Although the medications aren't dangerous if proper dosage is followed, parents who have the products in their medicine cabinets should throw them away...
Not to mention that the dosage is explicitly described on both the box and medicine bottle.
The danger comes when parents confuse the droppers that come with infant medicines with larger medicine cups...
Who in their right mind confuses an eyedropper (that came in the box) with the big cup that came with their taken-twice-daily NyQuil?
Safety experts for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have urged the agency to consider a ban on these medicines for children under the age of 6 years.
So, the next time my 3 yr old has mucus dripping down her shirt, can't hardly breathe, and is up coughing all night I will not have anything to give her. Bummer.
Last edited by MartyNeilan on Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:17 pm, edited 2 times in total.
windshieldbug wrote:- insert favorite lawyer joke here -
The problem is that there are only 1 or 2 real lawyer jokes -- the rest are true stories!
One of the most common overdosages of children is acetaminophen, or Tylenol. Unlike aspirin, acetaminophen toxicity occurs rather quickly, because a child's liver doesn't metabolize the medicine as efficiently as an adult. This is compounded by there being so many name brand and generic formulations available, and also because it is added to a lot of "multi-symptom" products. So you have infant formulas, toddler formulas, childrens' formulas, regular formulas, extra strength formulas, cold formulas, allergy formulas, III w/codene formulas by prescription, etc., and if you take or administer more than one or the wrong one, the child's liver suffers, even when you're trying to be careful. I even caught a pediatric practitioner in a mistake that would have doubled the dose to my son a few years ago, and kept it from happening. We stopped going to that practitioner after that incident. Because my son has one of the same anti-thrombin deficiencies I do, acetaminophen is the only analgesic he can take, so I am acutely aware of dosage.
bloke wrote:I don't think it's very smart to throw away medicines (again, like Marty said) unless you're dumb.
- Pills last years-and-years-and-years longer than their published "shelf life".
- Even if you're not sure what a medicine does, you can quintuple-check it on google to research purpose, cautions, interactions, alergies, side effects, and dosages.
- We often end up needing the same medicines a few months or a few years later.
- Medicines are EXPENSIVE.
When you are prescribed a medication from a doctor, you should *always* take all of the pills prescribed. Just because you feel good that doesn't mean that the condition has been remedied. If you don't take all the pills, the condition is frequently weak under the surface, just waiting to flare up again.
By all rights, you shouldn't ever have any pills left over.
Jeff "My dad was a pharmacist and said so" Benedict
The Big Ben wrote:
By all rights, you shouldn't ever have any pills left over.
That is not possibly true in every circumstance.
Antibiotics - always true, anyone is stupid if they don't take the entire prescribed amount.
Pain killers - if your dentist gives you a full bottle of Lortab after some dental work, and you don't have any more pain after the second day, to continue to use the rest of the pills is nothing more than recreational use.
Everything else in between - do your own homework.
Uncle Buck wrote:to continue to use the rest of the pills is nothing more than recreational use.
Oh man! Now I'll have to come up with a new justification to give to my wife! I liked that one! ("But honey- I'm only taking the recommended dosage to use up the prescription, like I should!")
Instead of talking to your plants, if you yelled at them would they still grow, but only to be troubled and insecure?
The Big Ben wrote:
By all rights, you shouldn't ever have any pills left over.
That is not possibly true in every circumstance.
Antibiotics - always true, anyone is stupid if they don't take the entire prescribed amount.
Pain killers - if your dentist gives you a full bottle of Lortab after some dental work, and you don't have any more pain after the second day, to continue to use the rest of the pills is nothing more than recreational use.
If you dentist does give you more than you need for two or three days, he/she runs the risk of getting put on the 'bad guy' list of overprescribers and might lose privileges. Yep, Uncle Suckhole keeps track of that sort of thing.
If you are still in pain two or three days after a dental procedure, you need to go back because something is wrong.
And Marty's kid *still* has snot draining onto her shirt...
The Big Ben wrote:
If you dentist does give you more than you need for two or three days, he/she runs the risk of getting put on the 'bad guy' list of overprescribers and might lose privileges. Yep, Uncle Suckhole keeps track of that sort of thing.
