ANOTHER UPDATE Anger management for a six year old?

[Globetrotter]

I just wanted to give our update. DS is pretty much back to normal now. I've been hearing more similar stories since this happened to us. The company said it can cause "behavioral changes" and mentioned hyperactivity and nervousness (anxiety?), but I see that is not a complete list.

He still has his moments, but now he's 90% sweet, vs 20% on the meds, and we are working on his temper. What a difference! The kids are actually playing together nicely most of the time, like they used to.

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Beth , I am so grateful that I posted here. I honestly can't thank you enough for pointing out the link to allergy meds.

DS quit Claritin on Saturday and, since then, his behavior has improved significantly (pretty much back to normal). I realize now that it was causing depression, as well as the aggressive behaviors, not to mention possibly dizziness and other symptoms posted in #6! We thought he was trying to get our attention (as did the doctor). I feel terrible for drugging him, essentially, and punishing him for acting up. I think his behavior had improved after we quit Flovent, and now it's back to normal after we removed Claritin. Wow. Wow. Wow.

The past few days he has even reacted calmly to being teased, other than getting annoyed, naturally. I really appreciate his sweet personality now, whereas before I took it for granted.. not to say he won't have his :32: moments!! But at least OVERALL he's just a normal six year old now and not the devil child!



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Wow, ds has had a personality change in the past several weeks. It started when his sister was sick and getting loads of our attention, so we think he's acting up to get attention.

Well, at the same time he's gotten quite a temper! When something doesn't go his way, he storms the doors, screams and yells, hits, pushes, you name it... It's gotten a lot better since we started paying more attention to him and spending time with him, but there are still one or two of these tantrums most days. He's fine when he's happy or someone is playing nicely with him, and he's a perfect little angel in school and during playdates with his female friends. He acts up mostly with his sister and her friends and also gets very angry when he is being teased. The sensitivity to teasing has always been an issue, but he's never acted so aggressively before. I am at my wit's end here and I'm also not sure what is normal. My friends are telling me that he's just been atypical before as he was more gentle than the other boys, but I still feel this is extreme. Any advice would be welcome.

[egoldber]

Has he started any new medications recently? Asthma, allergy? Some of my older DD's meds do that to her.

Is he staying up later because it's light out later? Been more physically active outside? Started a new sport for the spring?

Is something going on at school? Maybe a teasing/bullying situation? Or a new teacher?

[pinkmomagain]

My oldest dd is very sensitive and when she is hurt it comes out as anger.

Have you tried, when he is upset, giving him the language he needs to express his feelings correctly? Like "DS, are your feelings hurt because X was teasing you?" Or "DS, are you needing some attention from Mom and Dad?" That might help to difuse the anger behaviors and get him talking about the real feeling that the behaviors are stemming from.

Just a thought to try if you haven't already. Oh, and always remain extremely calm. I find that matching anger with anger makes things worse instead of better.

[hillview]

I really got a lot out of the book "Dealing with Disappointment" it helped me help DS with his anger. Other than that HUGS!
/hillary

[wendmatt]

If it's any consolation my 6yo DD is just the same lately! She used to have the occassional tantrum, but not often and calmed down if I comforted her. Lately they are getting way more often and last longer over the smallest things and I can't comfort her. Last night it was because I told her not to use too much toilet paper! I'm hoping it's just a phase and she'll calm down again soon, good luck I know how frustrating it is and how useless I feel.

[Globetrotter]

Great advice from all. Thank you! I will get that book, and maybe look for more on the subject. Funny, I always look for story books when we're dealing with new issues, but i didn't in this case. ITA that I have to be calm, and I have been trying.

Beth, WOW, I think you might have something there. This started around the same time that I began Claritin and Flovent for his seasonal allergies. In reading some more on the subject, I am SHOCKED to see that other parents have experienced this. I stopped Flovent about ten days ago, around the same time I started paying more attention to him, and that's when I saw a huge improvement. HOwever, it could be due to paying more attention, or so I assumed. He was on Claritin until yesterday, but I stopped it and so far so good. I know it is way to early to judge, but it fits. In addition to the anger, he showed hyperactivity, feelings of sadness, PLUS some confusion (two nights he walked downstairs to look for me, in the middle of the night), some short term memory loss (a few times, but I chalked it up to being tired), nightmares out of the blue, and dizziness (which we thought he was making up to get attention since his sister was getting loads of attention from us when she was sick). The doctor agreed with this and told us to keep an eye on it.. I feel so bad thinking it might be real! I think perhaps he WAS feeling something, but at the same time milking it to get extra attention.

He has also been more tired and we're trying to get him to sleep more, so that is an issue, not to mention he started teeball. So it could be anything, but I'm thinking it might just be the meds. Thank you so much for pointing this out, so at the very least I can pay more attention to that and rule it out! The only thing is, he has been on flovent many times before, though this is his first time taking the 10 mg claritin (says it okay for 6 plus, but I'm wondering if he wasn't ready for it??). He refused to take the syrup this time so I gave him the tablet instead. The other thing is, why would he be okay in school? Food for thought, but I'll keep you all updated.

[mytwosons]

Great advice from all. Thank you! I will get that book, and maybe look for more on the subject. Funny, I always look for story books when we're dealing with new issues, but i didn't in this case. ITA that I have to be calm, and I have been trying.

