Orapred for Asthma

toady_buckshot_noodle wrote: Do any of your kids have asthma? Tristan does and it has been acting up lately. He has had a cough for 6 weeks and nothing else helped. I took him to the specialist on Monday. The doc put him on Orapred (steroid) and a new med for his nebulizer. The orapred makes him crazy! He can't even sit still while he's on it, much less sleep! I am exhausted and cranky! Any suggestions??

PrairieMom replied: I would call your dr. and tell him .maybe you can switch to a different steroid. An inhaled steroid like Pulmicort ( can use in a nebulizer) shouldn't make him hyper. Also, which drug did he give you for the Neb? is it Albuterol? cause that can make him hyper and jittery too.

MyLuvBugs replied: I have asthma, and those stupid steriod drugs used to make me insane!! I would shake to the point I couldn't sign my name, I'd yell at people for no reason (although that still happens lol ), and I could NOT sleep. The only thing that will make it better is to go off the steroid.

You can go back to the DR. and explain what's happening, and they can try a different drug, but more than likely they'll just try a different steroid and it's going to do the same thing. Ah modern medicine.

Things that helped me get through it were meditation (I know he's too young for that), exercise (of all things), and allergy testing. Come to find out most of my asthma was brought on by allergies that I was coming in contact with everyday. Have you had him allergy tested before? It's possible that allergies are what has been causing him to cough. If that's the case, then he won't need steroids at all, just some Claritin. lol

jcc64 replied: My ds has had asthma since he was 6 (now 13). He never really displayed the classic wheezing, and he never really has acute breathing attacks. His asthma is characterized by a chronic, unproductive cough, particularly at night or when he's running around (which he does alot as an athlete). His regular ped had him on all sorts of things- singulair, flovent, but the cough never really went away. He finally saw an asthma specialist, who put him on pulmacort- an inhaled steroid that he takes once a day before bed. Within a week, the cough disappeared. Now he's at the point where he self regulates- he takes himself off of the meds for months at at time, and only starts up again if the cough returns (during peak allergy season) or if he gets a cold. No one would ever even know he has asthma.
I know other kids with the cough variant asthma who have also responded well to pulmacort. Maybe discuss this with your dr? Not all general peds understand the subtle nuances of the different types of asthma meds. FYI- pulmacort has no side effects whatsoever, providing the child brushes his teeth after using it- it has the potential to cause thrush if the child doesn't brush afterward.
If your child is displaying hyperactivity as a result of the meds, I would insist that an alternative be looked at. It isn't necessary to suffer with side effects, with all of the different options available.
Good luck. Let me know how it works out.

ammommy replied: Megan just took her second dose of orepred and it makes her mean and cranky. To top it off, the albuteral in the nebulizer makes her hyper. I'm just thankful that we only have 3 days left on the orepred and hopefully 3-4 on the albuteral. Sorry, I have no advice other than calling the doc to see if there is something different. I'll be happy to commiserate with you though

jcc64 replied: I'm unfamiliar with Orepred. Is that an oral medication? Those kinds of steroids really have horrendous side effects- ds had to take them once when he was hospitalized with asthmatic bronchitis- and they completely transformed his normally mellow personality to the point where his teachers and classmates didn't recognize him. My dh, who also has asthma, has occasionally had to take oral steroids, and he describes the feeling to being on heavy duty hallocinogenic drugs- and removed himself from them. Should you decide to discontinue the meds, remember that you cannot just stop abruptly- you need to taper off slowly. (discuss with a dr).
I'm not a dr- but if it was me- I'd want to know why he's on an oral steroid with side effects and not the more effective inhaled ones with no side effects.

Jamison'smama replied: I am beginning to become an asthma expert myself. Both Jamison--and now Jack have been on Orapred. It is a liquid steroid taken in conjunction with her inhaled medication--Pulmacort. It is faster acting and is for acute symptoms and not long term use. Yes it makes them CRAZY but is necessary for many kids. I actually have a photo montage of the kids on the stuff---they are just different kids.

Jamison is a twice daily dose of Pulmacort but we are switching her to Flovent to see if it is effective enough as the Pulmacort gives her awful facial rashes despite the washing after. She takes Singular and Claritin but whenever an episode occures, Orapred (oral prednisone) is the medication given. It begins working in 6 hours and gets them over the hump. THere is no substitute that I am aware of since it works differently than the nebulizer threatments.

Now, there is an alternative to Albuteral--it is called Xopenex and is the same medication without the racing heart and awful shaky side effects. It is a little more expensive but worth every penny--just as the Orapred is worth the money over the HORRIBLE tasting generic.

Hugs--I've been there (last week in fact) the craziness will subside soon but I would ask about Xopenex!!!

jcc64 replied: I wasn't aware that pulmacort could be given to a child as young as Jama. Maybe that's why the facial rash thing?
Thankfully, things rarely degenerate to the point of needing the oral steroids around here. Alec was also on them for a hideous case of poison ivy that completely distorted his face (he looked like the Elephant Man, I swear). I don't know which was worse- his behaviour or his appearance.

jacobsmama replied: Well Jacob has lyringotracheamalacia when he was born and we didn't find out until about 3 months b/c his breathin was very noisy and we went to pediatric pulmonologist he had a bronchial scope done that confirmed it. This where the windpipe is soft instead of hard like it should be and they out grow it by 1 year of age b/c it becomes harder with time. Well by 12-13 months it was getting better but still raspy sounding when he would play hard run or sleep. He had xray of chest and adenoids and tonsils all normal. SO the last time we went he told me that he now has asthma and he gave me an inhaler with an areochamber. Jacob is 21 months old there was no way I was getting him to use the inhaler so I ended up asking for the nebulizer and he uses that with albuteral but it doesnt' seem to be helping. My husbands side of the family has alot of allergies and I"m thinking this isn't asthma but something else. I dont' want to put jacob through all these test and everything but I don't know what else to do....it doesn't seem to affect him but it is very noisy and rattly in his chest and the treatment with albuteral seems to make it worse for a few minutes then it is back to the normal rattling. I don't know about calling the DR b/c they really think it is asthma and I'm just not convinced about this. He has always got weird things or illness since he was born it seems. Anyone have suggestion or thought on what it might be besides asthma???? and if you think it is allergies how can I know w/o going to a DR again? I'm sure I can't without putting him t hrough needles and allergy testing. Just curios for help?? Sorry so long!

Kristi

Jamison'smama replied: Jamison has been on Pulmacort since her 2nd birthday---we were able to decrease through the summer but fall is when her asthma picks up again.

As far as Jacob--they don't really test for asthma since the allergies are just a precurser much of the time---Jamison has no noticable allergies and her asthma is generally triggered by virus. Asthma is generally treated with maintance medications and the albuterol/xopenex are used when the breathing becomes disfunctional from what I understand. If they think this is asthma--(which they will rarely say before a child is 2) shouldn't he be on medications to prevent rather than treat it?

My recommendation would be to get a referal to a pulmonologist to get some definitive answers. Any good pediatrician would be more than happy to refer a patient if they did in deed believe there was a pulmonary issue (asthma).

jacobsmama replied: He is seeing a pediatric pulmonologist he is the one who has bee nseeing jacob since he was 4 months old??

PrairieMom replied:
We do pulmicort on babys in our hospital, so I don't think that the age has anything to do with it. Some kids are just more sensitive to the medications, and more predisposed to getting rashes and thrush.