17-month-old boy suffers from adrenal insufficiency due to taking cough medicine containing corticosteroids
In 2 months, a boy in Phu Tho gained 3 kg, his face was chubby, the doctor discovered that his parents arbitrarily gave him cough medicine containing corticoid.
Taking her son to Hung Vuong General Hospital in Phu Tho for examination, the boy's mother said that her son often had diarrhea, cough, and sore throat, so the family bought medicine to treat him at home. After taking the medicine, the boy recovered immediately, so every time he coughed, the family continued to buy medicine for him to take.
Recently, seeing that the child was gaining weight abnormally but still had frequent coughs and sore throats, the family took the child to the hospital for examination. The examination results showed that the cortisol level in the blood was extremely low at 0.1 nmol/L (normal level is 140-700 nmol/L). The child was diagnosed with acute adrenal insufficiency and needed to be hospitalized for treatment.
The baby's mother did not know the name of the medicine she bought for her child, only that it was a pink round pill, with a dosage of 4 pills a day.
The doctor said the main cause of this condition was that the baby was treated with drugs containing corticosteroids for a long time, causing complications of adrenal insufficiency.
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Boy gains weight abnormally due to drug abuse containing corticosteroids. Photo:Hospital provided. |
Corticoids have anti-inflammatory, analgesic effects, treat bone and joint diseases, autoimmune diseases, skin allergies and respiratory system (manifested as severe asthma). However, if abused and used in the wrong dosage, according to the doctor's instructions, it will cause dangerous complications and unwanted effects.
In children, overdosing on corticosteroids will cause slow growth due to reduced growth hormone, inhibited bone formation, and reduced thyroid hormone activity. In postmenopausal women and the elderly, it can cause bone loss and osteoporosis.
Topical corticosteroids may reduce the disease quickly when first applied, but relapses may be more severe than before. In addition, the skin may become red, have partial loss of skin pigmentation, scleroderma, erythematous dermatitis, acne, or fungal infections.
Doctors recommend being extremely careful with drugs labeled as oriental medicine with the effect of quickly reducing symptoms of sore throat, cough, dermatitis, pain relief, joint swelling... or products that can gain weight quickly and may also be mixed with corticosteroids.
