daily antihistamines on top of existing asthma meds?

Hi All

Any of your little ones take a daily anti histamine as well as their other meds?

My 12 year old recently had further allergy tests and he reacted to dust, cats, flowering trees, mold and grass.

Just received a letter this morning asking us to get a prescription from GP for a daily anti histamine.

He already takes - seretide 250 2 puffs twice a day, montelukast 5mg, calcichew (vit D), he also has to have hydrocortisone tablets in case of fever sickness etc.

I know they mentioned he may be more on the allergic side and an antihistamine may help but they were originally talking of trying wean him off the steroid inhaler as it has affected his adrenal function!

Rambling really - sorry! I suppose I'm just wondering if it's quite common to take daily antihistamines as well as the other stuff. (we have an appointment on 23rd but she wants this to start now)

Thanks

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I take anti histamines every day as I'm allergic to dust mites and most of the ones you mentioned , as well as plenty of asthma meds for brittle asthma. I'm sure it's common and doesn't affect other medication taken.

[juliesharp]

I have taken a daily antihistamine for years found it dramatically improves my asthma and I really notice difference if I forget one. If the first brand of antihistamine does not work there are many to try.

Antihistamines should help with other medication reduction - it certainly did for me.

Hope he gets better with antihistamine.

[Hidden]

Daily antihistamines are very common, good idea for any allerigc asthmatic, and it shouldnt be a thing with lods of side effects. SHould help control things better.

I'm a bit concerned about the hydrocortisone thing. Seretide is the worst inhaler for adrenal supression. A high dose in kids is more likely to cause issues. My endocrinologist says I'm not allowed to take anything with fluticasone in it (I had initially been on 2xseretide 250 twice a day, and an extra 2xfluticasone 250 twice a day) and she reckons thats why my adrenal glands are so useless now. But then I also took a LOT of high dose steroid tablets. Thing is - if his adrenals ARE supressed, then he should be on hydrocortisone everyday, not just when he's sick, but if his adrenals AREN'T supressed then he shouldn't take extra when he's ill because that would increase the risk of adrenal supression. So I'm struggling to see why he'd be prescribed hydrocortisone just for when he is ill. My worry is that if this has been organised by a respiratory consultant (ie not an endicrinologist) then they might not quite have got it right - I get the issue with my resp cons all the time that he doesnt understand how to properly manage my steroids. Standard hydrocortisone regimes for those who are adrenally supressed would be 10mg hydro on waking, 5mg at midday and 5mg at 6pm (possibly a little earlier in a kid - never more than 6hrs apart) and some people take an extra dose very late at night - but for those who have secondary adrenal supression (caused by taking too many steroids) the nighttime dip can be a chance to test the adrenals to encourage them to 'wake up'. THat's on a normal day, and then with illness or stress you would double each dose. In the case of vomiting you'd normally immediately take a 20mg dose of hydro (or double the morning dose) and if that dose is vomited back up then you would inject 100mg hydrocortisone and call an ambulachariot! If your son is under an endicrinologist, and you trust them, and they've explained their logic etc then its fine, but if he isnt under an endocrinologist then you migh want to ask for him to be reffered! Has he had a short synacthen test? If not he needs one to determine definitively whether he's adrenally supressed!

[yaf_user681_15459]

Hi,

My daughter sounds like she's on similar meds to your son. She's on seretide 250, maintenance pred, daily hydrocortisone, as well as reliever inhalers, antibiotics, calcichew and she also takes montelukast and anti histamines. She is fine on them along with the other meds.

(She also has severe adrenal insufficiency)

Hope all turns out well at the appointment