RNS: Kids & Alternative Therapies, April 2009
TIME: 1:47
URL: http://www2.med.umich.edu/prmc/media/newsroom/details.cfm?ID=1088
U-M Health Minute: Today’s top health issues and medical research
Alternative therapies can be safe, effective for children
U-M pediatrician suggests what’s worth trying, what to avoid
Suggested lead: Complementary and alternative therapies are becoming more and more popular in the ‘pint-size’ set. A University of Michigan pediatrician discusses the use of complementary and alternative therapies in children and offers advice on what may be safe and effective and what should be avoided.
Here is Andi McDonnell with more.
Today, more children than ever are being treated with complementary and alternative therapies. Recent studies indicate that about 30 percent of healthy children and up to 50 percent of children with chronic disease are using some kind of alternative therapy.
Dr. Dolores Mendelow, (M.D.), clinical assistant professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases at the University of Michigan Medical School tells us . . .
“There are many things that we’re using in terms of complementary medicine. We’re using acupuncture in pediatrics, we’re using dietary supplementation, we’re using herbal or botanical therapies.
“For common conditions, colds, maybe skin rashes such as eczema, atopic dermatitis, I think it’s okay to use some of the common therapies that we do have efficacy for that you can find over-the-counter but I think if your condition is lasting for several days or if your child has a fever that’s lasting for several days you really should be consulting your physician before you try alternative therapies.”
While certain types of complementary and alternative therapies are safe for children, there are many therapies that could potentially be dangerous. Mendelow notes that parents should always consult their children’s pediatrician before beginning any new treatment.
“There are several complementary and alternative medicines that I would advise against using in children and adolescents. You know a popular traditional Chinese medicine that’s used for asthma is something called ma haung, which is really essentially ephedra which is an athletic boosting performance agent. Those can have serious consequences - heart palpitations, cardiac events, that should not be used in children. The other things are creatine, which is a dietary supplementation that a lot of adolescents are using for body building and we know that it can have adverse side effects for kidneys.”
Andi McDonnell, U-M Health System news.
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