Why can’t "they" cure the common cold?

Let me start by saying - geez, I hope there are no typos in this....

So if you have been reading – or not, a few posts back – I said that my oldest kid had a cold.  Since it was a few weeks ago, I thought the other two (and mom) had escaped the bullet.  Not true this time – since I have a cold and have two kids at home with the same cold.

As normal with a cold – the symptoms are: stopped up nose, slightly runny eyes, mild fever – and this time a barking cough.  In babies, this would be known as “croup”.  A lot of people think that croup is “whooping cough” or pertussis.  It is not.  Whooping cough – truly sounds like the “whoop” of a crane – the noise also occurs on inspiration – and not when they cough.  The croup cough sounds like a barking seal and is also called “bronchiolitis” – which simply means that the bronchioles are inflamed - and likely infected.

In either case - in small infants, it can be troublesome and even dangerous.  This is why “they” insist that all children should get the pertussis vaccine - usually several times (in addition to the other 100 or more vaccines they now “require”).  The problem with the pertussis vaccine is that pertussis is “dangerous” in infants under the age of two months – and the baby can’t get the vaccine until 2 months or “out of the woods”.  The idea behind making kids (adolescents and some adults too) get the vaccine is to prevent babies from getting it….huh?

I digress, the common cold is caused by any one of a number of viruses.  Symptoms are usually less severe than the “flu” which is caused specifically by an influenza virus.

Kids with allergies…medicine unsafe….give me a break!

I was born in Oklahoma – the land of all flowering trees, grasses and all known allergens. I had allergies that were severe enough that my mother thought I would die….seriously. I had ear infections every 6 weeks and regularly visited a “pediatric allergist” who refused to take out my tonsils or put ear tubes in because he was not sure I would survive the surgery….seriously. I had full allergy testing performed and was taking allergy shots by the time I was four. Let me tell you this was over 35 years ago and they did not have “scratch” testing for allergies. They used to fill little cups with allergen solution and set them on 4 needles imbedded in your arm or back and wait for 15 minutes or so for a reaction. I don’t remember much about it but it must have been torture for my mother. By the time I was four, I was also taking adult strength allergy pills – not kids allergy liquid but adult tablets. I know this because my mom used to put one under my tongue as she dropped me off at day care and say “run in and get a drink of water to swallow it.” At the time – this was not considered dangerous and this way she knew that I got my medicine on time and it would last the rest of the day.

Fast forward many years. I now have 3 children – 6 and under. They all have allergies. Fortunately, we don’t live in Oklahoma so they are not quite as severe but as we do live in Central Texas – they are certainly noticeable and bothersome. Consequently, I have had to give them allergy medicine almost every day since they were infants.

A couple of years ago, the American Pediatric Association in conjunction with drug manufacturers came out with a statement that medications given for colds and allergies to children under two years of age are ineffective and could be unsafe. Because of this, all over the counter cold/allergy medication formulated for infants and toddlers were removed from the shelves of your local drugstores and grocery stores. All children’s cold/allergy medicine had to be relabeled to eliminate dosing instructions for children under 2. Cases and cases of cold medication were actually thrown away. A year or so later – this was repeated for children under 6. Now there is news that the same situation may be repeated for children under 12…..What is next….18? 21? 30? All cold medicine for all ages?

The medical establishment says that cold and allergy products do NOT work for children and that they may be unsafe. This is an outright lie.

The real problem is twofold. The first is that the medical community thinks the average American is too stupid to take medicine properly and especially that American parents are too stupid to know when children need medication and too stupid to give it properly. They claim that “hundreds” of children are seen each year in emergency rooms due to overdosing. Since we have become a litiginous society, the pharmaceutical industry and their insurance companies are unwilling to take the risk that some kid might get overdosed by his dumb parents….huh? I worked in hospitals and emergency medicine for many years and I don’t know of any cases that a child was harmed from an accidental overdose of allergy medicine. It would take way more than mom giving 1 teaspoons instead of 2…

The second reason is this: allergy and cold medication is still available in pediatric formulation for children – you just can’t buy it unless you visit a doctor. In fact, the last 3 times I have taken my kids to the doctor for a respiratory infection, I have been given a prescription for exactly the same medication I would have purchased over the counter. So the statement….these medications do not work is a LIE. If they didn’t work – why would the doctor prescribe it? The truth is they just want you to be required to see a doctor…..This in a time where many, many Americans including hundreds of thousands of children are not covered by health insurance –you have to see a doctor to get a prescription for medicine that was available 40 years ago…..sounds fair….(NOT).