If you are still in pain two or three days after a dental procedure, you need to go back because something is wrong.
And Marty's kid *still* has snot draining onto her shirt...
Interesting combination - we took her to her first dentist visit the other day, and they wouldn't do anything without a note from her doctor first because of her heart murmur. (There is actually a legit reason, as in some cases antibiotics may need to be taken several days prior to a dental visit to prevent anything from the gums from getting into the bloodstream and into an already problematic heart.)
One thing not mentioned in all this is that the crud and snot that builds up in the head, when it isn't controlled by anti-histamines and ephedrine type drugs, carries a load of infection causing bacteria to the ears and respiratory tract. So, you'll see kids worse off as a result. Unless they get overdosed because the parent used an adult does because the kid dose isn't around anymore.
Even as an adult, take what you need to control the snot. Snot getting into your ears and respiratory tract is what causes the big problems.
Several years ago, my older daughter had scoliosis surgery which took her out of school for the last several months of her freshman year of high school. She had an experimental surgery which required very little suturing. Anyway, the day she was released (which was at 7:30 pm) from the hospital (Loma Linda University Children's Hospital) the surgeon handed me a prescription for a four month supply of a certain painkiller. I went to the hospital pharmacy (open 24 hours) and they said it would take six hours to process due to the demand. About a mile from the university in Loma Linda, in Colton, there was a Rite Aid drug store that never had lines. This was a very common painkiller, so I couldn't see any reason why Rite Aid couldn't do it.
Rite Aid said, because of the high volume, it would take three days to process. Naturally, I went back and waited in line at the university pharmacy. The surgeon said he couldn't understand why Rite Aid couldn't handle it (he was still there when I came back). So I took my daughter home and waited in the pharmacy. I met the surgeon at the pharmacy and he said that the pills should last longer than their expiration date.
Then he said, "I'm really not supposed to tell you this, Mr. Long, but if your daughter doesn't need all these pills, save them. Then, if you ever get your teeth pulled out, these work a lot better than the weak things the dentists give you!" The pharmacist overheard what he said and nodded his head.
A couple of years after this I had to get five teeth pulled out at once. The dentist gave me a prescription for a preparation combining aspirin and codeine. It worked pretty good but the effect lasted about 15 minutes.
Remembering what the back surgeon said about those stronger pills (and there were over 150 left!), I took two of them and, not only did I feel no pain but I was euphoric.
Joe is right here. However, you do have to be careful about becoming addicted to prescription drugs. This painkiller was the best feeling I ever got from any medicine. I thought about taking it just to get to sleep some nights but I never did that.
________________________________________________________
You only have one chance to make a first impression. Don't blow it.
You know what?
I bet we see some kind of article showing up here, about that a kid gets killed by a drug overdose with a single adult strength pill, like aspirin.
In some ways, it's stupid about them pulling kid's medicines...
I think I might end up as a grumpy old man when I get old...
tubaguy9 wrote:
"Ohhh Lord, Take a Lap!"-Mr. Donny Allen,possibly one of my greatest teachers...
Pioneer Contra, 2007
Donny who?
Donny Allen...Can't you read?
Not a typo, check on the staff for Pioneer 2007. You might see that I'm right...Actually, it will say someone who didn't show up for the summer for caption head...
Just trust me.
I think I might end up as a grumpy old man when I get old...
A few weeks ago I had the immense good luck to slip in the shower and cause a disk in my back to become, uh, upset.
I got some kind of pain med from the doctor that must have been what Loyal Tubist took for his teeth...it still hurt but oh MY I just didn't really give a damn. Euphoria is a good description. And I, the perennial insomniac, set the alarm for every four hours, all night long, because taking the stuff would keep me asleep. I wasn't so far gone as to revert from crawling to walking too soon, though. And I did get myself off it in less than a week despite having it become very, very clear that I now understand how people become narcotics addicts.
On a more serious note....whoever said he adds Scotch to the mix....don't mix alcohol and tylenol. That is death for your liver. Really.
There was some stupid mother here in Tucson who managed to kill her five-year-old autistic son by pumping him full of some kind of OTC meds to "keep him quiet." It worked, perfectly. I don't know if they were kiddie meds or adult meds, but I doubt it would have mattered to her very much.
