Does anyone's DS use the Clenil Modulite preventative inhaler?

[orangina]

Hi there....

My ds is nearly 3 and after 4 recent viral wheeze attacks that took us to a&e over the past few months, he has been put on the preventative (brown) inhaler, one puff in the morning and in the evening. He has been on it for only about 5 days, but since he started it, I have noticed that he has become incredibly aggressive and belligerent (sp?!). He is normally quite energetic and cheeky, but very sweet natured; over the past few days it is as though someone has flicked his testosterone switch to turbo and he is racing about, roaring, head butting everything and everyone, tormenting his sister and basically being a pain.

Anyone else noticed that their child's behaviour altered while on this? Or is it just me? Or perhaps just concidence?

Thanks for reading!

[kapin]

My daughter is 4 and has 3 puffs, twice a day of this inhaler, as lower doses didn't seem to prevent wheezy episodes. I don't think we've noticed any difference in her behaviour since she's been on it (over a year now). I think 2 puffs a day is a very low dose.

She is however totally crazy, unreasonable and hyperactive when given oral steroids in hospital (I should think this is a much higher dose than the inhalers). Has your son also had oral steroids (think it's called prednisolone) in hospital and reacted in a similar way?

[strawberrycornetto]

Hi. In response to Kapin, my DS had a nebuliser in hospital a couple of weeks ago. Not sure what it was, I thought it was a large dose of ventolin, but it made him extremely hyper for about 2 hours.

He is on a brown inhaler, but a different one, sorry can't help there OP.

[kapin]

Yes, think nebuliser is a large dose of ventolin, but the oral steroids are dissolved in water and drunk. These are also longer acting, which is why I think we noticed more of a difference.

[orangina]

HI kapin and strawberrycornetto.... thanks for your responses....

Yes, he has had oral steroids in hospital, but on the back of giant doses of the ventolin, which made him completely hyper, but just short term if you see what i mean. Hyper for an hour or two after the ventolin. Not sure the oral steroids affected him much, difficult to tell.

Perhaps it is nothing to do with the inhaler then. I was just thinking about how he must have a lot of testosterone running through him at the moment, when I suddenly realised that it had really only kicked off sine he had started the brown inhaler.

Golly kapin, your daughter must suffer from wheeziness quite badly to be on 3 pufs twice a day.... as a matter of interest, have you discussed giving her monteleucast (spelling?) as a preventative instead of the brown inhaler? The dr at a&e last time wanted ds to have it, but said that the gps were reluctant to prescribe it because it was £££ (and he was right, I can't get it out of the gp....)

[alypaly]

steroids give you a feel good factor which can manifest itself as hyperexcitability and increased energy and aggression can come into it too. mention it to doc . It might plateau out after a bit longer on it ,but i am sure it is to do with the beclomethasone

[coldtits]

Both my boys are on clenil modulite (brown).

Older one has asd and adhd so tbh hard to tell. Younger one is moody little bugger sometimes anyway, and has been on it since he was 2 in any case.

It's a tough call - if I give it, it might make him bad tempered, but the asthma resulting in NOT giving it makes him docile but ill.

[kapin]

Thanks Orangina, no I've not heard of monteleucast- thanks I will look into it. My daughter is not too bad, but was initially on 2 puffs but had 2 episodes in one month a few weeks ago, which is why it was increased. The last one was the first time she wasn't admitted to hospital, so think we're finally getting on top of it... I've got a 16 month old son who has also had 2 wheezy episodes, and I'm sure I will gather more experience of the 'testosterone' factor of which you speak ;)

Good luck with it all- it's so stressful isn't it?

[orangina]

I feel quite grateful that (touch wood) it hasn't been too bad yet. We have been to a&e 4 times since the summer, but haven't yet been admitted, so I can't complain. The first time it happened was AWFUL as we had no idea what was going on, but now I can see it coming, and I clear my day, knowing I'm going to end up in hospital at some point.

kapin, I would talk again to your gp or ask to be referred to a paediatric respiratory consultant. the a&e doctor who spoke to me about it said if ds was HIS child, he would much rather put him on montelukast (have just googled it to get spelling right!) than the brown inhaler because of the steroid thing. My gp just poo pooed it and very helpfully explained in a kindergarten teacher voice that it wasn't the same steroid that those big nasty atheletes injected to give themselves big scary muscles.

