albuterol
MATTHEW E KRITZSTEIN
my daughter has a terrible cough, our pediatrician prescribed albuterol.
she is 4 months old. we have noticed an improvement in her condition, and
as he warned, she is much more hyper and it seems that her heart rate is a
little faster. is this normal or is there need for concern? are there any
otuer things i should know? thank you, matt k.
Paula Burch
Albuterol certainly makes the person using it more hyper, and it
causes insomnia.
Our younger son had a similar episode at age 5 months, diagnosed as
RSV (respiratory syncytial virus). We used an antihistamine to try to
calm him enough to sleep. He slept better even with the terrible
stimulant side-effect of the albuterol than without it, though,
because he had so much trouble breathing without it. We took turns
sitting up to hold him upright to sleep, as the upright position
helped him a great deal.
RSV can be quite serious. Watch out for extremely rapid respiration,
or for retractions when she breathes, which I think is when they are
straining so hard to breath that their ribs stand out. Call your
doctor and ask what to watch for. We were very grateful that the
albuterol worked well enough that our son did not end up in the
hospital. It was close, in his case.
Is she receiving the albuterol as a syrup or from a nebulizer? The
latter is what we used, and is vastly superior to the oral form, as it
requires less of the drug to relieve symptoms, so the side effects are
lessened. The nebulizer supplies the drug as a mist. The baby cries
when getting it, at first, because it's unfamiliar, but this at least
means deep breaths that take the drug deep into the lungs where it is
needed.
Many babies with RSV later go on to develop wheezing with other
illnesses. Ours did with his first ear infection after that, but never
again. RSV epidemics occur about every other year, if I recall
correctly, but in kids aged three and older, and in adults, it
manifests as no more than a cold.
Note that all of this is my opinion as a parent; I'm not a health care
provider.
--
Paula Burch
pbu...@bcm.tmc.edu
http://mbcr.bcm.tmc.edu/pburch.html or http://www.flash.net/~pburch/
Brewer
When my son was a baby and on the liquid albuterol he was very hyper. If I
gave it to him before bed he would lay in his crib for hours and bang his head
againist the crib.
>my daughter has a terrible cough, our pediatrician prescribed albuterol.
>she is 4 months old. we have noticed an improvement in her condition, and
>as he warned, she is much more hyper and it seems that her heart rate is a
>little faster. is this normal or is there need for concern? are there any
>otuer things i should know? thank you, matt k.