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The Cold and Cough Medication Ban
Why Were Infant Cold Syrups Removed from Store Shelves?
By Lisa A. Goldstein
Dr. Charlotte Cowan, a pediatrician who trained and practiced for years at Boston's MassGeneral Hospital for Children and who now authors children's books about common infectious illnesses, says cold and cough medicines have never been shown to work well in children and instead have been consistently shown to have unwanted side effects.
"The most common side effect I encountered in my practice was a heightened irritability – increased crankiness and decreased ability to sleep – from cold medicines," Dr. Cowan says. "Although the rare side effects of increased blood pressure and cardiac arrhythmia may have caused the drug companies to pull their drugs, the largest reason to do so in my opinion is that the medicines simply do not work."
Against the BanBut not everyone agrees with the ban, like Melanie Davis, of Birmingham, Ala. Her son, now 2, seemed to have a cold at every turn, she says. They put books under his crib to lift it up so he was at an angle and could breathe better at night, but coughing was mainly what kept him up. They tried a humidifier and saline drops, but nothing really worked. The doctor's office recommended an over-the-counter cold medicine. The nurses, after consulting with the doctor, would tell the Davises how much to give her son due to his weight and age.
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The Cold and Cough Medication Ban by Ben on 11/29/2009 11:18PM
The article quoted Dr Haller as saying, "these drugs do not make kids with colds and sore throats feel better any quicker than doing nothing". But "feeling better" here is probably a misstatement. He meant to say "get better" (according to other articles I've read). But that's getting better faster is not the reason why most people take cold medication. They take it to alleviate suffering. Is there any evidence that the banned medication alleviates suffering in children? Granted, the risk of overdose from mixed medicines is real, but couldn't that be addressed with proper labeling for kids medicines? Eg., bold, simple, color coded labels for kids medicine (don't use the same color twice)