RANITIDINE ??

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Natalie on September 30, 2008 at 15:32

Gabriel takes the same dose as Lewis. I think it goes off weight. Gabe was 11lbs 2oz when that dose was prescribed.
How are you giving the medicine? It might be worth changing the method. We give it with a syringe, thankfully Gabe takes his medicine really well.

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Permalink Reply by Natalie on October 1, 2008 at 10:13

Just realised LO is actually on 0.5mls. Silly me.

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Permalink Reply by Tricia on September 30, 2008 at 18:25

Hi

We are on a lesser dose but we always give it with a syringe and then give him the dummy afterwards to get him to swallow it down. We have found that he now swallows it without the aid of a dummy. We are also on domperidone which we also give with a syringe.

If you haven't already tried using a syringe would definitely recoomend this method. I do think it has a bit of a taste to it which is probably why he doesn't like it. Good Luck

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on September 30, 2008 at 19:45

Hi Jo,

What weight is Lewis? That does seem a high dose. Callum is about 9.7kgs and he is on 2.3mls twice daily.

I would try mixing the medicine with his fav food. This is how Callum takes most of his meds. If Lewis likes porridge or banana or something like that, just mix a little up and chuck the meds in!

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Permalink Reply by Sim on September 30, 2008 at 20:16

are you sure it is 5ml or 5mg?? we were prescirbed 5mg three times a day which works out as 0.3 ml of the solution which is 150mg in 10 ml. we give via a syringe. i know we were confused by the dose at first, as was the health visitor but pharmacy explained it. we have now been upped to 15 mg 3 times a day, which equates to 1ml of the solution.
hope this makes sense!! and syringe is definately the way to go!
x

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Permalink Reply by jo fawcett on September 30, 2008 at 21:07

Hi, thanks very much for all your comments and appreciated. Lewis is 11lb 3oz at the moment and 16 weeks so not weaned yet and only on SMA gold formula (he does have duocal powder prescribed to add to his milk to boost his weight up as he has been very ill at the freeman hospital newcastle having had heart surgery....but thats another story!). Am i right in thinking i cant mix the ranitidine with his milk at all ?? I have been using a syringe but think it might be a case of persiverance. Have double checked the label on the bottle and it states take one 5ml spoonful three times a day....but you have got me thinking and i will check with the pharmacy before i give anymore tomorrow thanks just to be sure. The label also states the product is named ZANTAC syrup which "contains" ranitidine....i can only assume this is maybe different to other products?? Hopefully all will be a little clearer tomorrow. Thanks again. xx

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on October 1, 2008 at 9:02

My goodness, I would STOP the ranitidine immediately. I have just checked the BNFC, I should have done it as soon as I saw the dose. Lewis is on 5 times too much!!!!! I have copied the text from the website below and also provided a link. You will have to register I believe in order to view it though. The BNFC is THE bible that Dr's and paeds use. This is the UK guidelines for using all medicine.

I have just worked out the MAX dose Lewis should be on and it's almost the same as Sim above you. Lewis should be having just over 15mg 3 times daily for his weight of 5.07kgs. Which works out at a tiny bit over 1ml.

I urge you to ring the pharmacy ASAP! If they tell you it's ok, please ring the doctors. I am certain the dose is far too high.

Lewis is on well over double Callum's dose and Callum is twice Lewis's size and 9 months old!

Please let us know how you got on, I am really concerned.

Jen xx



Reflux oesophagitis, benign gastric and duodenal ulceration, other conditions where gastric acid reduction is beneficial (see notes above and section 1.9.4)

By mouth
Neonate 2 mg/kg 3 times daily but absorption unreliable; max. 3 mg/kg 3 times daily

Child 1–6 months 1 mg/kg 3 times daily; max. 3 mg/kg 3 times daily

Child 6 months–3 years 2–4 mg/kg twice daily

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Permalink Reply by jo fawcett on October 1, 2008 at 10:14

Hi Jen, thanks VERY much for your reply. I have rung the pharmacy this morning and they have straight away confirmed that they believe that to be a high dosage although not heard of . They also confiirm that that is the script they were given from the doctor.
Thankfully we have not really started Lewis on this medicine yet...we only got it a couple of days ago and struggled to get him to swallow it due to the awful taste (so thankfully now he spat most of it out!) We have an appointment with the paed on Friday so we were holding off tryiing again to speak with them about how to administer it. I cant thank you all enough on here to point out the high dosage to us , without this website and all your support i would never have known the dosage was so high compared to others. the pharmacy are being excellent and ringing the GP and paed for us to check it all out so hopefully we will be able to soort this out asap. Watch this space and thanks again . Jo xx

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Permalink Reply by Natalie on October 1, 2008 at 10:20

I wonder if the Dr. meant it to read 0.5ml.

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Permalink Reply by jo fawcett on October 1, 2008 at 10:46

Thanks Natalie, I have just read your update re Gabe dosage...im glad its not the same as Lewis and was going to ask you to check incase the same error had happened with you. Thanks for taking the time to reply and much appreciated. X

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Permalink Reply by jo fawcett on October 1, 2008 at 10:39

Oh my god!!! I cant thank you all enough on here. The pharmacy have just phoned back and confirmed that they themselves have given us the wrong dosage! they have re checked the script and it states 5mg NOT 5mls!!!! They are very very apologetic but in my eyes thats no excuse. Apparently they have to report the error to some high ranking superintendant pharmancy who will have to carry out an investigation and will be contacting us soon.Lewis has just had three major heart surgery operations recently at the Freeman hospital Newcastle and only been home a few weeks out of his short life and isnt the healthiest of babies so it makes me feel sick to think of what the high dosage might have done to him if we have carried on forcing him to take it!
I am so so grateful for this website and for you all taking the time to reply to me ....in a way when i think about it i could potentially owe you what could have been his life!!
Im still in shock now and dont really know where to go from here but at least my little baby is still smiling at me as i type and we all thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
If anything we can all learn from this and all need to be strrong and fight our corner when we know something isnt right! xxxx

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Permalink Reply by Natalie on October 1, 2008 at 14:57

I'm really glad you got it sorted out. That's quite a shocking mistake for the pharmacy to make. It's good to know there will be an investigation and I'm really pleased that Lewis hasn't suffered harm due to their error.

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