Quick question. Ended up taking Kyle to the ER tonight with severe stomach pain. He was also running a temp of 101.7. Not quite sure what the temp was from still. He is feeling better now. While we were there they gave Kyle a dose of Hydrocortisone (instead of Prednisilone... odd) and the dosage was 250 milligrams. I was just wondering, is this an extremely high dose of HC? He normally only takes 3 ml of the Prednisilone 2xday. I was worried but it didn't take too awful long before he was feeling better again and even asking to eat so I guess it was exactly what the doctor ordered (no pun intended...or maybe there was :) ) I'll be so glad when they get his medicine straightened out. I hate to see him feeling bad. ---Nine hours later and I am left feeling like I need a little bit of a pick-me-up myself. Headed straight for the bed..as soon as he gets back to sleep. #sz#

Cortisone works faster than pred, a standard emergency injection for addisons is 100mg hydrocortisone for an adult so that is a huge dose esp for a child, If it was 1mg per ml of prednisolone then that is roughly 24 mg of cortisone a day. Some pred liquids though have different strengths which is a reasonably high dose for a child.

Were you told to up his meds at all for the next couple of days? Be aware that if it is a viral infection the high doses of steroids will be masking the fever, stock up on the electrolyte drinks of his choice and push them tomorrow as well to help him. I hope he picks up quickly and you don't need any more emergency care.

Hydrocortisone is the best emergency treatment...it works so much faster to bring one out of crisis. But I only carry 100 mg. solu-cortef and that is ususally the dose for crisis, so, I agreewith SUe that was a whopping dose for a child! He will probably need to be very careful today and taper that does down instead of just going back to his usual dosage...some can taper faster than others. Also, make sure he is getting those electrolyte drinks in...did they check him for any sort of infection? Watch for that, too...that much steroid will mask things for awhile.

No they didn't tell me to up hios regular does; they onl said to do this if he continues to feel bad, but when he got up yesterday he was totally fine so I did not. But I do have one concern. this may be on odd coincidence but when I woke up at 7 am this morning my son was still awake. He stayed up ALL night. Now he slept that first night after going to the hospital but not last night. My son has only stayed up that late one other time in his entire life. Any connection there?
It is also funny but Kyle told me yesterdayt aht he felt really good. His way of telling me this was Wow I am riding my bike faster and he actually told me to go buy the garden plants so he can help me plant them. THus hurt my heart as I wish he felt this way everyday. he's only 12. But ow Im wondering if he was given for lack of better words, an overdose of the HC. Can this harm him? I did questiont he doctor several times and she said well i am going on orders from thje Endo and she called it a bolus of some sort to get it into his system. They told me to follow up with his reg doctor on Monday so maybe the reg doctor is supposed to unmask the viral problem if there is one. I assume there was something because of the fever. idk. It makes me feel good to come on thsi site and air my concerns and not feel like they are totally unwarranted. I appreciate the comments. I kow I really cant contribute to most of the other posts because I hvae no knowledge of the subject as I do not have AD. (or else I would comment on them, probably so much that you guys would get tired of these novels ) Anyways TY!

With 250 mg. in him I can see why he didn't sleep last night. He is still coming off that large dose...that was a lot of HC. Most adults only take 100mg. per injection and if more is needed due to an illness, etc. it can be given but 250 mg. to a 12 yr. old? HC will really rev you up...and also is this his first HC? I just wish he could try HC for his repacement to see if it makes a difference to his school work and growth...I'm like a dog with a bone here. :P

with high doses of steroids, most people get sleepless. Cortisone is our stress hormone, it does help you to feel energetic, and generally good. For us 'normals" we release for illness, stress or whenever our bodies need that bit more. 3.30 itis is caused by our natural rythym, we are depleted then and then it picks up again. It is part of our circadian rythym..

Don't feel bad that you are still on a learning curve. Everyone here has been there at some stage and you do learn. You will also find that things will come up that you can give advise on as you go.

If it was me, I would query the bolus amount, it is a larger than normal amount for addison's and find out what their reasoning was. It may because he is on the testosterone, not sure but it is worth finding out.