Beth, WOW, I think you might have something there. This started around the same time that I began Claritin and Flovent for his seasonal allergies. In reading some more on the subject, I am SHOCKED to see that other parents have experienced this. I stopped Flovent about ten days ago, around the same time I started paying more attention to him, and that's when I saw a huge improvement. HOwever, it could be due to paying more attention, or so I assumed. He was on Claritin until yesterday, but I stopped it and so far so good. I know it is way to early to judge, but it fits. In addition to the anger, he showed hyperactivity, feelings of sadness, PLUS some confusion (two nights he walked downstairs to look for me, in the middle of the night), some short term memory loss (a few times, but I chalked it up to being tired), nightmares out of the blue, and dizziness (which we thought he was making up to get attention since his sister was getting loads of attention from us when she was sick). The doctor agreed with this and told us to keep an eye on it.. I feel so bad thinking it might be real! I think perhaps he WAS feeling something, but at the same time milking it to get extra attention.

He has also been more tired and we're trying to get him to sleep more, so that is an issue, not to mention he started teeball. So it could be anything, but I'm thinking it might just be the meds. Thank you so much for pointing this out, so at the very least I can pay more attention to that and rule it out! The only thing is, he has been on flovent many times before, though this is his first time taking the 10 mg claritin (says it okay for 6 plus, but I'm wondering if he wasn't ready for it??). He refused to take the syrup this time so I gave him the tablet instead. The other thing is, why would he be okay in school? Food for thought, but I'll keep you all updated.

We were advised to try the Claritin Redi-tabs since they don't have any extra "junk" added to them. So far, so good! And my DS1 is very sensitive...

[egoldber]

FWIW, Pulmicort turned my older DD into a sociopath. I mean seriously. I just could.not.believe. the difference. And it took stopping and starting it again for us to see the connection as well. We have also had behavioral issues with Flovent, but not to the same extent, but all these meds effect different people in different ways.

She started Zyrtec about 3 weeks ago and when she began having severe allergy symptoms, the allergist suggested doubling her dose from 1 to 2 teaspoons. Ever since, she has had trouble falling asleep at night. I just now Googled and saw that sleeplessness is a common side effect in children! So we are stopping that tonight.....

[DrSally]

I think Beth makes a very good point about looking at meds. When DS was on Cefprozil antibiotic for 10 days all 10 days his behavior was horrible. Constant meltdowns at any little thing. It went back to normal when we finished the meds. I think it may have been tough on his tummy as he complained a few times about his tummy hurting.

[Globetrotter]

I'm finding it's hard to find an allergy med. that isn't linked to behavior problems! We have to see the pediatrician, but honestly I don't have much faith in what they say now.

[egoldber]

You just need to try them. ALL these meds *may* cause issues, but not necessarily in your child KWIM? Sarah has done very well on Advair, but it effects others. You will just need to experiment to see what does and does not work.

[Globetrotter]

My main update is in the first post.


You just need to try them. ALL these meds *may* cause issues, but not necessarily in your child KWIM? Sarah has done very well on Advair, but it effects others. You will just need to experiment to see what does and does not work.

I'm nervous about trying them out, but we don't really have a choice because he does have asthma! Fortunately, it's under control right now and he has drops for his eyes. Let's see what the doctor says.

Are these side effects well documented? I see a lot of anecdotes for Claritin (lots of them), though the webmd page for Flovent does list behavioral changes like I saw. Otherwise, you almost have to dig to find out this information. I do realize that all meds have side effects and it's luck of the draw (and we've been really lucky until now!) but it's worrisome that they aren't advertised as something to watch out for.

Well, today he was beaming and told me that he doesn't have that sad thing any more (I was almost to the point of taking him in to see a psychologist because of things I've noticed.). It's almost unbelievable, but I can clearly see a marked difference.

[egoldber]

I'm sorry you've experienced this. :(

I would urge you to have your doctor report this as an adverse drug event. Although you can report it yourself though by calling the drug manufacfurer's toll free CS number. These types of side effects very seldom get reported so are not really officially tracked.

Another thing is that these meds (like many) are not really tested in children. And the side effects for children can be very different than the side effects for adults because our bodies metabolize things differently, in addition to just the size and weight differences.

For us Flovent caused mild behavioral issues. Pulmicort was like...wow. She was not depressed but she simply could NOT control her behavior. She tantrumed, screamed, melted down, was angry all the time and also could not sleep. She told us she was having "bad thoughts" at night, so I think it also made her anxious. I had to literally DRAG her out out of a restaurant because she was behaving so poorly and was screaming. This was a 5 year old. It was truly awful.

I am now so alert with any med. I take Claritin myself and have never had any problems, but she won't take it (she hates the flavor). She takes Zyrtec. It did affect her sleep, but we just switched it to her taking it in the morning. Ironically I was giving it to her at night because one of the main side effects (in adults) is drowsiness!!

[TonFirst]

I am so glad I read this thread. Our thinking corner time has shot up since I started my son on Zyrtec, and since we doubled the dose from 0.5 tsp to 1 tsp at night, he has been having a harder time falling asleep. I'll switch tonight's dose of Zyrtec to tomorrow morning. He's also on Omnicef for a sinus infection (hence the Zyrtec), but the only adverse effect I notice from that is, as my son says, "juice poops."

[MichelleRC]

Thank you so much for posting this! DS#2 is on daily asthma meds--he was on Advair with no problems at all, then the asthma dr. wanted to move him down to the flovent disk. He has been on that since March and has been completely obnoxious since then!
I can't believe I didn't make the connection. If I do a little experiment of putting him back on the Advair, how long can I expect to see a change if any?
He became crazy after Albuterol in the nebulizer and slightly crazy with Pulmicort, so I was so happy when we started the daily Advair.

Thanks again!!

[Globetrotter]

update in first post

[DrSally]

Great to hear the update. I gave some Claritin to DS for seasonal allergies that started this year. But, I did notice some behavioral changes and decided to stop it b/c his allegies weren't that bad and now they've passed. It's no fun to have your previously sweet child in melt-down mode all the time.