Explaining Medicine
  • News
  • Health & Lifestyle
    • Diet & Weight Management
    • Exercise & Fitness
    • Nutrition, Food & Recipes
    • Prevention & Wellness
  • Conditions
    • Custom1
      • Conditions A-Z
      • Procedures A-Z
      • Allergies
      • Alzheimer’s
      • Arthritis
      • Asthma
      • Blood Pressure
      • Cholesterol
      • Cancer
    • Custom2
      • Chronic Pain
      • Cold Flu
      • Depression
      • Diabetes
      • Digestion
      • Eyesight
      • Health Living
      • Healthy Kids
      • Hearing Ear
    • Custom3
      • Heart
      • HIV/AIDS
      • Infectious Disease
      • Lung Conditions
      • Menopause
      • Men’s Health
      • Mental Health
      • Migraine
      • Neurology
    • Custom4
      • Oral Health
      • Pregnancy
      • Senior Health
      • Sexual Health
      • Skin Problems
      • Sleep
      • Thyroid
      • Travel Health
      • Women’s Health
  • Medications
    • Medications
    • Supplements and Vitamins
  • Medical Dictionary
  • Health Alerts
Is It Dry Skin or Atopic Dermatitis?
Atopic Dermatitis: How to Get Enough Sleep
Atopic Dermatitis: Help for Broken Skin
Atopic Dermatitis and Food Triggers
What’s at stake as the Supreme Court hears...
Oncologists’ meetings with drug reps don’t help cancer...
Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria: What to Know
CSU: What to Wear and What to Avoid
Treatment Plan for Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria
When the Hives of CSU Don’t Go Away...
Top Posts

Explaining Medicine

  • News
  • Health & Lifestyle
    • Diet & Weight Management
    • Exercise & Fitness
    • Nutrition, Food & Recipes
    • Prevention & Wellness
  • Conditions
    • Custom1
      • Conditions A-Z
      • Procedures A-Z
      • Allergies
      • Alzheimer’s
      • Arthritis
      • Asthma
      • Blood Pressure
      • Cholesterol
      • Cancer
    • Custom2
      • Chronic Pain
      • Cold Flu
      • Depression
      • Diabetes
      • Digestion
      • Eyesight
      • Health Living
      • Healthy Kids
      • Hearing Ear
    • Custom3
      • Heart
      • HIV/AIDS
      • Infectious Disease
      • Lung Conditions
      • Menopause
      • Men’s Health
      • Mental Health
      • Migraine
      • Neurology
    • Custom4
      • Oral Health
      • Pregnancy
      • Senior Health
      • Sexual Health
      • Skin Problems
      • Sleep
      • Thyroid
      • Travel Health
      • Women’s Health
  • Medications
    • Medications
    • Supplements and Vitamins
  • Medical Dictionary
  • Health Alerts
  • News

    Thanks to the ‘tripledemic,’ it can be hard to find kids’ fever-reducing medicines

    by Laurel Wamsley December 3, 2022

    Enlarge this image

    It can be hard to find children’s fever-reducing medication in some areas. At a Bed Bath & Beyond in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, a few products were in stock while others were sold out. Laurel Wamsley/NPR hide caption

    toggle caption

    Laurel Wamsley/NPR

    It can be hard to find children’s fever-reducing medication in some areas. At a Bed Bath & Beyond in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, a few products were in stock while others were sold out.

    Laurel Wamsley/NPR

    If you stroll the cold and flu medicine aisle these days, you might notice shelves that are bare, or nearly so. Some medicines that can be particularly hard to find are fever reducers for kids, like children’s Tylenol, Motrin or Advil.

    Drug manufacturers point to a big spike in demand. That’s not surprising, given the surge in three respiratory viruses right now: COVID, RSV and influenza, what has been termed a “tripledemic.”

    Experts are concerned Thanksgiving gatherings could accelerate a 'tripledemic'

    Shots – Health News

    Experts are concerned holiday gatherings could accelerate a ‘tripledemic’

    Johnson & Johnson makes Children’s Tylenol and Children’s Motrin. It says there is no nationwide shortage — just a lot of demand.

