Last Thursday February 15 the Association of Primary Care Pediatrics held in Madrid the ninth refresher course in Primary Care Pediatrics. In it, the specialists gathered to discuss a topic that concerns them, the health and well-being of the smallest of the house.
They basically make it clear that Spanish children are overmedicated by their parents due to two fundamental causes and they have called feverphobia and cough.
They want to make it clear to parents that the fever It is an organism response to deal with infections and cough it serves to eliminate secretions and they think that if they are informed these symptoms would not alarm parents so much that they believe that the fever is harmful and can cause the dreaded seizures, for this they see necessary the health education of the parents.
The pediatricians advise to inform families that the use of antipyretics or antipyretic agents is not always necessary, that is, we must treat the pain or discomfort caused by the fever and not the fever itself as it can sometimes be harmful.
As for the cough, they warn that the use of anti-catarrhal and cough medicines without going to specialists can cause side effects in children such as arrhythmias or cardiovascular disorders. Therefore, they advise that when children have a cough for a catarrhal process we must ensure that they drink a lot of liquid, that the environment is humidified and of course without smoke.
According to Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics This does not mean that we are not attentive when the children suddenly have very high fever peaks with which they can suffer seizures, which they assure is that precisely in these cases other treatments should be used since the anthermal agents do not prevent it and explain that the Continued or frequent use of them is not as effective as it is believed and can lead to unjustified energy expenditure in young children.
Parents worry, sometimes too much when our kids get sick, and we shouldn't forget that medications are chemical. Because sometimes we think we cure children and we are wrong, so we continue to recommend the same as always go to specialists to inform us and assess the health of our children, nobody better than them to help us.
