Beware of Antibiotics

As a general rule, you should resist taking antibiotics unless it is absolutely necessary for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, there is plenty of evidence that Western doctors are increasingly happy to prescribe antibiotics for almost any medical condition, almost irrespective of whether that condition is likely to respond favorably to antibiotics or not.
This has unfortunately made the average man or woman in the street far more dependent on antibiotics than any previous generation has ever been. Consequently, it has become increasingly common to hear of the development of new strains of ‘super bug' that are resistant to the effects of antibiotics, with the most extreme example being MRSA.
As long as we continue to rely on antibiotics to deal with every medical condition, superbugs like MRSA will continue to develop, which ultimately puts our health at greater risk, rather than making us safer.
Now, there has to be a ‘rider' or exception introduced here, because if you have undergone surgery for any medical condition that is serious enough to justify it, you definitely do need as much protection as you can get, especially when you are still in hospital where the risk of cross infection is greater than it would be once you are home.
In this case, refusing antibiotics may not be the smartest move as it is clear that in this situation, they may be the best thing for you even though they are not perfect. Even though you know that a ‘super bug' like MRSA is resistant to antibiotics and that there can be antibiotic side-effects, accepting the drugs in this situation may be the safest course of action.
However, if your doctor prescribes antibiotics in a situation where all you are suffering from is simple boils, then the need to take them becomes far less clear. And because there are potential side-effects, you should definitely think twice before doing so.
According to another report published by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2008, taking antibiotics puts 142,000 people into the hospital emergency room every year in the USA. Furthermore, and perhaps most surprisingly, it is the most commonly prescribed antibiotics that represent the biggest risk and it is adults in the prime of their life who are most likely to suffer an adverse reaction to antibiotics with 41.2% of emergency room visits being made by those aged 15 to 44 years old.

Parenting Tips
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How To Make Your Medicine Cabinet Safer

Your medicine chest looks like a place where candies are stored to most kids. The fact that most medicines for kids taste pretty good also doesn't help. This is why it is important to clean it out as often as possible and put harmful medications under lock and key if you can. 

You should get rid of left-over or half use prescriptions as well as over-the-counter or prescription medicines that are past their expiry date.  If your kid doesn't finish his or her medication you should probably be throwing it out anyway.  It is dangerous to have old prescriptions around unless your pediatrician specifically told you to keep them. 

To make it a little safer you should also get rid of all the medications that do not have child resistant caps or packaging.  Even better yet don't keep any kind of medicine chest or medicine storage in your child's room at all! 

There are also some medications that you may have on hand that are not recommended for use by doctors or the American Pediatric association.  A good example is syrup of ipecac as the Academy of Pediatrics no longer says this is a good item to keep in the home. It used to be used to induce vomiting in kids that were accidentally poisoned. 

You should also get rid of any old mercury thermometers and trade them in for the newest sensor digital thermometers. The old fashioned ones can break and expose your kid to mercury and mercury vapors.  S

urprisingly the Academy of Pediatrics also recommends getting rid of hydrogen peroxide. We typically use it to disinfect cuts or wounds but apparently instead of helping to heal hydrogen peroxide may actual damage healthy skin cells. Try not to keep any aspirin in your medicine cabinet. Both very young children and adults are at risk of developing Reye's syndrome if they even take just one pill.  This is not a matter of overdose!   It is also common knowledge that you shouldn’t give your child, or even your teenager, aspirin unless there is no other option and you are stranded at a cottage. Start with half a pill if you have to and watch for any reactions (such as a rash.) 

When you are done cleaning out your medicine cabinet you should not just throw everything in the trash.  Don't flush them into the toilet either. These medicines are getting into our groundwater (especially the antibiotics.) As we are consuming antibiotics unnecessarily through water sources we are becoming more and more resistant to them. This can result in flesh eating diseases such as MRSA and illness from ordinary bacteria like staph. 

One way to keep your kid out of the medicine chest is to never give him or her the idea that is okay to go in there in the first place. Never say to your teen 'go get it yourself.' You don't want to end up with a Little Lindsay Lohan on your hands who has no idea about how to handle drugs.

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