Anyone Familiar with Pulmicort

Hi M.,
I am not familiar with Pulmicort but I am familiar with digging a little deeper than what the doctor says about issues with childrens' health issues. First I would read everything, conventional and naturalpathic I could find. My example for this is the following. My daughter, who is 30 now, had bladder infections when she was 3 years old. Our GP said this was highly unusual for a 3 year old and initially treated it with antibiotics which seemed right to me for two rounds of antibiotics. After that he sent us to a specialist. My little sweetie went through kidney and bladder x-rays and a cystoscopy. The urologist said her ureathra was too narrow and she wasn't emptying all the way. I accepted this for way too long. I did ask him on several occasions if it could have anything to do with our water since we had a well at our home. He said no and told me she would just be one of those unfortunate girls who are plagued with a lifetime of bladder issues and to continue with the antibiotics. I monitored her myself and had the dose down to 1/4 tsp a day which seemed to keep any infection away. Then we moved out of our home because of my husband's job, just for a few months and I ran out of her medication. Amazingly, she didn't need it. I had her tested and her bladder was just fine. (we now had city water) Hmmm...THEN we moved back into our home and within 3 weeks she had a full blown bladder AND kidney infection. I decided to take her to an osteopathic doctor, one who treats the whole system, and asked him about the well water issue. His response was totally different. He said absolutely it could be the well water. We treated her infection, got it cleared and never gave her well water, only bottled water, and she NEVER had another bladder issue again. He determined that there was some little micro germ in our well that HER system couldn't handle.
So many children have asthma and after my experience, even though it wasn't asthma, I would recommend going to a clinical nutritionist to find the source, rather than just treating the symptoms. One little food allergy could trigger a lifetime of unnecessary drugs and treatments. It could be something simple. I do have a name of a good one in Grosse Pointe if you would like to email me back, I would be happy to share. My thoughts are with you!

1 mom found this helpful

We use it with our 1 year old (got at about 6 months) and use as needed. I have not seen any of those side effects. It seems to be fairly effectife when we do use. We haven't had to use for any more than about 2 weeks continously.

J.

These horror stories are just unfounded in 'normal' children. There is an underlying issue or allergy that causes this type of reaction. In reality, the dose of steroids in Pulmicort is a fraction of the dose he would get in a prescribed liquid steroid, which is commonly prescribed. Both my youngest sons have asthma issues, the 4 year old has outgrown it, the 2 year old is still in the thick of it. We use pulmicort and xopenex on an as needed basis. You have to weigh the risk/benefit ratio. Sure, in a perfect situation you wouldn't want to give your son meds...but it sounds like you have to, as I do sometimes. Breathing isn't optional and you have to preserve lung function in these little guys so when they do (hopefully) outgrow this business, they don't have lasting issues. I applaud you for doing your research. We always have pulmicort on hand just in case, though, and it has been a life saver at times. As far as the expense, your insurance should cover it but don't be afraid to ask your doc for samples. We always have samples of hundreds of meds in our medical office. Take advantage of them!

~L.

My 1 year old was on this for about 6 months and we didn't have any negative side effects (other than dealing with the actual nebulizer). The good news is that after having used this medication, we have never needed to have another breathing treatment since (no more wheezing). I'm sure that there are tons of stories - both positive and negative, as each child is different. If there is the possibility that it could help your son, I'd suggest just keeping a very watchful eye for the side effects that you've mentioned.

M. ~ We have been using this on our (almost) 2year old without issue since he was about 9 months old. We use it on an "as needed" basis. Here is a link to another post about Pulmicort with MANY responses including my own experience. Good luck to you and your family.

http://www.mamasource.com/request/12669032144601874433

~ V.

Hi M.,

I understand your worries when I learned my son had to use it I was a little leary at first. He is 9 now but at the time he was 2. They wanted me to give it to him once a day. I did in the beginning w/ no side effects. However, his asthma got better w/ the years and I only give it to him on an as needed basis. When I can tell he may be getting sick. It usually will knock the symptoms right out if I catch it on time.

Hope this helps.

I have 2 children on poukmicort every day. One has your full blown aszema. The other has bronciltal azsema. They take singular every day and now two puffs a day on pulmicort. They don't have a change in behavor nor weight. One of them is overweight anyway always has been has nothing to do with the medication. If I pulled her off she still be big. So all I can say is follow your gut and what is saying. If your not sure than don't but I have an extremly good caring pediatrician that doesn't lead me wrong. He treats my children as if they where his. I hope I could help.

Hi M.!
Whe I read this I HAD to respond!!! I have 3 kids-my 2 sons are 5 and 8 with TONS of allergies and asthma. Our ped. put them on pulmicort and albuteral through a nebulizer(we call it the breathing machine) and she wanted me to give them EVERY DAY Oct.-April then as needed! DON~T DO IT! I do it ONLY as needed. She also gave them the liquid instead of antibiotics and my 8 yr. (6 at the time) went from this sweet sweet boy to someone COMPLETELY different! Weight gain, cried ALOT very moody! It was sad! I talked to her about it and she said "yes-it`s normal, just keep him on it!"
WTH????? So, I took him off it and if he gets bronchitis-which I`m sure yours does too very easily with allergies--I use the nebulizer machine at first signs-and I will put the pulmicort init and do it for a couple days along with the albuteral.
After about 2 years of this and her keep telling me to get the liquid steriod(EVEN FOR EAR INFECTIONS) I left and started taking them to out family DR. I do believe in a steroid for a 1 time thing but not what you`re talking about! You won`t even recognize your own child if you do this!