Singular - Great pill for asthma

Hi there, thanks for the info. My three y/o PA son has what is considered "out of control" asthma at the moment. We've had a nasty winter and when we last followed up with the doctor, he suggested Singulair. After he looked it up, he decided that it was not appropriate for my son because in Canada anyway, it is not recomended for children under 6. I know it's different in the states, children as young as 2 take it there.
Anyone know why this is different in Canada. At this point I am running out of ideas in controling Wade's asthma. Singulair sounded great. Is there an alternative in Canada?
Regards,
Katiee (Wade's mom)

Hi there, thanks for the info. My three y/o PA son has what is considered "out of control" asthma at the moment. We've had a nasty winter and when we last followed up with the doctor, he suggested Singulair. After he looked it up, he decided that it was not appropriate for my son because in Canada anyway, it is not recomended for children under 6. I know it's different in the states, children as young as 2 take it there.
Anyone know why this is different in Canada. At this point I am running out of ideas in controling Wade's asthma. Singulair sounded great. Is there an alternative in Canada?
Regards,
Katiee (Wade's mom)

Katiee,my son has had asthma since the age of two he is also PA and TNA.We have suffered through two years of terrible asthma attacks until this past year when he was started on Singulair.He has had a few episodes,but they have been less severe and he has recovered in a shorter time.In the U.S. there are two different doses available,4mg and 5mg.Ryan has been on 4mg every night for the past 10 months with no side effects and I believe 100% that this has decreased his attacks significantly.Hope this helps.

Katiee
We are in Toronto (Scarborough). My just turned 4 son was on Singulair from January to the end of April. He had been seen by a pediatric respirologist, who said he could be on half (2.5 mg) of the pediatric dose (5 mg).
At his last visit in April, I thought that he told us that it now had been approved in Canada for the under 6 age group with either a 3 or 4mg tablet (can't remember, kids were fighting) as mentioned by Laura C.
We opted for the Singulair as Shaun was having recurrent pnuemonia which would trigger his asthma symptoms. The prednisone in Flovent was making this active boy a little too active! We had good results with the Singulair, but were told that some people respond well to it, others don't, with no predictability on who would do well.

Thank you all so much for your advice. I have a great dr. for Wade, but with everything that's been going on withhis asthma this year, I think it's time for us to get a referral to a Respirologist, or at leat to the Asthma Clinic at our Children's hospital. There has to be something they can do other than the meds he is already on daily (Flovent & Ventolin), and I "hate" Decadron...nasty drug and I do not like tha fact that he has to be on it so often.
I'll be looking in to this.
Regards,
Katiee (Wade's mom)

Thank you for the info, unfortunately, we're in Ottawa. I know how frightened you must have been with that attack. If sounds very much like the last attack Wade had. Everything seemed as usual but I got scared because he could not speak (he's 3) and took him in to the ER. Boy did I get a blast form the ER doctor, he berated me for not having called an ambulance, Wade's sats were in the low 80's after his first mask. Honestly, it came out of nowhere and seemed no different than any other attack. Not a nice feeling is it?
Thanks for sharing.
Katiee (Wade's mom)

My two year old has been on Singulair since last fall. It seemed to help some. However, because of the amount of albuterol and steroids we were giving him and the number of asthma flare-ups he was having the doctor put him on pulmicort (inhaled preventative medicine). At first I didn't think it helped him at all and quit giving it to him. Recently, the doctor suggested I give it another try. He has been doing great! No flare-ups at all in about a month or 6 weeks! That's very unusual for him. I think the reason it didn't work the first time is because he started out already having breathing problems and couldn't get ahead of it. The only other reason he could be doing better is because of the season change but he usually has trouble year round.
I'm glad Singulair works so well for you-my son is on it still- but the pulmicort really did the trick!
tkiamlyb

Hi! For those of you that mentioned Singular might not be the answer in your cases, I wanted to say that my 4.5 yr old son uses Flovent44 for preventative use. It is an inhaler, and we use a "spacer" with it, as it is too difficult for a preschooler to use the inhaler alone.
I was apprehensive at going to an inhaled steriod at first. But after many trial and errors w/cromolyn sodium, as well as using albuterol to treat attacks...we decided to go with the inhaler. IT WORKS BEAUTIFULLY!!!
Dan's asthma became apparent around 2 yrs of age. During that first year, we were at the emergency room at least 9 times, and he was admitted for at least 4 of those times. His main asthma trigger was a viral infection. So every time he picked up even the slightest cold, it escalated to a full blown attack (even though we used the albuterol neb any time he showed signs of a cold,etc).
We have only been to the emergency room once since starting the Flovent (and we were not admitted). He started preschool this year and (of course) caught many colds. He is the only one of my boys (he is a triplet) who did not miss ANY school this year.
I know I am going on and on, but the Flovent 44 made a dramatic difference for my son, and we have not experienced any side effects. (I know that there are risks, as there are with any medication...but according to the ped. the risks associated w/the large doses of steriods needed to treat an asthma attack are much greater).
Okay, I will stop my commerical for Flovent now. Just wanted to put an option out there in addition to Singular. Take care!