Dangerous Drinks and Misleading Pills
Submitted by Dr. Gwenn Is In
It’s over the counter or on the shelf of a store so it must be ok, right? Not so fast. There is a false sense of security created by being able to drive to the local store and just grab these items and come home. There are actually three potential dangers lucking that I want to let you know about today:
- energy drinks that teens are drinking
- placebo pills coming on the market today intended for kids
- flat sodas that some parents think are ok to use for dehydration
Energy drinks are the rage among some teens. They have caffeine in them and come in cool cans. They are not coffee or tea so many teens think they are just like a soda. The problem is that they don’t just have caffeine in them - they have caffeine at very high amounts as well as other products that have caffeine-like effects. The impact of these drinks is so intense that a person can actually get a buzz from drinking too much - and that is just want is happening. A recent study goes further to suggest that teens who consume these drinks may actually be involved in much more serious risky behavior such as violence, unprotected sex, and drug abuse.These drinks are bad news for teens and parents need to open their eyes if they see their teens drinking any energy drink for other risky behaviors. I talked with MomLogic about this topic yesterday. Check out the full story here.
Today a new placebo pill goes on the market making experts and parents very antsy. The makers of this pill want you to believe it will help your kids with their “pains” but there in lies the problem. In my opinion, as a parent and a pediatrician, these pills are trouble. They treat the parent’s anxiety more than the child’s issues and reinforce to the child that issues need pills. If your child has a real issue with real pain, don’t grab for a placebo, grab the phone to call your doctor.
Parent Dish agrees. She thought of giving this pill to her son after having trouble filling his real prescription for an anxiety medication. After a week of being unable to fill the prescription, she discovered something interesting: both she and her son were just fine! In her words:
“In the week that it took us to find a pharmacy that could fill his prescription, he was just fine, while I was a nervous wreck, worrying about what might happen if he had an anxiety attack at school, for example. Any sort of placebo, of course, would have done more to calm my fears than to actually manage my son’s symptoms. I can’t help but wonder if that’s really the point of a pediatric placebo: to make the parents feel better, not the child. And to me, that doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to give a kid medication, even if it is just pretend.”
Finally, there has long been a myth that flat soda will help dehydration. While it will help thirst, it does nothing to rehydrate a child during an illness. WebMD released an article today on CBS News summarizing a study that finally debunks this myth. As stated by the article:
“A new study shows there’s no scientific evidence to back up the notion that drinking soft drinks, flat or otherwise, helps treat child dehydration. Researchers say parents should be discouraged from using sugar-laden soft drinks as a treatment and stick to oral rehydration solutions for mild cases of child.”
So, not all over the counter drinks and pills are reasonable choices for our growing kids and teens - and we have to be aware that some can cause real harm and be windows to other issues.
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