Toxicity levels in Calprofen

[PuppyDogTails]

Stupid mother that I am, I gave DS 5ml of Calprofen rather than 2.5ml as I should have (I was thinking Calpol dosage ).

Anyway, panicked, rang NHS Direct to find out what to do. The nurse looked on her ready-reckoner to find out the toxicity levels.

Basically, for a baby of his weight (29lbs) he can have 10 times this amount before the toxicity gets to a dangerous level . So basically he can have 20 times the dosage on the back of the bottle!

Clearly I'm not suggesting that anyone might want to do this. I just thought someone might be interested! Probably not

that is madness, so basically they could drink the whole bottle.

Pretty much, yes.

She did say that from a toxicity level ibuprofen is much better than paracetamol.

That is interesting - sometimes my dd spits most of a dose out but I have always been too afraid to give it again in case I overdose her. Souonds like I could do so in this situation without worrying.

Apparently they can have 100mg ibuprofen (ie 5ml dose of Calprofen) for every 1kg of weight before the dose gets dangerous. That's what she told me anyway, please don't trust me on this!!

PuppyDogTails - that is astonishing and quite reassuring too I guess. I remember when I gave DD some calpol after an injury and then in a flurry of panic ran her down to the local Emergency Dept in the nearest hospital. While I was parking the car, DH whipped her in, they gave her pain relief immediately as DH, in a state, had told them she had not had any from us. When I got in and DH mentioned it a while later I pannicked and shouted out for a medic and they were very casual about it all then. No wonder if they can have almost 10 times that

I think the most important thing is that people read it and are reassured but do not use it as a reason to overdose if/when their child is running a very high temp.

My nephew (4) found one of my Dad's 400mg Brufen tablets on the kitchen floor and ate it. I was beside myself and called A&E. I spoke to a paed who said pretty much the same thing; that ibuprofen OD in children isn't dangerous and not to worry about it, unless he has eaten a whole bottle.

It was reassuring, but it makes you wonder why the recommended dose is so low.

calpol is different bagelbird as it contains paracetomol rather than ibuprofen. Paracetomel is much more dangerous. Levels are set low for that to avoid the risk of an OD.

I remember when DS had an ear infection when he was one. The bottle said 5ml spoonful, but the hospital weighed him and said that for his weight he could have 7.5ml.

I guess they don't need anymore than the recommended dose to get the required effects. No point giving them more than they need.

Exactly Bagelbird - I was slightly worried about posting because I didn't want people to think I was suggesting it was OK to give an overdose! But at the end of the day,we're all intelligent people.

I knew it was difficult to overdose on ibruprofen (something to do with a short "half life" or some such jargon - I assume it's do do with how the body metabolises it). I also wonder why the dose is so low though - lower and less frequent than infant paracetamol isn't it?

sorry - I meant calprofen in my post too! We don?t store calpol in our house as I worry about paracetamol in the house (my cousin killed herself a while ago with an OD on paracetamol and from then on we swore we would never ever keep it in the house in any form)

nearly impossible for an adult to overdose on aspirin. so don't ever bother trying.

I thought that if you take enough aspirin it can make your stomach bleed, thus not doing you any favours healthwise