Behavioral changes with Qvar?

[Anonymous]

I found your post while searching for answers to my sons behavior changes... also thinking it has something to do with Qvar. He had similar behaviors as your daughter when he was 3 or 4 years old when he started Singulair. It was a TOTAL NIGHTMARE!!! We stopped giving him the Singulair and he went back to his happy self the very next day. Now he is 13 and has been taking QVar. Now showing horrid behavior, angry, defiant, and suicidal thoughts. Some may say that this could be because he’s 13 and full of hormones, but we know our son...this hit him HARD almost out of nowhere. It’s almost as if one day our happy, silly, respectful, rule-following son suddenly became psychotic. We stopped giving him the QVar last night so we’ll see what happens. Good luck to you!!

[Anonymous]

Talk to the doctor.

To test whether the medication is responsible, you can try not giving them to her for a week or two (two is best), and monitor her behavior.

Of course, that depends on the severity of the asthma. If severe, don't try that without talking to her doctor!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found your post while searching for answers to my sons behavior changes... also thinking it has something to do with Qvar. He had similar behaviors as your daughter when he was 3 or 4 years old when he started Singulair. It was a TOTAL NIGHTMARE!!! We stopped giving him the Singulair and he went back to his happy self the very next day. Now he is 13 and has been taking QVar. Now showing horrid behavior, angry, defiant, and suicidal thoughts. Some may say that this could be because he’s 13 and full of hormones, but we know our son...this hit him HARD almost out of nowhere. It’s almost as if one day our happy, silly, respectful, rule-following son suddenly became psychotic. We stopped giving him the QVar last night so we’ll see what happens. Good luck to you!!

I have a teen on Qvar with no issues thus far but holy cow the Singulair!! Her anxiety went through the roof on that to the point that I seriously, SERIOUSLY was worried she’d harm herself. We went months and months having her seeing a counselor, trying to tweak sleep schedules, tutoring because of her schoolwork anxiety, etc. I don’t know why it too me so long to check into the meds (she takes a number for asthma and allergies) but it was an basically overnight change when (with her allergist’s permission) we discontinued the Singulair.

[Anonymous]

Oral steroids can cause behavioral changes and/or insomnia along with a whole lot of other issues. Qvar is an inhaled steroid, so most of it stays in the lungs, but not all of it. Some people are more sensitive to steroids than others, so yeah it’s possible Qvar can cause aggression and behavioral challenges, especially if it is a high dose. I don’t know what dose he is on, but once asthma is controlled see if his dose can be lowered a bit. Obviously, asthma control is important, but if his symptoms are able to be controlled at a lower dose then that would be the better choice.

[Anonymous]

I just found your concerns as I have also notice behavioural changes in my 20 month old. He was a dream child but since starting Qvar 3 weeks ago he has been psychotic!! Screaming and tantrums that are out of this world. It is difficult in this age to know if it’s just the terrible 2s or the medication. I not sure what to do as his night time cough is so much better!

[Anonymous]

Yes! Qvar changed my child’s emotional stability, caused a mild adrenal secretion and sever hypoglycemia.

[Anonymous]

We haven't had this with Qvar but we had crazy behavioral changes with Zyrtec, of all things. Turned my kid into a screaming anxious mess, to the point that he would vomit from a tantrum. Our doctor was baffled by this and said she had never seen that reaction before, but it was so clearly tied to the medicine (tantrum within an hour of taking it) that we knew it was related. Just sharing this anecdote because you should absolutely trust your gut on this and work with your doc to find an alternative way of controlling the asthma.

[Anonymous]

(PP here - just realized the original post was from 2018, so OP has likely long solved this issue, but hope this helps someone else that might be experiencing the same thing).

[Anonymous]

DC had been on Flovent for 2 years before changed to Qvar this January. We haven’t noticed anything like personality change or wake up at night issue (2 puffs daily). There’s also optional montelukast but I tried to avoid unless DC has bad cold and cough badly. We started DC on sport he begged to join 4 times a week, plus daily outdoor play ( bike, badminton etc) and swim/winter sport on weekend, and healthy diet and DC seems to be healthier ( this time 3 of our family member had bad cold but DC didn’t get sick at all). After talking with another mom also has an asthma kid that refused to use daily asthma medicine, I just started to have DC do 1 puff daily, then go back to 2 puffs plus albuterol when DC has bad cold.