Periactin

[Anonymous]

Anyone know why periactin would help so much??? I just can’t figure this out and I’m not comfortable with my child taking it unless I know exactly why. My 14 mth old has been on it since the beginning of the year. I has helped his weight increase, his appitite increase and him to sleep better. He has milk/soy and gluten intolerances. He has rashes and red itchy eyes that aren’t helped by the periactin. I recently changed his diet to the M/S/G free and tried to do without the periactin. It’s been about a week without it. The nights got progressively worse. And last night he hardly slept. I’m putting him back on the periactin, but I don’t understand why. Anyone with any insight??? Thanks, Amy

[Anonymous]

Hi Amy. My daughter is 14.5 months old and she was on Atarax and the doc just switched her today to Periactin b/c the Atarax was not doing anything. I am glad you posted, I was getting ready too. Emma has not eaten in 2 months and is extremely fussy/clingy. She had the flu 2 months ago and ever since she has not wanted to eat. We then tried a hidden diary trial that failed. My GI told me that b/c all that happened her GI tract is probably out of wack per say. She said they had been doing research that indicated that allergy medication also helps the GI tract when there are food allergies & intolerances, basically that it is supposed to help heal the GI tract from those foods that are bothering them. She told me that with the older kids that they have been seeing that the allergy meds have been helping them substantially. I am glad to hear that it has helped Henry with his appetite and sleeping b/c I really need that help right now but that is weird that it isn’t helping his rashes and eyes. I feel very highly that my GI is giving me the right guidance with this so I am going to try it out. It makes since that if they are allergic to something to try an allergy medication, I am just wondering if there is a different allergy med that would be better for Henry’s situation. Maybe until there MSPI symptoms go away or diminish they need something to help there GI tract (That is just my thinking on this issue) even though you have altered his diet. I am hoping there are others that have heard of this b/c when I posted about Atarax no one responded that was actually on the med. I am curious to hear other stories. I feel if it is helping him with his sleep then I would continue it. If his GI tract is not healthy then that has got to explain why they don’t sleep very well. I just try to do whatever I can to help her discomfort

[Anonymous]

I just asked about this yesterday because I was thinking of asking about it for Hailey. Apparently it was withdrawn by the Canadian FDA, deemed unsafe/unsuitable for use in children (I don’t know why). They told me it works because it is such a strong antihistamine that it dries everything out, increasing thirst and appetite. Because it is so strong, it also acts like a sedative enhancing sleep in the same way that giving Benadryl does. Our doc felt that even though it might increase appetite, it doesn’t solve the reason why there’s no appetite or desire to eat in the first place, and that the appetite increase is really only a side-effect, which he didn’t like. I hope it works for you both. I’ve heard of some people having success with it.

[Anonymous]

Lori is right – it is an antihistamine that has the side effect of increasing appetite. Supposedly all antihistamines have some side effect like that, but periactin is the stronger. None of these drugs have been tested on children under teh age of 2 so i know that some doctors do not prescribe them (either in the US or in Spain that i know of) until the patient is 2 but i have spoken to my GI about it and she said that she would do it at 1 year.

The other side effect is drowsiness, which is why your baby is sleeping well. When Matthew has had a really bad few nights, i have given him some antihistamine through the tube and he has rested…. the ped ok this as he is just a chronic waker and he needed some nights of rest for us to give him tube feedings.

As for the heart of the problem.. it really depends on why your child is not eating i guess

[Anonymous]

I just wanted to add one more thing, well basically just state the thinking behind why Emma’s GI put her on the med. She did not put her on the med to get her to eat and sleep. I have tried Benadryl on Emma before and it does the exact opposite, it makes her hiper. Nothing I have done or tried has made her sleep. I know this med is stronger so I guess it is more wishful thinking on there part and mine. Her GI is actually trying to get to the bottom of the eating problem. They think the reason Emma is not eating is b/c her GI tract is messed up after the flu and the failed milk trial. Every food that she ate before all this she will not eat now, they think that her tummy is upset and she is corralating the food with her upset stomach. So b/c they know that the allergy med has helped older kids with their upset stomachs they are trying it on emma b/c they think that is what is wrong with her. There inital thought was not to give it to her b/c it increases your appetite it just happens to be one of the side effects that might benefit Emma. I don’t mean to come off defensive and please don’t be mad at me I just wanted to add something I didn’t add before. It all makes since to me b/c I think Emma’s issue is different than others. Thanks for your comments, I always appreciate what everyone has to say!!!

