...Doesn't mean it's safe. Many parents think that if medicine can be purchased over-the-counter, then it must be safe. Let me assure you, that is not the case. There are many little-known dangers of giving these drugs to children. Some stories are finally making their way to the public (like the dangers of giving small children cold/cough medicines), however, many are not. You need to arm yourself with knowledge...especially when it comes to your children's health! Check out Dr. Mercola's article:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/08/07/the-little-known-dangers-of-motrin.aspx
A small excerpt from this super informative article:
It’s quite common for parents – especially first-time parents -- to rush to give their children OTC drugs for every pain and sniffle. It’s important to remember that in the first year or two of life, your child's immune system is still being formed, and their experiences during this time can often predict whether or not they will have life-long health problems.
Scientific studies continually support the wisdom of limiting exposures to "foreign" substances for children, including synthetic chemicals -- which includes ALL drugs.
But did you know that many OTC drugs contain otherwise "banned" food additives as well? They too can cause serious side effects, even though they’re not the main ingredient.
According to an expose’ by the British Food Commission last year, ALL BUT ONE pediatric OTC medicine out of 41 contained an additive that had been banned.
The additives found in these drugs included:
Synthetic azo dyes
Maltitol and sorbitol
Benzoate and sulphite preservatives
Chloroform.
Your child deserve the best care possible. Please do all you can to make sure that they receive the care he/she deserves. Remember that God equipped our bodies to heal, we need only to get out of the way and allow Him to work in our bodies. We need to be sure we're feeding our kids healthy foods and make sure that they are getting adequate exercise. We also need to make sure our kids' nervous systems are functioning at their best. Our kids deserve the very best!
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2 comments:
As a dad and a doctor, I find this a very scary topic. I used to think that as long as my patient’s or I dosed the children’s cold & cough medications right, then everything would be OK. But when I researched this further, it turns out that children have died from “over dose” of ALL THE MAJOR CHILDRENS COLD AND COUGH MEDICINES even when given the correct dose (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/108/3/e52?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=cough+medications&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT).
Here are a few interesting facts:
1. Last October 2008, the drug companies promised the FDA that they would change all their labeling to say “do not use” for children under the age of 2, but I was just in the store last week, and a number of packages still had the old labeling!
2. The FDA reviewed safety and effectiveness data this last fall and its expert panel said that “right now the current cold & cough medications should not be given to children under 6.” Here is a link to the FDA’s minutes, “http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/07/minutes/2007-4323m1-Final.pdf”, see page 6. The FDA made a public advisory in January 2008 about never using it for children under 2, because the Drug companies are fighting them on the panels ruling to never use cold and cough medications on children 2 to 6. Since these drugs were previously allowed by the FDA, the FDA is forced to go though “due process” before they are willing to make an official public statement about never giving these medications to children 2 to 6.
3. The number of infant deaths attributed to cold and cough medicines is dramatically underreported. New research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics demonstrated that there were at least “10 unexpected infant deaths that were associated with cold-medication” in 2006 alone in the state of Arizona. Extrapolated over the US and Canadian population, that would be over 500 deaths a year associated with cold-medication! (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/122/2/e318)
The thing that the drug companies don’t want anyone to know is that these medications never underwent the rigorous safety and effectiveness studies modern medications have to go though, they we grandfathered in the early 1970’s because at that time experts felt like they seemed to work, and they seemed safe enough.
Interestingly, some researchers from Penn State have shown that Buckwheat honey is better then the OTC drugs for children’s cough. There is a web site that talks about this, and gives lots of research to help parents be better informed about how to help their kids. Check out http://www.honeydontcough.com/
Thanks for your Blog,
-Daddydoctor
Daddydoctor -
Thanks for the GREAT comments and iformation! It is good to know people are finding their way to my blog and feel that the info is interesting and useful.
Thanks again - Kelly
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