Month: October 2021

Asthma is the most common chronic lung disease in children. In the US, it affects about 6 million children, or about one in every 12 children.

Breathing is key to life, obviously, so asthma can make life very hard. It can make going for a walk outside feel very hard. It leads not just to visits with the doctor or to the emergency room, and to hospitalizations, but also to missed school, missed work for parents, missed events, and missed activities.

The good news is that asthma is very treatable. If parents, children, and doctors work together, a child with asthma can lead a healthy, normal life. Here’s what you need to know and do.

Know your child’s symptoms

Wheezing is definitely a symptom of asthma, but a dry persistent cough can be as well (for some children, this occurs mostly at night).

Watch for signs that a child is working harder to breathe. One sign is skin tugging inward between, on top of, or below the ribs. Difficulty talking in long sentences is another sign of this.

Some children with exercise-induced asthma avoid exercise; if your child is choosing to be less active, talk to them about why.

Know your child’s triggers

There are many different triggers for asthma, including:

• Upper respiratory infections, like the common cold. COVID falls into this category, which is why children with asthma should be vaccinated against COVID.
• Allergies, such as
  • outdoor allergens like pollen, which are often worse in the spring and fall
  • indoor allergens like dust mites or mold
  • pet dander.
• Exercise. Some children will struggle with even mild exercise, while others only have trouble with vigorous exercise or exercising when there are other triggers too (like a cold or allergies).
• Weather changes, especially to colder weather. Some children can be triggered by going into a cold, air-conditioned room.
• Stress. Stress affects our bodies in multiple ways, and in some people it can trigger their asthma or make it worse.

Understand your child’s medications

Several kinds of medicines are used to treat asthma, including:

• Bronchodilators. Examples are albuterol, levalbuterol, formoterol, or ipratropium. Known as “rescue medications,” these are inhaled and work by opening up the airways. They are given through metered-dose inhalers or a nebulizer machine. They are used when a person is experiencing symptoms.
• Inhaled steroids. These work by decreasing inflammation in the lungs and making them less likely to react to triggers. They are “controller medications” given regularly to prevent symptoms.
• Combined inhalers. These have both an inhaled steroid and a long-acting bronchodilator. They are very useful for patients with more difficult asthma. Sometimes they are used in SMART (Single Maintenance And Reliever Therapy), in which the same inhaler is used for both rescue and control.
• Oral or injected steroids. These are generally used when someone has a bad asthma attack, but some people need to take them regularly to prevent attacks.
• Allergy medications. Medicines like loratadine, cetirizine, or montelukast can be very helpful when there is an allergic component to asthma.

Some people with severe asthma need other treatments, such as allergy shots for severe allergies, or medications like dupilumab that work in the body to flight inflammation. This is far less common.

Use medication correctly

• Sometimes medications and medication regimens can be confusing. That’s why everyone with asthma should have a written Asthma Action Plan that spells out exactly what they should do and when.
• If your child uses an inhaler, make sure that they are doing it right! For most inhalers, it’s important to use a spacer, which is a tube that attaches to the inhaler and helps to ensure that the medication gets into the lungs and not just the mouth or surrounding air.
• If you have any questions about anything your child is prescribed, call your doctor.

Meet with your doctor regularly

If your child’s asthma is anything more than very mild (a few mild attacks a year), you need to check in more frequently than at the yearly checkup. Extra check-ins give you a chance to talk to your doctor about how things are going — and give your doctor a chance to tweak your child’s regimen so that your child can live the healthiest, happiest life possible.

Which, after all, is totally the point.

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About the Author

Claire McCarthy, MD, Senior Faculty Editor, Harvard Health Publishing

Claire McCarthy, MD, is a primary care pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital, and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. In addition to being a senior faculty editor for Harvard Health Publishing, Dr. McCarthy … See Full Bio View all posts by Claire McCarthy, MD

While psychiatric medications can be essential for improving mental health and well-being, they often come with unwanted side effects. One particular side effect of many psychiatric medications is weight gain. In this post we will explore how these medications cause weight gain, and what you can do to lessen the impact of this unwanted effect of many psychiatric medications.

What are the different types of psychiatric medications?

There are five main types of psychiatric prescription medications: antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics (also known as anti-anxiety medications, which can include medications for sleep), mood stabilizers, and stimulants. Stimulants are not likely to cause weight gain. In fact, many of them reduce appetite and can cause weight loss as a side effect. These medications will not be discussed in this post.

