Why You Should Limit The Use Of Paracetamol For You And Your Child
By Dailytab24.
Paracetamol is the most used drug in the world according to a medical survey, primarily due to its use for minor pain relief and control of high body temperature. In Africa, it has become a go-to drug for nursing parents, in abusive manner. Nigeria is considered one of the countries on the list of countries that use paracetamol the most.
In Nigeria, every mother is advised to buy paracetamol and keep at home, and the drug is mostly administered without doctor’s prescription. Most Nigerian parents see paracetamol as a harmless drug that can be taken at any given time and for any problem. Most times, peers advise each other to always include paracetamol in any medicine proscribed for them.
For children in Nigeria, paracetamol is self-administered by parents more than any other drug. Nursing mothers have been accustomed to seeing paracetamol as a first aid, but barely do they know the risk associated with consistently giving their children paracetamol.
This article is focused on Nigerian parents. And it is the outcome of a survey carried out by Dailytab24. It is disheartening that most parents don’t know the function of paracetamol. They all see paracetamol as a versatile drug that can cure varieties of ailment, ranging from headache to fever and other reactions, mostly in children.
In most strange cases, paracetamol is wrongly used for cure of ailment. First, it is important to understand the function of paracetamol, because it is widely seen as drug capable of treating fever, headache and varieties of ailments.
Paracetamol is primarily used to lower body temperature during fever and treat mild to moderate pain. There is no problem when paracetamol is taken for headache, toothache or other moderate or mild pains. It can also be used to reduce fever. It should be taken and discouraged after three days for pain.
What most parents fail to understand is the context of the function of paracetamol. It doesn’t cure fever, rather it reduces fever. Tooth pain and headache can continue after taking paracetamol if the cause is not addressed. Paracetamol doesn’t cure cause of fever or pain, instead, it lowers fever or pain.
Generally, paracetamol is used for control, as most feverish conditions are symptoms of underlying ailment. There are ailments that can cause fever or pains in the body, this doesn’t mean paracetamol can cure the ailment, it only means paracetamol can calm the symptoms like fever and pain down.
However, instead of running to self-administer paracetamol, and sustain it over a period of time when fever or pain develops, one should rather go for a medical checkup and treat the cause of the pains or fever.
Sustained taking of Paracetamol should be discouraged, but should be specifically used to control/lower fever or pain to buy time for checkup, while knowing that it cannot treat the cause of the fever or pain. Paracetamol is not used for and cannot treat fever, and that is the phrase that should be taken home.
Nigerian nursing mothers should inculcate the habit of taking their children to a pediatrician when fever develops or pain is sensed. While paracetamol can treat mild to moderate pains, it cannot treat the cause of the pain, especially when after three days the pains returns or refuses to subside.
