MANY of us suffer from travel sickness from time to time.
Especially those who aren’t lucky enough to bag a front seat in the car ahead of long journeys.
GettyPatches to prevent motion sickness have been linked to the death of a child[/caption]
But experts have now warned that some common medicines used to treat the condition have been linked to the death of a child.
The drugs have also led to potentially lethal health conditions in a handful of people.
Scopoderm patches, which are plastered on by cruise lovers to prevent seasickness, are recommended by NHS healthcare professionals and are safe to use if applied correctly.
However, many people use the medicines inappropriately, the Medicines Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has warned.
People do this by putting the patch on children under 10, cutting up patches, applying more than one at a time or using them for longer than specified.
Misuse has lead to the death of a child from hyperthermia as well as “small number of serious and life-threatening” incidents among users, the MHRA said in a drug safety update.
According to the NHS, hyperthermia happens when the body’s core temperature gets too high rendering it unable to regulate itself.
The patches are known as anticholinergic medicines which work by blocking certain chemical signals between the brain and body preventing dizziness and motion sickness.
If used incorrectly, the medicines can cause several serious side-effects, such as respiratory paralysis, memory impairment, seizures, hallucinations and can also lead to comas.
In response, the MHRA is calling on patients to be aware of side effects to anticholinergic drugs.
These include:
high temperatureinability to urinateconfusiondisorientationseeing or hearing things that are not therefits or convulsionsreduced consciousness
breathing difficulties
If these symptoms occur seek medical help and remove the patch immediately, it said.
“If there is a high temperature, take immediate action to reduce body heat in addition to seeking medical help and removing the patch.” it added.
The medicines watchdog also requested hyperthermia be added to the list of side effects on the medicines patient leaflet.