Pulling cough medicines aimed at young children from drugstores curbed risky overdoses
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comKids' ER visits fell after cold drugs' removal
Seeded on Mon Nov 22, 2010 12:55 AM EST (msnbc.com)
- msnbc.com sites & shows:
- TODAY
- Rock Center
- Nightly News
- Meet the Press
- Dateline
- Morning Joe
- Hardball
- Ed
- Maddow
- Last Word
- msnbc tv
Leave a Comment:
Kids using the drugs on their own? Are these teenagers trying to get high? Safety caps aren't going to work in that population. I doubt these were kids under 10 trying to take care of their own cold symptoms. Didn't the study look at the ages of kids still coming to the ER? Would have been nice to have that information.
Jeepers. Kids getting sicker using medicine? Which direction are we really heading into? Reminds me of the story about mortality dropping while doctors were on strike. Hmmm.
I have three daughters that could each, at the age of 1-3 could smell that stuff coming a mile away. We always had to (hide) it into something else or it would just prove to be a waste of time and effort. Cherry or grape didn't change a damn thing, they just would not take it. So I think these research numbers have been largely skewered or it was the parents force feeding it just so they could get some sleep !
Seriously? Wouldn't it be much easier to remove any warning label from any product that's sort of "common sense", then after a while, the children of stupid parents (and hopefully, the parents themselves) will get "sorted out" by natural selection? It'd be a lot easier on the world if the stupid went the way of the dodo. God may suffer his idiots, but frankly I'm tired of dealing with these retards.
Peter - Jeepers? Really? What, we're you born in 1911?
Scrum - Read the article, retard. It's talking about idiot parents - likely some brain donors such as yourself who can't be bothered to read anything more than 2 words long - giving their kids old medicine. Pray with me. "Dear lord. Please prevent Scrum from developing any method, biological or scientific - from being able to reproduce."
Apparently now parents bring their kids to the ER to get help with a stuffy nose and other cold-related symptoms. Why on earth would anyone expose an otherwise healthy kid who simply has a cold to an ER in the middle of the night? That is what I don't get.
Heather if these parents are stupid enough to overdose their kids or not put a lock on their medicine chest if they have young children what would make you think they aren't just overall stupid? Did you read the entire article? It doesn't appear so.
1. Follow your doctors instructions.
2. READ the instructions on all medication and follow them.
3. Keep all meds where children can not get at them.
4. Throw out old medications and keep them away from children when you do.
5. When in doubt contact your doctor or Ask a Nurse it's a service connected to your hospital.
6. I don't have the answer to who will protect the children from dumb butt parents.
DON"T let your kids play with toys or handle books in a Pediatrician's office it's a breeding ground for germs from other sick kids. Bring something from home. Then wash it.
Jo - I read the article. I was merely commenting on the last part where it mentioned that now ERs see more kids with stuffy noses/other cold symptoms. As if the ER could really do much to help, besides saline and suctioning.
But thanks for your PSA above.
Speaking from experience, I've called the advice nurse frequently when I was a new parent. Illnesses are scary with a first baby, especially if you haven't been around babies very much. Just because a baby or toddler has what appears to be a cold, doesn't necessarily mean that every parent can diagnose it as such. My son had asthma, and for his first 2 years, I called the advice nurse frequently, and sometimes took him in, just to make sure he wasn't having an attack. For a long time, it was hard for me to distinguish between asthma symptoms and a cold. I didn't want to treat him or over medicate him for something he didn't have. Sometimes taking your child to see the doctor is merely a way to put your mind at ease that he's not going to die.
As for children getting too much cough medicine, I remember reading that a vast majority of these ER visits were due to parents just wanting to subdue their child. Why the rest of the population has to suffer for other people's neglectful stupidity is beyond me.
I haven't given my toddler OTC meds, only perscription meds and only when she needs them. While it is tempting for parents to want a good night's sleep for themselves and their child, giving meds to knock their kids out is not the answer. Parents have to take the bad along with the good. No one said parenting was easy and that is especially true for those with small children. As a result, I haven't slept well for several years now. But I do not complain because my child is happy and has good overall health.
Parents need to take responsibility for their actions and be parents, not push medicine to make their kids sleep or behave better. Shame on parents that would harm their children so that they could have an easier time parenting.