Aimee, I found your site while looking for a possible link between discontinuing Flovent and my son's rash around his mouth appearing a day later. Your blog entry and the comments by others were the only information I could find about perioral dermatitis caused by flovent or stopping flovent. Have you had any more experiences with it since your post?
The pediatrician and the allergist both had never experienced anything like it. He got a topical antibiotic cream and I suspected it wouldn't work after reading your blog, but gave the doctor the benefit of the doubt. It actually mostly cleared up with the cream, but then rebounded quickly as soon as he stopped using it. He's now back to using the cream plus on an oral antibiotic. I'm wondering if we should be reporting this to the drug company (GSK) since it seems to be an undocumented side effect that doctors have no idea about.
hi, I have a 2 year old that was recently diagnosed with asthma They put her on pulmicort and she does fine with it, my problem is she HATES to sit there and take the medicine. It seems to take forever!!! So my doctor said I could put her on flovent and take it through the inhaler, I am kinda scared about switching her. I hate the fact that she has to take medicine anyway, but switching makes me nervous. Have you ever used it? What do you think?? Thanks so much for your time, Erica
Dear Parents/Guardians:
Many parents/guardians have contacted my office and the schools seeking additional information regarding the student who has been diagnosed with H1N1 influenza and the risk to students throughout the district. More specifically, an e-mail is being circulated amongst the parent community claiming many more H1N1 influenza cases and I feel it is critical that I address the concerns contained within that e-mail.
As stated before, and confirmed by the <> Health Department, only one child within all of our schools has been diagnosed and confirmed with the H1N1 influenza virus. This student, along with otherstudents in our secondary schools, attended a religious retreat over the Memorial Day weekend. It was learned Thursday evening, from parents of other students who attended the same religious retreat, that other students have subsequently experienced flu-like symptoms. As of this e-mail, we have heard from one other parent whose children are being tested for H1N1 influenza after one of their children tested positive for Type A influenza. The results of that test, for H1N1, are not available.
H1N1 influenza is a Type A strain of influenza and it is estimated that there is a 75% chance Type A influenza will test positive as H1N1 influenza. Flu-like symptoms include fever, headache, exhaustion, dry cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle aches, and stomach ailments such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
To date, neither theHealth Department, the Department of Health and Senior Services, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend school closures. It is important to remember that unless we all remain in our homes, there is no sure way to prevent transmission. We are all susceptible by going to the mall, a restaurant, a movie theatre, a youth retreat or other public place. There is no definitive information that school closure prevents the spread of H1N1 influenza.
Health professionals are learning more about H1N1 influenza every day, and most believe that the longest survival rate of the virus on any surface is eight hours or less. This means that H1N1 influenza virus cannot survive overnight in any building or in any of our schools.
If your child develops flu-like symptoms you should contact your primary care physician and your school nurse. If your child is symptomatic, you should keep them and their siblings home from school. I encourage all of us to exercise proper hygiene and most importantly washing our hands. It is important that this is reiterated to your children at home. It will help reinforce what they are learning in school.
It is has not been recommended, by local and State health officials, that we close our schools.Public Schools remains vigilant in ensuring the safety of our students. We will continue to monitor and assess any abnormal absentee rates and keep you apprised of any important information. We will continue to evaluate and be diligent with regard to possible cases of H1N1 influenza. Rumors regarding students exhibiting flu-like symptoms must be confirmed and I encourage you to contact your child's school nurse if you feel you have information about a student/family that is not being reported.
Rather than frequent e-mails regarding this issue, we will be updating our website, www.townshop.org, with any other information regarding our schools and H1N1 influenza.
Sincerely,
Superintendent of Schools
Dear Parents/Guardians:We have just received word that the test results from the student who attended the religious retreat last weekend were positive for the H1N1 influenza. As my email stated last evening, the ill student did not attend school this week. We are happy to report that the student is feeling much better and is resting at home.
Some students from the trip, who were not exhibiting any symptoms, did come to school on Tuesday morning, however they were sent home as soon as we were alerted of the possible exposure. The rest of the students who were on the trip, along with their siblings, were kept out of school for 72 hours; 24 hours longer than the advised incubation period of 48 hours. No other students from this trip have exhibited any symptoms and the incubation period was over on Tuesday.
We are working in conjunction with the (local)Health Department and are following all of the tracking and precautionary measures advised by them and the State Health Department. The number one advisory from both health departments is strict hand washing. However, we do encourage parents/guardians to educate themselves about the H1N1 influenza and the best resource is the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website, www.cdc.gov.
