What does the child know about cough?
Popular science aspect
As soon as the baby coughs, parents are worried. Many parents use cough medicine when their children cough, but some parents are afraid to give their children cough medicine because of the side effects of the medicine. So "does the child need to take medicine for coughing?" Cough medicine or expectorant medicine? How to choose is better? "
What is a cough?
First of all, parents should face up to cough and understand what it is. Cough is really not a disease, but a defensive action and a protective reflex of the human body. When the respiratory tract and lungs are infected by some pathogenic microorganism, the sputum secretion function of airway mucosa will be enhanced and the amount of sputum will increase.
Cough can cough up these sputum and bring out a certain amount of pathogenic microorganisms and inflammatory factors, thus reducing the invasion of pathogenic factors on the respiratory tract. So, in a sense, coughing is beneficial. However, strong and frequent cough, especially dry cough, will affect rest and sleep, even aggravate the condition and cause other complications, then it will lose its protective significance.
Therefore, for cough, we must be clear about what causes it, and then deal with it symptomatically. Never blindly treat with cough medicine as soon as you listen.
The cause of cough
So what are the causes of cough?
Cold air stimulation, foreign body inhalation, common cold, chronic upper respiratory tract inflammation such as chronic pharyngitis or rhinitis, allergy, reflux esophagitis, tracheitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, etc. Can cause cough, so the treatment principle of cough in children is to clarify the cause and treat it according to the cause.
For example, nasal mucus produced by rhinitis flows to the throat and even the trachea, which will cause cough. At this time, it is necessary to treat rhinitis and reduce secretion to relieve cough; For example, cough caused by acute bronchitis should be treated with anti-infection first.
In most cases, parents don't have to worry about a slight cough, such as a cough after a cold, and they don't have to take cough medicine. They only need to use cough medicine for strong and frequent coughs, especially those that seriously affect children's lives and even aggravate their illness and cause other complications.
Classification of cough medicine
Cough drugs can be divided into cough drugs and expectorant drugs.
Antitussive drugs mainly produce antitussive effect by directly inhibiting the cough center or cough reflex arc receptor, afferent nerve, efferent nerve and effector of medulla oblongata. Common drugs are codeine, pholcodine, dextromethorphan, pentoverine, narcotine, benzoxazole, licorice fluid extract and so on.
The expectorant includes stimulating expectorant, such as guaiacol glyceryl ether, ammonium chloride, potassium iodide, Radix Polygalae, Radix Platycodi, etc. Mucolytic agents, such as acetylcysteine; Mucus regulators such as bromhexine and ambroxol.
At present, the common western medicines for relieving cough and resolving phlegm in children on the market and their main components are as follows:
Selection principle of cough medicine
Selection principle of cough drugs for children: In 20 18, the State Food and Drug Administration of the United States issued an announcement prohibiting children under 18 from using opioid drugs to treat cough caused by cold or allergy. These drugs include compound codeine phosphate oral liquid, compound codeine phosphate oral liquid, compound codeine phosphate oral liquid, Li Qiang loquat dew, Lingbei cough syrup, compound licorice oral liquid and Keyu syrup.
For irritating dry cough and frequent severe cough, central antitussive drugs with strong antitussive effect can be selected, such as compound compound pholcodine oral solution, dextromethorphan and guaifenesin syrup. Such antitussive drugs are not recommended for chronic cough or cough with a lot of secretions, but it should be noted that drugs containing dextromethorphan are prohibited under 65,438+0 years old and drugs containing penehyclidine are prohibited under 5 years old; For cough with excessive phlegm, antitussive drugs containing expectorants can be selected, such as ambroxol oral liquid, neophenol oral liquid and pseudoephedrine oral liquid.
In addition, studies in Israel have found that honey can relieve children's cough at night, which is almost absolutely safe for children over 1 year old, so you can take 2 ~ 5ml of honey before going to bed to reduce the severity of cough and reduce secretions.
Selection of Chinese patent medicine for relieving cough
In addition to western medicine, there are many Chinese patent medicines used to treat children's cough, such as Zhenkening syrup, Baikening granules, Xiaoer Zhike syrup, Xiaoer Feire Kechuan oral liquid and so on. Chinese medicine pays attention to syndrome differentiation and treatment in the choice of such drugs, and parents had better not go to pharmacies to buy them without authorization. Under the guidance of the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, they should use drugs based on syndrome differentiation, pay attention to the indications and contraindications of different drugs, and use drugs rationally according to the etiology and the children's own age and physiological characteristics to eliminate the hidden dangers of drug use.
Suggestion on cough medicine for children
To sum up, the drug suggestions for children's cough are as follows:
1) Don't stop coughing, you need to find out the cause first and treat the symptoms.
2) Generally, cough medicine should be used less. Children with excessive phlegm or pulmonary congestion are prohibited, and mild cough is generally not used. A few children with severe cough or chest pain and hypertonic pneumothorax can be given cough medicine, but it must be strictly controlled and used with caution, preferably under the guidance of a doctor.
3) 1 children under the age of 0 can be given 5 ~ 15 ml of warm water four times a day, and infants under 3 months should see a doctor in time when they cough. /kloc-children over 0/year old can use 2 ~ 5ml of honey to relieve cough every time, and children must ban addictive central antitussive drugs.
4) Children who use antitussive and expectorant drugs for 3-7 days have no obvious effect, so they should be further examined to avoid missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis. When they have repeated cough, or cough accompanied by fever, dyspnea and yellow-green sputum, they must go to the hospital as soon as possible.
Producer: Pharmacy Department of Beijing Tongren Hospital
Author: Xu Shanshan