Pediatricians Say Codeine Is Not Safe For Children

[Eugene]

Source: Huffington Post

Pediatricians Say Codeine Is Not Safe For Children

Both over-the-counter and prescription drugs can cause a fatal reaction.

09/21/2016 05:23 pm ET | Updated 30 minutes ago

Allison Fox

Codeine is not safe to give to kids.

The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement this week urging parents and doctors to stop giving children under the age of 18 both prescription and over-the-counter medications that include codeine, such as cough syrup and pain relievers.

“People have this very false misconception about codeine, thinking that it’s safer than other opioids,” Dr. Joseph Tobias, one of the study’s lead authors, told The Huffington Post. “Our whole push for writing this manuscript was to educate clinicians and push regulatory boards to pull codeine off the market for pediatric patients.”

In a review article published in the October issue of Pediatrics which prompted the AAP’s statement, leading U.S. researchers found codeine to be linked to rare but life-threatening and fatal breathing reactions in children. The study highlighted U.S. Food and Drug Administration data on adverse effects of both codeine and combined codeine and acetaminophen medications. Adverse effects reported to the FDA included 64 cases of severe respiratory depression and 24 codeine-related deaths ― 21 of which were in children under 12 ― over a 50-year period.

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Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/codeine-not-safe-children_us_57e195c7e4b0e28b2b50bdec

Related: AAP Report Says Codeine Too Risky For Kids, Urges Restrictions on Use (American Academy of Pediatrics)

[shraby]

1. I wasn't aware that codeine was available in over the counter medicines. I always thought it

was only obtainable with prescriptions.

[katmondoo]

2. I had the same thought

I have never seen it over the counter.

[Crunchy Frog]

5. It sells over the counter in Canada, UK, and Australia

and probably a bunch of other countries. They don't follow AAP guidelines though.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Something is off about this story.

It appears to be part of the general trend to black list opioids in general.
We will see it more clearly when Big Pharma starts pushing new anti opioid pain relievers.

[Crunchy Frog]

6. Opioid hysteria.

They're going to save all of us, including children, from the mortal sin of receiving effective pain relief.

Big Pharma's already pushing non-opioid pain relievers. They don't work very well, and have horrible side effects, but they're on patent, and make lots of money.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. To be fair....several non-opioid pain drugs are in generic. And very cheap.

I take one..just got 60 tabs for 6.00.

But....I take your point, and have been watching the drum beat against opioids for the last year or so.

Congress is a whole owned subsidiary of the corporations, ( big Pharma, big oil, etc)as Chris Hedges puts it.

[Crunchy Frog]

4. Thank God I was given Tylenol 3 with codeine as a teenager

when I had a series of tooth abcesses. It effectively controlled the pain, and I was in absolute agony without it.

And one of my preemie sons was given morphine when he was 1 1/2 days old, when he got a pneumothorax and had to have a chest tube. That was 7 1/2 years ago, and I suppose that now, in this more enlightened era, they would just leave him in agony.