The makers of cold and cough medications announced yesterday they are voluntarily warning parents not to give their products to children younger than 4 Link.
Medications
IVIG Alert
Children with primary immune deficiency receive intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) also known as gammaglobulin infusions frequently. IVIG is obtained from blood donors and it contains antibodies from the donors functioning immune system. Antibodies help fight infections… Andy used to receive IVIG every two to three weeks. Turns out that many children that use Medicare in the…
Gammaglobulin infusion costs
Following the NY Times article “When Health Insurance Is Not a Safeguard“, here’s very good advice regarding gamma globulin infusions I received via email. Gammaglobulin prices vary greatly depending on how much insurance pays, the number of grams used and the place of the infusion. The least expensive option is to have the product shipped…
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Tylenol Voluntary Recall
Due to package design… This voluntary recall includes all lots and all flavors of Children’s TYLENOL® Meltaways 80 mg packaged in bottles and blisters, Children’s TYLENOL® Soft Chews 80 mg and Jr. TYLENOL® Meltaways 160 mg packaged in blisters. The blister package design, as well as the information on the blister package and on the…
The book
I’m writing a book! Paulina remembers more things than I do, she has a better memory(among lots of other things). I constantly go to Paulina with questions looking for more details so when I say ‘I” it really means ‘We’. I (we) started to write formally around February 23rd. 2005 after Andy’s last hospitalization. I…
Medication change order over the phone
Dr. Jessica Sachs, Andy’s Primary Fellow called a few minutes ago with a medication change. We’re moving Neoral from .40 to .45 ml. twice a day. List of meds here.
Cyclosporine
An immunosuppressive drug used to treat and prevent graft-versus-host disease. More web definitions via Google here. More via Wikipedia here.
Morphine
Morphine is a powerful, habit-forming narcotic used to relieve pain. More via Wikipedia here. Web definitions via Google here.
Senna
Senna is known as a ‘stimulant laxative’. It acts on nerve endings in the gut wall. These nerves then make the muscles in the intestine contract with more force and more often. When the gut contracts, it moves the contents along faster, and so it reduces constipation. As senna increases the activity of the muscle…