Increasingly popular here in the US are a product called Hylands Teething Tablets. A homeopathic remedy for teething pain in infants, they're available over the counter at all major supermarkets, drugstores, Target, etc.
A friend of mine was giving these to her baby a month or so ago. She gave less than the recommended dose on the label. Her son ended up with acute anticholinergic syndrome - in otherwords a similar effect to a bad acid trip. He had dilated pupiles, didn't make a sound for more than a day, didn't pass urine, was having trouble focussing, jerking and a bunch of other scary symptoms. The reason for this is that Hylands Teething Tablets contain Belladona - a neurotoxin.
Apparently this kind of product, while FDA regulated, is not regulated in the same way that actual medicine is and each tablet could contain vastly different ingredients, particularly bad if there is an emphasis on the Belladonna element!
I sincerely hope that she's going to take them to the cleaners, and that this product gets pulled from the shelves ASAP. I would also seriously caution anyone else against using this product. If your baby is teething you're way better off using well known proven painrelief for the pain than a scary homeopathic remedy which could seriously damage your child.
Posted by katie at December 26, 2007 03:40 PMOh no - that's really scary? Is her son ok now?
Posted by: myjnr at January 2, 2008 03:45 AM