I got some lovely responses to my questions about children and medicine yesterday here and on twitter and FB, thanks so much! Here are my responses, please feel free to comment and add your thoughts.
- At what point do you medicate for a fever? And what do you give for a garden-variety fever? We usually wait until the fever hits 38 degrees if the child isn’t unhappy before we medicate and even then we take it easy on the medicine, usually Panado unless we are really battling.
- When you get a script from a doctor, do you take all the medicine prescribed and charge it to your medical aid or do you
interrogatequestion what everything is for and what it’s meant to do. We totally question every single thing on the script. We had a paed that overmedicated Daniel so much and sent us home with a BOX of duolin once. True story. - Do you question the quantities of medicine that gets dispensed so you aren’t stuck with weird and wonderful stuff that just fills your medicine cupboard? We always check the quantities that are needed and confirm before it is dispensed. We will often ask for the entire script to be loaded and if we need the rest of the stuff we can always have it dispensed at a later time. Otherwise a lot of money and medicine is wasted.
- Do you have MSA? (Medical Savings Account) If you do, do you believe it is the best way to manage your medical expenses? We cancelled our MSA when the girls were born because our medical aid would have jumped with more than R1000 per month if we kept our MSA. It’s the best thing we’ve ever done. It forces us to be careful about the medical help we seek and the medicine we buy. When there is a big problem and we end in hospital we are taken care of by our hospital plan anyway. Win. I would much rather have a cupboard full of homeopathic remedies than cortisone and other yucky stuff.
We each have to make decisions that fit into our families and we only want to do the best for them and it’s HARD sometimes. This is why I love bouncing things off you so much.
Thanks!
I also wait for temp to reach 38 before medicating unless the mizzy-ness is out of control.
I am considering cancelling the MSA but am simply not brave enough. I am looking for ways to save money though so it is on the cards for the near future – though not really by choice. And I still haven’t explored the homeopath option. This is on the cards too.
Do it. Cancel the MSA. ANd let me know if you want the number of my homeopath 🙂
When Zaan was in the hospital with his heart operation, a nurse did an assignment on fever in children. She asked all the moms to complete a questionnaire dealing with fever, when you medicate, what you use, etc. After completing the questionnaire she gave us a leaflet with info on fever and what you should do. Basically the info I got was that it is better not to medicate before 40 degrees. The fever is the body’s defense mechanism. It helps to fight whatever is attaching the body. If you medicate too soon, the body’s natural defense is not allowed to work and the “virus/bacteria” is given freedom to do their worst. To rather use alternative methods like sponge bath or lukewarm bath to break a fever. Only when the fever continues to use medication.
I don’t really measure their fevers. I do the feel test :). If they feel unnaturally hot, I’ll medicate using what ever pain/fever medication I’ve got at hand. If the fever doesn’t want to break I’ll use a set pill.
I usually discuss what I’ve got in the house with the doc and then just let her describe what is needed. I also let her prescribed to one and then use for all of them with her knowledge to cut down on getting three bottles of the same thing. Plus I usually self medicate them before going to the doc when I realise that my home medication won’t do it. We are fairly healthy. Most of the sniffles our kids get are usually due to allergies, which I treat with regular doses of antihistamines. Plus Superman pills (their vits) and Scotts Emulsion in high doses :).
As for the MSA. We’re also on a top hospital plan. With Zaan we saw that a good hospital is an absolute necessity. It also covers hubby’s diabetes medication (over R800 a month) for the rest we have a special credit card we use. The ideal is to put money in the card every month to save up for the more expensive things like glasses, etc :). Plus the credit available is there if you suddenly need it. (It just takes self control :D)
Ah, the joy of having as many children as we do, we have to be clever with money and rather try to keep them healthy!