Another mom question - asthma meds and behavior issues

ryanthegirl

I'm just full of inquiries that last few days...

For those of you who have children with asthma and/or bronchial issues - have you noticed any nasty side effects from Singulair? G was put on the chewable pill about 3 months ago and I can't tell if his behavior is typical 2.5 year old stuff or if he's experiencing some side effects or if it's a combination of both.

The rational part of me says it's typical 2.5 year old stuff but it also seems a little coincidental that some of the more challenging behaviors started about 3 weeks after he started this medication.

Casey has been medicated for asthma for most of his life and he had a lot of behavior/attention issues due to the medication he took back then, which admittedly has changed substantially over the years.

Reading the insert the behaviors he's displaying are listed in the "uncommon side effects" section - but also "uncommon" was classified as 1 in 100, which doesn't seem that uncommon to me! It's mostly limit-testing behavior, I think. Again, just trying to gain some perspective!

SPonchette

Asthma meds definitely affected DD's behavior but she was never on Singular which I think is a different kind of med.

Xoponex caused lots of hyperactivity in the first 1-2 hours after taking it. It was a bad cycle since she took the meds every 4 hours.

Pulmicort made her just plain angry but it's a steroid. She is usually pretty. even tempered and on those meds she would kick/hit/bite us. It's a maintenance med so we used this for almost a full year to prevent her asthma attacks and pneumonia.

It's hard to know for sure but I'd trust your gut on this. 2 1/2 is a tough age for sure where they want more independence but just can't do enough on their own. I remember a lot of frustration for both of my girls at 2 1/2. Have you asked your dr if there is another med you can try?

ryanthegirl

I haven't. It actually just occurred to me (after reading the THAT KID blog post that's been floating around) that his asthma meds could be causing some of the issues.

It's a lot of unprovoked aggression, not out of frustration, just walking up and hitting me, jumping on me, grabbing my hand as though he's going to bite me. I haven't noticed a pattern after I've given it to him b/c Singulair is to be given in the evening so I usually give it to him before his bath. 

AmandaJLewis

EJ was HORRID when she was on singulair.  We took her off of it and while she was still a 3 year old she wasn't throwing chairs over at daycare anymore. I saw a direct link between the medicine adn her behavior. She uses an inhaled steroid now, we were doing one in the nebulizer (forget its name now) but now she just has a puffer.

ryanthegirl

Oh my gosh, really? TBH, G has been pretty terrible but never thought to investigate medication side effects. We were originally told the he only needed to take it until "first frost" b/c his asthma is often a secondary reaction to allergies/hay fever.  Hmm. I'm definitely going to call his pediatrician.

Thank you!

AmandaJLewis

Well for your sake, I hope it is related It is an easy fix to some pretty terrible behavior. I wasn't sure if it was the meds at first either. I think it was Clare saying that G had a bad attitude on Singulair that made me consider it.  But daycare was sending home notes almost daily about her bad behavior.  But at the same time, the teacher in the room was really not all that great. So when I talked to the director she told me the teacher was leaving, and that EJ was spirited and that was ok. So we waited until she left and when EJ was still misbehaving we changed her meds and then noticed our EJ was back to her normal self.

MrsYam

My oldest has been on the chewable Singulair for 3 years now. She takes it before she goes to bed at night. I haven't noticed any behavior issues though. She's just your typical almost 6 year old. I'm not really a big fan of having my young child on a prolonged medication and I've tried to take her off of it several times. But, every time I do, the coughing and wheezing start up again. I hope you find the source of the bad behavior.