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Forum -> Children's Health
Could it be the flovent? And what if it is?



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amother
Ginger


 

Post Sun, Aug 02 2015, 11:16 pm
Hard to tell because it wasn't immediate - we use flovent when DD has a cold because the cold virus seems to trigger asthma in her. She doesn't usually get asthma without having a cold first. So our plan is to use flovent preventatively twice a day starting when she shows cold symptoms and continuing until they're gone for a week.

She spent a lot of the winter on it because as soon as one cold ended another one hit. She also had some behavior issues in school during this time. There was improvement during the Spring but she does seem to have some inherent behavior issues. However the most dramatic that had teachers calling me in a dither were in the winter. At home there have been occasional meltdowns but not so much, enough to keep us looking for the right therapists but not enough to make life miserable on an everyday basis.

Haven't had a cold since then until about a week ago. Past couple of days have been very...intense around here. Lots of hyperactive behavior. Falling asleep at ridiculous times like 10 or 11 at night despite best attempts on all parties (including DD herself lying down very nicely and cooperating and all - still no sleep.) And falling apart in hysterics at the drop of a hat, whenever things don't go her way. This is a recurring problem but does not usually happen so many times one after another. Also it's hard to measure but the intensity seems worse. Lots of wailing and very hard to calm. On the other hand, I can't say I was the best parent for this, I have been feeling on the moody side myself lately and did not have much patience for this behavior. Though I did try. So it's hard to say what could be to blame.


But I had this sudden thought that maybe it's the flovent. I googled it and I see there is some record of it triggering aggressive behavior, which we haven't really been seeing much of. Rather it's like being on an emotional roller coaster for days on end. One second she is playing a little TOO happily, a second later she is having a fit, after she gets over that (figure about 15 minutes of intense wailing and then another 10 minutes or so to recover) I am still wondering how to help her get past the tantrum and suddenly I see she is back to playing happily and before I know it she's bouncing off the walls again until something triggers an emotional crash again. I think we had at least 3 of these massively intense tantrums today and I don't remember how many yesterday, at least 2 maybe more. Interspersed with hyper behavior that probably would not impress a real ADHD mom but is pretty wild for this family.

Has anyone had this type of experience? It is a steroid so it kind of makes sense but it is a very very low dose. The point being that a teeny tiny dose of this can save us a lot of nebulizer and rescue meds which definitely cause side effects besides being a total pain in the neck to administer and also to figure out whether/when needed. But maybe it adds up over taking it for a week or more? But I'm not seeing any evidence that other people are having this, only aggression.

And the major question is lets say I trust my gut feeling and blame the flovent - what's the alternative? Asthma is no joke, and there's no way to predict when it will happen - some colds trigger it, some don't, the only thing we can do is be proactive about every cold. Before the flovent I was always so stressed because it is actually hard to tell whether she is having an asthma attack, the wheezing tends to be the type you can only hear with a stethoscope, so we spend a lot of time and energy watching her breathe all day and night and trying to decide whether to go to the doctor and check it out, if the doctor checked her out and she was fine a few hours ago but now I'm worried again should we go again and have him listen again, and if it's 2 AM should we run the nebulizer just in case, with its own side effects plus the battle of getting her to sit still while it's so uncomfortable? And now that we did the nebulizer because it was 2 AM and we were concerned but not concerned enough to run to the ER - is her breathing quick because of the albuterol jitters or is it because it wasn't effective enough and the asthma got worse? So NOW should we go to the ER? Basically the flovent was a very good thing. But I have no idea how to respond to these kinds of mood swings if they're physically triggered, and they must be very disturbing to her as well. Help!
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cbsp




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 02 2015, 11:25 pm
Don't know if this is helpful but my son was on flovent daily for 2+ years with albuterol and atrovent as the rescue med. We actually see the behaviors you're describing when he's on the albuterol more regularly due to a cold... The regular flovent did not really trigger behaviors... Maybe it's the combination of albuterol with the flovent?

Hatzlachah!
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amother
Ginger


 

Post Sun, Aug 02 2015, 11:28 pm
We haven't had to use albuterol at all since starting the flovent, B"H. So that's not it for us. And the cold seems to be 99% gone so I don't think that's it either. Seems like it's either the flovent or something random that I don't know about. Full moon?
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cbsp




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 02 2015, 11:39 pm
amother wrote:
We haven't had to use albuterol at all since starting the flovent, B"H. So that's not it for us. And the cold seems to be 99% gone so I don't think that's it either. Seems like it's either the flovent or something random that I don't know about. Full moon?


Is it possible the cold is really an allergy? Are there any other meds in the mix (cold/sinus, pain relievers, reflux, etc)?

If you really do suspect the flovent there are other meds out there, maybe discuss the concern with the dr. My DS is now on Dulera 2x daily with flovent and (inhaler, never nebulizer) albuterol as rescue.

The full moon also sounds like a good theory too Very Happy
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amother
Ginger


 

Post Sun, Aug 02 2015, 11:44 pm
Pretty sure it was a cold. Sibling caught it too (but has neither asthma nor behavioral/neurological sensitivities, as far as we know so far.) We had allergies earlier in the season but they seem to be under control with Claritin. And we've been on the claritin for about 3 months now so if there were going to be side effects they probably would have happened already.
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