Finding out the Hardway

We found out the hard way last night that the Doodle is allergic or that his system cannot tolerate Codeine cough syrup. Just one small dose sent him over the edge and I thought for sure we were headed for the emergency room.

He slept pretty good for about four hours and then he started shaking and shivering uncontrollably around 4:00am. He wasn't awake but he was moaning and groaning and we couldn't really wake him up. He wasn't responsive almost like a night terror. He would cough but never open his eyes and wake up and he was panting and short of breath. He had a 101 fever and his heart was beating really fast. A year ago February he had his tonsils and adenoids removed and we had just come home from the hospital and the same exact thing happened. At the time I was really freaked out because I thought it might be a form of a seizure--so we rushed to the emergency room and we were admitted. It was determined it was a night terror of some sort and we were released. But guess what? They had just pumped him full of codeine from the surgery. At the time, no one put it together that it might be a reaction to the drugs.

When this happened last night, I immediately remembered when it happened before and now it seemed so clear. I googled his symptoms and the codeine cough syrup and you'd be surprised how common this is in children and adults. I felt so bad, because I had given it to him...even though his pediatrician is the one that prescribed it to him. But how would we know?

So at 5:00 am I rushed out to try to find Children's Tylenol. No such luck. Children's Tylenol and Motrin have both been recalled. Great. What are you supposed to do for fevers?

He's better today. He slept a lot and had low energy. But at least now we know.