A big dose of trouble for teens

A big dose of trouble for teens
FDA explores growing abuse of OTC drugs
Sunday, December 02, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Adolescents who have taken too many over-the-counter pain relievers such as Tylenol, Advil or Excedrin walk into David Rothner's office with great frequency.

"A significant number of kids, especially those with chronic daily headaches, are overusing these medications, and the end result is the headaches get worse instead of better," said Rothner, director of the Pediatric/Adolescent Headache Clinic at the Children's Hospital in Cleveland.

"This overuse can affect the liver and kidneys and the GI tract. It's kind of scary," Rothner said. "I had one GI bleeder and another adolescent who went into early kidney failure because of overusing these medicines."

The misuse and abuse of over-the-counter drugs by teenagers has drawn little scrutiny from doctors, researchers or the government, prompting the Food and Drug Administration to convene a two-day workshop this week to explore the issue in more depth.

"Adolescents use OTC drug products from a wide range of therapeutic categories (including fluoride toothpastes, acne drug products and pain relievers) and with varying degree of parental oversight," the FDA said in announcing the meeting, to be held in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health and the Consumer Healthcare Product Association.

"While clinical and consumer behavior studies for OTC drugs have enrolled various populations, few studies have included adolescents," the FDA noted. "Therefore, limited information on adolescent's use of OTC drug products has been collected."

The meeting, to be held Thursday and Friday at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., comes on the heels of an FDA expert advisory panel finding that over-the-counter cough and cold remedies do not work in treating symptoms of the common cold for children up to 12 years old, and should not be used by youngsters under the age of 6.

The panel found the dosing for these medicines is based on adult studies, not those done on young children or teens, and concluded these products can pose a variety of safety risks that are relatively rare but have included death from unintentional overdose or misuse.

While adolescent use of over-the-counter drugs has flown under the radar, there has been growing concern regarding teenage abuse of cough and cold medications containing dextromethorphan, or DXM, to get high.

There have been numerous reports of DXM overdoses and emergency room visits, with teens experiencing hallucinations, high blood pressure, blurred vision, loss of motor control and other problems.

The DXM ingredient is available in more than 100 over-the-counter products, including versions of Robitussin, Nyquil, Contac, Coricidin, Delsym, Dimetapp, Mucinex, PediaCare, Sudafed, Theraflu and Triaminic.

Sharon Levy, director of the Adolescent Substance Abuse Program at Children's Hospital in Boston, said the cough medicines are readily accessible in retail stores and in family medicine cabinets. She said teens generally believe they carry no risk.

"From my perspective, products with DXM should not be easily available. We know they are being misused," she said,

Currently, the only restrictions on cough and cold medicines apply to formulations containing pseudoephedrine, which can be used to illegally manufacture methamphetamine, or speed. They are available without a prescription, but are kept behind the counter.

The 2006 Monitoring the Future Survey, an annual national study of adolescent use of drugs and alcohol, found 4 percent of eighth graders, 5 percent of 10th graders and 7 percent of 12th graders reported having used over-the-counter cough and cold medicines during the previous year to get high.

University of Michigan professor Lloyd Johnston, one of the researchers involved in the survey, said it was "somewhat surprising" to see "such relatively high rates."

"The stuff is not harmless. It has considerable risk for users," Johnston said. "Most youngsters don't fully understand the limits and the hazards."

Pending legislation sponsored by Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) would prevent those under the age of 18 from purchasing cough medicines containing DXM.

Johnston said data on adolescent use of other over-the-counter drugs is "very scanty," but noted his national survey found one in eight 12th grade girls reported taking over-the-counter diet pills in the past year.

He said 10 percent of all high school seniors also reported using the "stay awake pills" that contain high doses of caffeine.

Carol Boyd, a nursing professor and drug abuse researcher at the University of Michigan, said she thinks the overuse and abuse of over-the-counter stimulants containing caffeine, such as No Doz and many diet aids, are "the untold story of this generation."

The national survey showed use of illegal drugs such as cocaine, crack, Ecstasy and methamphetamine is common among teens. It also found a growing rise in teen abuse of prescription medications including painkillers like Vicodin and OxyContin, and stimulants such as Ritalin and Adderall.

Tom Hedrick, a spokesman for The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, said teenage abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs is a growing phenomenon.

"We don't have a handle about what is going on, but it appears larger than we thought and there is no concerted plan to address it in a meaningful way," Hedrick said.

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, representing the over-the counter drugmakers, said it finds the abuse of the cough medicines "very troubling," and emphasized in a statement that parents must play an key role in "educating their children about the dangers associated with medicine abuse."

The association has launched an educational campaign in English and Spanish aimed at explaining substance abuse behavior.

"As the makers of over-the-counter medicines, we take very seriously the abuse of our medicines and remain committed to effectively addressing this dangerous problem," said the trade association.

http://www.nj.com/business/times/index.ssf...1880.xml&coll=5

[Dybowski]

She said teens generally believe they carry no risk.

[Criptin]

"From my perspective, products with DXM should not be easily available. We know they are being misused," she said,

Fuck You, I could go to the gas station and buy some gasoline, and huff it...Id get really high too. Everything gets fucking misused by someone sometimes.

So my opinion

Gasoline should not be easily available. We know it is being misused.

Fucktards.

[agentlemon]

Alcohol, though not the same caliber is definitely FAR more widely abused than teens, and its not hard for anyone to get their hands on some. Most kids under 18 live with their parents anyways, and DXM as they said is availabe in most medicine cabinets. What about the liquor cabinets? or the T3 prescription thats 15 years old that your parents are saving 'just in case' is that medication still trustworthy? As the previous poster said, everything gets abused by someone, soemtime.

[jaytown]

Adolescents who have taken too many over-the-counter pain relievers such as Tylenol, Advil or Excedrin walk into David Rothner's office with great frequency

Since you CAN'T GET HIGH OFF OF IT, I can't see why kids would misuse it or try to abuse it.

Am I missing something here???? advil is a pain reliever.

[dianne]

Originally posted by jaytown@Dec 3 2007, 10:24 AM

Since you CAN'T GET HIGH OFF OF IT, I can't see why kids would misuse it or try to abuse it.

Am I missing something here???? advil is a pain reliever.

I would see it as more of an issue with kids having constant headaches, or physical pain from something (sports? fights? dunno).

I get them when I'm stressed (in highschool I had migraines a lot, headaches almost daily), and would just take whatever was around to try to relieve the pain. I'm surprised I didn't end up with problems from it. I know most pain relievers don't really work as well anymore, so I've toned down the usage.

[jaytown]

I would see it as more of an issue with kids having constant headaches, or physical pain from something (sports? fights? dunno).

I get them when I'm stressed (in highschool I had migraines a lot, headaches almost daily), and would just take whatever was around to try to relieve the pain

AAAHHHHH
Now it makes cents

THANK YOU :P