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Wed 8 Mar, 2006 07:07 pm
Mo was recently diagnosed with asthma.
He had a cough that wouldn't go away. I took him to the doctor. They diagnosed asthma. We got the Albuterol and we were given instructions to use it on an as needed basis. We were told that the drug could make him twitchy.
He also had an ear infection and a touch of phenumonia and we were given antibiotics to clear that up. He really seemed on the mend and we only had to use the Albuterol once.
He was indeed pretty twitchy after using the drug.
Then the other night while he was sleeping he sounded like a bagpipe. Honestly I'd never heard breathing like that. I didn't know whether to wake him up and give him the medicine or let him sleep. (I let him sleep. I know better now.)
The next day I took him to the doctor and they put him on Prednisolone for five days to try to get things back to normal. (I know a bit about this drug because my dog takes it for Addison's disease.)
This stuff just knocks him into orbit. I mean it. He is whacked into this manic hyper mode.
I talked to his bio-paternal-grandmother on the phone and asthma is very common in their family and she herself is treated with a different steroid on a daily basis to control her asthma.
I really hope we don't come to this because I'm sure once Mo hits school they would be screaming ADD if he had to take this type of drug on a regular basis.
Does your kid have to take steroids for asthma?
How do you deal with it?
Does the school complain about them being twitchy/hyper/manic?
How do you deal with them?
Any help appreciated!
E.G. has had asthma pretty much forever -- I'll ask him and M-I-L about what that was like when he was a kid. I know he takes the steroids now, I think he has since it was diagnosed.
He turned out fine, though.
I get bloody twitchy on the drugs, when I have to take them!!! The puffers, I mean. Everyone does, I think....I imagine you get a bit used to them, though.
I have never had to take prednisolone, but a colleague does. She does not get twitchy, but horribly depressed and sensitive.....I doubt that helps, but there it is.
Hopefully he won't have to take it for too long.
E.G. certainly turned out well enough to convince someone wonderful to marry him and that speaks highly in his favor, soz.
Ugh, dlowan. I don't need a depressed Mo!! Sensitive is dead right. Mr. Emotional.
<sigh>
The plan is to use the Pred for a few days to knock out the cough and then switch to the inhaler for trouble situations. I'm really hoping that is how it all works out.
Is that the inhaled steroid, boomer? I took it for a while a few years ago, and the was told to thouroughly rinse the mouth immediately after use. I forget what it does to the teeth, but it sounded awful.
Oh, let me add that I took the stuff, as well as Prednisolone (or prednisone) and had none of these side effects, so they seem selective.
The Albuteral is inhaled and the Prednisolone is a liquid.
I have to admit that it is nice to see Mo sleeping so well the last two days after a month of waking up coughing every few hours or wheezing in a way that terrifies me.
We only have a few more days of the Prednisolone and I know I can deal with the wild manic energy.
I suppose I'm silly to worry about things that might be but I do worry that if he has to continue using these drugs on any type of regular basis that once he gets in school the behavior could be problematic.
I have asthma and I have to use a fast acting inhaler ( albuterol )
twitchy?
That is an understatement.
BUT- im an adult and am aware of it. So it doesnt effect me the SAME.. but , for me, I begin to reduce my sugar intake.
Simply put, I notice a HUGE diffrence.
My muscles dont cramp, and I can sleep even if I have to wake up at night and use my inhaler.
I asked my mother what she did for Brian when he was a kid , and she said that for him, he had to go to the doctor to get his treatments because in the 80's there wasnt so many options for take home treatments.
His doc gave him small doses of benadryl to take after his treatments.
Wich makes GREAT sense.. because asthma alot of the times is triggered by small allergic reactions that irritate the airways to the point of spasmatic style coughing.
You could get some childrens benadryl and give him just a few drops of it. Not a whole dose mind you.. but maybe 1/3 of the recommended dose?
I do keep kids Benedryl on hand because he does have allergies, or what I thought were allergies.
And then there was the whole hives thing a while back.....
I worry about giving him anything else on top of what he is already taking.
Poor Mo....I also have asthma and use the Abuterol inhaler, which is non-steroidal. But it makes my shake so bad sometimes I can't even hold a pen. It also increases my heart rate significantly so I am only suppose to take it when absolutly necessary. Be careful with that stuff as it does affect the heart.
I take daily non-steroidal asthma meds and was fine with them up until about a month ago. I got a bacterial lung infection and now can't seem to get my asthma under control. I too have the coughing fits at night like Moe. They are awful and can wake the entire house. And make me puke. Gotta love it. Anyway, have you talked to the doctor about something like Singular? That's what I take and it isn't a steroid.
I think the plan for now is to knock out the cough and then pull him off of all of it except for "rescue".
If that doesn't work I will certainly be asking about non-steroidal anything available. Thank you, Bella.
I asked E.G. last night, lots of the same answers as what you've been getting here.
He takes the inhaled steroids now, but says they only became available about 10 years ago, and so he didn't take them as a kid. (He said he was diagnosed about Mo's age.) I asked how it WAS treated, and he said that if he had an asthma attack, his mom just sat up with him (implication that it was usually middle of the night) and gave him liquid medicine and waited for it to take effect. I asked what that was, and he told me but I forgot exactly what, but he said "basically speed. I don't think they even give it to kids anymore."
Take care. This sounds rough to deal with on a few different levels, hope the end is in sight.
LUXURY!!!
When I was little, and had an attack, the doctor came and stuck an injection into the blood vessels at the inner elbow fold of one of my arms, and, over half an hour or so, slowly injected adrenaline. Ditto the other arm if it didn't settle.
The only drug to take was phenergan, which sent me into a state of drugged sleepiness for days.
Someone told me that one hit of pot will knock out a full blown asthma attack.
Of course it's a complicated concept.
For real, seaglass?
Okay. Everybody please experiment with this theory and report back.
I guess I should be glad that there is stuff to treat this now because those old treatments sound positively awful.
seaglass wrote:Someone told me that one hit of pot will knock out a full blown asthma attack.
Of course it's a complicated concept.
I can assure you that it doesn't. :wink:
In fact, it burns like hell.
But then again, I haven't actually tried it DURING an asthma attack so maybe....
just go into www and plug in marijuana and asthma
and you will find a proliferation of sites that will give you info.
i am very pro-medical marajuana, it has many valuable properties other than recreational.
seaglass wrote:Someone told me that one hit of pot will knock out a full blown asthma attack.
It can also trigger an asthma attack.
ehBeth wrote:seaglass wrote:Someone told me that one hit of pot will knock out a full blown asthma attack.
It can also trigger an asthma attack.
That's kinda what I was thinkin'. I mean, you have sensitive lungs and airways to begin with and then you irritate them with unfiltered smoke, which you hold in your sensitive lungs....I can't see that working.
But hey, who knows.
seaglass wrote:
i am very pro-medical marajuana, it has many valuable properties other than recreational.
Sure it does, but putting something into your lungs, like smoke, when you are an asthmatic isn't easy to do.
The chemical properties of pot might be helpful. Perhaps I should try some magic brownies.
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