Keep Out Of These Traps in 2010
13 Dec 2009
Year after year people get careless and tragedy strikes. So as we enter 2010 here are several tips to prevent some common hazards during this year.
Trap # 1
It’s amazing that every year about 6,000 people are admitted to hospital in North America due to snow-blower injuries to the hands. 600 will have fingers amputated for failing to turn off the motor when clearing a blockage in the discharge chute with their hands. A few will be strangled when a loose scarf gets caught in the moving parts. Others will die from carbon monoxide poisoning for starting a snow blower in an enclosed space. And you will have less chance of becoming a statistic, if you don’t pour gas into a snow blower while the motor is running. Common sense is at times an uncommon commodity.
Trap # 2
The treatment that is good for adults isn’t necessarily right for children. For instance, to treat a cold Sir William Osler, one of this country’s wisest doctors, suggested this remedy, "Go to bed, put your hat on the bedpost, start drinking whiskey and when you see two hats stop." This is hardly the advice he would give to children. But is the well-known remedy, Vicks VapoRub, a sound treatment to ease symptoms of a cold in children?
Dr. Bruce Rubin, professor of research in pediatrics at Wake Forest School of Medicine, in North Carolina reports this case in the journal Chest. An 18 month old girl was brought to the emergency department due to difficult breathing. Parents told doctors she had not received any medication. But, on further questioning they admitted, they had placed Vicks under her nose one hour before respiratory problems started. This is when doctors began asking parents if they had also used mentholated ointments to treat their children’s colds and discovered several similar cases. These cases prompted Dr. Rubin and his colleagues to start a study on ferrets who have a similar airway as humans. They discovered that Vicks VapoRub increased the amount of mucous causing further narrowing of a child’s respiratory passages. So the best advice for most colds for young children is tincture of time, warm fluids and rest.
Trap # 3
Don’t become a victim of opiate painkillers. A report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal states that between 1991 and 2007 prescriptions of oxycodone, a long-acting opiate more potent than morphine, increased by 850 percent which resulted in a 41 percent increase in mortality. Death from this painkiller was unintentional in 54.2 percent of cases.
So what went wrong? These slow release pills are meant to be swallowed whole to provide a prolonged effect. But some patients decided to chew or crush them resulting in sudden high blood levels and death. It’s been aptly said "it takes two to tango". In most cases it’s not the opiate that triggers the trouble it’s the patient who should have followed directions. But senior executives of the pharmaceutical company pleaded guilty to deceptive marketing of this drug in the U.S. and agreed to individual and corporate fines of over $600 million in 2007. Regardless of who was to blame, what a tragic waste of life when their average age at death was 40 years.
Trap # 4
A report in the New England Journal of Medicine cites the case of a two year old boy suffering from sleep apnea and snoring whose treatment was tonsillectomy. His parents, following surgery, were advised to give him the usual dose of syrup of codeine to ease pain. Two days later he died in his sleep. Studies showed his death was sue to an overdose of morphine. Most parents are unaware that codeine is transformed into morphine by the body. This is normally not a problem. But one percent of Caucasians and up to 30 percent in those of African origin have a gene that increases the rate of changing codeine into morphine. To avoid this tragic event children should not be given codeine following surgery. Breast feeding mothers should also avoid codeine-based painkillers as this can also cause respiratory depression in their babies.
My best wishes for a safe 2010.
