Terminology
We doctors and nurses use our own jargon and language. Here are a few terms and what they mean:
Bronchitis: Inflammation of the bronchi, the main tubes leading into the lungs.
Bronchiolitis: Inflammation of the bronchioles, the smaller tubes leading into the lungs.
CBC: Complete Blood Count. The CBC does not tell you the blood type.
Conjunctivitis: Inflammation of the eye. Also known as “pink eye.”
ER: Emergency Room
Eczema: An allergic inflammation of the skin that has no specific cause.
Impetigo: Infection of the skin.
KUB: Kidney, Ureter, Bladder (an x-ray of the abdomen)
Meningitis: Inflammation of the covering of the brain.
Otitis Externa: Outer Ear Infection
Otitis Media: Middle Ear Infection
Pharyngitis: Throat inflammation.
URI: Upper respiratory infection (cold)
UTI: Urinary Tract Infection. This could be either a bladder or kidney infection.
Common Dosages
Tylenol: Also known as Tempra, APAP, AcetominophenThe dose for Tylenol is about 10 mg per kg of body weight; I’ve enclosed some examples for selected weights:
Weight
5 kg or 11 pounds: 60 mg (0.6 ml of the Tylenol drops)
10 kg or 22 pounds 120 mg (3/4 teaspoon of the Tylenol elixir)
15 kg or 33 pounds 160 mg (one teaspoon of the Tylenol elixir)
20 kg or 44 pounds 240 mg (one and one-half teaspoons of the Tylenol elixir)
25 kg or 55 pounds 320 mg (two teaspoons of the Tylenol elixir)
30 kg or 66 pounds 320 mg (two teaspoons of the Tylenol elixir)
35 kg or 77 pounds 400 mg (two and one-half teaspoons of the Tylenol elixir)
40 kg or 88 pounds 400 mg (two and one-half teaspoons of the Tylenol elixir)Provided there are no contraindications to giving Tylenol, you may dose it every four hours. Don’t confuse the drops for the elixir; they have different concentrations.
How Diseases Work
Children do not get better right away. If I have prescribed antibiotics for a simple infection like an ear infection or a sore-throat, it will take a few days for the antibiotics to take full effect. So there will be a fever for at least two to three days.When the fever does go down in a child, it will not go down and then stay down; that’s not how the body works. When the fever goes down it will go down like you are walking downstairs. So on the first night after taking antibiotics, the fever will be, say 103, on the second night, 101.5, on the third night 100, and then no fever on the fourth night.Many diseases just have to run their course; there are only so many medicines that the doctor can give. If your child has fever and diarrhea, and I have already given antibiotics, medicine for diarrhea and Pedialyte, we may just have to wait a bit for the meds to work and for the disease to run its course.The doctor is not a miracle worker. I can’t read your mind; I can’t heal all illnesses; and neither for that matter can any doctor. So, rather than panic and run to every clinic in town, give me a call. It may be that we just have to wait things out.
Myths
The doctor is a human being with strengths and weaknesses, not some superhuman robot from Outer Space. You have to work with the doctor to achieve the best outcome for your child. The doctor is not the expert on your child – you are.
Teething
Teething does not cause fever; teething does not cause vomiting, diarrhea or anything else under the sun. The teeth are coming in too slow for teething to be causing any symptoms of disease. The reason why this myth got started is because people in the old days needed to explain things to people and didn’t have any modern tools to figure things out properly. Teeth are coming in gradually over a two year period of time. If teething caused all these symptoms, why don’t children have fever, diarrhea and vomiting every day of the week?
Spitting
It is not necessary to spit phlegms out once you cough them up; there is no harm in swallowing the phlegms. The acid from the stomach will destroy the bacteria in the phlegm and then pass them out the body.
Good Doctors and Bad Doctors
This is nonsense created by the media. There are doctors with strengths and doctors with weaknesses. If you go around looking for the perfect doctor, you’ll never find one. Many times you are better off working with the one doctor you have already found.
Tylenol Cures an Infection
All Tylenol and Motrin do is take the fever down for three or four hours; they do nothing to cure the infection which is causing the fever. Now, antibiotics will cure a bacterial infection; but Tylenol, sorry, won’t do anything.
Handwashing
If you want to see the doctor less, get yourself and your kids in the habit of washing your hands before you pick up food you plan to place in your mouth. In reality, almost all respiratory and gastrointestinal infections are transmitted by hand to hand contact. What happens is that you either shake hands with an infected person or you exchange a pencil, pen, toy or money. In that exchange viruses are transmitted from them to you. At that point the viruses are on your hands. When you then pick up food without washing your hands first, the viruses are transmitted to the food which you then pop into your mouth. Presto, you’re sick.
Ticket for the Clue Train: Wash your hands!