Flixotide as preventative treatment in 16 month old?

[broguemum]

OK, DS has just been prescribed flixotide as a preventative measure. He is wheezing at the moment and coughs a lot at night - it's nearly a permanent thing actually. He's had bronchitis about 4 times, pneumonia once and 'flu once. He is 16 months old. I have just read up about on flixotide on the web and according to the information I have found it should not be prescribed to children under 4 years old and can have growth retardation effects if used over a long period of time!!!! However, I have not found a definition of a long period of time and so am assuming that 6 weeks is not a long period.

Well, from what I read on the web, I am not sure that I want my son to have this stuff but I want him to be treated for his wheezing and persistent night time coughing. I have de-dusted his room. There are no carpets. I have bought new curtains. What else can I do? Dust covers for the mattress and duvet? New duvet? GAH!!!!!

I'm not a doctor. How can I judge from information I have found on the internet as to whether what the doctor has prescribed is the best for my son? I hate this. I really do. Sorry - just needed to rant but if anyone out there has any experience of flixotide and preventative treatment for bad wheezing and coughing please speak up - I'd love to hear from you.

I've been on flixotide for over 15 years and it really got my asthma sorted, but I am nearly 35! Becotide didn't work. Did the doctor mention the other preventatives? They usually start with becotide but I am not a doctor either .

I don't know if that is any help though but didn't want you to go unanswered.

Thanks for the post luckywinner. It is comforting to hear that you've been taking it for 15 years with no ill effects. YOu know what it is like when you start looking at medical websites - even though I have a biology degree I get lost and then start worrying.

DS has not been diagnosed as asthmatic yet since he is so young but I fear it is just a question of time. He has one asthmatic grandparent and 3 asthmatic uncle/aunts. No other preventatives have been mentioned (yet!).

I did just have a look on netdoctor and it said that flixotide is not licensed in use for children under 4 so perhaps it might make you feel better to go back to your doctor, just to put your mind at rest. What dosage and how often does he have to take it?

I have had v serious asthma since a similar age to your ds and I have got through it ok, apart from a couple of bad attacks. It is worrying though and those websites always make you feel worse!

One thing that used to help me was my mum used to prop my pillows up a little bit at night. And she got rid of any feather pillows, duvets etc.

Thanks for your comments luckywinner.

Right, I've just waded through the whole of packaging information (in German so is heavy going) and the dose that he is on is licensed in Luxembourg but not in the other countries it is distributed in???!!! We're in Lux BTW.

He is on the dose for children between 1 and 4 years - 100 microgramme twice a day given via a babyhaler thingie.

I should keep off the internet when it comes to health things. I get nervous and wonder if we're going to be the one in 10,000 that gets the serious side effects. Must think positively.

Ah I see! Didn't realise you weren't UK! The spacer you were given (the babyhaler thingy ) is also used to lessen even more the potential side effects so that might make you feel better.

It worked wonders for me so I hope that it helps your ds. They obviously thought it was the best thing for him and I think the side effects relate to high dosage and prolonged use.

I could tell you a story about what happened to my kids on flixotde but it might not be what you want to hear. They were on very high doses at the time though so high it was double the safe adult dose. Is flixotide the first inhaler he's been on? My kids were only put onto it when all other preventers failed and when DD recently went back onto preventers Flixotide was quite a way down the list of drugs to try.

smudge - I just want to hear about flixotide - good or bad. Flixotide is the first preventer he's been on and he is on a pretty low dose. We go back to the pead next week for a progress check.

Flixotide switched off my son's adrenal glands and supressed my DD's adrenal function to very low levels. They were some of the first children to use Flixotide and had huge problems with their asthma. We were switched to Flixotide as we were told it was a safer medicine than Becotide.

We did not know what harm the flixotide was doing until one Friday evening when he came home from school with a tummy bug. By 10am on Saturday morning we were in the Resus room of our local A&E with a very sick son who was seizuring uncontrollably and no-one knowing what the problem was. Luckily DS was part of a study programme for teh drug an dhis Consultant realised what the problem might be and treated him, until DS came off Flixotide he had to be admitted to hospital every time he vomitted, had diarrhoea or was in an accident likely to cause shock. He was one of the first people to suffer from this side effect but a few weeks later a child in Scotland died from the same side effect. It happens in less than 0.01% of people but it still happens.

DD also had her growth restricted and that has been linked to Flixotide (but it is also a linked to poorly controlled asthma).

Oh my God. Smudge - I hope that your DCs are OK now and have suffered no long term damage. I don't know what else to say - hope the asthma control is working.

DS has another appointment with the paed in the coming week and the use of flixotide will be reviewed then. The doctor wants to keep him on it for 6 weeks initially and then a reduced does for another few weeks and then off for the summer. We will see.

Incidentally, what do you do to control asthma? A friend of mine has just bought a HEPA filter thing - do they help?

eek sorry to join this thread but my son is on Flixotide (nearly 4) and slighly alarmed to hear that it's not for kids under 4. He was prescribed it by his consultant at St Georges, London in January this year. He has also been on Montelukast for the last 2 years but that with just the brown preventer was not doing the job so the consultant decided to change to Flixotide. DS has had viral induced asthma sice he was about a year old. It is not something that is normally prescribed as the 1st preventer and I think only an asthma specialist can make that decision.

We brought DS off Montelukast three weeks ago mainly to see if we don't need it anymore and so far he has been OK with just the Flixotde (ie still gets a cough with a cold and we have to use Salbutamol) but we have not had the same mad dashes to A&E as we have in the past when he has started to draw in.

The Flixotide is a very low does 2 x a day (50 micrograms). Interestingly we saw the consultant today - she was very keen to bring down the dose of Flixotide to only one puff a day over the summer and if necessary re-introduce the Montelukast rather than up the Flixotide so I;m guesing they don;t like to use it in that high a dose. What we have been told is that immediately after we administer it we must get DS to brush his teeth so as not to ingest it. That was the same for the brown one we also had before that.

I am going to do a bit more investigating now I have read this topic.

eveningall - flixotide 50mg is licensed for children between 1 and 4 yrs - at least in Luxembourg it is. Sorry if I made you panic. When I posted originally I had found something on the net that suggested it wasn't but I have looked again and have seen that it is - I don't know about other countries though. I'm still worried about using it and will be doing quite a bit more googling to see what I can find.

You know how it is, I want to trust my son's doctor but need to know that DS is being given the appropriate treatment.

Broguemum - don't worry - it's good to talk to other people who have similar experiences since it seems that asthma treatments vary so much.

I do trust my son's consultant but you still need to question things and I agree, finding out about these drugs is important.

I did some research on Montelukast and again it has its side effects, but for a while it was effective on its own as a preventer

From what I have read about Flixotide it does seem to be very effective at controlling the asthma. I'm hoping that DS grows out of it so we can ditch all these drugs.

Good luck!

My DC's doses were 4x250mg twice a day so incredibly high doses. Added to that their asthma was so bad they would still need courses of oral steroids thrown in to keep them under control. At the time it was a case of the lesser of two evils.

DS is now almost asthma free and his adrenals now work fully on their own. He sometimes needs a ventolin inhaler when he trains or competes but DD is back onto a full regime after a couple of years managing on just ventolin before exercise.