Some stories for your Thursday afternoon:
Terribly misleading headline about antibiotics. Twenty percent of children REQUIRE antibiotics and there is no way for the doctor to know who the 20% are. If those kids don’t get treatment they can become hearing impaired or possible brain damage.
- Jacqui on
well said jacqui!
- JM on
I don’t know. I think that too often parents run their kids to the doctor for every sniffle and sneeze without waiting a little bit to see if their own immune system will “heal” the ailment. And that is how I read the article and what I took from it. I don’t think they are saying that NO child should be treated with antibiotics, but that most probably don’t need to be. My kids are not little anymore but but my girls can still use Amoxicillin to treat infections because I didn’t over-use antibiotics. I found this little bit of info interesting and decided to copy and paste. I found on a website called “Dr. Spock”.
Unfortunately, wonder drugs like penicillin have been taken for granted. Excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics has made many strains of bacteria resistant. Currently, for example, about one-third of each of the two main kinds of bacteria causing middle ear infections are resistant to amoxicillin, the most frequently prescribed antibiotic for this disease. Antibiotic resistance requires providers to use newer and more expensive drugs. Unless antibiotic usage is controlled, some currently treatable bacterial infections will become untreatable once again, while others will require administration of multiple drugs and/or intravenous (by vein) therapy.
- Lilianne on
It is true that antibiotics are handed out far too easily, especially in the US. You don’t need them for a cold or a flu. Keep your child at home with plenty of fluids instead of taking them to the dr right away when they have a cold or a mild temperature.
- Anna on
Most ear infections viral. Antibiotics are only effective on the “swimmers ear” type that is caused by bacteria.
It’s just not true that 20% of kids REQUIRE antibiotics… it’s that 20% of ear infections are the bacterial type. This test showed that the majority of the time ear infections will clear up on their own without the antibiotic treatment.
Between the two test groups, there was only a 2% increase in remission for the group treated with antibiotics (92%), compared to the control group that received nothing (90%). And the side affects of rash, diarhea, and drug resistance to antibiotics were over 20%.
Clearly, there needs to be care taken when prescribing antibiotics, rather than giving them out at any sign of an infection. They can be harsh on kid’s developing bodies as well as adults.
- fuzibuni on
Oh, I don’t even know where to begin with the new airline rules! So incredibly disturbing on so many levels and to save my life, I can’t figure out how to politely voice my opinion.
I will say this. The gentleman that spoke about his son’s inappropriate pat down said this:
“We spend my child’s whole life telling him that only mom, dad and a doctor can touch you in your private area, and now we have to add TSA agent and that’s just wrong,” he told Reuters. “At some point the terrorists have won.”
I was raped by two doctors under the guise of a medical examination. Not a good thing to teach your child, that a doctor can touch your private parts. And it happens a lot more than people realize because that’s exactly what parents teach their children. It scares me and it makes me incredibly sad. Much better to teach them that nobody can touch their private parts unless Mom, Dad or trusted caregiver is in attendance. Will that keep every child safe? Nope, but it will cut down on child molestation.
- Tee on
Tee, Sorry to hear about what happened to you in the past. I have friends whom themselves have been raped by clergy or a physician and I have scene the scares that, that has left them all these years later. Because of that I am cautious myself when it comes to my children.
Flying with children has unfortunately become so difficult. We have four children 2 of them are boys and unfortunately and unbeknown to us they have the same name as two (IRA) Irish Republic Army wanted men. But here is where our common since is lacking there was actually a list before 2001 just not as elaborate. We had been detained at the tsa desk when trying to board planes from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Orlando, Florida. From the first year he started to fly in 1998. After September 11 it got worse because now we had two boys who were on the list and it wasn’t until 2001 that I found out the real reason we had trouble.(by then I had a friend that worked for Midwest, she helped get to the bottom of it, because the TSA desk would not tell us why we were detained).
It was frustrating to us since the newest addition was only 5 weeks old and on my lap. Now the one kid just turned 16 and is in need for a passport. He wants to go on mission work to the Czech Republic this summer. We have hit a snag because he is on the do not fly list or one to be cautioned with. REALLY? I am all for safety but common since must prevail at some time. Don’t ya think? Just like little kids being frisked there must be another way. There must!
- mary on
Thank you, Mary. It’s not something I advertise often but I really felt like it needed to be said. I’m so glad to hear that you are especially careful with your children! We live in a scary world and it feels like you can’t trust anyone! I can’t have children but I have five nieces that I care for quite a bit and I am so insanely protective of them. I try not to be completely neurotic because I don’t want to make the girls completely neurotic!
I can’t imagine the frustration you must have felt trying to fly all these years! Good grief, I too understand the need for certain precautions but a five week old baby? Really? That’s insane! Were they afraid he was going to scream the pilot to death or something? What hurts even more is that he might not be able to go on a mission trip because of his name. That’s just so wrong, so unfair! I’ll be praying that the Lord opens up the doors needed for your son to be able to travel and witness!
- Tee on
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