Antidepressants can be divided into separate classes:

• SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, increase serotonin levels in the brain.
• SNRIs, or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, increase both serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain.
• TCAs, or tricyclic antidepressants, increase serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine in the brain.
• MAOIs, or monoamine oxidase inhibitors, increase serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine in the brain.

Why do antidepressants cause weight changes?

All of these medications increase serotonin levels in the brain. Serotonin regulates mood and affects appetite, yet this can have varying results depending on length of treatment. Short-term use reduces impulsivity and increases satiety, which can reduce food intake and cause weight loss. However, long-term use (longer than a year) can cause downregulation of serotonin receptors, which subsequently causes cravings for carbohydrate-rich foods such as bread, pasta, and sweets that ultimately may lead to weight gain. The antidepressants with the highest risk of causing weight gain are amitriptyline, citalopram, mirtazapine, nortriptyline, trimipramine, paroxetine, and phenelzine.

Why do antipsychotic medications worsen obesity-related diseases?

Antipsychotics can also be categorized into two classes: typical and atypical antipsychotics. Both classes can cause weight gain, but they differ in that atypical antipsychotics cause fewer movement disorder side effects. Like antidepressants, antipsychotics affect the chemical messengers in the brain associated with appetite control and energy metabolism, namely serotonin, dopamine, histamine, and muscarinic receptors. In addition to causing weight gain, antipsychotics can also impair glucose metabolism, increase cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and cause hypertension, all of which can lead to metabolic syndrome and worsen obesity-related diseases. The antipsychotics most likely to cause weight gain are olanzapine, risperidone, and quetiapine.

What about anti-anxiety medications and weight changes?

There is no clear link between traditional anti-anxiety medications such as benzodiazepines and weight gain. However, many antidepressants are also used for the treatment of anxiety, and may cause weight gain as discussed above.

Similarly, not all medications for sleep cause weight gain; one that has been associated with weight gain is diphenhydramine (the active ingredient in Benadryl that is also used in many over-the-counter sleep aids). Diphenhydramine can contribute to weight gain by causing increased hunger and tiredness, which can make a person less active. Other sleep aids such as zolpidem (Ambien) or eszopiclone (Lunesta) have not been linked to weight gain.

Trazodone, a medication used for depression as well as insomnia, reduces excess serotonin at some sites, while increasing serotonin levels at other sites, thus affecting appetite as previously discussed.

Mood stabilizers are often used to treat bipolar disease, and can increase appetite or cause changes in metabolism. Although some antidepressants and antipsychotics are also used to treat bipolar disease, mood stabilizers such as lithium, valproic acid, divalproex sodium, carbamazepine, and lamotrigine are the mood stabilizers often used for treatment of bipolar disorder, and with the exception of lamotrigine, they are all known to increase the risk of weight gain.

There are effective strategies to minimize weight gain

For people taking psychiatric medications for mental health, there are strategies to minimize weight gain. Optimizing lifestyle and daily habits is important. This includes eating a healthy diet with whole foods and limiting processed foods and added sugars; staying physically active; minimizing stress; and ensuring adequate restful sleep. Physical activity, in particular, can have a double effect of both improving mental health and minimizing weight gain that might otherwise occur. Cognitive and behavioral strategies under the guidance of a psychologist may be useful for avoiding giving in to any increased cravings for sweets and carbohydrates.

Another strategy to minimize weight gain is to work with your healthcare provider to determine if there might be an appropriate alternate medication option with a lower risk of weight gain. In addition, the anti-diabetes medication metformin has been shown to be effective in treating and preventing psychotropic-induced weight gain. Other medications prescribed for weight loss may also be appropriate to help counteract the weight gain experienced by psychotropic medications.

Be aware that almost all medications have a risk of causing side effects, and it is important to ensure that the benefits of taking any medications will outweigh the risks. Speaking to your primary care provider, psychiatrist, or obesity medicine specialist can be useful in determining which options may work best for you.

About the Author

Chika Anekwe, MD, MPH, Contributor

Chika V. Anekwe, MD, MPH is an obesity medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Weight Center and Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS). Her professional interests are in the areas of clinical nutrition, … See Full Bio View all posts by Chika Anekwe, MD, MPH