Steroid Nose Spray

I know what you are going through. I fought medicating my daughter for allergies for so long until one doctor helped put it into perspective for me. I could choose not to medicate and she would get a congested nose and the fluid would back up and go behind her ears causing sore throats and possibly ear infections and then she would have to get on antibiotics OR I could get her on allergy meds (right now Singulair and Nasonex) and not have fluid build up.. I can tell a big difference in her breathing at night when we forget or run out of one of the medications.

My nearly 13 year old had chronic ear infections as an infant. Our chiropractor did something she called "endonasals." Essentially, the chiro used her fingers to "tip" the Eustachian (ear) tube to drain the fluid out. This required her to put her fingers way in the back of my son's mouth, often triggering his gag reflex. The drained fluid then went down the back of the throat. She called that "dinosaur water" because it tasted nasty. I know all this because I have ear issues, too, and got them right along with my son.

Effective? You bet! We were at the ENT, ready to schedule ear tube surgery, when we discovered endonasals. Against the ENT's wishes, we negotiated three months with the chiro to see if they'd work. Our very skeptical ENT was amazed at how well things cleared up and surgery was canceled. Our pediatrician even met with the chiro to learn more and often recommended the chrio over antibiotics.

As for antihistamines, I give my 13 year old (also a seasonal allergy sufferer) loratidine (sp?) for an antihistamine (adult strength). It's an over the counter one and doesn't seem to make him drowsy. I also take it. Interestingly, it doesn't work for my husband who has to take a different antihistamine. The stuff my husband takes knocks me and my son out. Go figure.

Good luck. Ears are a tough business.

Steriods, long-term in large doses, are not good for the body (unless needed to deal with something even worse for the body) and can cause physical and behavior changes and sleep disturbances. But sometimes they are the best alternative, since other drugs also have potential side effects, and the sprays (nasal and lung) are tiny, focused doses, placed just where they are needed. They calm/soothe the tissues locally, and little-to-none makes it into the bloodstream.

I haven't had to give steroids to kids, but have used the lung inhaler daily, and the nasal spray occasionally, for over 15 years. I might not be alive without them – I have had unendurable side effects from almost every other drug I've tried. I have never had a noticeable side effect from either steroid spray.

Every person is different, and what works for one will be a bad solution for someone else. If my kids were suffering, I'd try pediatric doses of a number of things, as recommended by the doctors who have the training. Most of the time, a drug is dropped or reduced after the symptoms are under control, and if undesirable effects begin to show up, a medication is dropped or exchanged right away.

go to the ENT before you do anything else.

My daughter was on singular, starting when she was 15 months. First she had the granules, then the chewable. She had no adverse effects.

First, she tried just the singulair... Not much improvement. I tried giving just the allergy medicine (zyrec), not much improvement. However, her ENT wanted me to give both together (which I was opposed to; seemed like too much)... I eventually did (because she was starting to have allergic reactions to being on antibiotics too much), and it worked!

We've done steroid treatments also. Shortterm, it's was fine. Again, we got to the point that we couldn't expose her to antiboitcs again, so I had to put my preconceived ideas about the medicine aside. I suggest that you not give the steroid in the evening, as it might jack him up and keep him awake.

Please don't base your decision on internet horror stories.
Please know that there are many different types of steroids and they are not all "evil".
I am just getting over pneumonia that was so bad I was hospitalized. They put me on steroids. I had no ill effects from it.
Also, I took steroids and antihistamines as a child when I got poison oak so bad it landed me in the hospital. It didn't damage me in any way.
Get a second opinion.
I am not into overmedicating children and I certainly believe we need to be knowledgeable about what we give them, but sometimes we have to weigh the "possible" side effects against the risk of doing nothing.
I could have refused steroids myself while in the hospital, but I was so dang sick that I just needed to do anything to get better and get out of there.
I did notice that the steroids made me feel jittery, like I'd had a few cups of strong coffee, but other than that I have no regrets about taking them.
I'm home and on the mend. Thank God.

I really wish you the best and hope your son will be feeling better soon.

