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I went to buy Medised the other day at Tesco's pharmacy and was told that it is no longer available for children under two.
I went to Boots and told them he was two! (He is 19 months.)They gave me the same line about how it can't be sold to a child under two.
I also use it on my 5 month old whenever she is coughing in the night and can't settle.
The Tesco's woman told me it's because people are using it alongside Calpol and not realising they are both paracetamol. I've never done this and don't plan to start now so surely I'm not doing anything wrong?
Has anybody else found this recently and do you think you will stop using Medised for your under-twos?
My local Boots lady asked the same question(my ds is nearly 3). When i asked why she said there had been an infant who was overdosed on it recently and they were no longer allowed to seel it to under 2's. I thought it was a bit odd as surely any child can be overdosed on any medication.
most local chemsits near me dont stock it any longer and when i asked for it gave me the third degree!..im not irresponsable and never give mixed with other paracetamol based medicines, so shouldnt WE be able to make the descision??..very odd to me?
there were big press releases about this - will look for them in a mo
quite a lot of the medicine that dopes them is being taken off sale - I think they were more worried about people using them to knock their kids out on a regular basis
medised contains one of the anti-histamines which have been withdrawn fir use in under 2s.
It is not the paracetamol OD which is the risk. It is the possibility that a child is given a number of different anti-histamines and end up with a compound overdose no realising they are essentially the same.
thankfully i've got a new unused bottle - bought just before the big who-ha! when my dd2 has a cold she wouldn't get any sleep if it wasn't for medised (she's now 9 months). it's the only thing that helps to clear her nose.
I think the word 'fear's is crucial here and it smacks to me that it's yet another incidence of institutions assuming that mothers don;t know what the fuck they are doing and will kill their babies the first chance they get.
"There have been five deaths in children under two since 1981 where cough and cold medicines may have been a factor, according to the MHRA."
These deaths are tragic, but 4 in 16 years is enough for this policy?? It's mental!
(Sorry I am still a bit fired by by Xenia on anther thread seeming to think we need to ask our partners permission to moan about our lives on MN. Might not be thinking clearly for red mist)
And David Pruce, of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, added: "It is good practice to restrict the use of over-the-counter products for the treatment of cough and cold symptoms in children under two."
What so now medised is a controlled sunstance?
It's only with insane yet institutional things like this that the word misogyny enters my head
Many GPs do not recommend the use of cough remedies.
Some types of remedy used with teh wrong type of cough can actually cause further problems. For example the body is coughing to get rid of excess mucous/bugs to prevent infection. Sto the cough and you increase the risk of a full blown infection.
It is hte smaller size of a baby that makes it more prone to OD. Also there can be a wider range of sizes for a child of the same age - proportionately which makes the appropriate dose (which is actually based on weight) for one child different to that of the next child.
<sticks on a suit of armour>
A major use of medised is for the seadive effect. That is a side effect and IMO it is ludicrous to give a drug to benefit from its side effect.
I use medised only when the kids are snotty and stugbling to settle. never just because it'll knock them out. Though tempting. Am very cautious of medicines esp in under 5's and agree meds suppressing a phlegmy cough can cause the bug to last longer.
It's fair enough having advice from a GP but being refused permission to buy somerthing in a shop? That is madness and it is a power grab, I''m sorry. Meaningless, useless putting stupid women in their place, power grab.
So if you think we should make our iwn decision on what drugs are safe will you go down to the nearest pharmaceutical manufacturer and take the latest chemical to come out of the lab? I think not. The MHRA is there to make that decision.
They base that decision on risk v benefit. In this case risk is obviouslt greater than benefit (but then the medical benefit iin this case is pretty low)
They have decided that this medicine is not safe for under2's. Nothing we can do about that decision formally.
However if you can convince a phamacist it is for an older child and yo uare confident you know the correct dose (when they have been repackaged) there is nothing to stop you giving it to your child. You will bcome fully responsible though.
but it's a simptom of the litigious society we live in. So a press release states that a product is not really suitable for children under two, if a pharmacy sells that product and the baby dies, who is liable? You can bet any money that a parent could make a successful claim against said pharmacy, so they have to cover themselves as much as anything.
I have actually read threads on here from people who have used medised to make their children sleep when they, the parents, have been sleep deprived.
Are there really people who give their kids medicine just to keep them quiet? Yet again the minority of stupid morons ruin it for the rest of us who have more than two brain cells bumping together! Sorry a bit of PMT rearing it's ugly head.
I'm not sure the sedative effect of the antihistamine in medised is a side-effect. It is marketed as "aiding restful sleep", and the over the counter sedative for adults, Nytol, includes exactly the same ingredient. People use Medised ( and Nytol ) because of it's sedative effect - it's not a side effect, it is THE effect, if you see what I mean.
I've taken Medised, and I use Nytol, and they both totally knock me out. It can be very powerful stuff. For this reason, I am very reluctant to use it on my children now, although before I had personal experience of it's effects, I used it regularly with my baby daughter. Now I am fully aware just how "drugged up" you feel, I don't give it to them anymore. It is strong powerful stuff, and I urge any parent who gives it to their children to have a swig themselves and feel the effect.
this change in labelling and sale has come about because children infact babies have DIED because their parents/carers were not aware. tis no big deal.
I agree. In fact I find the whole "how dare they tell me I can't use it on my under 2, I will use it on my baby if I want" attitude utterly bizarre. It's clearly been deemed unsafe for under 2's. So if parents of under 2's want to put their babies at risk then go right ahead, but don't blame the government for giving out necessary info.
There is now a product called 'Calpol night' which I think is meant to be similar to Medised. Haven't tried it but the ads make it look as though it has a mild sedative effect. Is this going to be withdrawn too or are we to be trusted to use it safely?
I don't know if it's ludicrous to give your child a mild sedative, if you are doing it for their benefit, to help them sleep and get better. A child who has been up all night will be more poorly than one who managed to get some sleep.
I also use red wine for medicinal purposes and will have to step up my dosage if I can't drug the kids any more
So what if a 25 year old goes in alone and asks for paediatric antihistamene? They will do the same as they have alwasy done, told them the advice and sell them it.
The stats in that report do not justify these measures.
No, I was being ironic Clara. I am just an angry fuckwit mother who has no idea how to care for my child and sedates it whenever I need to go out touting for business or for a fix ..
Clara - despite my light hearted posts I am concerned as I gave my dd medised before I started the thread and have been in twice to check she is ok since I've been reading the press releases etc.
It does seem to me though that the ingredients are only harmful if you give them alongside other medication - the press release does explicitly say that the medicines are not harmful it's the way they are (mis)used that can be harmful.
My interpretation of he report was that the ingrediants had been withdrawn, not just the instances where those ingrediants are in certain combinations.
In fact many of those on the list contain sole ingrediants.
As for Piriton, the active ingrediant is on the list (chlorphenamine), but Piriton is not on list.
Maybe it is because it is not marketed as a cough remedy???
Help me understand what this is all about then.............. Are these drugs now totally banned for the use in the under 2's...............or...........have they been withdrawn in the short term pending clearer labeling and dosing instructions?
The repackaging is to remove the dosage instructions from under 2's.
Until then the products will not be available on the open shelves (i.e. Tesco) and you will only be able to get them from a pharmacist who will tell you that it should not be used for under 2's.
