HEALTHNET

How many times a day can we take medicine for fever? My child often runs a fever at night.

Q. How many times a day can we take medicine for fever? My child often runs a fever at night.

A. This would depend on the kind of medicine for fever. Most of the time this would be paracetamol. This is also known as "acetaminophen" in the US. The standard tablet has 500 mg of the drug for adults. The conventional dose is 325 to 1000mg with a total daily dosage not exceeding 4000 mg. For children, the recommended dose is 10 mg for each kilogram in body weight. The medicine should not be taken more than 5 times in 24 hours, each dose at least 4 hours apart. Remember that suppositories (meaning: medicine inserted into the rectum), tablets, syrups and mixtures may all contain this chemical.

The real risk of paracetamol comes from an acute overdose. In adults, a single dose of 10 to 15 gram (20 to 30 of the standard 500 mg tablet) can cause irreversible damage to the liver, ending in liver failure and death. Children are more susceptible as they have limited capacity to excrete the drug. Taking the drug with alcohol may increase the toxicity.

Source: Quality HealthCare