Before all Joshs problems started, I hated pred with a vengeance, 3 days of pred for croup meant 2 weeks of a nasty and emotional child. Then he got sick, after a while he need pred for asthma and I saw my son back with energy, laughing, and it was amazing! the pedi gave him a months trial and on a replacement dose of 3mg for a month we had a month of seeing him "normal" and feeling good, it broke my heart that he couldn't stay on it. His teacher who was VERY against him trying it cried when I told her we had to taper off, she was so amazed by the difference and finally understood why it was a possibility that this is something that he may need to be on for life.

the right dose of daily meds should be able to do this for Kyle. He is on the equivalent of 24mg HC this is a high daily dose for a child and too high can be as bad as too low. I know that testosterone impacts on absorbtion etc which may be why, but I too would be curious if he would do better on HC and having it more often. It would also help him to know what going to low feels like and to listen to his body more. Lower the risks of side effects etc. This is just my opinion though and it would need to be discussed with his endo to know why he is on a high dose.

Is Kyle on calcium? If not ask, high doses of pred can affect growth, it can also cause bone loss so it would be a good precaution to take..

there is a boy that lives about 30 minutes away from us that has addison's, one of the nurses at the local hospital told us the last time that Josh had blood work done. He is 13 (I think) if you like I could try and get in touch with him through the hospital and see if they would like to help support both you and Kyle. It might be good for both of them to know that there are others their age that are going through this. Let me know and I will see what I can do. It won't be instant because of the round about way I will have to get in touch with them with confidentiality etc but I am willing to try. I know Josh was amazed that it wasn't just him :) The nurses when asking questions about Josh etc realised they didn't know much about addisons at all and were going to talk to the childs mother and find out more as they were curious. Who knows maybe Kyle will get an aussie pen pal out of it all. :) (grh) to you all.

Sue...well if I was 12 I would think it was really cool to have an aussie pen pal!!
Isn't there someone out west usa too?? I kinda remember that...will ask around....

Kyles mom..first ....since my brain is now a sieve... could you pls sign your name so I don't have to call you kyle's mom??!! Thanks!!

What does he do when you say 'here's your meds'?
And then what do you do in response? It would be good for you to maybe write down some typical interactions over the meds.....it can help you see (and if you go to a counselor will be info they will need to help) what exactly is happening...

Diane

Diane, Kyles' mom is Marilyn. :)

NADF/19 yr. old seeking pen pal...

This is in the NADF forum...he may be too old for Kyle but if he could get input from others who have been where he is right now.

I post the NADF things in there and you can keep up with the org. that way as well as find the website home page.

Yeah, Marilyn would be it. I live in Kentucky. To the most recent post, when I say take your meds he walks off in the other room or sighs and says hang on in a minute, followed by several disgruntled huffs and remarks on how bad it tastes and blah blah blah. Most times I will give him a few minutes and ask again....same response, eventually I have to raise my voice and we end up arguing. I won't even go into how long it takes us to get him to take the growht hormone shot. I can understand a little more there as those shots can be painful. They are delivered in pen form and I think hurts more than a regulat syringe and needles. But anyways it is a daily battle but we are working on it.
Im like you SUe, I am beginning to hate the Prednisone stuff with a vengeance myself. lol
Got a new symptomt hat has been happenin hte last few days that is stressing me. May be overworrying but anyne got any experience with this....It has only happened 3 times but Kyle will get sudden chest pains and his heart will beat really really fast. This only lasts like a minute or two but it is really concerning me. It does not correlate with medication times or anything? Any ideas?
I tried the penpal thing on that site once before and it came back undeliverable or something but am gonna' try again. Thanks guys!

Marilyn, get the fast heart beat checked out for your own peace of mind. His dr needs to be aware of it. the next time it happens, see if triggering the diving reflex helps to stop it. You can do this by either standing him on his head :) seriously. Or cold cloth on forehead or back of neck, elevating feet etc. for benign forms of SVT's this works well usually. Another way is to massage the carotoid artery in the neck. Sometimes you need to do both.

Try not to get too stressed over it. Most episodes of tachycardia are harmless, but his dr will probably want to do an ECG and he may need his meds looked at.

Have you ever tasted liquid pred? It is the foulest most bitter tasting medicine and leaves a nasty taste in the mouth for a loooong time. When Josh was younger, we would have a peice of chocolate beside him so that as soon as he swallowed he would have eat it to help get rid of the taste. Pills aren't as bad as they are coated. HTH's

I wonder if Kyle could be dehydrated?

Dehydration can cause rapid heartbeats...but it most certainly needs to be checked. Just to be on the safe side...