Medicine Cabinet Concerns

Have you taken a look in your family’s medicine cabinet lately? What you might find could shock you. Now, here’s the problem. The medicine cabinet often becomes a storage area for old medications that you want to keep around just in case you need them. The argument is usually something like, ‘I spent a lot of money on this medicine. I’m going to get my money’s worth!’ The problem is, the medication that’s good for one person with one health problem isn’t always good for the other and then there is the difficulty with expired drugs. They can make you sick, or they can even poison you. Remember, young children are curious and they might want to see what’s in those bottles. If you have teens, consider this. While illicit drug and alcohol use among teens is down, the use of prescription painkillers among people ages eight to 25 is up. In fact, prescription painkillers are now attracting the most users of any drugs.

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Appropriate Medications for Children

You may have heard the statement, children are just little adults. Well that is true, but it’s also not true when it comes to medicine. You just can’t give the same drugs to children that you give to adults, and you can’t give half the dose, or anything like that. Many medications cannot be processed by children. Many medications given to children can cause problems in bone development, teeth development. All of these things have to be checked into. So if you have a medication at home that you think worked for you, just don’t give it to your child. Check with your doctor, and find out if they need their own prescription, or their own dose.

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The Most Significant Advances in Health Care

A survey looked at the most significant advances in health care in the past 100 years and there were numerous answers, most of them predictable.  For instance, high tech machinery like CAT scans and MRIs were mentioned.  The development of various antibiotics and medications to treat high blood pressure were also listed.  All good choices, but certain things did not make the list, probably because they were not so obvious.  The first was suggested by former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.  When asked about the greatest invention in his long medical life, he said plastic.  Think about it; being in a hospital with glass tubing for your glass IV.  The other suggestion was the increased importance of studies concerning women.  For decades, women's health was virtually ignored.  Even in the situations where we were dealing with problems that affected both sexes, like heart disease, women were not studied.  The research was done on men and then applied to women. 

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The Correct Drug Dosages for Children

Drug dosing is very important in children because children don’t take the same amount of medicine as adults. When the doctor calculates what the child’s going to have, it’s very important that that is evaluated and looked at from the standpoint of not overdosing a child. Children respond very well to medications if given in the proper dosages. That’s why when you see the pediatrician or the family physician and they write the dosage, make sure you look at it and you take it to the pharmacy, and they closely look at it, so there is not a discrepancy.

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Medication Errors Often Confused with Allergies

One of the things that doctors find often gets confused with allergy is what they call a medication error. A medication has been given to a patient and it’s not given at the right dosage or it’s not the right medication. When that happens, people can actually get a reaction. That reaction is often confused and can look like it’s an allergic reaction. It’s very important if you’re on medications and you’re starting to feel strange, that you look at the medication as a potential cause of a possible problem.

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Pediatric Dosages of Medicine

There’s been a great deal of information about dangers related to certain cough and cold medications in kids, and it brings up a key point…the need to know about pediatric doses. People talk about pediatric dosages of medicine. Well, the bottom line is this; there are many ways to take medicines, but not a lot of studies have been done in kids. We do studies in adults and then we try to relate them to children. That may not be the most effective thing. You need to talk with your pediatrician. Talk about dosages and the different medicines. Not just the prescription medication, but over-the-counter products as well. If you do that, you will have an opportunity to evaluate them and you clearly put them in a position where they’re getting the best thing for them. Again, these are good ideas because it gives you an opportunity to communicate and talk about questions that you otherwise may not have considered. It’s definitely worth looking into.

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