    “Consumer demand for pediatric pain relievers in the U.S. is high, but there are no supply chain issues and we do not have an overall shortage in the U.S.,” company spokesperson Melissa Witt said in an email to NPR. The company says it is “experiencing high consumer demand and are doing everything we can to make sure people have access to the products they need.”

    Nationally, sales of pediatric internal analgesics — which includes drugs like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — were up more than 26% in October compared with a year earlier. That’s according to data from the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), a trade group that represents manufacturers of over-the-counter drugs.

    Tylenol For Infants And Children Is The Same. Why Does 1 Cost 3 Times More?

    Shots – Health News

    Tylenol For Infants And Children Is The Same. Why Does 1 Cost 3 Times More?

    While there may not be a countrywide shortage, there is one part of the U.S. where finding these meds is most difficult: areas near the Canadian border. The Buffalo-Rochester area of western New York is seeing the highest demand in the U.S., CHPA says.

    Sales for such products in the Buffalo-Rochester market surged 53% in October compared to a year earlier. That’s very likely the result of an ongoing shortage of kids’ pain and fever medications in Canada, with Buffalo’s close proximity to Toronto making it an ideal place for Canadians to buy such products in the U.S.

    RSV is surging. Here's what to watch for and answers about treatment options

    Health

    RSV is surging. Here’s what to watch for and answers about treatment options

    A spot check on Thursday in Washington, D.C., of four stores — a Giant supermarket, a CVS, a Target, and a Bed Bath & Beyond — found low supplies of children’s fever-reducers, though each had at least a few of such medicines available. Supplies were low of cold and flu products for adults, as well.

    “The supply chain is strong,” says Anita Brikman, a spokesperson for CHPA. But parents and caregivers may need to check more than one store, buy a store brand instead of a name brand, or order products online, she suggests.

    Parents have a range of options for treating fevers

    So what to do if you have a fevered child, and are struggling to find Children’s Tylenol or a similar product?

    There’s a good chance you don’t even need to use medicine, says Dr. Sean O’Leary, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado, as well as the chair of the Committee on Infectious Diseases for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

    “These medicines are not curative. They don’t alter the duration of the illness or anything like that. They are essentially purely for comfort,” he tells NPR. “Fevers from common respiratory viruses in and of themselves are not harmful.”

    He offers a scenario. “If [a child’s] temp is 103, but he’s running around the room having a good time playing, you don’t need to do anything with that. That’s not going to hurt him. Fever is representing our body’s immune response to an infection. On the other hand, if he doesn’t have a fever, but his throat is hurting, something is bothering him, he’s pretty fussy — then that’s where things like ibuprofen or Tylenol, acetaminophen can be helpful.”

    AAP has guidance on treating a child’s fever, as well advice on treating a fever without medicine.

    For Kid's Coughs, Swap The Over-The-Counter Syrups For Honey

    Shots – Health News

    For Kid’s Coughs, Swap The Over-The-Counter Syrups For Honey

    Often when kids do have a fever, they do feel pretty crummy, and so that’s a time to use such medicines — “It’s to treat how the child is feeling,” O’Leary says.

    Fever is a more serious concern in infants and children who experience febrile seizures.

    “Fever in very young infants, in newborns, is actually a different situation, and that’s something that does need evaluation,” O’Leary says. “Essentially, the younger the child, the more concerned you should be about a fever. For example, a 2-week-old with a fever is something that that needs immediate medical attention. A 6-month-old with a fever that’s otherwise doing well does not need immediate medical attention. [Parents] can simply call their child’s pediatrician to get that checked out.”

    Be very careful with adapting adult medications

    Parents at home might be eyeing their bottle of adult acetaminophen or ibuprofen and wondering if they could give a smaller amount to their sick child. But there’s reason to be very cautious with that — and to consult a doctor or pharmacist first to find out the correct dosage for your particular child.

    “For both acetaminophen and ibuprofen, there are potential toxicities from taking too much — some of which can be quite severe, particularly for acetaminophen. So you really have to be careful when you do that,” O’Leary says.

