mother insists on drinking cold medication right out of the bottle

[void]

Ask Dr. H: The positive effects of video games | Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/18 ... - Philadelphia Inquirer
01-18-2010 04:08 AM



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(This thread was automatically posted from Google's RSS feed for news articles containing the term 'Dextromethorphan')

[koala infestation... robots]

This is the article. I know that the link was much too primitive for the likes of yous.

Ask Dr. H: The positive effects of video games
By Mitchell Hecht
Medical Columnist
Question: Is there any benefit to my 9-year-old granddaughter playing video games?
Answer: Believe it or not, psychologists have found that carefully chosen, nonviolent games do have some surprising brain-enhancing benefits. For an article published in the December issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, researchers at the University of Minnesota looked at all the existing research on video games and found that avid players were fast and accurate information processors - not only during game play, but in real-life situations as well.
Regular video gamers got faster not only on their game of choice, but on a variety of unrelated lab tests of reaction time. Additionally, the researchers found that, contrary to the popular belief that fast decisions lead to more mistakes, avid gamers did not lose accuracy (in the game or in lab tests) as they boosted speed. The researchers attributed this to improved visual cognition from gaming.
They also found that playing the games enhanced performance on mental rotational skills, visual and spatial memory, and tasks requiring divided attention.
Carefully chosen video games also can encourage logical thinking, reading skills, vocabulary development, problem solving, strategy planning, and observational skills. That said, it's important to balance this activity with regular physical exercise and sunshine.
In taking cold medicine, be careful of dosage

Q: My mother insists on drinking cold medication right out of the bottle instead of measuring the dose. Don't you think that's dangerous?
A: Yes, it's very dangerous since it's a guarantee that she'll take either too little or too much. An overdose of dextromethorphan (cough suppressant), phenylephrine (decongestant), and/or diphenhydramine (a sedating antihistamine) is a likely scenario. [Note that the author fails to mention codeine.]
Since cold medications are packaged with measuring cups to ensure proper dosage, there's no need to use kitchen spoons or drink directly out of the bottle.
A study published in the Jan. 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine looked at the dangers of using kitchen spoons to measure liquid cold medicine.
Nearly 200 former cold and flu sufferers were asked to pour one teaspoon of nighttime cold/flu medication into kitchen spoons of various sizes. When pouring medication into a medium-sized tablespoon, the study participants poured an average of 8.4 percent too little medicine; when using a larger spoon, study participants poured an average of 11.6 percent too much. While that might not sound like a lot, when you consider that such pouring errors are occurring several times a day over several days at dosages larger than one teaspoon, it really adds up. And that pales in comparison to the dosage error your mother has when she drinks medication right from the bottle.
Mitchell Hecht is a physician specializing in internal medicine. Send questions to him at: "Ask Dr. H.," Box 767787, Atlanta, Ga. 30076.

[HabitualCough]

Hmm, interesting read. I'll have to show this (the first part) to my sister who has two twin boys who just turned 3. In talking to her one time we got off on a conversation about her wanting a WII then on to talks of whether she would be letting the boys have/play video games. She said her husband didn't really want that, but instead wanted them outdoors in sports and exercising and such. Me growing up with video games always in my hands and being a hardcore fan was kind of disappointed in that idea. I love(d) sports and exercise just as well and am near perfectly fit and decently athletic. I understood what he was saying yet I felt that given the right games and possibly limits it would definitely be beneficial. I truly feel like growing up till now it has really developed a ton of skills. Many mentioned in the article.

The second bit is kind of neat food for thought I suppose.

[necrophage]

sounds like mama knows what she's doin

[dextromancer]

the article fails to address the various weights of people taking in the medicine. i fail to see how the recommended dose can be accurate either. for the record, ive always used kitchen spoons.

[Skittles]

Originally Posted by HabitualCough

Hmm, interesting read. I'll have to show this (the first part) to my sister who has two twin boys who just turned 3. In talking to her one time we got off on a conversation about her wanting a WII then on to talks of whether she would be letting the boys have/play video games. She said her husband didn't really want that, but instead wanted them outdoors in sports and exercising and such. Me growing up with video games always in my hands and being a hardcore fan was kind of disappointed in that idea. I love(d) sports and exercise just as well and am near perfectly fit and decently athletic. I understood what he was saying yet I felt that given the right games and possibly limits it would definitely be beneficial. I truly feel like growing up till now it has really developed a ton of skills. Many mentioned in the article.

The second bit is kind of neat food for thought I suppose.

I was trying so hard to play the Wii with my lil' brother (he got it for x-mas) the other day. I just couldn't work the damn thing. No doubt something like the Wii could increase your hand/eye coordination and whatnot, but a playstation or an xbox just seem intellectually and physically undemanding.

[admiral crunch]

chug it narc

[LBDex]

Mom knows how to party; no big deal.


Plus I think they're severely underestimating that mom, it's not extremely fucking hard to eyeball a single dose(for the record I can't remember the last time I took cough medicine for the suggested use).

[Skittles]

lmfao at dumbasses who actually buy cough medicine and use it for its intended persons, politically correct fucks ahahaha

[Tunguska]

My sister got a mild buzz recently from eyeballing a sip of Delsym for her cough. It was quite funny because she tried DXM once and said she wouldn't want to do it again.