Children with Asthma question

[SeeDisney]

HI Dissers,


My DS 11 has slight asthma, he's on singulair and clariton D. My question.......I've heard a couple of times that some of the medicines for asthma has steriods and it stumps your growth ---- does steriods really stump your growth????

Does the inhaler have steriods in it??

Thanks.

 

[twinmum]

Hello - mother of twins born at 26 weeks, with lung damage from intubation here. Our boys do have "asthma", although not quite true asthma. One is on Singulair, both use inhaled steroids by either nebulizer or aerochamber/puffer as needed.

Our doc once quoted me an impressive stat about the amount of steroid in a course of several days of prednisone vs. using puffers as maintenance and to keep astham under control. I wish I remember the stat, but it escapes me. You and you child are far better off keeping the asthma under control using the singulair etc than dropping this and needing the aggressive prednisone course.

Ask your doc - I think he/she can allay your fears. My guys are almost 9 and one of them is still teeny (41 lbs) due to dcerebral palsy and medical issues...but I still rest easy giving him the inhaled steroids as needed.

Hope this helps!

 

[Aristomommy]

Both my kids have had asthma since they were babies. They take the same maintenance medications as your child does. We also take Pulmicort for maintenance. When they have asthma attacks, we take the liquid steroid (usually Orapred or prednisone) and also an albuterol containing medication such as the inhaler, or Xopenex depending on which child it is.

What I have learned is that the liquid steroid is probably the one with most side effects and our pediatrician does not like to use it unless absolutely necessary. It is not a steroid like anabolic steroids, BTW. Orapred tends to cause brittle bones when used often, but I have not heard it to slow down growth. Both my kids are very tall though, so I wouldn't be concerned about it anyway

You can look online the particular medicine your child uses and you can find side effects list.

 

[maxtomsmom]

I had asked the same question to my son's pulmanologist (sp?). He said that the amount is small and there wasn't any link between children on asthma medication and stunted growth. He did recommend that my son, who has mild viral related asthma, get plenty of exercise despite his asthma. The more they open their lungs the more the oxygen which helps muscle and bone growth. He's a young doctor and is heavy into the research. Sounds like my son was on some of the same medication your's is on. He's average height for his age.

He also said that the steroid growth issue is when children using certain kinds (some actually encourage growth) especially for cancer.

Finally, asthma runs in my family and no one has a growth problem. I'm 5'5, my brother 5'10 and we are the shortest in my family of people who run over 6ft.

I hope this helps.

 

[Whosemom]

As far as the inhalers and nebulizers go, my doctor said that since it is respiratory and not systemic, it isn't an issue. Which is to say, since they breath it in rather than it going through the blood stream. That doesn't mean there are NO side effects, but it seems like they were shorter term things like increased heart rate.

 

[sherabby]

HI Dissers,


My DS 11 has slight asthma, he's on singulair and clariton D. My question.......I've heard a couple of times that some of the medicines for asthma has steriods and it stumps your growth ---- does steriods really stump your growth????

Does the inhaler have steriods in it??

Thanks.

My son has been on singulair since age 4 and zyrtec even younger. He is the tallest in his second grade class. It isn;t affecting him.

 

[bumbershoot]

If these things are concerning you (by the way, you can read the package insert for the drugs...from what I read about Singulair just now it is NOT a steroid), you can look into alternatives.

My own asthma is almost completely gone when I'm under regular chiropractic care (as are my allergies...and since allergies are the normal trigger for asthma in me, they all go together...since your son is also on Claritin it sounds like he has an allergy trigger as well). I also do well when having acupuncture appointments.

IN addition, my allergies comletely disappear when I can eliminate dairy from my diet. And I mean eliminate. NOT byproducts like whey, or non fat milk solids. When dairy is GONE, I am NOT allergic. At all.

Alas, I've been addicted to dairy for too long for it to be possible for me to maintain. Since you son is young, the dairy addiction might not be as "set", and you could experiment, to see if dairy is a culprit, and see if it's worth it to him to go dairy-free.

Nettle tea, when I can get it within 15 minutes of an asthma attack, does WONDERS for me. Far better than the inhaler, which makes me want to destroy the world, and then I shake uncontrollably for half an hour.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

My doctor has told me what everyone else seems to be telling you. The preventative (Flovent in our case) will not stunt his growth. It is the prednisone that has more complications. My son has used that very rarely and only for five days at a time.

 

[Nicolepa]

My Allergist says that technically yes steriods stunt your growth. BUT it is only while you are on them, when you are off the body plays catch up. (ie my daughter mainly on them in the winter, in the summer is her catch up time). ALSO the amount is minimal, she says it's like a centimeter, if that. So even if they are on them year around it's not a big deal in the end.

She fully believes the benefits of their breathing being under control outweighs the side effect of them not growing the cm or so.

 

[Dina]

Hello - .

Our doc once quoted me an impressive stat about the amount of steroid in a course of several days of prednisone vs. using puffers as maintenance and to keep astham under control. I wish I remember the stat, but it escapes me. You and you child are far better off keeping the asthma under control using the singulair etc than dropping this and needing the aggressive prednisone course.=s!

My doc gave me the same exact comparison (between flovent and prednisone), and I no longer worried about his daily meds.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Not exactly sure what the doctors say, but my brother has had asthma since he was born, and been on so many different medications, inhalers, you name it since he was 9 months old, he still is to this day.
He is 24 now and is about 6'3.
But even if it does, if you need it , you need it, so don't worry about it too much. Good Luck.

 

[erik'smom]

Hi! I just wanted you to know that I grew up with asthma and was on steriods for the asthma for 5 years. I am the tallest person in my family (5'8")

My son has asthma now and was on steriods too. I asked my ped. about whether the medications would stunt his growth and he said that it could, but that they probably would not and that taking care of the asthma is more important than anything else. (I agree!) Anyway, he was only on the meds with steriods for a little bit and my now 2 year old is over 40 inches tall (4T).
He's huge!

Growing up with asthma is hard and having a child with asthma is awful. If this worries you, call the dr. today and discuss it. YOU don't need any more to worry about.

Good luck!

 

[guehomom]

As a mother of a son with asthma, severe food and pet allergies, I know what you're going through. Don't worry about his meds causing stunted growth, he'll likely have very little change if any from the meds. Besides stunted growth great or small is a tiny price to pay for greatly improved lung function. If you are really concerned talk it over with your pediatrician or if his answers don;t suffice consider seeing a pulmonologist or an allergist who specializes in asthma. After years of frustration with getting no answers from my pediatrician I took my child to an asthma specialist and I went back to school to get my degree in respiratory therapy (I'm one of those people who have to have all that facts not just some of them). It was the best decision I've ever made. He explained everything to me, what to give him for what symptoms, what the side effects were and we discussed and wrote down an exact plan for every situation. Of course going back to school was a big step and it has given me greater understanding of his condition