Be alert if your child is gaining weight abnormally

Mothers with children go to daycare, kindergarten if they see an abnormal weight gain, pink-skinned and shiny, big belly but baby limbs, so suspicious of corticosteroids is suspected. This is what happened at Thanh Nguyen Kindergarten (Binh Thuan).

(Photo: childrens)

Dr. Phan Van Nghiem, Head of the Department of Health of Ho Chi Minh City, said that dexamethasone, the medicine that Thanh Nguyen school put into children's food, is actually corticosteroids, has anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects. and immunosuppression. Corticosteroids are used to treat a number of conditions such as allergies (urticaria, allergic edema); skin diseases (eczema, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis); Bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, arthropathy, kidney, eyes, cancer .

Normally, the human body produces corticosteroids themselves. This is a hormone secreted by the two adrenal glands into the blood, helping the body to fight critical situations such as pain and infection. The use must be indicated by a specialist. Persons taking long-term corticosteroids may develop adrenal insufficiency, leading to fatigue, vomiting, and even more severe, low blood pressure.

Weight gain is also a common side effect due to salt-retention, water retention. The patient's body is fat, big belly, limb limbs, thin skin easy to bruise, sometimes cracking skin. The drug also causes hypertension, diabetes, peptic ulcer, easy infection due to reduced resistance, osteoporosis; acne, hirsutism, muscle atrophy, cataracts, glaucoma. Medications sometimes cause psychosis such as insomnia, heat, poor attention, excitement or depression. Corticosteroids also cause children to grow in height.

Signs of corticosteroid abuse in children

Doctor Nguyen Cong Vien, Head of the Department of Healthy Children Examination at Children's Hospital 2, said that parents may suspect their children have abusive corticosteroids through some manifestations: the baby's face is raised, the skin is tense. red and pink, full like the moon. The person who does not know is thinking that the baby is very healthy, 'good general', so the skin is pink and shiny. However, if you pay attention, you will notice that your body grows inadequately, although your face is big, your body is big but your arms and legs are small and tight.

Other signs are easily identified as sudden rapid weight gain; children eat a lot, demanding to eat constantly. In addition, if you look carefully, bamboo shoots will grow more on young skin, there are children with acne, etc. If you go to see a doctor, you will see a child with developmental delay in height over age, weight increase but height. standing, bones are not able to absorb calcium, so there is osteomalacia (osteoporosis). In the long term, children may have hypertension due to corticosteroids in the body.

According to Dr. Nguyen Cong Vien, corticosteroids work very quickly to reduce symptoms, so people often abuse corticosteroids for treatment. Therefore, people should be very careful that the use of this medicine must be indicated, followed and directed by a physician. When you have to take this medicine for a long time, you must be closely monitored by your doctor to promptly handle harmful side effects.

Dr. Phan Van Nghiem said that in the past few years in Ho Chi Minh City, the two health and education sectors also regularly check the issues of nurturing and caring for children, especially the age of kindergarten and kindergarten. Regarding the use of drugs, whether antibiotics, cough medicines or supplements must also be prescribed by a doctor to ensure safety and reasonableness.

In the past, there was a time when the media talked a lot about the abuse of corticosteroids in treating diseases for adults as well as used to increase the weight of children in some clinics, the health sector has checked throughout the area. However, the test only reached about 40% of the number of clinics licensed annually and the rate of detection of violations is very small.

According to Dr. Nghiem, the phenomenon in Binh Thuan has not been detected in HCMC. However, as a precaution, the health sector will review and notify the schools, asking very strongly for this issue.