Note when using expectorant for children

This is an automatically translated article.

The article is professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Truong Thanh Tam - Pediatrician - Pediatrics - Neonatology Department, Vinmec Danang International General Hospital.
An expectorant is a medicine that loosens mucus in the trachea and bronchi, allowing it to be expelled more easily from the airways. However, because expectorants can cause some adverse reactions, they should be used with special caution, especially in children.

1. What is an expectorant?

Cough is one of the symptoms of respiratory diseases. Cough includes: Cough with phlegm (sputum cough) and cough without phlegm (dry cough). The use of drugs to treat these two types of cough is completely different. Cough with phlegm is a type of cough with the condition of spitting up mucus or sputum, which is the remaining symptom after a sore throat, sinusitis, bronchitis, ... A common medicine used to treat cough with phlegm is medicine. expectorant.
expectorants are also known as expectorants, expectorants. These drugs have the effect of loosening the secretions from the tracheobronchial mucosa by changing the structure of the mucus, leading to a decrease in the viscosity and consistency of the mucus in the bronchi. Thanks to this, the mucus can move easily and be expelled from the respiratory tract by the ciliary system or by the act of sputum expectoration.

Medicines in the expectorant group include: acetylcysteine, ambroxol, bromhexin, carbocysteine, eprazinon,... expectorants include single-agent expectorants containing only pure expectorants such as Bisolvon (bromhexin only), Acemuc (only) containing acetylcysteine), Mucosolvan (containing only ambroxol), ... and combination cough medicine (in the composition contains available expectorants such as Atussin, Solmux Broncho,...).
In addition to treating cough with phlegm, expectorants are also used in the treatment of viscous mucus disease, respiratory diseases with viscous sputum such as acute or chronic bronchitis. Particularly acetylcysteine ​​​​is also used as an antidote for cases of paracetamol overdose. As for bromhexin, ambroxol is often used to treat respiratory infections accompanied by cough with phlegm. Bromhexin increases the penetration of some antibiotics into bronchial secretions, increasing the ability to respond well to antibiotics to treat infections.

2. Adverse reactions of expectorants

The drug can loosen the protective mucus of the stomach, so it is easy to cause stomach ulcers; expectorants can trigger bronchospasm; Other side effects of the drug include: gastrointestinal disturbances, dizziness, headache, mild elevation of liver enzymes, skin rash, nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, ringing in the ears, stomatitis, a lot of runny nose, .. .

3. Note when using expectorant for children

Children with cough with phlegm can be prescribed to use expectorants to make the sputum looser and easier to drain from the bronchi. To avoid adverse side effects, when using drugs for children, parents need to pay attention to the following issues:

Do not use for pediatric patients with peptic ulcer because the side effect of the drug is to destroy the gastric mucosal barrier; Do not use or be cautious when using it for asthmatics because the drug can cause bronchospasm in people with a predisposition to it. If bronchospasm occurs, the drug should be discontinued and salbutamol or ipratropium nebulized; Do not use medicine for children who are debilitated, too weak or do not know how to spit up sputum because it will increase sputum in the respiratory tract, making the disease worse; If there is a lot of thin sputum in the bronchi and the patient has a reduced ability to cough, it must be aspirated; Do not take the drug concurrently with antitussive drugs or drugs that reduce the ability to excrete bronchial secretions; The duration of drug treatment should not last more than 8-10 days without a doctor's prescription; It is best for patients to use expectorants only in inpatient treatment at medical facilities with supportive conditions such as suctioning sputum, pulsating (when necessary) to let sputum out easily. In addition, a cold in the rainy season easily causes children to cough, especially cough with phlegm. Experts advise parents to keep their children warm, ensure a scientific diet, let them drink a lot of water, especially orange juice and lemon juice to increase resistance, so that the baby can recover from the disease on their own. - 2 weeks without medication. At the same time, parents need to keep their children away from secondhand smoke to avoid the risk of coughing up phlegm caused by passive smoking.
If it is suspected that the child has a respiratory infection leading to a cough with phlegm, parents should take the child to a doctor to be prescribed the appropriate treatment. Parents absolutely do not buy drugs for their children to use because using the wrong medicine or the wrong dose will be very dangerous.
To prevent children from coughing up phlegm, parents should add some supportive foods containing lysine, essential micro-minerals and vitamins such as zinc, chromium, selenium, B vitamins,... fully meet the nutritional needs while supporting the immune system, enhancing resistance, reducing the risk of upper respiratory tract infections, bronchitis, flu.
Lysine is very necessary for the development of children, Lysine promotes the production of digestive enzymes to stimulate children to eat better and digest easily and effectively, increase food metabolism, maximize absorption of nutrients. food nutrition. Increasing Lysine for babies also helps the body create antibodies, develop resistance to help relieve cough, thin sputum.
Parents can learn more:
Why do you need to supplement Lysine for your baby?
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