Almost every parent is familiar with this pink box. However, children’s Doliprane 2.4%, used for fever and pain, is not on many drugstore shelves, as is its adult version, which has been in chronic shortage for nearly two years.
At the end of November, Health Minister François Braun announced that stocks would be back “in the coming weeks.” In the meantime, what alternatives can families turn to?
• I prefer paracetamol
“It has to be said that there really are no alternatives,” Pierre-Olivier Variot, president of the Union of Dispensary Pharmacists Unions, told BFMTV.com.
In fact, on its website, the Health Insurance writes that in the case of a child with a fever, it is necessary to “encourage the use of paracetamol”. This is particularly the case for children under the age of three months who should be given ‘paracetamol only’.
However, there are other drugs. “There is always Advil or Aspegic if the child has no contraindications, but they are less easy to use,” explains Pierre-Olivier Variot.
• More contraindications for ibuprofen
Advil, often used by parents, contains ibuprofen, which is more prone to contraindications than the paracetamol found in Doliprane. Ibuprofen is usually prescribed as a “plan B” when a child has a contraindication to acetaminophen.
Although this medication combats pain and fever, caution should be exercised when using it. In a context of infection (angina, otitis, chickenpox, cough, nasopharyngitis) or dehydration (severe diarrhea and vomiting) “the use of ibuprofen should be avoided,” specifies the health insurance.
Also, Doliprane for adults can be diverted: it is possible to reduce it to make it a suitable dose for a child. However, it depends on the weight of the latter.
“From 20 kilos, we can give half a 500 g tablet,” explains Pierre-Olivier Variot.
On the other hand, specialists warn against self-medication and advise always consulting the advice of a doctor or pharmacist.
Avoid storage
A triple problem is at the origin of this shortage: tensions over the supply of paracetamol, over glass bottles and a social movement in Sanofi, the laboratory that makes Doliprane.
Meanwhile, the ANSM (National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products) recommends that the French avoid accumulating stocks and specifies that pharmacists can be required to deliver “a quantity of paracetamol less than that which appears” in the prescriptions.
Source: BFM TV
