Prednisolone and other things!

Hi! Our 3 yr old son, Leo has asthma (usually has a 'bad' week every 6 weeks or so, come rain or shine!) and has just recovered from yet another awful week of it. My question is what is the longest course of prednisolone have any of your children had, not incuding those on maintenance? I am concerned because Leo has this time been given a 7 day course of it at 40mg a day. Not only that but it is the 5th time (or 6th, I lose track) he has had a course in the last 10 months and it says in the information leaflet it shouldn't be given to children more than twice in one year. The other times he had either 3 or 4 day courses depending on how poorly he was.

He is small for his age (13.5kg) which again worries me slightly as the dose seems a lot for his size and I have lost faith in our GP.

Luckily he has been referred to paeds at last but was just wondering if anyone else has had similar experiences?

Thanks!

Rebecca

[angievere]

Hi Becx, My son (now 14) has had a lot of courses of prednisolone over the years. The longest course was probably about 15 days, he started off on 40mg for a week and then tapered down. It's not ideal of course, but preferable to bad asthma.

My son was also underweight for his age (always on the lower percentile) and didnt eat very well for years. He's still very slim but he suddenly shot up and put on weight in his teens. The last year or so has seen a marked improvement in his asthma. Colds are his main trigger (also mine) and we both take extra vit C and a multi vitamin. If you dont already, it might be worth your giving Leo extra vits - anything to help really.

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Hi Angie, thanks for your reply, it is great to hear from someone who's child is a few years down the line! Yes, the multivitamins are a great idea, I did try him with some quite a while ago but he refused to eat it, but I'm sure now he is older I can convince him it is a sweet and hopefully he'll gobble it up! Leo's asthma is always triggered by colds, etc, even the slightest sniffle sets him off so I'm sure extra vitamins will help this and also help with his nutrition.

Thanks again!

Rebecca