Tylenol Codeine- anyone notice change in mood in children?

[nessz79]

My son had his tonsils out Friday (it's me again for those that have seen my posts!) and we were prescribed Tylenol Codeine for the pain. My son was not drinking like he was supposed to, absolutely hated the prescribed codeine, and was sleeping very poorly. Long story short, I called the nurse and she said we could switch to regular Tylenol as long as his pain was under control.

It seems to be going very well. He is started to act like his normal self again...before he just stared into space or even became belligerant towards others. He is still having bad dreams or something as he woke up crying and unreasonable during nap time. Anyone every notice this sort of thing in their children while taking codeine?

He's doing so much better now and he doesn't seem to have any more pain so I'm crossing my fingers that we can keep him off it...

 

[kellig]

My DD had her tonsils out almost three years ago (when she was 4). They sent us home with pain medicine (don't recall what it was), but she did not do well. She was very grumpy, moody, extremely tired or bouncing off walls, etc. She only took one dose! After that, we decided not to utilize it any longer. She was back to her regular old self after the medicine was out of her system.
She did very well after her surgery. We kept her inside and tried to limit activity for two weeks as the doctor recommended. However, she was feeling so much better that it was very difficult. She healed great and has not had nearly as many illnesses as before. Good luck!

 

[nessz79]

My DD had her tonsils out almost three years ago (when she was 4). They sent us home with pain medicine (don't recall what it was), but she did not do well. She was very grumpy, moody, extremely tired or bouncing off walls, etc. She only took one dose! After that, we decided not to utilize it any longer. She was back to her regular old self after the medicine was out of her system.
She did very well after her surgery. We kept her inside and tried to limit activity for two weeks as the doctor recommended. However, she was feeling so much better that it was very difficult. She healed great and has not had nearly as many illnesses as before. Good luck!

Thanks! Can you remember how long it took to come out of her system? I know it was 3 years ago, but just wondering. We stopped using his Rx meds at about 8 AM (last dose) and it's now 4:38 and he's still having these strange mood/crying/totally irrational episodes in his sleep. He says nothing hurts so I can't figure out anything except it being the medicine he was taking...

 

[ERMama]

Codeine is a NARCOTIC and can very well cause those changes in anyone as any narcotic can. Some get sleepy, others get nauseous, others get mean.

 

[ERMama]

Also, the anestethic and the surgery experience itself can make kids out of sorts for a few days.

 

[kellig]

Thanks! Can you remember how long it took to come out of her system? I know it was 3 years ago, but just wondering. We stopped using his Rx meds at about 8 AM (last dose) and it's now 4:38 and he's still having these strange mood/crying/totally irrational episodes in his sleep. He says nothing hurts so I can't figure out anything except it being the medicine he was taking...

I don't recall, but I would probably call the doctor tomorrow if he is not feeling any better. Just me though.
Good luck with his recovery! Keep us updated!

 

[tchrrx]

, but my daughter has that reaction when she has Flintstone vitamins! Hopefully it will get out of your kiddos system soon!

 

[livie1205]

my son had taken this stuff when he has a bad abcess in his tooth and it just made him sleepy....he to sleep ,sleep good.....a few weeks later he came home with a bad headache and i gave him a tea spoon of what was left in his bottle and it knocked it right out....no pain then sat down and watch a movie.......

 

[eeyoregon]

My kids do fine with codeine and codeine by-products but I sure don't! Instead of drowsiness I was bouncing off the walls and wound as tight as a yo-yo the entire night.

My youngest son has to be fully sedated once a year for his MRI brain scan and when he wakes up from the anesthesia he is HORRIBLE to be around. He's angry, aggitated, mad and just plain mean when he is coming out of the sedation.

Everyone metabolizes drugs differently, especially young children which is why most OTC products say "Not for under age...."

 

[bumbershoot]

Well first, having surgery is a big deal and can really mess up your body. Even tonsils, though they downplay its seriousness, are a big deal surgery. Having his mouth open for it, being put under...it's all a big deal.

I had mine taken out at 21 (a decision I regretted the first time I got an illness that WOULD have caused a nasty sore throat, but instead went into my lungs and became far FAR more serious...which is what happens every single time I get sick now...I now thank my pediatrician who refused to take my tonsils out as a child!) and I have never done well under General. I'm out of it for ages, and feel miserable for way too long. I was then alone (staying near campus that college summer, living with 8 other college students who had jobs and classes while I lay in my bedroom recuperating) and taking Demoral (woo boy).

A month later, I felt better and went out for a run (it took that long b/c I'm not certain I ate for 2 weeks, that's how bad my throat felt...lost a ton of weight and looked great, but was a bit woozy until I could finally eat). While running I suddenly had the taste of the anesthetic fill my mouth (as they put me under they told me I would taste garlic b/c of the particular drug they were giving me, and that's the taste I suddenly had while running), and then my legs went entirely numb. I don't know how I got home. I know it was slow, though! They were numb for at least a day after that.

So anesthetics can stay for a long time.

In addition, codeine can cause nasty reactions. My brother had codeine as a little guy, why I don't know, and he had a horrid reaction to it. So bad even he, who as a toddler at the time, still remembers that he is allergic to it and can't have it.

As for the aggression, this might sound off the wall, but did the stuff have corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup in it? If so, has he ever had a reaction of aggression or weird mood to foods with either of those ingredients in it? If so, you might want to take a look at those ingredients, and perhaps choose to keep them out of his diet in the future.

My son took a prescription medicine at his dentist's request once, and revved up up up up up through the day, becoming nearly unbearable to be around...and I realized later it had HFCS in it as a sweetener. My son canNOT have those products, he becomes a demon, but I didn't realize that medicine like that can have those ingredients in them.


Hope your son gets back to normal soon. Watch carefully now that part of his first line immune system is gone, b/c it's scary enough as an adult for the "bugs" to hit my lungs first, instead of being caught at the tonsils, but it would be even scarier for a little guy's lungs to be as compromised as mine have been, since I had my tonsils out.

 

[nessz79]

Thanks everyone- he is doing sooooooo much better! Ever since we took him off the codeine it's been a much more rapid recovery. I keep asking if his throat hurts and it never does. The only thing that hurts sometimes is the inside of his mouth, like his tongue. I think there are a variety of factors going there.

Anyway, he's still a little cranky, but a normal cranky now. He is drinking much better and eating, too! Yay! He was a skinny little guy to begin with so it's really hard to see him lose any weight...I can see all the bones in his back when he leans over- even the back of his hip bones. But I know he'll start gaining it back now.

Bumbershoot, to answer your question, I don't think it has HFCS in it..not sure, though. I think if it had, he may have liked it better...he hated the taste. He has never been aggressive like this before, so I think it was the codeine, but not completely positive.

He's doing so great now that we have actually had to "yell" at him about being too active. We're supposed to keep him from vigorous activity for 10 days post-surgery. It's going to be very difficult as he is a very active little boy. I'm hoping a lot of things clear up for him now. The doctor said that his sinuses by his nose (adenoids taken out also) were all green and infected. He says that most likely the adenoids and tonsils were causing him to have chronic sinusitis. It'd be nice if he ate more now, too- he's my little bean pole.