reaction to calpol

[purplebod]

not sure this is the correct place to post! Gave ds (9months) calpol for the first time last night expecting it to calm and sooth his painful teething combined with a cold. instead he became wideawake and very fractious, crying etc. would onlt settle 45 mins later when i put him on the boob. anyone had a similar reaction? any suggestions for alternative painkillers??

Was it the sugar free variety? I'd suspect it's the colouring or the sugars. I think you can get allergenic calpol on prescription.

I'm not sure whether nurofen has colouring in it - it's white rather than that suspicious-looking pink colour.

yep - it was the sugar free variety

Have you tried medised? My two hate calpol so I use that instead, works better than calpol too imo, hope this helps

No - never heard of it. Ds is strong as an ox and i've never given him any drugs before. Is medised easy to find?

You can buy medised at most chemists. It contains a small amount of antihistamine as well as paracetamol and and make them drowsy.

Only started to give it to my ds at around 10 months when big bad teeth came in!! Is easy to find, I had to ask behind pharmacy counter of sainburys to get it, you'll be able to get some advice and reassurance too from the pharmacy people too

Ds reacts terribly to calpol - it's either the sweetener or the colour or the combination of both most probably.

Suppositories are the best thing as they don't have any rubbish in them.

DD1 reacts 2 calpol also and I always use nurofen, we find it more effective anyway.

Medised works well 2 but it tastes pretty nasty and dd1 wont take it!
HTH

I found that Calpol made DS stay up for HOURS when he woke with teething problems. A friend said to try Medinol as it is colour free and it worked like a charm. It is much more like the calpol I remember from being a child and tastes much nicer (I think any way). All chemists stock it if you ask.

Oh yes, the Calpol high. No one tells you about that do they!!
I found Nurofen doesn't have the side effects. LOL

Doctors still like paracetamol as opposed to nurofen though - so I think suppositories are well worth having prescribed.

OK - ds now officially ill with fever etc. Tried medised last night - same reaction as calpol!!! Arrgh. Ended up getting nurofen prescribed which has worked and brought down fever, but why can't you get stuff that's not full of crap???

By the way - thanks everyone for the advice!!

you can get sugar containing calpol but you have to ask for it (but no doubt it still has other rubbish in it but it may have been the sweetener in the sugar free stuff that he reacted to)

Hi purplebod - just wanted to say glad DSfeeling better but also to let you know he may not be allergy to ingredients as it is possible to be allergic to paracetamol itself. hth.

is there any way nof telling if you can't gat paracetamol on its own??

Hello

My son is allergic to salicylates which are in aspirin, paracetamol and also ibuprofen. It is also in food colourings and flavourings that are added to children's medicines (why oh why!). He comes up in hives (urticaria). I found the way round this is to give him a dose of antihistamine medicine first. Unfortunately you can only give two doses of this in 24 hrs.

Interested to hear about medised which already has antihistamine in it!

I use Medinol which has no colourings but it does have strawberry flavouring. I have been told by my local surgery that you canot get a children's paracetamol without flavouring in it.

I know my son is allergic to pure paracetamol as well as the flavourings because we tested him on it in hospital.

Hope this helps.

Forgot to add. Be very careful with suppositories as it goes straight into the blood stream - and if your child is allergic to paracetamol it coul dbe dangerous!

Also forgot to add, if you know that you child is allergic to medicines you can get the ones that they are OK with on prescription ie free.

My daughter reacted to Calpol too. Now we give her Nurofen or Boots brand liquid paracetamol. Both have flavourings (nurofen has orange and the Boots stuff is strawberry) but neither has colourings. They are also both sugar-free, which isn't my choice but I haven't found anything else. She does not react to either of those two. It is good to have the two types of medicine in case you need to give both.

good luck.

My DD1 is violently sick if she takes Calpol but is ok with nurofen, medised or prescribed paracetamol. I presumed it was flavouring as she seems ok with the others but i guess it could be anything. She's ok with strawberries too & other strawbery flavours, i.e. yoghert
Is there anyway you can find out exactly what it is in the medicine that she reacts to?

My advice is don't give your child pharmaceuticals unless absolutely necessary, the drug companies like us to believe that they are innocuous and 'safe' and happy to sell over the counter but they are NOT. 30,000 people die every year due to adverse reactions to drugs. I first experienced urticaria when I had penicillin and it got worse, I became allergic to aspirin, paracetemol, opiates, developed eczema and dairy allergies. Please don't give your child antihistamines as well as calpol or try other drugs when at most sensitive, it will only supress the reaction, the sensitivity and the damage to your childs system will continue and you risk increasing the chances of further reactions. Chamomilla (homeopathic remedy can buy in boots - just crush and add to milk) is excellent for teething. My daughter has never had or needed calpol and is 2 now.