Asthma and ADHD

[Chicagomom]

My 10 year old daughter has both asthma and ADHD. Her asthma is brought on typically by respiratory infections; otherwise she is pretty well controlled. Winter is tough with all the colds milling around. It has been a real delicate balance managing her medications. She takes Vyvanse daily for ADHD and budesonide nightly for asthma. When she is symptomatic, we need to add albuterol which really increases her hyperactivity. I’ve talked to both her psychiatrist and pulmonologist and neither have good solutions. They just seem to want to focus on their specialty only, not looking at both diseases. Just wanted to see if there were others out there managing both ADHD and asthma and what was working for them. Thanks!

[STEM_Dad]

That's a really tough one. I know that many asthma medicines carry a warning that they "might cause excitability".

I see what you mean with the doctors focusing on their own specialty, not looking from the perspective that you have as a parent to treat the whole child.

Does your daughter have a personal care physician (pediatrician, family care doctor)? That would be the type of doctor who might be well positioned to take on the role of coordinating care with the others.

[El-Eektrified]

I have Asthma myself, always been hyperactive as a kid and adult - never thought about the asthma meds to be a possible root cause… but I did notice difficulties breathing when I was taking a high dose of stimulants, which also increased my intake of asthma medications.

Restlessness was an issue for me, so they introduced Guanfacine to my stimulant treatment and it was a solution to the restlessness and as a bonus my asthma and allergy related issues decreased. I still don’t understand why, but I guess doctors also don’t really understand the additional benefits.

[Coconut12346]

I have a 14 year old son that used to have mild asthma from about 3 years old to about 6 years old. His colds would linger for weeks, sometimes a month. The cough would be constant during the day and would get much worse in the evening. He had to sleep almost sitting in order to sleep a bit. The pediatrician prescribed albuterol and I had to go back to them because he would be 3 times more hyperactive than his normal. She had to change his medicine, she said this happens to some kids. I do not remember the medicine’s name, but I do remember the insurance did not cover it. We went ahead with the new medicine because albuterol just would irritate him too much. This all happened before he was diagnosed with ADHD. He was diagnosed at age 8 by the same pediatrician. She was the person that brought up testing him.