Beware of Wrong Medication

May 11, 2001 -- Doctors warn that an effort under way to make allergy drugs more available could be dangerous for patients who misdiagnose their illness.

A California health insurance company's request that three of the most popular prescription drugs for allergies, Claritin, Allegra and Zyrtec, should be sold over the counter, says the medications were safe and could be used by patients without consulting doctors. But the problem with a doctor not prescribing these medications is that many parents of asthmatic children mistake the symptoms for allergies.

When Nicki Stoltzfoos developed a persistent cough at the young age of 3, his mother, Barbara, thought he had another cold. She gave him an over-the-counter medicine. "We weren't thinking at the time about asthma until we took him to the hospital," she recalls.

"All I remember is my face got blue because I wasn't breathing at all," says Nicki, now 11 years old.

Parents May Not Be Able to Diagnose

It is a familiar story at many urban hospital emergency rooms when parents don't recognize asthma symptoms and treat their children instead for an allergy or a cold.

"[Parents] try to fix the problem," says Nancy Sander, the president and founder of the Allergy and Asthma Network, "so they give [a] decongestant that dries them out and winds up triggering their asthma or triggering sinus problems, which then in turn trigger asthma."

"In the case of asthma, there are particular dangers in treating that with the wrong medications," says Dr. Irwin Redlener, the president of the Montifiori Children's Hospital.

For some children, the dangers can be as severe as permanent lung damage. And some doctors say the problem will only get worse if the FDA makes more allergy medicines available over-the-counter.

"Fifteen people die of asthma every single day and most of those deaths are preventable," she adds. "Allergies are serious, asthma is serious. These are not over-the-counter types of illnesses."

Guessing Symptoms May Make it Worse

Some allergy drugs have become more popular through aggressive advertising campaigns, promising fewer side effects than the ones already on the market.

"The more we have over-the-counter, the more likelihood that parents will treat themselves and their children by trying to guess at what symptoms represent," says Redlener.

Barbara Stoltzfoos guessed wrong even though she thought she was doing everything right.

"We didn't do anything for so long — do the right thing, I should say," says Stoltzfoos. "that it was dangerous for him."

She's not alone. "I'd say about 80 percent of people are very confused about whether it's asthma, whether it's allergies, or whether it's a cold," says Sander.

A danger that can be avoided if a doctor, not a parent, does the treating.