Nisarga

Online Space

Category Archives: ear pain

Atarax drops – things I didn't know

Okay, the baby had had a bad night two days ago, and the pediatrician prescribed atarax drops – 10 drops morning and night. She asked me to call back in a day.

I’d given him the drops and he slept most of the day away. I assumed it was from being so utterly exhausted. He hadn’t had another crying spell. When I called the doctor after 24 hours as told, she asked about how he was responding and I told her that, and she asked me to reduce his dose to 8 drops both times and call back in another 24 hours.
He’s doing fine.
Then, with my obsession with whatever the baby ingests, I searched online for information about Atarax drops and I found the following:
  • They contain Hydroxyzine Hydrochloride.
  • They are indicated for nervous stress, anxiety and neurovegetative disorders in cardiovascular affections (hy­pertension, arteriosclerosis, arrhythmia, stenocardia, nervous and circulatory asthenia), respiratory af­fections (nervous cough, chronic bronchitis, bronchospasmsl, gastrointestinal disorders (nausea and vo­miting, gastric hypermotility and hypersecretion, gastric and duodenal ulcers, chronic colitis), and in pe­diatrics (tics, enuresis)….
  • Sleepiness is a common side effect!
  • It is possible to alergic to these – I HAD been thinking that Nisarg’s face looks a little swollen, but thought it was because of the crying….
In short, its a heavy duty medicine, particularly for such a small baby, and while it helps, it would have been good if the doctor could have explained how important it was not to give more than needed (I can imagine myself giving him “a little bit more” if faced with a screaming infant in the middle of the night – not that I do this easily with him, but that it feels remarkably powerless to see him hurt – luckily the situation didn’t arise). I think it also was crucial that we be told that we could expect him to sleep a bit more from the medicine and to watch out for possible allergic reactions.
It sounded like a regular medicine for babies, the way she gave it. Or maybe it is? I don’t know.
Anyway, it doesn’t seem to make him drowsy when it counts, and he had a fussy spell for two hours after taking the medicine before he would settle to sleep. Though luckily, it was more a needy state of being rather than outright wails. And then we slept like a pair of logs till morning.

Infant ear pain

Another nightmare night.

Nisarg started fussing around bedtime and crying on and off. By 1am, he was crying full blown out. Screaming wails, hiccups, gasps, chokes, scary breathless sounds, constant screaming interspersed with exhausted and restless dozes he came out of within a couple of minutes.

I was scared. I woke up Raka around 4am feeling really scared, and the two of us spent another hour of the night feeling helpless, soothing, begging, bribing, whatever, but no go. By 5am, he was so tuckered out that he slept fitfully, sobbing at times in his sleep and waking up screaming if we put him down. So I held him, staring at that dear face with the swollen eyes, listening anguished to those slight sobs and gasps that continued as he slept.

Since he also was farting, I assumed it was a really bad case of gas.

By 6am, he was gone enough that he didn’t stir when I put him down, and I had a nap myself.

He woke up around 8am hungry, and slept through his feed and I put him back down. It was when he woke up screaming again at 11am that we got really scared and went to the doctor. The doctor thinks it might be his ear hurting him, since moving his head makes him cry more. She gave us something for it – Atarax drops. We are supposed to give 10 drops half an hour after Neopeptine for today, and without the Neopeptin for two more days. I guess we are covering our bases whether its ear pain or gas.

I think its gas because he passes wind when he cries and calms for a bit…. but then, is the wind passing from his straining when he cries, or is he crying because of it? Who knows? Its a chicken or egg thing.

Its such a horrible, horrible thing to see him in pain and not even be sure of what’s causing it.

He was crying again in the afternoon for a bit and then I think the medicine took hold. He’s sleeping as I write this. Totally deep sleep. This is crazy and not at all how I imagined being a mom to be. I’m willing to slay dragons and sacrifice whatever it takes for this guy, but hey, where is the dragon and what exactly is needed? No one told me it was such a tormenting guessing game!