's. Take care,I know it is hard to see your little one sick and difficult to see a lot of extra meds going into them. It is scary being a mom!!
My oldest son, who is now 13, has asthma and used to get recurrent croup and has been on albuterol and some sort of inhaled steroid (either Advair or Pulmicort) since he was 2. My younger son, age 10, had Reactive Airways (RAD), and was on Pulmicort and albuterol for a few years, but has outgrown his symptoms and is now medication-free. The medications have been very helpful to us without any long term, significant side effects. The inhaled steroids don't get into your system in the same way that oral steroids do and thus have fewer side effects. My older son is similar to what your son is like--he has cough variant asthma, which is primarily triggered by viruses. We cut back on the meds during the summer months, and we've tried to identify any other triggers and make modifications to accomodate those. My son is very well controlled on the meds without serious side effects. The biggest problem we've had is thrush. We've found that Pulmicort is less likely to cause thrush than Advair. It's important to rinse out the mouth thoroughly after inhaling the medications. My son has had some mild nosebleeds, but those are from the nasal spray he uses, not his inhalers. The inhaled steroids work best to reduce inflammation if used regularly. I think the side effects you read about are "worst case scenarios" that the drug companies are required by law to warn about; it doesn't mean they are common. Of course, no medications is best, but if your son really needs them they work and we haven't had problems with them. The recurrent URIs can cause long term inflammation in the lungs if they persist. Good luck and feel free to send me a message if you have any specific questions. I've heard other people claim they were "cured" from asthma by a chiropractor. It might not hurt to consult a pediatric chiropractor, but you could combine that care with the care of a pediatric pulmonologist. If you aren't already seeing one, I would recommend you find a pediatric pulmonologist. It made a big difference in my son's care when we started seeing one.
Hi K.: You've received a lot of good advice already, and my advice is similar. I have a son who just turned two a couple weeks ago with the same symptoms and the same treatment. We too hope that he'll just outgrow it. He just had a nasty cold and croup and it was the first time he didn't wheeze with a cold. Yay!
Like someone said, remember that the steroids aren't getting into his entire body, just his lungs.
Also, as some others have suggested, don't blame yourself or think that anything in his environment or food is causing this. It's just one of those things (likely genetic).
Good luck and I hope your son outgrows it!
My now 4 yr old son has been on Albeuterol since 6 mons. He has been on prednisone when needed. He now is on pulmicourt and xopenex (pronounced zaponex) when he is sick and has a severe cough or has had trouble breathing that day. We switched from albeuterol to xopenex as we noticed he was much more aggresive and hyper on albeuterol and since we have switched it has been a world of difference. He also has a xopenex inhaler when we do not have time to do the nebulizer. I have not noticed any other side effects being on the steroids and is developing very well. Since we have been on it he has been less sick. We also found out he has significant food allergies and environemental allergies and since we have deteced and treated these he has only been sick once in 6 months. Have you had a blood test done for food alleriges? We had only a scratch test done and knew he was allergic to some foods and other stuff but when we did the blood test we found out there were MANY more and since we stopped that exposure his immune system increased dramatically. Just a thought as your little guy has been pretty sick. Good luck!
