Dexamethasone and side effects - help!

[misty]

Hiya

Just had 3 nights from hell after DS2 was diagnosed with croup and given 6ml of dexamethasone. Helped the croup which was great, but he's now waking up 3-4 times a night and acting very strange - not with it, very very frightened, rubbing hands together excessively and banging his head. He's also been very moody in the day - very angry outbursts which are most unlike him.
Have looked at all the side-effects on the leaflet for this drug but nothing really covering the above.
Anyone else had any experiences like this? How long are the effects likely to last?
Thanks in advance.

Hi Misty,dexamethasone and other steroids can give a "high" with mood alterations,so I do not know if this could be what your son is experiencing.Certainly increased wakefulness could be an issue.I would mention this to GP as it sounds a bit distressing for you all HTH.(By the way I am not trained in paediatrics at all this is just from experience with adults,someone with better knowledge may be more helpful)

On wikipedia it says that it can cause psychological disturbances such as irritabilty, mania, euphoria, and personality changes.

If it gets really bad call the emergency doc, but it will go away once he gets it out of his system. Just keep and eye on him.

And I have had predisolone alot throughout childhood (a steroid) and would always feel high and be hyperactive and badly behaved with it. Never did any long lasting damage though (as I had it for short periods, like your DS)

Good luck xxx

thanks wrinklytum - are these effects usually short-term do you know? appreciate what you say re your experiences.

thanks shrooms - pretty frightening side effects really! I'm a bit cross the gp didn't mention any of these - I know the medicine was given for a good reason, just wish we had been a bit more prepared.

Pretty sure they will be short term

As Shrooms said once out of his system things should go back tonormal but it must be upsetting for you if he is not normally like this.It may be worth just informing your GP he has had these side effects.Steroids are brilliant in controlling symptoms but have pretty crappy side effects in some cases.DP is on 40mg prednisolone daily at the mo and is pretty Jekyll and Hyde,and I've nursed people on high dose steroids who have literally bounced off the walls.....

thanks so much for your reassurances

Hiya

Not sure it's the same thing, but I had dexamethosone when I was in hospital when pg with dd1 and they thought she was going to be born at 27 weeks. I had them once a week till I was about 34 weeks, by which time they said that her lungs should be developed enough and I didn't need them any more.

I definitely had side effects from them. I glowed red and was boiling hot as if I had a bad case of sunburn. I was also a bit manic: couldn't sleep (I would just sit up all night reading the night after I'd had them), tense, heart racing, etc. These side-effects were out of my system within 24 hours, but came back with the next dose (thankfully I had 5 'normal' days in between).

I'm not sure how comparable my experiences, as an adult, are to your ds's but I hope this helps.

My DH is on these steroids, the doctor told him to take in the morning as they cause problems with sleep. they do make DH moody too.