(Our local) Public Schools (have) taken and will continue to take every step necessary to ensure the health and safety of its students and staff. As always, a parent/guardian has the choice to keep their child home from school; however, please be advised that regular attendance procedures apply.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact your school nurse.
Sincerely,
XXX
Superintendent of Schools
I should probably, as the mother of an asthmatic child in the district, be more concerned...but I'm not. It's the flu. Its a weird summery flu that comes from pigs, but it's the flu. B's allergic to eggs and can't be vaccinated anyway, so it's really no greater risk than any other flu.
Martinez, who came to the United States after launching his career in asthma research, is one of a number of specialists who believe that modern life may be responsible for the developed world's asthma rates -- but in a very unexpected
way. It is not tobacco smoke or pollution that is at the heart of the problem, these specialists believe, but modern hygiene practices and antibiotics that foreclose the need for the young immune system to tackle microbial and parasitic challenges. "Just as you need to use your eyes to develop sight and your legs to develop the muscles to walk," Martinez said, "your immune system develops through its experience. By legitimately protecting our kids from dangerous infections we may have kept parts of their immune systems from maturing."
This could explain why children in the developing world, who are repeatedly infected by bacteria and parasites, are unlikely to contract asthma, whereas children in the developed world, who are inoculated against infectious diseases and frequently given antibiotics, are contracting asthma in ever greater numbers. (Martinez quoted estimates that an astonishing 40 percent of children in the United States are given antibiotics for a period of a month or more in their first year of life.)
Keeping the dirt and dust out of your house is easier said than done, and cleaning every day is simply not an option for today’s busy families. AccuClean prevents unwanted dust and dander from continually circulating in your home, ensuring the indoor air your family breathes is cleaner and healthier.
Children given acetaminophen during the first year of life to reduce fever are more likely to develop asthma later on, a new study finds....
"If this association is causative, it would suggest that acetaminophen use is a risk factor for asthma and may explain the asthma has become more common," said lead researcher Dr. Richard Beasley, from the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand in Wellington.
Since this study can't definitively say that acetaminophen is a cause of asthma, its use for children shouldn't be changed, Beasley added. "Acetaminophen is the preferred drug for relief of pain and fever in childhood," he said.
Just remember, Moms: Everything you do is wrong.
Sigh.
HELP!!!!! My son is 7, was dx w/ asthma this past winter after a lifetime of treating what different ped's "thought" were simply nasal infections with antibiotics. We have recently went from zyrtec, to oral steroids, now on to pulmicort, albuterol and Singulair. I am VERY afraid as my son is already a sensitive and emotional boy. It sounds like the pulmicort is simply a BAD med??? Does anyone have any homeopathic advice on treating asthma? My mom is permanently disabled from medications that were not properly tested and monitored...I am in search of help, not more hurt!!! - Tammy
Hope this is helpful. Best of luck, Tammy!
Day Care May Cut Kids' Asthma Risk...WebMD reported on September 9 that infants and toddlers who attend day care are less likely than other children to develop asthma symptoms by age 5, a new study shows. The research adds support to the so-called "hygiene hypothesis" -- the idea that early exposure to infections and germs helps protect against allergies and asthma.For the full story: click here
"In our study we asked the question, is there any relationship between having H. pylori in the stomach and having asthma and other allergic disorders," said lead researcher Dr. Martin J. Blaser, the Frederick H. King Professor of Internal Medicine and chairman of the department of medicine at the New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City.
"We found a strong inverse association between H. pylori and childhood asthma, childhood hay fever and childhood allergies," added Blaser, who's also a professor of microbiology and has studied H. pylori for more than two decades.
Blaser thinks that H. pylori may protect the body against asthma. "When children have H. pylori in their stomach, their immune system is different than if they don't have H. pylori," he said.
...
Among children in the survey, just 5.4 percent born in the 1990s tested positive for H. pylori. In addition, 11.3 percent of the children under 10 had taken antibiotics in the month before the survey.
Blaser and Chen found that among children 3 to 13 years of age, those who carried the stomach bug were 59 percent less likely to develop asthma than children without H. pylori. These children were also 40 percent less likely to suffer from hay fever and other allergies, such as eczema or rash.
Among children aged 3 to 19, the researchers found that those who harbored H. pylori reduced their risk of asthma by 25 percent.
OK...if there's an experiment related to this study, can I bring my kids?
