Children's Mucinex causing mild psychosis?

[Susan in TN]

Yesterday morning about an hour after taking a dose of children's mucinex, my 5yods suddenly flipped out over our large living room clock. At first he said there was a bug, but then he was just extrememly upset over the minute hand (which moves almost imperceptibly) and begged us to turn it off. We distracted him as best we could, and then eventually in the evening he managed to pull the minute hand enough to bend it. At one point he was upset over the green light on our smoke detector, but it hasn't come up since.

 

This morning, he was still upset over the clock and we took out the battery. He seems fine as long as he knows the clock is broken and won't be fixed. He's acting normally otherwise. We are waiting for a call-back from the pediatrician to see what she says.

Edited April 13, 2010 by Susan in TN
update

[Mabelen]

We use children's Mucinex for colds and coughs and we have never had any adverse effects of any kind, but every child is different, of course.

[TravelingChris]

Mucinex is simply guafenesin ina pill. A long time ago, one of mine started drinking a bottle of plain Robutussin which is also plain guafenesin plus cherry taste and alcohol. She didn't drink that much but when I called poison control, they said guafenesin is not dangerous at overdoses but just might make you feel queasy. I would look for other causes.

[MariannNOVA]

We use children's mucinex alot as it does a great job of keeping ds from having to use his inhaler -- we've never had any issues with hit.

[Perry]

Hallucinations have been reported (rarely) with Mucinex, but they can also be caused by some viruses and with fevers. My kids have had hallucinations when they have influenza. It's nerve wracking.

 

There are several different Mucinex products. Does it have phenylephrine in it? I think phenylephrine is more likely to cause problems than the guafenesin.

 

Let us know what the doctor says. :grouphug:

[DianeW88]

That should not be a side effect of Mucinex. It's a pretty mild medication. Is your child taking anything else besides that?

 

Diane

[Denisemomof4]

did he have a high fever? I've had two kids freak out now when they had a high fever. I remember my oldest ds crying for dh and I to get closer to him We had him completely sandwiched between us to where it wasn't possible to get any closer, and he was crying because we were so far away. Older dd just went ballistic, crying and screaming, and the pediatrician was even concerned. We couldn't calm her. Once the fever went away, she was fine.

[Susan in TN]

We gave him Children's Mucinex Cough, which is guaifenesin and dextromethorphan (cherry flavored). He hasn't taken any other medications. I've looked on Drugs.com and it said a rare side effect can be visual or auditory hallucinations. It could even be the red dye, which has been known to cause erratic behavior in some kids. Still waiting to hear from the Dr. :glare: He's not running a fever, just runny nose and congestion (which are getting better.)

[Blossom'sGirl]

Does it have some sort of fake sweetener in it? My oldest used to act kinda spooky when he took medicine with it.

[Trillian]

I mostly lurk here. I wanted to let you know, my DS is sensitive to medications and the mucinex mini melts made him nuts. I only gave it to him once.

[TravelingChris]

Okay, the other medicine can have those affects. I would just give this child plain guafenisen since it doesn't have that problem and no problems with overdoses. Much safer medicine.

[Sputterduck]

My friend growing up had severe hallucinations on antihistamines. Severe.

[DianeW88]

Hmmm, dextro can have some odd side effects, but usually only if it's combined with pseudoephedrine. But if the dextro did give a weird reaction, your son would probably be freaking out and hallucinating more generally (ie...I saw kids in our peds office saying they saw bugs crawlings everywhere, stuff like that). Also, once the drug is out of his system...the odd behavior should stop. If it is continuing past 24 - 48 hours....I'd look to something else as the reason. If you're still concerned, I'd make an appointment with your doctor.

 

Diane (former peds nurse)

 

married for 22 years

homeschooling three great kiddos for 16 years

[Susan in TN]

Thanks, hjdong, for telling us about your son - it helps to know :).

 

The doctor called and said that dextromethorphan can sometimes cause hyper-reactions. Ds probably fixated on the clock while his brain was wigging out, and now we'll just have to keep working with him to fade that bad memory. Also, she said not to give him any more of the medicine - duh.

[Tap]

I agree that it could have been the dextromethorphan. People purposefully take extra of this drug to get high. He is probably ultra sensitive to it.

 

Hope he is better soon,

~Tap

[Susan in TN]

I agree that it could have been the dextromethorphan. People purposefully take extra of this drug to get high. He is probably ultra sensitive to it.

 

Hope he is better soon,

~Tap

 

Thanks, Tap.

 

I just noticed that the bottle has a little "warning" on the back - PARENTS: Learn about teen medicine abuse www.StopMedicineAbuse.org

 

That should've given us a clue right off :tongue_smilie: Commence parental guilt syndrome...

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

Mucinex is simply guafenesin ina pill. A long time ago, one of mine started drinking a bottle of plain Robutussin which is also plain guafenesin plus cherry taste and alcohol. She didn't drink that much but when I called poison control, they said guafenesin is not dangerous at overdoses but just might make you feel queasy. I would look for other causes.

 

:iagree:: I use plain Mucinex everyday and it has been a godsend for my asthma:) I would be more suspicious of the cough medicine component than the mucinex part.

 

In fact, I avoid taking the cough suppression /decongestant meds unless I am really desperate. I would also be suspicious of the illness itself as a cause of the hallucinations. I would discuss with your doctor and your pharmacist.

[ereks mom]

She gets dizzy, her heart races, and feels like she's going to pass out.

[asta]

Dextromethorphan can cause hallucinations. We warn about it all the time on the mental health site where I work - and our site is adults only - I don't even want to think about a kid.

 

 

a

[Ellir]

On 4/13/2010 at 11:49 AM, Susan in TN said:

We gave him Children's Mucinex Cough, which is guaifenesin and dextromethorphan (cherry flavored). He hasn't taken any other medications. I've looked on Drugs.com and it said a rare side effect can be visual or auditory hallucinations. It could even be the red dye, which has been known to cause erratic behavior in some kids. Still waiting to hear from the Dr. :glare: He's not running a fever, just runny nose and congestion (which are getting better.)