No, not dh. *g* Robin had a sore throat this morning so I was going to give him some Tylonal Sore Throat. It's basically liquid Tylonal, but very strong stuff. The bottle said for kids and adults 12 and over to give 2 tablespoons. Each dose (2TBLS) has 1000mg of acetimeniphin (sp???). Well Robin is a lightweight and I didn't want to OD him so I called the pediatric clinic to see how many mg's he could have. I swear I had to ask the tech that answered the phone the same question 4 TIMES!!! The first time she came back (asked a nurse) and said, "Oh, you can give him 2-3 tsps." Okay, that's not the dose--this isn't regular liquid Tylonal. Next she says, "Go by weight, not age." Okay, but the bottle doesn't say the dosage for weight--that's why I called you! Then, she told me something else silly I can't remember, so I took a deep breath and said, "No--I need to know how many MILLIGRAMS he can have." I could tell she was getting frustrated and I was too! I was SO relieved when the doctor finally got on the phone and I only had to ask her once!!! I explained to her that even though he was 12 he's only 80lbs and I didn't want to give him too much. She told me to give him 500mg, or half the dose the bottle recommends. While on the phone with Miss Must Be a Blond (sorry all you blondies! lol) I was thinking, good grief, I could have found this out online by now! Next time maybe I'll call the pharmacy--or just do my own online search! *sigh* Must be a Monday...

By Imamommyx4 on Monday, October 17, 2005 - 04:45 pm:

Here is one calculator. It gives the dose in whatever you are using (liquid or chewable tab or drops) and mg. See the bottom line.

But as a pharmacist, I would tell you to call your pharmacist. We even have doctors call us to ask us to calculate doses for them.

And then after having the pharmacist tell me the dose, I'd do my own search and verify it.

The Tylenol dose is listed as 10 to 15 mg/kg every 4 hours not to exceed 2600 mg per 24 hours for a child 6 to 12 years of age.

So if he weighs 80 lb then his dose is 360 to 545 mg every 4 hours up to 2600 mg in 24 hours. So if he were running a high fever or feeling really cruddy, I'd give him 500 mg or 1 tbsp of the formula you descibed every 4 hours for a maximum of 5 doses in 24 hours.

Also, fyi to convert lbs to kg, you divide the lbs by 2.2 to get kg. (in his case 80 lbs / 2.2 = 36.36 kg) Then multiply by 10 or 15 to get his dose.

http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/usefultools/l/bltylenoldsgcal.htm

By Cocoabutter on Monday, October 17, 2005 - 08:56 pm:

Reminds me of the time I called Information to get the number for a place that sells wallpaper called "D.W. Wallpaper" in Grand Rapids. The operator actually argued with me and said, "D&W is a GROCERY STORE, ma'am, not a wallpaper store!"

SHEEESH!

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - 11:31 am:

I had a similar argument with my orthopedic doc's secretary/nurse assistant, who kept telling me that "the prescription is what the doctor ordered", while I kept telling her that yes, this is what the doctor had ordered, but I had learned from my pharmacist that what the doctor had ordered was incorrect. (This was a change from daily Fossamax to weekly Fossamax - for osteoperosis - and the doctor had written the wrong dosage as it wasn't in his edition of the Merk Manual.) We went back and fourth for about 15 minutes, and she would not budge and would not let me speak to the doctor or leave a message for the doctor. I finally faxed a letter to the doctor, detailing my conversation with his secretary, and including a printout of the information from the drug manufacturer's web site. The doctor immediately wrote a new prescription and sent it to me. I have no idea what he said to his secretary/nursing assistant.

I love this doc - I have been seeing him since about 1984, and felt it was just an error because the weekly dose of this medication was very new on the market and it wasn't in the Merk Manual. But his secretary/whatever was way out of line, imo.

I'm glad you got to speak with your pediatrician right away, as you were dealing with a sick child. My issue wasn't urgent and could wait a week or two.