The bitter pill we give our kids
Two weeks ago my son awoke with a hoarse, wheezy cough so I took him to the chemist who identified it as laryngitis. I was told that he would need corticosteroids, to which my response was that I wanted to start with a natural remedy and see how it would go. The chemist was disapproving, telling me that if it got worse my son could have trouble breathing, but gave me what I wanted; a 100% thyme syrup and eucalyptus nasal spray. A couple days later, he hadn’t got worse and the cough had turned productive (a sign he was getting better), and a week later he was perfectly fine.
The chemist was just doing his job, and another parent may have taken what he recommended without question (why would you question a qualified medical professional?), giving their child strong medication – with side effects – completely unnecessarily. Now, I am not an irresponsible mother, and if I had seen him taking a turn for the worse I would have followed up with conventional medicine. Nor am I critical or against chemists, doctors or anyone who medicates their kids, as the simple fact is, medicine saves lives and we are lucky to have it. But we are so scared of our children getting ill that at the slightest sniffle or cough we immediately jump straight to the hardcore stuff and don’t give them a chance to heal with the use of their own immune system. We also expect them to get better almost instantly, certainly within a couple of days, when in reality, these kinds of common colds and coughs need a good couple of weeks to pass.
I am fortunate to have an amazing paediatrician who always gives nature or my children’s own immune systems the chance to fight and heal first. If that doesn’t work, then she moves on to the medicated options. But from what I hear from other parents, not all doctors follow this route, which is why Cyprus is now top of the pops in Europe for dishing out antibiotics to children as though they are sweeties.
It is a vicious cycle as the children who are allowed to fight illness develop stronger immune systems to then fight subsequent illnesses, whilst those who are dosed in medication then get sick easier and more frequently as their immune system becomes compromised. It’s scary stuff and a real worry to every parent, after all, our main priority is their health and if we are told that that this is the way to do it, who are we to question it?
I am no doctor, so I don’t want anyone refusing medication for their children based on what I have written (not that I flatter myself that my words are so powerful, but I have to be sure that I am not the cause of a child suffering without medication they actually need…), but I do wish that there was more awareness on the over/misuse of medication and the harm it can do to children in the long run, and that really is a bitter pill for us to swallow.
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This column first appeared in the Cyprus Weekly, 16/11/13Keep Paula updated with News & Events : paulamanoli@hotmail.com