[Anonymous]

Hope it helps her!!! It’s so awful when they don’t eat. I didn’t know that periactin was also good for upset stomach. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Oh don’t take me wrong.. i am all up for periactin and have asked for it a few times… it is supposed to work great! My opinion is just that you have to know 1. if you really need it (my ped tells me horror stories about mad mommies coming asking for it when their children eat perfectly well….) and 2. when to give it (ie we are still working on getting matthew comfortable with his reflux or so we are told, so to give it now would probably be a killer for him and upset him even more!).

Brandy – you know, my cousin, who is now 25 had really bad reflux when she was younger; she never slept or ate well; she also had the “paradox” effect? (don’t know what it is called in english) but it is when you given them something and they react the opposite way… they used to try antihistamines but also things like diazepam to sleep (her parents are both doctors) and they had the opposite effect of making her go NUTS. Well, they used to give her coffee to calm down… not a lot, just a couple of spoofuls… probably something you would not do here in the US but in Spain nobody is so paranoid… and it used to make her drowsy. I swear this is a true story!!!

[Anonymous]

Brandy,

I did not mean to imply that there is anything wrong with using periactin, because I don’t think that there is. As I said, I too asked about it just a few days ago. Hope it helps her.

Thais, funny you mention that about your cousin and the diazepam. Sarah gets a VERY high dose of ativan (valium) for febrile seizures. We were told that it was a high dose for an adult, but it doesn’t make her sleep at all. I’ve never heard of anyone else like that.

[Anonymous]

Does it make her hyper? Both my ant and uncle are doctors and they say that some people do have reactions like that… they are called paradoxical or soemthing like that???

[Anonymous]

Yeah, it makes her hyper. She’s running around even though she’s hardly able to move properly. (Sorry to hijack)

[Anonymous]

Great information ladies!! Thanks.

It all makes a lot of sense in Henry’s case for sure. It must do something for his digestive system. He is definitely more content at night on the periactin. I added it back last night and voila…he slept pretty well again. And, as perdicted, he’s already eating like a fiend.

The thirst thing really sounded right on for him. Without a bottle and no milk, he just guzzles water. He usually drinks at least 30 oz. a day! For the week he was off the periactin, he didn’t drink as much. Go figure, huh?

This puzzles me a bit… it seemed as if his stomach wasn’t as bloated in the week he was off the meds. After just two doses, now tonight his tummy seems more bloated. Any ideas on this? It’s almost as if he put on a whole bunch of weight, but it’s not possible in just one day.

If anything, this whole experiment of being off the periactin has reassured me how much he still needs it. I’m having his intolerances tested by enterolab in Texas. I’m thinking this will give me some insight as to how intolerant he is as well as how much damage has been done to his digestive system. Maybe with these answers it will give me some idea how long I should keep him on the periactin.

THAIS> Your comment was interesting… we didn’t start on the periactin until Henry was about 10-11 mths. I always thought it was his reflux making him not sleep easy at night. Never really thought we got that under full control. Maybe for about 2 weeks when he was 7 mths. didn’t last long:) Always trying anything and everything to get him settled. I was bawling>literally, in the ped docs office. Lack of sleep I guess. He said what does your gut tell you. I said he’s got a lot of allergy symptoms. Throwing up, gassy, irritable, constipation, diarhea, lack of appitite,not to mention the red itchy eyes and sneezing. This is why he thought of the periactin in the first place. Even though Henry tested negative for allergies. So, my point in this long story is that even though we started it late, it worked for us, but “I” was soooo desperate for Henry’s pain to be managed. And for some sleep. I figured at that point it was worth the try.

