Banning Pediatric Cold and Cough Medicines
05-12-2010
Ouch! Sore muscles?
05-09-2010
EXPLAINING HOMEOPATHY
05-06-2010
Medicine for the 21st Century
05-01-2010
Safe Drugs? By Avghi Constantinides D.Hom HMC MA
06-02-2010
Your Child’s Health Care By Avghi Constantinides D.Hom HMC MA
05-02-2010
SAM-e By Joel Morris MD
02-01-2010
Colds & Flu Season
10-03-2009
COMING FROM THE HEART By Kellie Jean Lewis June 2009
06-01-2009
Balancing Nutrition with the Seasons By Katie Lee, LMFT, L.Ac. May 2009
05-01-2009
Major depression - April 2009
04-01-2009
February 2009 By Keiko Cronin, L.Ac.
02-01-2009
January 2009 – CFL Newsletter - Green!
01-01-2009
Diabetes By Dr. Margo DeLeaver MD
06-01-2008
YEAR OF THE EARTH RAT - A NEW CYCLE BEGINS By Keiko Cronin, L.Ac.
02-01-2008
Going Green in 2008
01-09-2008
Avghi Constantinides DHom HMC MA
11-01-2006
| Safe Drugs? By Avghi Constantinides D.Hom HMC MA
06-02-2010
KICK OFF THE HOLIDAYS PARTY!!!!
Please come to our Holiday Party and Toy Drive, Wednesday, November 28, 6:00 to 8:30 pm. We’ll have delicious food and drinks, fun events and lots of good cheer. Please bring an unwrapped toy that we can donate to the Venice Family Clinic. Don’t forget to RSVP!
SAFE DRUGS? By Avghi Constantinides
Whether they are over-the-counter or prescribed by your Doctor, how safe are these drugs?
Every year in the US a number of prescription and over the counter medications are recalled.
One would think that once a drug has met FDA approval it should not cause us harm. True, drugs do come with a long list of side effects, but this is not why the FDA pulls them from the shelves. It’s usually because multiple harmful problems have been attributed to the recalled medication.
Yet it is true. So now there is a conundrum: you have been prescribed medications or recommended over-the-counter drugs and have not stopped using it; what do you do? You want to use something safe and effective.
The same holds true with over-the-counter drugs. What if you wake up in the middle of the night and your 6-month-old baby had a high fever and you don’t want to use the advised pharmaceuticals.
The FDA may finally take action against the harmful, useless, and sometimes-deadly decongestants and antihistamines commonly given to children. FDA safety experts have urged a ban on over-the-counter, multi symptom cough and cold medicines for children under six. FDA experts
have recommended removal of these cough and cold formulas from the market, despite the protests of powerful industry trade groups. About 800 of these formulas are marketed for pediatric use. Clinical studies have shown that these medicines are ineffective and may be unsafe. The report issued on September 28, 2007 reports that at least 54 children died after taking decongestants and 69 children died after taking
antihistamines. The panel suggested that these figures underestimate the number of deaths because of voluntary reporting guidelines. Additionally the FDA has ordered drug makers to remove all prescription cough medicines for children containing hydrocodone, a narcotic, from pharmacy shelves. These products have been shown to be unsafe for children.
HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT
Homeopathic pediatric medicine offers many safe and effective treatments for childhood colds, coughs, and flu.
Black elderberry extract (Sambucol) is an excellent western pediatric formula for viral illness, which has proven to be effective in flu treatment. Echinacea and golden seal are effective in building the immune response to colds, despite contradictory clinical studies. Other Western products, like Emergen-C, and Airborne are also helpful first-line treatments for children's colds.
Homeopathic medicine provides safe and quick acting treatment for children's colds. Most prescriptions need to be individualized. I do not recommend homeopathic combination medicines. Single homeopathic medicines are more effective, more precise, and safer. Giving a 9, 12 or 30 strength will usually be equally effective. In the absence of specific characterizing symptoms (such as sore throat or cough) a guideline to follow for colds is:
• Stage 1 of the cold: Allium cepa –is the first remedy to give for clear mucus and runny nose. Alternatively, Belladonna is used if there is a fever present with a clear runny nose. Once the nasal discharge has changed from clear to yellow or green these remedies are no longer indicated.
• Stage 2 of the cold: Pulsatilla –is recommended when the child has a thick nasal discharge and clingy behaviors.
• Stage 3 of the cold: Kali bichromicum – is particularly useful when a thick green nasal discharge is evidenced.
These are some suggestions. There are 814 homeopathic cold remedies. If those noted above do not work for you, call your homeopath who will individualize the appropriate remedy for your child’s cold.
November only, for new patients, a 10% discount on your first visit.
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