I'd never heard of acetaminophen infant suppositories before I saw them at the drugstore tonight. But they have joined rectal thermometers and those snot sucker bulbs on my list of Things That Will One Day Be Linked To All Those Alien Abduction Recovered Memory Trauma Stories. Mark my words.
You should check out a European pharmacy sometime. It's amazing all the things you can get via suppository there. Those Euro folks must have some serious fascination with the "pr".
I wonder... are close encounters of the anal-probing kind - or at least reports thereof - more common across the pond? I'd say you've got an excellent means for testing your hypothesis right there.
-g
what is the point, don't all babies love infant Tylenol?
In Europe, it's recommended for babies (instead of oral pain killer/fever reducer medication) because it works very quickly and doesn't have to pass through their stomach (risk of spitting it out/vomiting & chocking on it).
I received a box of these at my first baby shower (threw them away about a month ago, unopened). My sister gave them to me because whenever her kids spiked a fever, they couldn't keep anything down. Apparently, they recommend storing them in the refrigerator, which led to a funny quote from my nephew about how is ice in his butt going to make his head stop hurting?
I thought the reason infant suppositories were so common in Germany was that they were the only alternative to the the oral medicines, all of had the same fake-orange taste (which my kid couldn't stand).
Yeah, while visiting my cousin in Iceland her child had a fever- I was like- you put Tylenol where?! I guess it works.
The reason smart Europeans use Supps. is because it avoids the first-pass mechanism, through which most of orally given medications pass unabsorbed through the intestines. And if Americans wouldn't be so darn prude you would know how much better they work, instead of being obsessed with where they go. By the way isn't your country the one with the biggest sex industry? Talking about obsessions...
What a brillinat comment that Germany only has bad tasting medicine. Oh wait I forgot we still live in the middle ages over here.
so do all German medicines come in suppository format, and they're more popular across the board because everyone loves their increased effectiveness and the fun of taking them? Or is it just the handful of drugs that exhibit first-pass metabolism?
And not that I did, but If I had to, I'd probably attribute Germany's alleged one-flavor-only medicine policy to a) eastern communism, or b) national health care. Finally, America's health care system is better at *something*: offering basic pain relief medications in at least five different flavors. Yeah, capitalism!
Gee, Tim, danke. FWIW, I'm Canadian, my husband is German, neither of us is American. Our son (a dual citizen who had lived in both countries before he could walk) simply didn't like the orange flavouring that seemed to be in all the medicines we could find and/or were prescribed for him. We didn't try a suppository - not because either of us would have been icked out by it - but because once we learnt that our child didn't like the flavours of the medicines we tried, we had my parents bring some from Canada. When my child was sick, I just wanted something that I knew would work *for him*. Besides, when we had to take him to paediatric emergency in the wee hours, the paediatrician prescribed an oral ibuprofen - not a suppository. I guess she isn't a smart European?
And now that I think about, the medicine my MIL has to take every morning - and she does so under protest because of the taste - is also orange flavoured.
My 3 kids hated Tempra and all "flavored" children's medication until, oh, age 4? Getting any meds in them was a battle which inevitably ended in fractions of ml's of medication in the baby's stomach and a lot of aggravation.
Acetaminophen suppositories saved my mental health.
And how do you give medication to a child who throws up everything, including pedialyte, 7-up, water, whatever? Supp is the answer.
I am always amused at which posts get the most comments.
you and me both