Cold Medicine Options

[momlife7]

What are you guys doing for your kiddos when they are sick? When he was younger, we did a lot of the zarbees natural cold medicine. The school germs have needed stronger stuff so we’ve been doing Mucinex free from because were avoiding dyes and it works really well for us.

The issue I’m having now is that he takes Ritalin during the school day so when he sick, I gave him medicine at night to sleep and then on the weekend when he’s not taking his stimulant, but during the week he is miserable to be around when he gets home.

I’m finding that everything has a decongestant in it, which I was told to avoid when he’s taking Ritalin, and then everything else has citric acid, which is taking too close to the ritalin, can make it less effective. Helpppp we have one month left of school and I am maxed out with germs and whining 😄

[Adhdparentspouse]

Calling the pharmacist with the question has been helpful for us.

[momlife7 in reply to Adhdparentspouse]

haha um yes we did… thats how I know what not to give. I was hoping for suggestions of products that have worked well for people.

[SurvivorFan]

Not sure if your talking straight colds or if maybe he suffers from allergies but hydroxyzine is supposed to help with allergy symptoms. My son is on Ritalin and uses it (for anxiety though) and it is safe. I know it can make some people drowsy but my kiddo does fine with it.

[momlife7 in reply to SurvivorFan]

yeah its not allergy its straight colds nagging cough etc

[Itsastruggle]

With my son we have to give him a daily dose of Allegra which is an allergy pill it doesn't seem to interact with his med, it seems to help him from always having a runny nose. He only uses Ritalin for quick release in the afternoons if needed we do not use it much because he is zombie like on Ritalin and after effect s are ruff. He takes Focalin XR and that works well for him.

[momlife7 in reply to Itsastruggle]

yeah we just do short acting during school day and no ritalin on weekends/breaks

The issue is he was coughing a ton at school and I had to keep him home because I couldn’t find anything to suppress it while was on the stimulant but we are at the tail end of a cold and he’s generally fine otherwise

[anirush]

Pseudoephedrine was the cold medicine ingredient my grandson's psychiatrist recommended staying away from. Musinex works well for us morning and evening. Will he let you use nasal spray? Saline spray really helps dry up drippy noses.

[momlife7]

Yes we do nasal spray both regular and Flonase and I’m taking allergy but the Mucinex that he takes is the free from cold and stuffy nose and it has dextromethorphan as a cough suppressant, guaifensin expectorant and phenylephrine.

Seems like they all have similar ingredients for this age range. He’s six we usually get this one because it’s dye free.