Side Effects of Rhinocort and Other Intranasal Corticosteroids
- Tuesday, July 21, 2009, 10:50
- Asthma
- 409 views
Siobhan:
My 6-year-old son and I both use Rhinocort, and I’m concerned about the side-effects. I’ve read conflicting reports about it affecting the growth of children. I’m also wondering about weight gain for adults and children.
Andrew:
We’ve had so many questions about sort of an alphabet soup of drugs. Is Rhinocort one of these inhaled?
Dr. Shapiro:
It is a nasal steroid, and we were talking about Flonase before?
Andrew:
Yes.
Dr. Shapiro:
And it would be in the same family as Flonase. So it’s blown into the nose, it’s an intranasal corticosteroid.
Andrew:
Would you lump that in the category of these oral ones that you have some concern about long-term? Or are they more like the inhaled corticosteroids that can be used over time?
Dr. Shapiro:
Yes, they are more like the inhaled corticosteroids that we use for asthma that can be used for long periods of time. There are reports of growth issues with drugs in this category, but the reports are not very firm, and I think that the dosage of drugs like Rhinocort or Flonase needs to be tapered to the least amount that works. But usually the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and it’s unlikely that there would be a serious side-effect from a nasal steroid like Rhinocort unless it’s abused, you know, huge doses being used for very long periods of time. Having said that, again we try to taper to the least dose that’s effective. Weight gain is not typically a problem with these intranasal medications, because not very much gets into the system. It’s applied topically to the nose and doesn’t really get into the system in appreciable amounts.
Andrew:
Siobhan, does that help you?
Siobhan:
Yes. And I was wondering, does Flonase have a lower amount of the corticosteroids?
Dr. Shapiro:
The drugs are similar in many ways, and I wouldn’t say that. They both have advantages and disadvantages and it’s a very individual situation. If you weren’t getting good results from one, the other one might be helpful. Both are potent medications, but they both have excellent safety profiles.
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