Can my almost 6YO DD take my arnica pillules?

[PavlovtheCat]

1. Are they suitable for this age
   
2. Do they have a shelf life? They are 2 years old.
   

If not suitable can I buy any that are ok for children to take? Dd has broken her wrist and I have been told arnica will help with pain as well as the bruising.

[DontstepontheMomeRaths]

No idea. I wouldn't feel comfortable with pills.

I use the Arnica cream for my children which works brilliantly. I'd use Calprofen for the swelling personally. Poor love

[PavlovtheCat]

don't yes I have the cream, but can't put that on due to backslab plaster on! She is fully dosed on calpol and nurofen. Is there a difference between nurofen and calprofen or is it just calpol's brand of ibruprofen?

I just want to do as much as I can to keep it comfortable and speed the process along. At the moment she is fine and I am having to work hard to stop her jumping around and climbing (happened on sunday) but when it starts to hurt she is in a lot of pain, as expected.

[DontstepontheMomeRaths]

They're the same It's Calpols version.

[JoanOfNark]

If they are "homeopathic" pills then you can give her the whole bottle, since they don't have any active ingredient.

If they are actual herbal arnica you can use them, but they don't do much for pain, you need a proper painkiller.

[Rubirosa]

If they are homeopathic they are just sugar so won't be harmful unless she is lactose intolerant.

[babamummy]

It's absolutely fine to give the pillules to a 6 YO; I give them to DS who is 1 YO. Homeopathic remedies can be taken at any age ( for young babies the pillules just need to be crushed up first).

They'll still be fine to give at 2 years old.

[BewitchedBotheredandBewildered]

I would give them if they are lower strength - 30 or 6.
They should help with bruising, but, as stated above they won't help pain.

[Rubirosa]

Um, you do realise that there is no actual arnica in them don't you Bewitched?

[Trills]

If they are homeopathic then give her a dose proportional to her bodyweight (so if you would take 3 and she is 1/3 your size, give her 1)

It won't do anything, because there is no active ingredient, but the placebo effect is more powerful if you trust the person giving you the pills and if they seem to be thinking hard and taking care over exactly what to give you.

If they actually have active ingredients red the back of the bottle/leaflet and see what it says about children.

From the point of view of actual drugs, paracetamol (normal calpol) and ibuprofen (calprofen) can be taken together at the full dose for each without any problems, so give her both.

[seeker]

They have no active ingredients so yes you can. Although a packet of smarties would taste nicer and have more effect!

[Trills]

Smarties might not have more effect because a 6yo will know that smarties are sweets and not "medicine". Aniseed balls, on the other hand, taste like medicine and are pretty unusual, so she might not have had them before.

[JoanOfNark]

Sugar is actually a documented pain reliever in children. Certainly a lot more use than homeopathic nonsense.

[PavlovtheCat]

Just to make it clear that the idea of arnica is not instead of using medicine, DD has max doses of both nurofen and calpol regularly. It is in fact not possible for her to have them at the same time due to calpol being 4-6 hourly 4 max in 24 hours and nurofen 6-8 hourly 3 max in 24 hours. We actually have the timings written down to give her the max pain releif without giving her too much/ensuring no time without medicine. I will not be stopping the pain relief any time soon.

I will give her some if it wont hurt her. Some think it is nonsense and I maybe it is, but, right now I want to try to everything to help her. And if sugar in 'pretend' pills work then I will do it! I know for certain the arnica gel works, mumbo or not that is my opinion.

No need to do smarties instead as a placebo as DD understands fully that the medicine she is already taking is to help her painful arm. She takes it without question.

[KatyMac]

Poor Poppet, I'd go with the arnica & the smarties (sugar is great for pain) & like you say the calpol & ibuprofen too combined with mummy cuddles when it gets bad.

More power to you for trying everything you can.

Don't be surprised if she wants you to rub 'another' part of her body as it's hurting, it's because youu can't rub her sore arm properly and she needs you to touch her.