(Er, thanks for that doc).

Good luck with it kapin, and thank you alypaly and coldtits too.....

[orangina]

Oh, forgot to say, a&e dr also said that montelukast only worked in something like 40% of children, but those it did work for, it worked very well.

[kapin]

Thanks for that Orangina. I will discuss it with my GP, and I also have a friend who is a paediatrician who I will ask. I've had a quick google on it and it does look like a new drug. I'm not tooo concerned about the steriod aspect, as I'm hoping my daughter will start growing out of this in the next year or two, as most kids do and the dose will be reduced (I had the same thing, and slowly grew out of it from around 6, and never had any problems by secondary school). I think the inhaled steroid has few side effects anyway, and we certainly don't need to think about her growth, as she is off the scale for height....

[whenwillisleepagain]

Hi Orangina

My DS was three at the end of Nov 09. He has been on clenil modulite, 2 puffs twice a day, since April last year. My GP said it was a low dose and I've never had any concerns about changes in his behaviour. In 2008 he had two trips to A&E and spent the nights in hospital with what was said to be viral wheeze. When he was wheezy again last spring, our GP decided that allergy (to something flowering at the time) might be the cause, not a virus, so suggested we tried the preventer inhaler. Touching every bit of wood around me (he is a bit puffy today at the tail end of a virus from last week) 2009 was a hugely better year than 2008 for wheeziness, with no trips to A&E and only one urgent GP visit. It might be the inhaler or it might be coincidence - once swine flu is out of the way, we'll stop the inhaler for a bit to see what happens.

I had bad allergic asthma in childhood (early 1970s), when preventer inhalers didn't exist, so I think all the new options are really positive & may well want to look into montelukast for DS, depending on what his wheeziness does next.

Good luck with your LO

[orangina]

I took ds to the GP today for his follow up appt and told her about the hyper episode. She is desperate NOT to let me go on the montelukast (grr!!!) and she grilled me on whether I had any previous knowledge about this as a side effect, whether I had googled it, etc, etc... I told her no (quite true), and eventually, she admitted that it was in fact a documented but RARE side effect.



I agreed that I would try him back on the inhaler for a while, and see if the same thing happened again.

Just thought I'd post an update and confirm that this could have been a side effect and not just my imagination!

[2littlemonkies]

I have just found this thread by googling 'bad behaviour when using clenil' so the answer to your question is YES. I stopped my son from using his brown inhalier before christmas as the thought of steroids scared me, i thought he was behaving badly and to be honest I thought it wasn't really necessary. But he had another attack yesterday so after being told off by the doc he started again - and I now have a totally stroppy 4 yr old again!!!

I'm seeing an homeopath in a couple of weeks to see if we can find an alternative (that is if I last that long

[MellyMunster]

My little girl was prescribed Clenil Modulite for "hawking" whenever she ate. GP immediately said she had "asthma". Teacher at pre-school said more than 90% of the class were prescribed asthma pumps!! I took my child for a hair test and changed her diet once I received the results. Naturopath said she was full of mucus and her adrenal glands could not cope, she recommended Lamberts Berry Bursts (Omega oils) or Healthspan liquid Omega Oil (tastes of lemon and oranges) 5 ml twice a day. She said to triple up on the recommended dosage until the symptons were gone . The hawking and coughing stopped within three days of starting on the Berry Bursts. Many friends have now tried this for their children and it works wonders. I would not give myself steroids without seriously considering natural alternatives first.

[mumofonedaughter]

Hi - I found this thread while looking for side effects of clenil modulate related to sleep. I have never been a good sleeper and it has been getting gradually worse - it occurred to me that this has been since I started clenil modulate at the end of last august - what was the outcome for your children who reacted badly to it please? (ps I am 52, daughter of a 9 year old, and I go to bed knackered - I fall asleep quickly, but keep waking up, sometimes for long periods) I have put in really good sleep hygiene and organisation. Ironically, part of this 'being more in organised' has meant that I always remember to take my inhaler - which is probably why my sleep has got worse with my new regime rather than better! - I tried stopping it, but chest was really bad, far worse than before I went on it (then I just needed Salbutamol once or occasionally twice a day - after stopping it was still bad after 6 Salbutamol) - So - I am back on clenil modulate, but trying to cut it down but wondering what others have found to work after they have noticed a problem?

