Does anyone have any info on giving a child oral Albuterol. She has a seemingly productive cough but no other cold symptoms. Doctor told me it was a virus and prescribed oral Albuterol. Pharmacist said that it would make her hyper but I wasnt prepared for how hyper she would become. It is like having a baby on speed. I would consider stopping the treatment but want to know if anyone has similiar situation. Doctor seemed to have diagnosed her in 20 seconds. Any thoughts? Thanks!
As a pediatrician, I can tell you that wheezing and cough are common symptoms, but do not always mean your child has asthma. Oral albuterol is no longer recommended treatment for asthma for the reason you have discovered...the side effects are terrible and it doesn't help the cough much. If you're going to use albuterol, use the inhaled form ie puffer or nebuliser, with a mask. If it helps, go ahead and use it, if not, just stop. Albuterol is a safe medication in children but obviously you only want to use what you need.
If it's a virus, the wheeze should improve after a few days but teh cough may persist. The way to tell an asthma 'cough' is that it's worse at night. If it's worse during the day, it's probably just a virus. Viruses tend to trigger asthma so it's sometimes hard to know the difference.
My advice is definitely stop the oral albuterol, see how your daughter is and if the cough is still there, especially at night, try inhaled albuterol (you can now only get Xoponex)
6 months old,20 sec. diagnoses, Albuterol? That seems a bit excessive for a 6mo.old. I would ask for a referal to a nose and throat doctor. This would eliminate any structual issues and they deal with resp. problems also. I think she is a bit to young to be giving that to for a virus,(in my opinion). Get that second opinion.
Our pedi had Connor on the albuterol for a productive cough also.(At 5 months) We gave it to him before he took his last bottle of the night and he did not have any problem sleeping. We were not able to give it to him as "often" as the suggested doses, but did try to give it to him once during they day, again, when it seemed he was sleepy. As long as we gave it to him before a nap or bedtime he was fine and we did not have "hyper"issues. It cleared up the chest congestion.
Call your doctor with your concerns and tell him how she is reacting to the medicine. If he says everything is fine, then I would think of it as that speed baby is probably better than baby that can't breathe/oxygenate easily.
My son is asthmatic, though doesn't have any issues with his albuterol.
I will say this though; whenever I don't understand why my sons doctor is drawing the conclusions he is, I ask. If I disagree with him, I tell him so. And then I do what I want to. Here's a good example-Matthew had pneumonia and had a series of chest xrays done. It was viral and there wasn't a whole lot we could do about it. Breathing treatments, but that was it. One day he seems to really be struggling for air, so I call the doctor and he says "take him to the hospital". Okay.
Get to the hospital, a doc in the ER is trying to tell me its croup, give him another breathing treatment. I say thats BS, he has pneumonia, and he says "we'll start IV antibiotics" which at that point I felt like he was trying to shut me up. To which I say, the hell you are, its viral pneumonia and you aren't giving him antibiotics, get me a different doctor.
I got a different doctor, they kept him overnight for observation, rehydrated him, and sent us on our way. I think a lot of people assume doctors know everything and are afraid to challenge their thoughts, but medicine is as much an art as a science. YOU know your child better than anyone. If you aren't comfortable with the meds, stop them. Dimetap works great on coughs, try a small dose of it instead of the albuterol. And I'll add this, when my sons cough is non productive and he has a runny nose, its almost always because his nose is running that he's coughing. Dry up the nose and the cough will stop.
Mom knows best okay, don't ever doubt yourself with your childs health.
My 20 month old is on that too, and we now are giving it only before 4 pm for the same "speed" reason. He runs himself into a frenzy and freaks out all night...Yes, the cough and the wheezing goes away, but he has the jitters all night!
All I can say is good luck (and when is the cold season over!). I plan to at least finish the doses my boy was prescribed.
Our daughter is the same age and she was on level albuterol which was given through the enebeulizer (sp). It worked really well her wheezing went away in a couple days along with the cough she was having bronchial spasms.
There is a medicine on the market similar to Albuterol called Xopanex (ZO-pa-nex). It works the same way only it doesn't cause the hyperactivity and rapid heart rate. Pediatricians use it a lot on little kids and elderly people. Might check with your pedatrician, since she had such a reaction.
Another great little trick I learned is to rub your baby's feet with Vicks Vapo rub. Sounds dumb, I know, but it works like a charm... almost immediately. Has to do with the reflex points on your feet that connect to the rest of your body. Make sure you focus on the ball of the foot. I have asthma and it works great for adults too!
Good luck!
Jaime
Encyclopedia for Health and Natural Healing for Children by M. Weber.
MY son who is six months was put on it too. His cough was bad and had trouble breathing. He is doing great now. It took a few days. I did do the treatment every four hours during the day and then only if he had trouble breathing at night. It ddid make him a little more up for a little bit. Meaning 30 or so minutes not bad and that fact that he was able to breath better made me happy. Just do not give a treatment to close to bed. Good luck it works and mine is doing great and no treatment in a few days.
Meghan
Hi Liz.
Sorry for what you're going through. It can be so scary. My son has relatively mild asthma and he can get a little nutty on albuterol, but not too severe. However, I belong to a yhoo group that has a lot of mothers with small children on a lot of meds. These women can probably offer you a lot of experienced advice. The group is
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Families_Dealing_with_Asthma/
Hope this helps. Micki
I am a mother of 5 I would get a 2nd opinion. There are other meds besides Albutero, like cobavent. I would defntly check with a nother doc
Geri W.
My 9 month old has the RSV virus right now and the doctor prescribed albuterol -- but we first took it through the nebulizer and then through an inhaler with a special mask-contraption on the end designed for babies. I would say that his heart rate went way up but he wasn't too hyper. Maybe the inhaled version would be better.
Liz,
My youngest son was put on this also.
I don't remember him getting hyper but then when I think on it I think he was younger.
From what I understand albuterol is mostly used for asmatic children. In older children in usually is percriped in an inhaler (I know this because my same child now has the puffer)
I am not big on medication if I can steer away from it.
Something you can try-and maybe it will sound canny, if you don't want to give her the medication and you don't want her hyper you could rub vick vapo rub all over the bottom of her feet and the put socks on her. That should stop her from coughing completely. You may have to reapply a couple times throughout the course but it's always worked.
I am not a dr. but I am a little surprised that they gave you albuterol for a virus cough...
Best wishes to you and hope you find something that works!
Shawna-michigan
dash_02@netzero.com
My son was on liquid Albuterol at 6 months, as well. They might as well give you baby Ritalin to minimize the side effects! Unfortunately, my son developed RSV a couple of weeks later and had to start a nebulizer. Albuterol in the steam/mist form doesn't have the same side effects as the oral form.
My son was put on the same stuff and I had the same problems with him being hyper, but he could breath so much better. I would try to wait it out.
My sons have both been put on it at different times. They are oldern now ,4 and 2. I cannot give the 2 year old the dose that is close to his bed time because it makes him hyper. Hope this helps. Yes, it makes my kids nuts!
Albuterol makes my 4 year old son(his asthma started at 7 months) crazy so he now takes xopenex. I would ask the Dr about the side effects maybe they will try something different. However, I would not stop the medicine altogether because if your daughter is wheezing she really needs it. Wheezing in young babies is scary and should be treated otherwise they could end up in the hospital like my son did when he was 9 months old.
If the Dr says to continue the albuterol you could try some calming activities after she takes it. I would read to my son this always helped. Maybe you could try giving her a bath to help relax her.
STOP treatment immediately and call your doctor. The nedicine couldbe causing her heart to race. It's unacceptable to diagnose so quickly. Trust your instincts.