[seeker]

just to tell you that ds broke his wrist and once it was set and plastered he had very little pain, so don't assume that she will need regular painkillers. I was given a bottle of paracetqmol and a bottle of ibuprofen by the hospital, but we used less than half of each- probably about a quarter. He did it on Friday and was back at school on Monday and only needed painkillers a couple of times after that. I was very surprised- but I've since found out that was a common experience. So if, like me, you don't like using medication you may be relieved to find thatbyu need less than you think.

[PavlovtheCat]

katymac yes funny you say that but she keeps asking me to itch just above her cast as it hurts inside. She is glued by my side, where i want her. She has been awake in the night in pain and crying. Unfortunately I have to go to work today, and I really dont want to. luckily DH is home with her, and granny is visiting from abroad so she is being looked after.

[PavlovtheCat]

seeker they have not set it yet she has to go back on friday to fracture clinic to see if she needs to go under general anaesthetic to have it set properly as she snapped both bones in her wrist and one was at an angle, they pushed it back with G&A but not sure if it has gone back to right place yet. In the mean time she has a temp back slab on her wrist which apparantly is heavier than the permament cast that she will have on friday.

[seeker]

Yes ds did it a Friday.. Then they set it under GA on the Saturday and put a massive finger to shoulder plaster cast on. He had a bit of pain with this but i think it was actully mostly because it w so heqvy and it hurt his shoulder.He then had to go to the fracture clinic on, I think, Wednesday, for loads more X rays to decide whether it needed to be pinned or anything. Thankfully, it didn't, and they put a finger tip to below the elbow fibreglass cast (choice of colours- including sparkly pink!).

Once he had that cast on he was more or less back to normal- no pain to speak of and a scarily normal range of activities.

Useful things- a bean bag in bed so she can sleep with her arm elevated, and a thing called a Limbo- a waterproof cover so she can bath and even swim.

[PavlovtheCat]

thanks Seeker, good to know what might happen on friday. I am waiting for the main cast to go on as so many people have said once this is done she will stop hurting like this. I will tell her she can have sparkly pink, she will be very happy! I am not normally a huge pink fan, but she can have whatever colour she wants! good that your DS did not need to have pins. How old was he/is he when he broke it? Did it mend well/quickly?

[PavlovtheCat]

and great idea about beanbag!

[seeker]

Ds was 7. His fracture was across the growth plate so they were a bit concerned about that, but he was fine. It meant that he had to go back after 3 weeks for more x rays, and a new cast. It took about 6 weeks to heal, then had to go back every 6 months for 18 months, but that was only because of the growth plate thing.

See if you can get her to keep her arm elevated as much as possible- it really helps to stop the swelling and pain.And once she's got the proper cast on keep an eye on her fingers- if they start to look at all swollen, elevate it again.

Ds went back to school immediately- even with the temporary cast on because he is an ants in the pants type and would have gone crazy at home. Until he got the proper cast, I took him out for lunch every day- I was worried the playground might be a step too far.

It's horrible though, isn't it? How did she do it? Ds rode his bike full tilt down a hill and into a wall while dp and a crowd of our friends watched horrified from the terrace!

[BewitchedBotheredandBewildered]

Rubirosa I think the 30x and 6x dilutions do contain a trace of the remedy. The 200x and certainly the 1000x do not.
I am convinced beyond doubt that arnica 30x has stopped bleeding and reduced bruising in my family.

[Rubirosa]

No, it is pretty impossible that there will be any molecules of arnica in a 6c dilution - it means that is was diluted one part tincture in 100 parts water, hit with some leather, then repeated 6 times, each time diluting with 100 parts water. So it ends up something like 1 part tincture to a million parts water.

You know you can buy arnica cream with actual arnica in it though?

[JoanOfNark]

They aren't dilutions, none of the "strengths" have any active ingredient in them.

Convinced you may be, wrong you certainly are.

[PavlovtheCat]

seeker she was attempting monkey bars. the high ones. In my head they are very high, I am sure they were probably not that high in reality but certainly not 5/6yo size. She slipped and landed on her wrist and hip (hip is fine, thank god).