To think calpol is over used?

[crunchymint]

Calpol is used frequently by many parents. But it is basically paracetamol and should only be used for pain relief. NICE say it should not be used only to reduce fever. That is because unless very high, a certain amount of fever in ill children is a healthy response. But many staff will wrongly advise parents to give calpol when it is unnecessary.

I give Calpol when DS is ill with a fever. It has only happened a handful of times.
I know a lot of parents who give it at the slightest whimper of discomfort, after vaccinations, when they’ve been in contact with ill children, etc. It is overused IMO.

Calpol can be amazing for pain relief.

My DS2 (9 months old) has had surgery on his oesophagus and trachea and has spent a lot of his life so far in pain. He can't handle teething as he is unable to swallow during teething episodes. He also chokes or gags frequently and is often very sore because of this. He has a hacking cough that can be painful too. We use Calpol (and nurofen) to relive pain as advised by his surgeon and paediatrician. He probably does get though a bottle a month.

DS1 is almost four and if he is in pain, I see nothing wrong with giving Calpol. I take paracetamol if I have a headache or a bad cold myself. For him we would probably only get through a bottle in six months or so.

@shampooee

Parents are advised to give three doses of Calpol after the first and third set of vaccinations now. This has changed recently as it wasn't the case for my oldest but was for my youngest.

DS tends to get a very high temperature when ill, so I do give calpol to reduce his temperature - my GP agrees that this is fine.

As for paracetamol vs ibuprofen, DS has had both. I found calprofen was better for when teething was really bothering him, and after he had to have stitches in his hand he was taking both for a couple of days.

When I was young my parents gave me Angiers aspirin tablets, they tasted amazing. Obviously aspirin for children is considered a bad thing now. Things change, advice changes.

Not only is paracetamol deemed ineffective in preventing seizures, it is also linked with serious side affects.

www.evidentlycochrane.net/paracetamol-widely-used-ineffective/

Quotes from the post... (there are interesting study results too)

''It is really difficult when an almost ubiquitous practice (using paracetamol) meets a distinctly inconvenient truth (it doesn’t work). ''

''A systematic review of observational studies shows paracetamol is associated with increased mortality, cardiovascular adverse events (fatal or non-fatal myocardial infarction, stroke, or fatal coronary heart disease), gastrointestinal adverse events (ulcers and complications such as upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage), and renal impairment.

A national case-population study of non-overdose paracetamol exposure resulted in twice the rate of acute liver failure leading to registration for transplantation than NSAIDs.

A large randomised trial in chronic pain showed that patients taking paracetamol were four times more likely to have abnormal results on liver function tests than those taking placebo.

A large randomised study in arthritis showed similar adverse event rates for paracetamol and ibuprofen over three months. ''

Just because we use it as adults, does not mean that we should. In much of the literature around this, it is repeated, that yes, it is an accepted response but no, it is not the right answer.

In the last 50 years, the use of NSAIDS has increased significantly, so have the rates of chronic illnesses.

I love this comclusion at the end... ''Too much in the past have we been like the ‘wise’ monkeys – unwilling to see, unwilling to hear, and unwilling to speak about obvious issues right under our noses. Time to look, listen, and open up a new conversation.''

@rockandrollwithit
But that advice is questionable... www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-and-child/paracetamol-affects-childhood-jabs/

Rather than attempting to work out why the newly added vaccines caused temperatures to spike and whether that in itself is a risk, the advise it to administer a drug that this know to reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine, to have ingredients that are banned in other countries as being unsafe and to have possible links to long term side effects.

And yes, I know that the link is from 2009.

The majority of people know when their child needs it. I’ll give it when my child is in pain.

I always thought to give calpol for a temperature. Will try to reduce our use. We have two children and probably get through two bottles a year.

Depends by whom. It's not by myself. I give it if a child is unwell and unhappy, complaining or has a high fever that's distressing them.
I'm not sure who or why anyone would give it too their children too much because it would be pointless and do nothing. An adult doesn't take paracetamol because they are bored, they take it for pain or feeling unwell.
Calpol has no other benefits, it doesn't make you drowsy.
I've never met anyone who's just randomly given it to their kids so I've no idea where this comes from:

Send them loopier than they are already 🙈

The NHS advises giving liquid paracetamol (i.e. Call) after the Meningitis B vaccine.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/meningitis-b-vaccine/

It puzzles me how one page on the NHS website says to give it after the MenB vaccine, while another NHS page says not to give it after vaccines because it reduces the effectiveness?

Hardly bothered with it; even has to throw out of date bottles away. But I know people who I believe give it to their kids far to often

Wow would you like a medal? Being smug about how much pain relief you give your children...bizarre.

I'll continue to give me children pain relief if I believe they are in pain. Sounds pretty common sense to me.

zzzz Read above. Regularly taking paracetamol can have adverse side effects.

Zzzzzz, according to all the studies that NICE have based their guidelines on, reducing fevers does not prevent convulsions. That is why they have said not to use it for that purpose.

Some doctors are giving the current advice but yes, many still seem to be stuck in ‘reduce every fever’ mode.

Murane, it was found not to have an impact on effectiveness of the MenB vaccine.

Not much help when they give other vaccines alongside MenB though!

*‘All the scare mongering this week is going to our parents off giving pain relief when their child needs it.

Try going through severe toothache or a really bad cold without some paracetamol and see how you like it.’*

This ^

I actually wasn’t giving it enough and have started to because poor little mite was crying house down with painfyl molars cutting.

painful*

Iirc seizures are caused by a rapid sudden rise in temperature. They can come out of nowhere.

YANBU op. I don’t use the calpol brand because it has an ingredient that’s banned in other countries but we do use non branded paracetamol for pain relief only. Messing with a temperature can cause problems and as others have stated, NICE guidelines are that it shouldn’t be used to reduce fever and also doesn’t prevent convulsions.

I rarely use medicine with my kids, rarely ever did when they were younger either. I don't like medicating for unknown reasons - like people giving a dose before injections "just in case"

I dont worry so much about calpol as nurofen though. The use of ibruprofen, especially in children, has skyrocketed since I was a child, and I don't like nsaids as a rule. My children rarely ever are given it - only time DS1 has had it was when he had tonsilitis and a febrile convulsion in hospital.