Preventing Teen Cough Medicine Abuse

Transcription

1 Preventing Teen Cough Medicine Abuse

2 Teen Cough Medicine Abuse: A Wake-Up Call More than one in three American high school teens know someone who has abused cough medicine according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (Partnership Attitude Tracking Survey 2009) Six percent of high school teens admit to abusing cough medicine containing dextromethorphan, or DXM, to get high in the past year (Monitoring the Future 2009)

3 Cough Medicine Abuse Facts At recommended doses, DXM is a safe and effective FDA-approved cough suppressant; when abused, it can be dangerous OTC cough medicine abuse is intentional; teens take excessive amounts, sometimes 25 to 50 times the recommended dosage, to get high

4 Understanding Medicine Abuse Key Factors Driving Teen Medicine Abuse: Misperception that abusing medicine is not as dangerous as (is safer than) street drugs Ease of access via medicine cabinets at home or friend s house, other person s prescriptions, Internet, stores

5 Sample of Products with DXM Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold & Cough medicine Coricidin HBP Cough and Cold Delsym medicines* Dimetapp DM TheraFlu cough medicines Triaminic cough syrups Tylenol Cough and Cold medicines Vicks 44 Cough Relief medicines Mucinex medicines* PediaCare cough medicines Robitussin cough medicines Sudafed cough medicine Vicks NyQuil and Dayquil medicines* Zicam Generic/store brands *certain products

6 Cough Medicine Abuse Risks Delusions Panic attacks Memory problems Blurred vision Stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting High blood pressure and rapid heart beat Numbness of fingers and toes Drowsiness and dizziness Fever and headaches Rashes and itchy skin Loss of consciousness

7 Side Effects Can Be Worsened if The medicine contains additional ingredients that treat more than just cough Abuse happens with alcohol or illegal drugs DXM is abused in combination with prescription drugs or other medications

8 Warning Signs of Cough Medicine Abuse Empty cough medicine boxes or bottles in the trash or a child s room Boxes or bottles missing from the medicine cabinet Unusual chemical or medicinal smells on your child or in his or her room Visiting pro-drug web sites that provide information on how to abuse dextromethorphan and other substances

9 Warning Signs of Cough Medicine Abuse Changes in friends, physical appearance, or sleeping or eating patterns Declining grades Loss of interest in hobbies or favorite activities Hostile and uncooperative attitude Unexplained disappearance of household money Hearing your child use certain slang terms for DXM abuse, such as Skittling, Tussing, Robo-Tripping, Triple Cs, and Dex

10 School Yourself to Safeguard Your Teen Communicate the dangers of abuse to your child and to other parents Safeguard your medicine cabinet and take a regular inventory Monitor your teen s Internet use Know the parents of your child s friends. Be on the lookout for signs that your child is abusing OTC or Rx medicines. Get professional help if you think your child may have a substance abuse problem

11 The Internet Many web sites and online communities promote cough medicine abuse

12 Power of Parents Research shows that kids who learn a lot from their parents about the risks of drug abuse are up to half as likely not to abuse.

13 Home To Homeroom A new educational program that teams parents and school nurses to help prevent and address teen medicine abuse Provides advice and tools on how to integrate medicine abuse into regular drug talks with teens, how to keep the dialogue going, and how to find resources to support at-risk teens

14 Tools Available For You Preventing Teen Medicine Abuse from Home to Homeroom brochure Home to Homeroom Digest: a series of articles by school nurses on preventing cough medicine abuse An educational icon on OTC cough medicines containing dextromethorphan to alert you to the potential for abuse and where to go for more information

15 For More Information StopMedicineAbuse.org Five Moms Campaign (fivemoms.com) facebook.com/stopmedicineabuse Twitter.com

16 Home to Homeroom is a partnership between the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) and the National Association of School Nurses (NASN)