Is your Medicine Safe?

 

As someone who has high tolerance in pain. I am not a fan of pain relievers. In fact, when I had my child labor, I specifically asked our doctor not to induce any anesthesia (four times for four kids!). I said I can handle the pain. I use self-hypnosis. I simply get my self ready mentally, emotionally and psychologically. That also meant a lot of savings from our hospital bill.

However, if my kids are in pain, that becomes a different story. As a mother, I try my best to 'rescue' and relieve them of any discomfort.

Sometimes, I try my best to seemingly 'ignore' my kids' complaints when it comes to ordinary pains hoping they will develop a high tolerance in pain; which I presume, is a simple practice of developing tolerance to disappointments and discomforts that life may bring in the future. I believe that whatever experiences a person may have in his childhood has an impact on how he would deal in his adulthood. 

However, as a normal mother, I often end up using pain relievers as I cannot stand seeing any of my kids suffer for long. I was specifically bugged when I stumbled upon an article regarding drug safety written by a fellow blogger.

I found out that a safety issue about a certain pain reliever brand was left unanswered by Bayer the manufacturer of Saridon, and the Department of Health.

It was mentioned that propyphenazone, an active ingredient in Saridon made by Bayer, is actually banned in other countries like Sri Lanka, Korea, Malaysia and Turkey. It is very alarming that the general public wasn't aware of the possible side effects and health hazards that propyphenazone may pose.

For instance, the website Filipino Doctor (http://saridon.thefilipinodoctor.com/faq.php) listed some information about the medicine and indicated pregnancy risk and intake prescription depending on age. The Saridon Wikipedia page cited an age ban for Korea, with those 15 years old and below not allowed to take the medication. What is more alarming is the growing popularity of the said medicine as they claimed to be in this video. 

 

 

Now, its making sense why an ad by Biogesic kept saying "Lahat ng gamot effective, pero lahat ba safe?" (All medicines are effective, but are all medicines safe?

 

To Bayer and Department of Health, this issue should not be left unanswered. Please do not let the consumers grope in the dark.

 

A challenge was given and I quote "To Bayer and Department of Health, I will very much appreciate more information about the propyphenazone ban in other countries and why it doesn’t apply in the Philippines. I will be happy to write a column about it if information is given."

We are waiting for your answers. Now, let me pose this question to my dear readers, Is your medicine safe? 

Original article: Is your Medicine Safe?