5 unscheduled doctor visits
1 nebulizer treatment
1 prescription for Albuterol
3 days of steroids
5+ days off work, unpaid
$150 out of my pocket
$400+ of paycheck lost
They FINALLY diagnosed Ariana with what I already knew she had – asthma.
Once I heard the wheezing which followed her first real cold of her little life, I knew it was asthma. It’s the same wheezing I have heard from my mom, and my littlest brother had it when he was little as well. Luckily, he (my little brother) grew out of it, so my hopes are that Ariana will as well.
As a matter of fact, since Ariana was diagnosed, a lot of people have told me they too had asthma as an infant/young child, and grew out of it. I’m hopeful. Especially with the medication the most recent pediatrician we went to prescribed her.
She is getting a “puff” of Qvar in the morning and a “puff” in the evening using a spacer (click link to see a spacer and how it is used in conjunction with inhalers). Qvar is an inhaler that is used to prevent the airways to and in her lungs from becoming inflamed by delivering the medicine right into the airways themselves. After a few weeks of using this new medicine, we have not have to use the “rescue” inhaler (Albuterol) once. Prior to starting Qvar, we would use the Albuterol at least once, sometimes twice, per week.
However, upon researching some specific information that I wanted to include in this post, I came across a very interesting fact about Qvar on the FDA’s website:
Pediatric Use
Eight-hundred and thirty-four children between the ages of 5 and 12 were treated with HFA beclomethasone dipropionate (HFA BDP) in clinical trials. The safety and effectiveness of QVAR in children below 5 years of age have not been established.
Use of QVAR with a spacer device in children less than 5 years of age is not recommended. In vitro dose characterization studies were performed with QVAR 40 mcg/actuation with the Optichamber and AeroChamber Plus® spacer utilizing inspiratory flows representative of children under 5 years old. These studies indicated that the amount of medication delivered through the spacing device decreased rapidly with increasing wait times of 5 to 10 seconds as shown in Table 1. If QVAR is used with a spacer device, it is important to inhale immediately.
Based off the above information, I am to believe that:
- this medicine is not recommended for my 17-month old
- her doctor did not disclose that the safety of Qvar has not been established for my 17-month old daughter
I’m pretty pissed off. This post started off as a happy-mommy post since my baby was doing better only to turn into a vicious, doctor-hating mommy. I will have to do an update post after I talk to her pediatrician tomorrow. I’m pretty sure that if the FDA is aware that it has not been proven safe for toddlers, that doctors should know this as well and be disclosing such information to their patients/parents of patients. Is it too much to ask this of doctors?
I work full time (as most of you know), and then come home to cook/clean and take care of/play with my children. I don’t have time to do a doctor’s job. Shame on me for not researching this medication sooner – I have learned a very valuable lesson and no longer will I put so much trust into one person but myself. These are my children, and while I should believe and trust that their pediatrician should have their best interest at heart, it appears they do not.
Again, I will have to update once I talk to Ariana’s pediatrician and possibly do some more of my own research. For now, I do have a happier, healthier baby who doesn’t have so much trouble breathing. I have to wonder, however, at what cost?