BRANDY> Henry’s birthday is 3-1-05!! How about that??? So, have you been to the website—-www.disa.com.au/———You may be able to find some answers there. That’s where I discovered that Henry has food intolerances. There was never a better discription of how he acted! I was amazed. Then, I ended up checking into this site to test for intolerances—www.enterolab.com——That’s what we’re in the process of now. None of Herny’s docs are on board with me on all this. I just know in my heart that I’m finally on the right path with him. We moms can tell, can’t we? It’s weird. We even notice the subtle changes. Their moods and actions. Let me know if you need any more info or how you felt about all these sights. I wish I had found it months ago. All the agony I could’ve done without for him:(

You are all amazing!!!!! I just had to add that.

[Anonymous]

I hope this doesn’t make me come off sounding stupid, but you guys are talking about food allergies (not environmental)? The whole time I thought you menat enviromental allergies. I had no idea that antihistamines can help with food allergies! Did your docs tell you how and why? Just wondering.

Amy, is it possible he’s bloated because he’s drinking so much fluid?

Glad to hear it’s working.

[Anonymous]

Thais & Lori ~ Thanks guys for all your input. I hope I didn’t sound defensive. I am definitely not meaning too. I just wanted to make sure everyone knew where I was coming from b/c I didn’t think I did a very good explanation the first time.

Thais ~ Thanks for the story, that’s crazy! Thankfully Emma doesn’t do bad on antihistamines. When she was on Benadryl it made her stay awake even longer, she would go all day without a nap. I call it hyper, but nothing to were she was going crazy or nutty or even jittery. I don’t know what I would do then!!

Lori ~ In my case I am talking about food allergies and not environmental. You don’t sound stupid AT ALL. When my GI first started talking about allergy medication my first thought was “she doesn’t have allergies” like to grass or pollen. I was wondering myself what she was thinking. The way my GI explained it was this: When your system is allergic to something outside, environmental, certain cells in your body become too sensitive to that allergen (grass, pollen, etc) so antihistamines (allergy meds) are supposed to relieve the symptoms you have. My GI said that they have been doing research and they found that when you are allergic to a food your GI tract is sensitive to that allergen (In Emma’s case it is milk) and that allergy meds can also relieve the symptoms in your GI tract. So when Emma had that reaction to milk and she had the flu they are thinking that her GI tract is still messed up, inflamed, just out of wack, so that is why we started the allergy med. Emma’s GI is at a childrens mercy hospital and they see hundreds of infants and children. The children that they have been giving allergy meds too that have allergies to foods they have seen that the meds have substantially helped them so now they are giving them to infants. Emma’s reflux is under control and we had no idea why she is so cranky/irritable. She is not sick, no infections, the GI checked her whole mouth and didn’t see any teeth trying to come through, and I was dumbfounded. The GI wanted to try the allergy med out to see if that was what was wrong. If it doesn’t end up working then she wants to start testing since Emma has never had any tests done.

I do think the med is working though. I got the script for the Periactin on Friday night and I started it then. Her overall being was better she was not as cranky and Saturday night and Sunday she slept all night, she sleeps with me but usually she still gets up through the night and she tosses and turns even when she is sleeping and she didn’t even move. I really hope this is what she needed

Amy ~ Thank you so much. I can not believe that our kids are only one day apart, Awesome!! I have not checked those sites out yet, I definitely will, I wanted to respond first, thanks for the info. I agree with Lori, do you think that all that water he is drinking when he is on the Periactin is making him bloated, water weight? Is it making him uncomfortable? I totally agree, the parents are the ones that know there child the best and we know when something is not right. Keep following your instincts on this b/c sometimes that all we have when our docs won’t help. Do you mind giving me your email address; mine is listed in my profile? I would like to talk with you more on this. I am so glad that the med is working for him, so far so good with Emma too. Hope to hear from you soon!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Sorry you can’t actually see my email address, it is brandy.true@yahoo.com

[Author]

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