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: is not recommended, nor proven effective for this age group.
Though persistent cough is the body’s mechanism for shedding viruses and the duration of a cough is commonly two weeks in children and three weeks in adults, it’s better to exercise caution.
Research scholar Misel Trajanovska from the University of Melbourne found 98% of the respondents purchased an over-the-counter medication in the past year and Paracetamol was the most commonly used drug (95.9%). The implications are startling: 16% of poisonings reported in the emergency department were due to Paracetamol and 11% were caused by cough and cold medicines.
A lot more is happening globally. Earlier this week the US FDA imposed an urgent warning on Cipro and similar antibiotics, citing risks that they can cause tendon ruptures, a serious injury that leaves some patients incapacitated.
Indiscriminate use of medicines should also be avoided because the sensitivity levels of people vary — what might be an appropriate dose for one might be an overdose for another. There’s also the possibility of different drugs reacting to each other.
Adults need to be as careful. It is important to go beyond the symptoms and investigate the real cause, says Dr Khusrav Bajan, Head of Internal Medicine department in P D Hinduja, Mumbai. “A person having cardiac or hypertension history needs to be extra cautious. For example a person, already on medication for blood pressure, can suffer from increased BP and even a cardiac arrest if he pops in the wrong pill. A medicine taken for mild giddiness can cause severe swelling. Antibiotic overdose can result in resistant bacteria. There are several combinations of the same drug available under different names and you need to pick the right thing,” adds Bajan....
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