Symptoms and Treatment of Drug Poisoning in Children

Whether we realize it or not, we often put drugs in vain, and children can accidentally drink it without the knowledge of adults. This can cause the child to experience drug poisoning. Check out the following reviews so you can deal with your child poisoning drugs properly.

Most cases of poisoning in children occur when a child swallows medication accidentally at home, and this usually occurs in children aged 1-4 years.

Based on research, drugs are still one of the most common causes of child poisoning, in addition to detergents, insecticides, soap or shampoo, alcohol, silica gel, kerosene, and camphor/camphor.

Drugs that often cause poisoning in children are fever or painkillers, cold cough medicines, antihistamines, antibiotics, and multivitamins.

Symptoms of Drug Poisoning in Children

In general, symptoms of drug poisoning in children are very diverse. This is influenced by what type of drug the child swallowed, the amount of drug ingested, the length of time the drug is working, and drug interactions.

Some types of drugs can cause danger even though the amount taken is small, such as medications for diabetes, hypertension, or heart disease, anti-seizure medications, iron supplements, antipsychotic drugs, and malaria drugs.

Symptoms that can occur when a child is poisoned are:

• Throws up
• Stomach ache
• Diarrhea
• Headache
• Sleepy
• Convulsions
• Pain in the mouth or throat
• Hard to breathe
• Limp or faint

Children are more susceptible to the danger of poisoning because of their lighter weight so that a low dose of the drug can already cause poisoning. In addition, children's metabolism is not as good as adults in processing drugs and poisons, so that children are more easily experiencing side effects and drug poisoning.

How to Treat Drug Poisoning in Children

When a child is experiencing drug poisoning, what must be done immediately is to ask the child to remove the remaining drug in the mouth. However, do not use other ingredients/drugs to make a child vomit.

Active charcoal tablets can be given if it is still within 1 hour after the incident the child is taking medication. These tablets can inhibit the absorption of drugs, such as anticonvulsant drugs (carbamazepine, phenobarbital, valproic acid), theophylline asthma drugs, paracetamol fever drugs, and salicylic acid drugs. Active charcoal tablets can be mixed with drinks, such as juice.

Do not give activated charcoal if the child is short of breath or does not breathe normally, but immediately take the child to the emergency department (ER) at the nearest hospital, or call an ambulance. Emergency assistance is also needed if a child with drug poisoning appears to:

• Restless or behavior changes
• Convulsions
• Vomiting blood
• Limp or unconscious / unconscious

If possible, bring drugs that are suspected of causing poisoning in children. Tell the doctor or nurse about the name of the drug, when it happened, whether intentionally or unintentionally taken, the number of drugs, symptoms that appear, and the age and weight of the child.

In the hospital emergency room, the medical team can perform gastric lavage using a tube that goes from the mouth or nose to the stomach, with the aim of removing the drugs and poisons in the stomach.

However, gastric lavage is only recommended if the child has arrived at the emergency room within 1 hour after the incident. Doctors can also provide antidotes, which are substances that work specifically to ward off the effects of poisons / certain drugs.

Preventing Drug Poisoning in Children

To prevent child poisoning, here are the things you need to do:

• Store medicines, especially hard drugs, in packages. Put them in a locked place that cannot be easily reached by children.
• Try to record or remember the amount of medication at home.
• Do not store medicines near food.
• Discard drugs that have expired or are no longer used.
• Do not refer to pill medicine as candy in children.
• Always see the rules of use and dosage for each drug.
• Always use the measuring spoon available in medicine packaging, in giving syrup to children. Don't use tablespoons or teaspoons that are used daily.

When experiencing drug poisoning, children need to get medical monitoring at the hospital for some time. Longer monitoring is needed if the child is suspected of taking drugs that have slow-acting effects, such as paracetamol, dapsone, carbamazepine epilepsy drugs, blood-thinning drugs (anticoagulants), antidiabetic drugs, or types of sustained-release (SR) drugs.

If symptoms are severe or medications that are ingested have a high risk, the child needs to be hospitalized so that the condition can be monitored. In addition, the pediatrician may also carry out further checks, such as blood and urine checks, periodically.

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