Posted by Tracy, mom of steroid 'king' on June 18, 1999 at 09:33:27:
In Reply to: Prolonged use of oral steroids and atrovent in nebulizers posted by Denise Ra;y on June 17, 1999 at 10:49:19:
Hi Denise
I haven't posted here in a while, but had to respond to your
post. My son has severe BPD. He is a little over 2 years old
and has been on oral steroids DAILY since he was 4 months old.
He has just recently been able to tolerate a slight taper due to
a new monthly infusion he receives of a steroid-sparing drug. He
has not had a day without them for almost 2 years now.
He also gets albuterol and atrovent nebs 3 times a day every day.
He is also on a nebulized steroid that is not FDA-approved yet.
He has been on that for about 4 months and before that was on the
maximum dose of a different inhaled steroid through an aerochamber
for about a year or so. I think the little guy earns the title
'steroid king'. If he has no setbacks, he will hopefully be off by
the first of next year.
Side effects - he is very short - at least 5 inches shorter than his
twin. He also has a puffy face. It isn't so bad now, but before his
taper started he was on very large doses and he looked like a sumo
wrestler.
He has not had any side effects to his eyes, we get eye exams every
6 months. Other side effects include hypertension, diabetes,
and osteoporosis. My son is on Tums daily to prevent that. He is
also immunosuppressed.
Yes, Atrovent can affect the eyes. Our pulmonologist said that it is
along the same lines as the stuff they use to dilate the eyes for
an exam. He does get wide-eyed sometimes after a treatment, but
this is only short term.
Like another post mentioned, usually the reason for needing the
steroids is worse than the side effects. My son's steroids allow
him to live at home with us instead of the hospital.
Oh, also he is still on oxygen 24 hours a day and also takes
Singulair that was mentioned in another post.
Good luck and if you have any questions, feel free to email.
Tracy