    Wendy Mobley-Bukstein, a professor of pharmacy practice at Drake University and the president of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management, agrees.

    Giving Medicine To Young Children? Getting The Dose Right Is Tricky

    Shots – Health News

    Giving Medicine To Young Children? Getting The Dose Right Is Tricky

    “It’s best to talk to the doctor or pharmacist,” she tells NPR. If a parent or caregiver “can weigh [the child] at home, tell us what they weigh on their scale at home, we can figure out what an appropriate dose would be for them to take,” she says.

    She explains that repetitively giving a child too large a dose could have liver implications with acetaminophen, and kidney implications with ibuprofen.

    And Mobley-Bukstein has another piece of advice: Get kids vaccinated for COVID-19 and flu.

    “Even if you still get the flu or even if you still get COVID, it’s definitely going to lessen the severity of the disease itself. And so just making sure that they’re getting their immunizations is really important,” she says.

    PSA: Please don’t hoard the meds

    Brikman at the CHPA worries that the notion that there is a shortage will spur parents to buy more than they need.

    “If families start to stock up in worry, as opposed to buying what they need, we are concerned that that could amplify the situation,” she says.

    And if you were thinking of stocking up on a bunch of fever meds just in case, Mobley-Bukstein has a practical warning: These products do expire.

    “So putting a whole bunch of them in your medicine cabinet at home might not serve you if you don’t get sick, or if your kids don’t get sick,” she says. “It’s important for us to remember that they do have expiration dates, that it can be dangerous to give [children] expired medications. And so only buy what you need when you need it, and use up what you have at home before you go and buy new, if it’s still in date.”

    Read the article here

    Share this Post

    Share Explaining Medicine Share Explaining Medicine

    Thanks to the ‘tripledemic,’ it can be hard to find kids’ fever-reducing medicines was last modified: December 16th, 2022 by Laurel Wamsley

    Related

    COVID-19feverinfluenzamedicationRSV
    0 comment
    0
    Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
    Laurel Wamsley

    previous post
    How Neuromyelitis Optica Progressed for Me
    next post
    In the hunt for a male contraceptive, scientists look to stop sperm in their tracks

    Related Articles

    What Everyday Life Is Like With MG

    November 17, 2023

    On Well-being

    July 16, 2018

    5 Ways Nixing The Affordable Care Act Could Upend U.S. Health System

    December 20, 2018

    Many Fast-Food Containers Have Risky Chemical

    February 1, 2017

    Too Much Iron Linked to Gestational Diabetes

    November 11, 2016

    Zika Pregnancies And Big Questions In Puerto Rico

    November 29, 2016

    Why Every Busy Mom Should Make Time for Yoga

    March 27, 2018

    Should medical school encourage political thought?

    January 15, 2018

    4 Simple Tips for Great Skin

    April 18, 2018

    Staph Infections Drop, but Officials Still Worry

    March 5, 2019

    Recent Posts

    • Is It Dry Skin or Atopic Dermatitis?

      April 24, 2024
    • Atopic Dermatitis: How to Get Enough Sleep

      April 24, 2024
    • Atopic Dermatitis: Help for Broken Skin

      April 24, 2024
    • Atopic Dermatitis and Food Triggers

      April 24, 2024
    • What’s at stake as the Supreme Court hears Idaho case about abortion in emergencies

      April 23, 2024

    Keep in touch

    Facebook Twitter Google + RSS

    Recent Posts

    • Is It Dry Skin or Atopic Dermatitis?

      April 24, 2024
    • Atopic Dermatitis: How to Get Enough Sleep

      April 24, 2024
    • Atopic Dermatitis: Help for Broken Skin

      April 24, 2024
    • Atopic Dermatitis and Food Triggers

      April 24, 2024
    • What’s at stake as the Supreme Court hears Idaho case about abortion in emergencies

      April 23, 2024
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Policy

    @2025 - Explaining Medicine. All Right Reserved.


    Back To Top
    Explaining Medicine
    Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: soledad child.