Asthma Medication Side Effects

[lotusnepal]

My son has been on Asthalin rotohaler and Budecort 200 rotohalers for 6 years. He takes one rototab asthalin twice a day a day as well as 3 tabs Budecort a day. He has 10mg tab of antihistamine and and has just come off of a 14 day course of Montelucast. He is still coughing and doc says he needs another course of oral steroids to bring it under control (prednisone), the second time he has had to take this in the last six months. I am worried about the side effects of all this! Does anyone have any info on this? We live in Kathmandu which is very polluted (exhaust fumes). We are thinking of returning to the UK as last time we were there the symptoms we went away.

He's 10 by the way, and has been on asthalin and budecort since he was 4.

My GP advised us that the side effects of NOT taking the steroids would be long term decreased lung function and possibly death.....

(My brother never had steroids and has the lung capacity of someone 4'6" tall - he is almost 6' )

As I understand it, the dose of steroids in an inhaler is very low, and the oral steroids are only given for short periods. so go with GP advise. My son has been on steroid inhaler since he was 4 and is one of the biggest fittest kids in his class.

Thanks - that's reassuring to know. I was really anxious about the second dose of prednisone. It's hard to talk this over with people in Nepal as no-one seems to understand how serious asthma can be, family keep telling me to try ayurvedic medicine. How do you measure lung function by the way?

My son had an asthma crisis recently and was on prednisone for 3 days, off for 3 days, then on again for 5 days.

Lung function test for him was done on a treadmill! But he is nearly 50.

Our sons may well outgrow their asthma once they hit puberty. :D

by him (lung function) I meant my brother, I don't have a 50 year old son!!

What are his triggers?

Do you know why they gave montelukast for 14 days? Was it to see if it made a difference (with a view to starting it long-term?)

I wouldn't worry too much about the pred. The benefits to taking the steroids far outweigh any potential side effects IMO.

My Ds at 6yrs. old was cured of bad asthma (i hated the way the steroids made him fat and bad tempered) by giving up dairy products and chinese medicine also the Buteyko method (closed mouth breathing basically).

@HattiFattner -- hoping he will outgrow it like he did milk protein and egg allergy!
@MrsPles I think his triggers are car exhaust and house dust, but something in dust in Kathmandu that isn't there in the UK. It's ever so dusty here & polluted. Montelukast doc gave to see if adding that would get rid of his cough. It didn't! It was a 14 day course, no change at all.
@ppeatfruit -- my son has put on weight and I wondered if it was the steroids. We are doing yoga breathing hope it will help a bit.
Thanks for your help everyone.

Prednisole is a serious steroid: I've had to take it twice in 20 years as I also have asthma. My asthma is now under control and I don't take Beclomethasone any more (steroid inhaler) after doing a Buteyko course. It was a nightclass (I think 4 evenings) and what an eye opener. I actually wouldn't have believed the results if I hadn't been there myself. Google it, try it; there's nothing to lose (except for the big Pharma companies who HATE anything that doesn't involve them)

Lotusnepal - lung function tests (spirometry - sp?) at the hospital will measure lung function, check key issues with physique of lung etc. Perhaps something to ask for if you have access to a respiratory clinic there? It took me several hospital admissions for asthma before I had tests, discovered I had a gas diffusion issue and inhalers changed accordingly. The Buteyko breathing technique is meant to be good - a local Gp recommended it to me, if you can find a trainer. But I was told this may reduce use of prednisolone and hospital admissions, not need for preventer inhalers!

what is buteyko?
i have taken steroid inhalers for 25 years now and cant breathe through my nose properly. would love to be able to

Buteyko is not a medicine but a breathing technique. Not available on NHS but my Gp who is the asthma specialist told me it was good technique to learn and a few sessions with a trainer would make all the difference. Worth searching for Buteyko on the internet to see if any trainers near you?

There were people on my course who were much younger than me and who had much worse asthma than I had. The results I witnessed from some of these people were incredible (and I'm a cynic). It costs such a little amount to go on one of these courses...I can't actually remember how much. We all just keep taking these damned drugs withouth thinking about an alternative.

There is no advertising for Buteyko because there are NO DRUGS involved. Therefore no drugs companies are interested. There is no money in Buteyko and yet for many, many people it gives incredible results. No results however for the drugs companies who would rather keep it all quiet.

ihatethecold - one of the first things on the course I went to was the Buteyko teacher showing us how to breath again through our noses. I was completely blocked up (especially through the colder months of the UK). To be able to breathe through the nose again was such a major deal for me (and yet it's such a simple one when you learn about Buteyko)

Buteyko method

The NHS (for UK people) has, and are, looking at it www.gponline.com/Press_Release/article/931790/Buteyko-Breathing-Therapy-NHS/

To have got this far is amazing considering there are no big Pharma companies involved. I believe there are also schools somewhere in the UK who practice Buteyko. I live overseas now and practice, quietly, myself. There's no cost involved, only patience.

www.buteyko.info/media_articles.asp?newsid=11

Amazing.

thanks for the links, i have had a quick look but am at work at the mo so will delve deeper tomorrow.

IMO & E if we all taught our D.C's the Buteyko method to 'nose breathe':just gently close their mouths when they 're asleep. And cut right down on dairy products there'd be hardly any asthma!!

OP - It's usually the dustmites in dust that is the trigger. They breed faster in warmer environments which would make sense. Have you tried anti-allergy bedding? We've gone for no carpets/soft furnishings which has certainly improved dd's asthma.

Do they do allergy testing? Dustmite allergy is pretty standard in the allergy tests over here. If you knew the triggers you should stand a better chance of avoiding/minimizing them which would go some way to helping.

I hope the pred calms things down for you :)

If he's requiring repeated courses of oral steroids then his underlying anti-inflammatory therapy probably isn't sufficient. At 10 he could have a long acting beta agonist such as salmeterol, in conjunction with an inhaled steroid.

Why did he only have 14 days of montelukast? Did he experience any benefit from it?

Asthma is an inflammatory disease - breathing techniques such as Beteyko Technique can aid the management of symptoms but it is potentially dangerous to stop therapies (especially inhaled corticosteroids) without proper assessment and supervision.

Sorry for typo meant Buteyko.