What medication can cause learning disabilities if overdosed? -
01-08-2009, 05:55 PM
About 15 years ago, while on vacation, I took my infant son to a doctor for congestion and a bad cough. The doctor gave me a sample of a perscription med and told me the dose should be 3 drops every 4 hours. He then cautioned me that overdosing could cause a thickening of a membrain in the brain and create learning disabilities or even death. He also said that this med was not normally used for this kind of problem but, because we were going to be flying he felt this med was a better option. On the bottle he hand wrote .3 ccm. When I returned from the doctor's office my wife informed me that there had been a death in my family and I had to leave. My wife took over the treatment of our child. Some how the doctor's warning and the written instructions did not get properly conveyed to my wife and she dosed 3 cm every 4 hours. About a year later I found the bottle while cleaning out the medicine cabinet. I noticed that the name of the medicine was somthing I'd never heard of and began discussing the trip to the Doctor with my wife. During that conversation we realized the dosage error. We concluded that our son seemed alright and discarded the remaining medicine. Once our son started school it became apparent that he had very serious learning disabilities. I often wonder if the medicine is the cause of the problem. I also think that maybe, if we knew the medicine, it might suggest a treatment that could help our son.
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