Are all these medications necessary?

Hi, I'm new to the board. What brought me here is my 8 year old son who has had a host of problems since birth. At age two he had his adenoids removed due to frequent sinus and ear infections. He apparently has the classic atopic march going on, with eczema since birth, now seasonal allergies (grass and trees), and asthma. I was unsure about the diagnosis of asthma, since he never has issues in the middle of the night, just first thing in the morning unless he is having a flare due to sickness or allergies, and his cough sounds like croup during a flare. He was put on QVAR last year during grass season, and it took a couple weeks to start working. His specialist then didn't believe in peak flow meters, so when he coughed I would automatically give him Pro-Air which didn't seem to help. She also never tested him for seasonal allergies, but assumed grass since he was having a nasty flare during grass season. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, I took him to a new specialist who gave us a peak flow meter, and gave him a lung function test which came out great. She classified him as having cough variant asthma (his other specialist said allergy induced asthma), and since he has post nasal drip, coined the cough due to allergies. They tested him and found him allergic to trees and grass. So she put him on Singulair, Triamcynalone (sp) nasal spray, and Zyrtec. He has been on Nortriptylene for a few months now due to migraine headaches that he's developed in the last year. He is having an asthma flare now where his peak flow numbers are barely in the yellow zone (just above red) in the mornings, and the Ventolin seems to help a bit, so I took him to his primary doctor yesterday (since the specialist had no openings and wanted him seen right away) and his primary doctor put him on Flovent. He also said it was asthma and not croup due to the fact that he has no fever or any indication of a virus or infection. My son always has clear lungs, never any wheezing. His father and I do not have any allergies or asthma, so all this is new to us. My son's prescriptions are more than I've ever seen, and seems like a lot for an 8 year old kid. What is Singulair for and why is it not helping my son prevent a flare? He is taking 4 different prescription medications every day, plus the Zyrtec, and Ventolin when needed. So much for him ever staying the night at someone else's house! Thank goodness we homeschool My other two children don't have any issues either. If they did I think I'd go crazy!

-Nicole

Thank you so much! Today is the first day in about a week that his peak flow was in the green zone in the morning. I am so thankful. We go back in to the doctor for a follow up mid-march so maybe we can step down on some of his medications. I just hate the thought of him being on so many.

The asthma is a hard one for me to understand since his condition seems to be constantly changing. Guess that's the way the disease goes, huh? It sounds scary to have a full blown attack that could be fatal. I hope my son never has a full blown attack like that!

Thanks Joy for the feedback! I thought my son was a mild asthmatic too. He is ok until he flares but now it seems his triggers are expanding. He is seeing an asthma and allergy specialist who sees both children and adults.