Posted on 10/28/2007 12:46:22 PM PDT by jwalburg
When drug makers voluntarily recalled infants' cold medicine this month - and a Food and Drug Administration panel recommended an end to cold medicine for kids up to 6 - it was a triumph for the chicken soup brigade.
For years, moms waking to the weak cry of congested babies avoided advice from health-quack relatives by pointing to experts. They cited scientifically sound formulas recommended by pediatricians, pharmacists and advice nurses.
But now, that's all over.
With manufacturers recalling products - and some pediatricians declaring outright that the cold medicines didn't do any good anyway - parents are now left to deal with specialists like Aunty Opal and her mustard footbath.
All those years dispensing doctor-approved decongestants really didn't help at all. We thought we were clearing nasal passages and saving our children from asphyxiation!
We thought we were modern parents doing the medically proper thing - not backwater blockheads following humbug techniques. Turns out, those drops of chemically formulated decongestants and antihistamines produced only a placebo effect. And we fell for it!
It certainly seemed like our kids breathed better. By doing something scientifically approved, it sure made us parents sleep better.
But now we are told to return to saltwater nose drops, menthol rubs and chicken soup. And soon to come, Granny Gladys' 100 percent patented Lobelia Tincture and catnip tea.
Do these drug companies realize how humiliating it is to admit to sister Sadie that, yes, her garlic/epsom salt throat rinse is probably just as effective as Dimetapp?
I don't know if this recall is some kind of ploy to head off an outright ban by the FDA or the latest in outrageous lawsuits - or if something else is going on. But if these medicines really don't do any good in the first place, we shouldn't use them.
What I want to know is this: If they don't do kids any good, could it be that adult cold medicine is also suspect? Could adults be enjoying a placebo effect? Just asking.
My husband's grandmother had a cure for everything. Zinc was one of her favorite recommendations. Run-down? Take zinc. Chapped lips? Zinc oxide. Bad fingernails? Zinc. She also could tell if you were allergic to something by a mysterious ritual. She'd pull out her hearing aid and hand it to you. You'd have to hold the cord and dangle the hearing aide over your plate. The hearing aid would eventually swing in a small circle. If it swung clockwise, you were not allergic to the food. But if it started swinging counterclockwise, watch out!
This is the kind of homespun medicine we're in for, thanks to the recall. I don't know which is worse: swallowing decades of cough medicine ads touting the relief “guaranteed by doctors” or swallowing Aunt Myrtle's sulfurized molasses-quinine elixir.
Remember castor oil? Lemon and honey? Chamomile tea? It's all coming back. It wouldn't surprise me to see a whole host of ads for the latest tea tree concoction replacing children's cough syrup commercials on prime time TV.
The trouble now is determining whose medicine is trustworthy. It will take more than a swinging hearing aid to ascertain this!
Meanwhile, we'll have to put up with truckloads of advice from all those healthy living advice-givers in our families. We can't beg off with a polite excuse about what the pharmacist or doctor said.
The hard part will be hearing homeopath relatives gloat while they ladle out yet another batch of “alternative” treatments.
The only way to keep them at bay, I fear, is to brew our own guaranteed treatments and brag about amazing results.
Vick’s Vaporub and a humidifier. Those were the days.
The Anti- freedom of choice Nazi’s strike again. No choice for you!
Vick’s Vaporub is great stuff. Only trouble is it keeps people 10 feet away when you use it.
And what’s worse, is that these Nazi Nanny state liberals will tell you what you can and cannot give your kids. They know better. besides, it might react with the Ritalin they give them at school.
You’re probably right. The law of unintended consequences.
That's another added benefit with Vick's Vaporub. Others need to keep their distance when one is bitten with the creeping crud.
And kids will die from OD...chaulk another one up for the do-gooders...or a child will die from high fever due to no treatment..
As the father of three...the stuff isnt for the cold virus...it’s for the damn symptoms..
The stuff works as directed...
knock down the symptom...the kid gets better rest....the better the rest...the shorter lived the virus...
IDIOTS.
For my four month old, we have used the humidifier, vapor bath, saliene drops and the nose sucker and lots of steam. It helped him get through his first cold a few days ago, I would honestly never think of giving him cold meds. (even if they were still ok per the peds)
The stuff works as directed...
knock down the symptom...the kid gets better rest....the better the rest...the shorter lived the virus...
IDIOTS.
Agreed!
>As long as I don’t have to take cod liver oil.<
Remember those days? Now Omega Three comes in capsule form.
I received an email yesterday that child or adult with a continual cough should spread Vicks Vapor Rub on the soles of their feet and wear bed socks upon retiring. It stops the cought within minutes, and a restful sleep can be had!
Our pediatrician, not an anti-med doctor by any means, told us long ago not to bother to give the kids cold medicine because they do nothing for the symptoms. I’ve never used them and only do what you do (humidifier, saliene drops, nose sucker— that’s fun) to my three kids.
The people who medicate their kids at the drop of a hat tend to have sicker kids, in my experience.
LOL—and parents who dipped the pacifier and teething ring into the whiskey glass.
One pill covering two vitamins: Vitamin A & D = Cod Liver Oil. Take one a day. Only visible sign is that your urine is bring yellow but clears up as the day goes forward. Personally, I take one every day along with zinc. Zinc is prescribed because as people age the zinc content decreases. Zinc keeps you alert.
I read about a mixture of whiskey and grape jelly. Never tried it though.
If you never used the stuff...how would you know?
When I give some them cough suppressent...and the kid stops hacking them selves awake....I might be inclined to add two and two and get four...
Well that's just false. Children's cold medicine contains antihistamines and decongestants.
I use these ingredients today for allergies and they certainly help me. I'm all for helping a poor little one's breathing when they're all stuffed up.
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