[Robbothedaddy1]

Firstly, I'm not a mum, I'm a dad... hope that's ok!
Found this thread on Google when looking for side effects of Clenil Modulate in children.

I too have experienced major behavioural changes in my 4 year old son whilst he uses Clenil!! He has always been a cheeky, very active chap and pushed the boundaries a little but like others have already described, since using Clenil something seems to have switched inside him. We have MAJOR tantrums which can go on for an hour or more whereby nobody can reason with him. He has become INCREDIBLY particular, borderline OCD, he is completely impossible to reason with, he can wake multiple times in the night and even have one of his MAJOR tantrums then.

Unfortunately the Clenil has made his Asthma seem non existent. Prior to using the brown inhaler he was often wheezy and had several nasty attacks which landed us in A&E and on wards each time. Its been about 10 months since he started on the Clenil and we have had no Asthma episodes or even a cough since (touch wood), but we have watched his behaviour deteriorate. It may be total coincidence and he's just become the worlds worst brat overnight but it really seems to me as though this started at the same time as the Clenil.

As mentioned above also, during one admission to hospital he was given the oral steroid during an attack. This sent him absolutely wild!!!! He was running around the ward like a raging bull completely out of control eyes glazed over the works- all whilst in the middle of an asthma attack.

My though process is that if a large oral dose can cause such a massive and clearly visible hyperactivity/ roid rage/ adrenaline rush/ general behaviour change, what does a much smaller but REGULAR inhaler dose do? Does it cause the drastic behavioural changes I have seen in my son over the last 10 months... why wouldn't it!

To summarise- YES im pretty sure Clenin Modulate causes behavioural changes in kids.

I would be very interested to read more about anyone else's
experiences and if they had found alternative / counteraction.

[Coronachairlover1]

Hello. I have a DD (8) with lifelong history of viral wheeze / asthma. Brief history: many A&E admissions when younger necessitating constant use of ventolin and daily nebulisers and prednisalone up to 15 times a year (which is v high). She was put on Clenil when aged 4 and her behaviour was horrific, all of the issues stated above. Defiant, mouthy, non compliant, couldn't sleep, a total nightmare. She came off it after 2 years and went back to her normal self - she is a v lively character anyway but was more bareable for sure. (Ventolin alone causes the heart rate to increase so has a big impact without Clenil on top).
Last winter she was incredibly ill and was prescribed Clenil again. I really hesitated putting her back on it due to the behaviour issues but in the end I had to...& she was horrific again making family life unbearable. Her school made us get her tested for ADHD and it was a REALLY tough time day and night. When I asked her if she knew she was being unreasonable/ naughty etc she said yes but that she couldn't help it. She actually became incredibly upset and distressed and said "I hate myself". It was awful. I tried to take her off it after a year and luckily she's been ok since and is a totally different character. If you consider it rationally, Clenil is an opiate based drug SO OF COURSE it will have an impact when pumping it in to your body twice a day!!!
Various top respiratory specialists have denied knowledge of any behavioural side effects to me but it DEFINITELY has a huge impact. Montelukast singulair caused v bad night terrors too. I would never give that to anyone. If you google it, people have reported depression and suicidal thoughts. As a parent with a desperately ill child unable to breath, we do trust these Dr's.....however with all my experience I now don't believe everything they say.
I hope this post helps other desperate parents. I spent years searching for information and experience from others.

[onedayimightforget]

We had this as a side effect of Montelukast with DD - it has a lot of psychological side effects which she seemed to be suffering from including anxiety and irritability. She now takes two puffs of Clenil Modulite twice a day and she seems to have no ill effects from it. The reason the ventolin (salbutamol) makes them hyper is that it increases their heart rate. I have asthma and in bad episodes I've had to take 10 puffs of the ventolin inhaler and it makes you feel really shaky and restless. 10 puffs is the equivalent of a low dose nebuliser. To the

[onedayimightforget]

No idea where the "To the" came from.

[Lsf36]

Hi just reading all these after also googling bad behaviour on Clenil! Im afraid I struggled so much with the sudden change of behaviour, my Mum also minds my LG when I work and she is 70 so I hated leaving her to tell with it! I gradually stopped the Clenil (given for a persistent cough, shes 3yrs old) and she hasnt had any now for 48hrs but shes still wild!! Anyone know how long it takes to come out of your system? Before I go mad

[Lsf36]

*deal