New to website - Insomnia

My son is 20 months old and has been on inhalers since about 6 months old (although the doctor refused to call it asthma becuase he was under 1!) and has been on antibiotics and steroids a number of times. He coughs a lot, gets a very runny noise and his chest gets very rattly and wheezy. I have had to fight for every piece of information I have been given by the doctor as they seem to just hand you the drugs and expect you to get on with it! He is a very active child and they assume that because he is still running around he is OK. He has never been a particularly good sleeper but recently has been waking nearly every night for anything between 1 and 3 hours for no apparent reason (no coughing or wheezing). I have just read that there may be a link between the Becotide inhaler (he has been put on a 100mcg becotide inhaler recently).and insomnia and wondered if anyone else had experienced this and if you have any tips on how to combat it. My husband and I are currently walking around like zombies!

Sorry about all the moaning but it's nice to know you'll be able to moan to people who will understand rather than being treated like an nuisance mother!

Thanks

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hi

Hi,

sorry to hear of the problems you are having, but I can relate to the thought that it may be the inhaler causing the sleepness nights. My son was recently put on becatide, about 3 weeks ago, he now rarely sleeps during the day and then sleeps between 11-13 hours a night. Wonderful yes, but a total contrast to how he was before, he would sleep 2 hours in the day and then 11 hours a night. We have also found that when on the soluble steroids, he is uncontrolable. Behaviour is awful and we can not manage him. There have been side effects, of reading the instructions like hyperactivity and hallucinations, which I may say is making your little one wake up, bad dreams or something similar. We are finding that Joseph is now adjusting to his new lifestyle, and eventually collapses into a deep sleep with exhaustion. Sorry can not offer any advice, but just thought it may help to know that yes we think that inhalers may have huge impacts on little ones too.

Catherine

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Insomnia

HI Catherine,

Thanks for the reply. It does help to know we're not the only ones who are walking around like zombies! The doctor has reduced his Becotide recently and (fingers crossed) he seems to have improved somewhat. He still wakes most nights but only for a few minutes rather than 2-3 hours. Hopefully this will continue!

Sasha