Both of my boys have allergies to the point it makes them ill. My oldest boy is on Claritan which helps a lot for his allergies. Although we don't use the Claritan D, just regular Claritan and give him a child decongestant when he gets congestion. It seems to have cleared it all up.

D. P.

you will find horrible stories on the internet for just about every medication. My oldest has taken singulair for 8 years now and does just fine and he has taken steriods several times believe me if your son needs them they will help.

Edited: and just a FYI singulair is not an antihistamine. and if used to treat asthma it should be given at night if used to treat allergies it should be given in the morning.

When my daughter, Lainey, had fluid in her ears, we had to do an adnoidectomy and tubes...she was 5. She was in Kindergarten and they do a ear/eye screening at her school and she failed the hearing screen. We made an appointment with an ENT and turns out she had hearing-aid level hearing! Of course, we felt awful as parents! After her surgery (which was so easy and no big deal) her hearing is back to normal and she hasn't had a problem with her ears since and she is now 9.

But for your question, I have never heard of steroids or singulair for fluid in the ear? Now, this same child, Lainey, has always had allergies and allergy-induced asthma tho and has been on Singulair for about 5 years. I really hate giving my kids medicine, I fought giving her Singulair for a long time, but what we learned is if we don't give her the preventative Singulair then her asthma flairs up and we end up having to give her steroids and breathing treatments and even more medicine that totally messes up her system! So....now we just give her Singulair (which we have found has very very few side effects if any at all) during the allergy months (Sept-April) and she has very few asthma episodes now. We also found a product we love called a salt rock, basically it is a light you plug in in her room that has a salt rock over it...the heat of the light causes the salt to be dispensed into the air (almost like the sea air at the ocean) and it has totally helped her asthma!!! Since we got the rock (about a year ago) we have really noticed a difference in her asthma and her allergies. I'm not totally ready to take her off the Singulair, but we are close! I think my husband googled salt rock and found it online, it's about $30. Hope this helps! Good luck and God bless!

I don't have help with your questions, but with meds like that I would go to an allergist first. They are more informed of the effects and effectiveness of these meds. And it could be something else in his diet or environment, such as grains or grass.

Also another good place to go is your local pharmacy. Tell them your diagnosis and what you've tried. Doctors are trained to diagnose what the disease/problem is, pharmacists are trained to know what drugs work for which problems. Speaking as a pharmacy tech of 20yrs it's very common that we see the docs prescribing whatever is latest on the market, or whichever drug rep has most recently been in their office. Try maybe going in or calling on a weekend evening when it's usually a little slower so they have a chance to talk. If you've got a good one, they'll be more than happy to give you your options and side effects of each. Best of luck :)

steroid nasal sprays are wonderful.. They have helped me so much. My freinds son has recurrent ear infections.. they put him on steroid nasal sparys and no more infections. they reduce the swelling in the sinuses/nose everything drains better. no infections.

the dose of steroids in the nasal spray is very very small. it just works on the nose sinus not the entire body... I have tried claritin and zyrtec and neither one helped me. zyrtec made me super tired.

I have been on Singulair for about 8 years and have had no problems whatsoever. I have been on numerous types of allergy medicines for my whole life, including basically all antihistamines (Benadryl, Atarax, Zyrtec, Claritin, Xyzal, Allegra, etc.) and also medicines like Singulair (not an antihistamine, it is a leukotriene inhibitor). I have also worked with an allergist's office and have seen many children on Singulair with no issues. Steroids can have side effects and can be a little crazy, however they can be extremely helpful in certain situations and are worth it for only short term treatment. Like others have said, you will find horror stories of any medication on the internet. Antihistamines can help to dry out that fluid that is in his ears. Taking him to an allergist or ENT could still be helpful to rule out any problems with the eustachian tubes, which is very common.

If your daughter is having ear problems, the ENT is the person to address these questions since it is their specialty (even before trying all those other doctors, techniques mentioned). Not trying to be judgemental, just keeping it simple. My son's ENT has helped him immensely.