Health Tips and News Updates

U-M poll: Too many parents give cold medicine to kids despite warnings Cold Medicine Too many parents continue to give their little ones cold medicine despite doctors’ warnings that the drugs can cause serious side effects. Two of five parents reported giving their children under age 4 cough medicine or multi-symptom cough and cold medicine, according to a poll of 498 parents conducted by University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. That puts those children at risk for increased or uneven heart rate, drowsiness or sleeplessness, slow and shallow breathing, confusion or hallucinations, convulsions, nausea, constipation and allergic reaction. One in four gave them decongestants — a particular concern because such medicines can affect heart rate, Dr. Matthew Davis, director of the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, said. A parent’s feeling of helplessness is understandable, given that children can get five to 10 colds each year, Davis s...

 Cancer Chemotherapy Normally, your cells grow and die in a controlled way. Cancer cells keep forming without control. Chemotherapy is drug therapy that can kill these cells or stop them from multiplying. However, it can also harm healthy cells, which causes side effects. During chemotherapy you may have no side effects or just a few. The kinds of side effects you have depend on the type and dose of chemotherapy you get. Side effects vary, but common ones are nausea, vomiting, tiredness, pain and hair loss. Healthy cells usually recover after chemotherapy, so most side effects gradually go away. Your course of therapy will depend on the cancer type, the chemotherapy drugs used, the treatment goal and how your body responds. You may get treatment every day, every week or every month. You may have breaks between treatments so that your body has a chance to build new healthy cells. You might take the drugs by mouth, in a shot or intravenously. NIH: National Cancer Instit...