Inexpensive but effective antiviral drugs for children

The range of antiviral drugs today is quite large, and pharmaceutical companies around the world each year produce more and more new names for cold, flu, and ARVI drugs.

Prices for drugs range from several tens of rubles to several hundred. As you know, not always the high cost of the drug says about its effectiveness. And today I propose to talk about how to choose from a great variety of medicines inexpensive, but effective means for the prevention and treatment of viral diseases in children.

When choosing antiviral medication for children, you must first take into account the opinion of your attending pediatrician. Although antiviral drugs are sold in Russia freely, without prescriptions, but their uncontrolled and spontaneous intake can greatly harm your child.

If it is not possible to immediately contact the doctor, and the remedy is urgently needed, the initial choice may not be a simple task. Suppose you have noticed signs of flu or ORVI in a baby at a time when your whole family went to a dacha, out of town, on a picnic ... It’s far from the clinic, and it’s quite possible that it’s a weekend.

Remember that antiviral drugs act most effectively if given to a child in the very first hours after the onset of the starting symptoms of a beginning respiratory viral infection (rapid fever, runny nose, cough, headache and muscle pain, sore throat, etc.). In this situation, confused mothers and fathers are face to face with the problem of choosing a medication.

• On age restrictions. It is important to select antiviral drugs based on the age of the baby, so as not to harm the immature immune system.

• On the mode of action of the drug. Antiviral drugs according to the way they affect the virus can be different - immunomodulators, immunostimulants, drugs that directly affect the virus, interferons. Parents should ask the pharmacist at the pharmacy what group the drug they recommend belongs to. With the use of interferons need to be as careful as possible - they have a large range of side effects. Immunomodulators and immunostimulants should not be taken as an emergency medical aid for any cold, because they will unbalance the baby’s own immunity. Homeopathic remedies with antiviral effect are widespread. They have almost no side effects, can be used for children of any age, but their effectiveness is rather doubtful, in any case, while no one has been able to clinically prove it because of extremely small doses of active ingredients in their composition.

• On the release form. When choosing a medicine for a child, give preference to those drugs that have “childish” forms of release. Babies from birth are perfect drops and rectal candles. Antiviral drugs in suspension or syrup - the best that you can think of for children who have not yet learned to drink pills and do not understand the importance and necessity of taking a solid form of the drug.

• On the manufacturer. This is a very important point.Modern antiviral drugs can be both original and created on the basis of the originals (the so-called "generics"). The difference between them is not only in price, but also in efficiency. The clinical efficacy of generics is often not investigated. Generic manufacturers do not spend much on large-scale testing of their products.

A good solution for those who intend to reduce the cost of medicines, buy dry matter for home-made suspension or syrup, if this form of release is provided by the manufacturer. This option will cost about 30% cheaper than the finished suspension. In tablets, medicine can be offered to a child from 6 years. Dispersible (dissolving) or sublingual tablets can be offered to children with 4-5 years. Doctors recommend capsules to children who are 12 years old.

As for the cost, the generics, of course, are much cheaper than the originals. For example, "Immunal", The cost of which ranges from 270 rubles to 320 rubles, can be easily replaced echinacea tincturewhich, on average, costs in pharmacies about 145 rubles. Since the basis of these two drugs is the same active ingredient - Echinacea.

And the children’s “Nurofen”, which costs more than 300 rubles, can be replaced with “Ibuprofen” if you wish, the maximum price for a nursery suspension which is only 80 rubles.

Selecting analogues, pay attention to the composition of the drug. The main active ingredient manufacturers always indicate in the instructions for use. If it coincides with expensive and cheap products, then they can be considered generic.

What children's drugs are most often replaced by analogues with lower cost? Often "Rimantadine"Suggest replacing with"Rimantadine". The difference in one letter in the name, the savings - no more than 10-20 rubles, but for some, and this is important."Grippferon", which can be given to both newborns, and children aged 2-5 years, and older children, in pharmacies costs about 250 rubles. Without much difference in action, it can be replaced by "Interferon", paying half as much.

If the drug is needed for the prevention of influenza and SARS in a child, doctors may recommend “Ergoferon”, “Anaferon”, “Kagocel". Their cost is between 200-400 rubles. If you can not buy such a medicine, do not despair, because there is Echinacea and Echinacea P. A hundred pills of this drug will cost 70-80 rubles. Pharmacies have Echinacea briquettes that are even cheaper. They are brewed and given to children in the form of tea. In terms of efficiency, cheap Echinacea is in no way inferior to expensive antiviral drugs.

«Influcid», Which costs more than 550 rubles, can be replaced by" Aflubin "for 122 rubles. Antiviral candles "Genferon" for 500-550 rubles can be easily replaced with candles "Viferon" for 270 rubles. "Amiksin"For 600 rubles can be replaced by"Kagocel"For 240 rubles or" Tsikloferon "for 150 rubles.

The advantages of cheap counterparts are that they are much less likely to be counterfeited. For fraudsters it is unprofitable. And, then, the chance to buy a natural drug, buying an inexpensive medicine, is high. Most physicians are unanimous that inexpensive analogues are just as good as widely advertised imported expensive drugs. The more often you hear about the medicine on TV or radio, the more “cheating” the pharmacists will add to the cost of funds to cover the cost of an advertising campaign.

Independent choice of analogs is a rather risky business. For the reason that the analogue and the original may vary dosages, there may be different side effects. It is difficult to foresee all this for a person far from pharmacology and medicine, it is better to use the advice of a doctor. You need to save wisely, especially when it comes to saving on health.

When you want to help your child cope with the disease as soon as possible, and at the same time you don’t want to feed the army of pharmaceutical companies, it makes sense to turn to the popular ways to fight viruses. They knew our grandmothers, mothers. It makes sense to know us.

There are plants, berries, fruits and vegetables that have a pronounced antiviral effect. For example, black currant. Compote of currant berries, fruit drink will have an effect on the body of a sick child, approximately equal to the effect of antiviral profile tablets. The main thing is to feed the baby with currant tea every hour at the initial stage of the disease.

An excellent remedy for colds is dogrose. You can stock it yourself, or you can buy ready-made fees. You can brew it and drink to children of any age, with the exception of newborns.

Onion juice is often used in the form of nose drops with the flu. Do not forget to dilute it with boiled water when instillation, otherwise you can burn the mucous membrane of the nasal passages.

Honey, black radish, nettle, viburnum, cranberry are all natural antivirals with a strong effect. Their advantage is that they do not exert pressure on the child’s immune system. Do not stimulate it, do not modulate, do not provoke the production of interferon. The baby’s immunity can form its own protection, and then “remember” it, and include it every time a meeting with a virus occurs again.

And to you, dear readers, we offer you to watch the video of Dr. Komarovsky where she will tell you when and what kind of antiviral to give the child, and whether you need antiviral for the baby in principle.