Can I have Calpol?

[elderberryspokes]

Sorry, this is a bit whingey...

I'm 17+5 and have managed to pick up one of the most putrid colds of my entire life. It started as a sniffle yesterday morning and I'm now off work, to my embarrassment, having puked up a load of phlegm and bile, and coughed so much that my chest and abdomen ache. Headache is present when I'm laid down, but pounds whenever I try to get up.

So I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself :(

Obviously Night Nurse is out of the question ... but what about kiddie Calpol?

Calpol is just paracetamol in liquid. Just take a couple of paracetamol tablets. It's perfectly safe in pregnancy. You need LOTS of fluids too.

Just take normal paracetamol at a normal dose. You don't need to take calpol unless yve been specifically told not to take adult medication.

Paracetemol will be fine and lots of liquids - any chance of having a sick day?

Thanks all, I'll take paracetamol and keep drinking water. Called into work sick. Also have the weirdest urge to call my Dad and ask him to pick me up so I can sleep it off in my old bed! Between that and the Calpol I seem to have regressed - last time I checked I was 28 years old

Feeling a bit indignant as I don't usually get colds, but seem to have caught nothing else since I let the midwife give me a bloody flu jab! What's that all about?!

As calpol is a liquid it will kick in sooner than tablets or capsules. I always have a few spoons if I can feel a headache coming on! They should make adult size bottles : )

Infant calpol is a lower paracetamol dose than adults - basically 1/2 I think. So yes it works quicker but you need to drink more.

OP - the reason for the number of colds is actually the same reason that you need the flu jab. Pregnancy lowers your immune system making flu far more serious in pregnant women. This also means you get more colds. You were abslutely right to get the jab and it hasn't 'done' anything to you except protect you. Don't worry about the jab.

Thanks, NorthernLurker - my MW didn't mention that particular detail. She just highlighted that there had been several cases of pregnant women dying of the flu in the last few years and then jabbed me, but it makes perfect sense now you've explained it.

My Dad came over a while ago to fit a cat flap / measure up our living room fireplace (he's a carpenter) today and he brought a bottle of 6+ Calpol with him. Tasted just like I remembered ;)

PS. Will have to address the medicine cupboard in light of my newly diminished immune system. I rarely took medication pre-pregnancy so it's stocked full of my husband's useless asprin / iboprufen and extra strength sinus stuff!

8 teaspoons of calpol has 960 mg of paracetemol. Which is just shy of the 1000mg you would get in two tablets.

That's 40ml of sticky, sweet, pink gunk that could well give you the runs from all the maltitol if you use the sugar free version you would need to drink to get the same result. Fine as a last resort I guess but not v appealing!