Medicine Facts:
1.  A

Serious cases of acetaminophen overdose occur when parents unwittingly give a child too much of the medicine.

3.  Parents and the elderly can make a variety of mistakes in the amount of acetaminophen they give their children or take themselves. Some aren't satisfied with the performance of the recommended dosage of acetaminophen, and decide more will be better.

4. The thing that makes Acetaminophen dangerous, especially for children, is that the difference between a "dose" and a fatal "overdose" is small.

Don't Forget The Young At Heart
Dose Keeper makes a great product for senior citizens
&
their caregivers as well!
 
Extra Loop Hole Allows For Storing Of Thermometer or Spoon

WHAT PROFESSIONALS SAY:

Tylenol maker McNeil Consumer Healthcare warns that poisonings occur when parents give babies a potentially deadly teaspoon-full instead of a safe dropper-full.

-USA today 03/26/2001 

 Taking too much of the right medication, can have disastrous consequences for children.- John Hospital

 “Too much Motrin can cause stomach upset, reflux or bleeding in the stomach.”

-Dr. Waldschmidt- ER Doctor

 One common mistake the emergency room doctors see is parents giving their children too high a dose of over-the-counter medications or re-dosing their children too soon.  “We’re seeing a lot more situations where parents don’t know how much medication to give their child,” Dr. Poulose said. “For instance, they may look at vitamins as a way for their child to get well. So they figure if one vitamin is good, three vitamins are even better.”  Parents and other caregivers often endanger children by medicating them incorrectly, noted Mari Poulose, D.O., Medical Director of the Emergency Department at Providence Medical Center, Kansas City

At recommended doses, acetaminophen is one of the safest drugs. In excessive doses, it can seriously damage the liver…. Acetaminophen overdose, in fact, is the leading cause of acute liver failure, which may be fatal….More than 25,000 accidental overdoses of acetaminophen in children are reported annually… Extra vigilance with the use of acetaminophen-containing products can prevent many needless accidental overdoses and potential harm to your child's health. -Richard Harkness is a consultant pharmacist, natural medicines specialist, and author of eight published books.

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association group's president, Linda Suydam said, "It is important to point out that these medicines are safe and effective when used as directed, and most parents are using them appropriately."  Even if parents use the correct acetaminophen strength, the measurement of the dose may be incorrect, especially if they use a household teaspoon. The term "droppersful" also is misleading and may be misunderstood to mean "full dropper." …Extra doses are another possibility…a parent may not know that another parent or caregiver has already given the child a dose. In addition, children may consume more than one product containing acetaminophen, especially if the outer carton of a combination product has been thrown away and the immediate container does not clearly list the active ingredients and strength (as with Infants' Tylenol Cold Concentrated Drops). –Institute for Safe Medication practices

Overdoses can also result when multiple caretakers give extra doses of medicine, McKeown says. She recommends caretakers write down the time that each medicine is given so that the next caretaker will know exactly when to give the next dose. -Oklahoma poison control.  Alvarez gave her son McNeil-PPC Inc.'s Infant Tylenol Cold Decongestant Plus Cough and Walgreen-brand Pediatric Drops-Cough Plus Cold, according to the lawsuit. Both contain dextromethorphan.  A coroner's report says Devon Mehlberg-Alvarez died of dextromethorphan intoxication, with tests showing his system metabolized the ingredient slowly, allowing it to build up to toxic levels, according to the lawsuit.

Steps you can to keep safe:

1. Make sure you are giving your child or that your lovedone is taking the recommended dosage of the correct medicine. If you have two or more children, the mix-up between infant's Tylenol and children's Tylenol can be deadly.
2. With Tylenol and any other medicine, make sure both parents or elderly caregivers use the Dose Keeper to log in when the last dosage was given.  
3. Check all medicines you give your child or loved one to make sure that they do not contain Tylenol/Acetominophen before giving them to your child. If you are giving your child two medicines and they both contain acetaminophen, you will create an overdose situation.
4. Keep Tylenol and all other adult medicines well out of reach of children and in child-proof bottles. If you drop a pill, make sure you find it and pick it up.

The American Association of Posion Control shows the following statistics for reported acetaminophen poisonings:

·       Total reported exposures: 57,516   

Reported exposures, under 19 yrs: 40,774

·        Overdoses: 55,707 in one year



Children's Motrin & Tylenol Recommended Dosing Chart

* *Children's Tylenol can be given every 4 hours and Children's Motrin can be given every 6-8 hours according to labels on both products. 

Make sure you use the Dose Keeper to track down and record when dosages were given to your child or an elderly.
____________________

If you have a poisoning emergency, call 
1-800-222-1222.