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Dr prescribed wrong dose of Ranitidine

6 replies

Catmum26 · 09/01/2019 12:27

i am losing faith in my GP. my LO is 8 weeks old and has severe reflux to the point he is projectile vomiting after every feed, he is in pain when feeding and cannot be laid flat or he retches and then throws up. dr originally prescribed gaviscon which does work to a degree in that he’s not AS sick but he still had the pain and the gaviscon made him constipated so i don’t want to give it with every feed. anyway just before xmas the gp prescribed ranitidine with the smallest dose of 0.1ml as she was basing it off his birth weight of 7lbs 10. tbh it didn’t even touch the sides as he weighed at least 10lbs at this point but as we didn’t have an up to date weight she had to base it off the birth weight. yesterday we had a follow up appointment and i told her it’s not working and he now weighs 11lbs 10 so does the dose need increasing. she did her calculations and said the absolute max he could be on is 0.2ml 3 times a day. i KNOW this is wrong as i know a few people whose LO’s are on this medication and they are on a lot higher dose than this. also the instructions tell you the calculation to work out the dose per weight and i’ve worked it out that he could be on up to 1ml 3 times a day. i dont know who to talk to about this as it’s a small surgery and she is the only dr. should i just increase the doseage im giving myself or will a pharmacist help me if i pop into the chemist? in honesty i’ve been giving him more than 0.2ml but i feel wary of this as technically it’s against what the dr has prescribed

OP posts:
GrandmaSharksDentures · 09/01/2019 13:03

Good idea to speak to a pharmacist. Paediatric doses can be quite complex to work out based on weight (kg) and the strength (mg/ml) of the medicine.

itbemay · 09/01/2019 13:10

Pharmacist will help , they will also contact the GP for you to advise wrong dose and hopefully you'll get the correct dose.

Child 1-6 months 1mg/kg 3 times daily, as long as no renal impairment. I think the GP has confused the intravenous dose with the oral dose.

justtheonethen · 09/01/2019 13:17

Yep the max dose for that weight is 1ml three times a day.

It’s dose x weight (kg) divided by 150 x 10.

My gp can never work it out which I find really irritating.

babyboyHarrison · 09/01/2019 13:25

Lol, at least you didn't get given the adult dose which is what happened to us. Little one had been referred to specialist but the repeat prescription went to the GP. I went to get it and was confused as to how I was supposed to give a baby tablets! Receptionist got the on call doctor to look at it and changed the prescription and they all apologised. Glad I hadn't tried to crush up the tablets or anything! Pretty poor though.

Walkingthroughawall · 09/01/2019 18:30

depends what concentration of ranitidine they're prescribing.

ElyElyOy · 09/01/2019 21:10

It will depend on the concentration of the dose being prescribed: your pharmacist will explain if you talk to them.

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