I can see how you would be concerned. It very well could be a muscle relaxant, it could just be a Advil. Taken on an empty stomach both could make a little stomach upset. I think we all know she wasn't giving her a vitamin, so the question is what would she give that she couldn't name, and why wouldn't she be honest? It causes you to assume the worst.

If she isn't okay by morning I would take her in and have a tox screen run. I know it may be extreme, but if unprescribed, adult strength muscle relaxants are mom's solution for cuts and scrapes then perhaps someone needs to be made aware of this.

I can so understand how you feel - it gets so tiring waiting to have the "what will it be this week" question answered.

I sure hope she's okay. Keep us posted.

BM just wrote back: "Motrin to keep the inflamation down. What the heck are you asking me this for?"

She might be telling the truth, SD said it was an orange vitamin. The only problem with it is SD is still groggy a day later and feeling sick. BM gets defensive and with her history of lying, it's hard to know what to believe. I hope she wouldn't give a child narcotics, but she doesn't see a problem with a lot of things she does that have made our jaws drop. (and the way SD said it was to 'relax' her, not for pain)

I know that I once took a muscle relaxer on a Friday night and woke up Sunday afternoon... there were dazed awakenings in between but I know that I've also reacted by feeling sick. Like I said, I hope she wouldn't do that.

I'd be more concerned about a possible concussion causing those symptoms. Did she hit her head?

Another possibility is an allergic reaction, which sometimes can result in vomiting. You said the pill was orange - was it chewable? My son is very allergic to the dye used in children's chewable pain relievers. The first (and last) time he took one, he woke up with swollen lips, looking like Goldie Hawn in the First Wives Club. The doctor had him come in right away and put him on medication.

She should be taken to a doc for a check up. As well, have blood tests done on her , even after she visits her mom. sounds like she's being slipped prescrip drugs. THis is serious. Have blood work done on her.
As well, find out waht biomom gave her. Muscle relaxants are restricted from children for a reason.

organic maria's right;
sounds like "under"-reacting here.

Get a blood or tox test before any more of the "pill" dissipates.

So, I took SD to the doctor today...

First, when she got up this morning, she said she was still feeling sick. I didn't want to send her to school and have to pick her up in an hour, she looked terrible. So, DH put a movie on for her and told her to take a nap after the movie (so I could get some work done in the morning). She comes to me as soon as the movie is over and announces she feels better. I think she was expecting me to let her watch another movie instead of taking a nap (I've told her in the past that sick children need their rest) but instead, I told her to get dressed & I'll take her to school. It was about 10am. She said 'huh?' but got dressed. Then she asked if she HAS to go to school? All the kids are mean to her. (She's used that at her old school & this year at her new school. She also says the kids here call her fat. She's not fat but she did have a weight problem at her old school, but the kids here wouldn't know that, but when she gets upset, she says they are mean and call her fat.) I told her that I can talk to the teacher but she can't miss school because she thinks kids are mean. Then, she asked if I will pick her up because she might throw up on the bus. I told her that she just told me she felt better. Then, we went to get into the car, she started crying and saying her tummy hurt. I let her stay home and took her to the doctor. The doctor says she has a sinus infection and the drainage from her sinuses is what has irritated her stomach. He also said she could have asthma and if her mom gave her a motrin, that could aggravate the asthma. (that explained the tummy ache and feeling like she was going to throw up) & she had been having a little trouble breathing ~ she told the doctor but hadn't told us that. (btw, the doctor called her mom and her mom told the doctor she gave her a motrin. He didn't second guess it and believed her mom. I wasn't about to throw a fit and demand a drug test, though I would have it she were my child)

She also has bruises all over her shins and she told me they were bleeding a lot at her mom's. None of them looked like they had any cuts on them, but she did have scratches on her legs. Coincidentally, she didn't show me but she said she had scraped her thighs when she fell down and said she hit her head & felt dizzy. I don't know how anyone would get bruises on their shins with scrapes on the back of the thighs and cuts on the palm of her hands (of course she might have gotten that if she fell face first and used her hands to break the fall) and if she broke the fall, how did she hit her head? It just doesn't make any sense to me at all. Questioning her mom is of no use and now I don't know what to believe. She has a pretty unbelievable story to explain away all the marks. Individually, I can see those things happening in different ways that kids play, but the way SD explains it, I just think it's impossible. It makes me wonder if she was riding on cardboard again? That would explain the scrapes on the thighs and maybe even the hands.

We'll probably never know... yet, nothing to indicate foul.

The unexplained injuries really do worry you. My SS11(then 7) came home from BM's way back when with what looked like to me and DH a cigarette burn on the middle of his upper back.

His story: He fell on a windowsill.

How that equates to a circular burn I will never know...

Did you take him to a doctor?

I agree with organic, blood tests if it happens again, the ER if it's on a week end.

Motrin can irritate asthma? Hmm, news to me. Did the doctor say how or why? I suddenly feel compelled to look this up! (Yeesh, I'm a science geek)

Ceph, I don't know how.

I need to research it some. If you find out anything, please let me know.

I really don't think she has asthma, she's never wheezed at all (and she's very active). He decided that because she told him that after she took the pill her mom gave her, she had trouble breathing and her mom told the doctor it was Motrin. The doctor said to not let her have any anti inflammatory medications. I hate to be pessimistic and it's not because I can't stand her mom, but I really don't believe it was Motrin. The doctor didn't even say anything when she told him she hit her head. I thought about what theotherside said, perhaps a concussion, but he asked her if she was knocked out at all and she said no, so he went on to the asthma diagnosis. (I have to admit, I am pessimistic about my husband's insurance company & the medical groups in the network. This doctor has diagnosed strep without taking a culture or any other test other than visual and my doctor diagnosed me with arthritis in my leg after I told him it was my sciatic nerve being compressed and I wanted an MRI. He said no and told me it was arthritis. I paid for the MRI and it showed the compressed disc and my chiropractor fixed it. So, I don't have the most confidence in these doctors.)

I might add, the doctor has been SD's doctor since she was a baby so he knows BM very well. I'm sure that influenced him to believe her when she says it is Motrin. Plus, it would be hard to believe a parent would give something to a child that is meant for an adult.

According to webmd, motrin can trigger asthma:

"Certain medications: aspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Motrin, Advil)"

http://www.webmd.com/asthma/understanding-asthma-triggers

thanks

I went to the link you provided and I'm more confused... those are asthma triggers, so I clicked on the link that said Asthma in Children- Overview and it talks about how Asthma is diagnosed. NONE of those tests were performed on her. I am a little uncertain about treating something with medication if I'm not sure she has it. She has never had an asthma attack, wheezing, or any respiratory problems. She runs, plays, gets sweaty and never wheezes, which I would expect at least a little bit when doing those things if she has asthma. Shouldn't a doctor perform tests before deciding to prescribe an inhaler? It's not really an issue of money, but the inhaler cost $50 and if he's basing it on the mom's statement it was motrin & therefore, it must be a reaction because she has asthma (without any other tests), hmmm, I don't know about that. My kids' doctor's always ran tests before diagnosing things, unless it was very obvious. I'd say if she was having an asthma attack, it would have been obvious. But she didn't.

My daughter's doctor prescribed an inhaler when my daughter complained that she was short of breath after exercise. He said that it was either that she was merely out of shape, or asthma - if using the inhaler before she exercised made it better, then it was asthma, otherwise probably not. It didn't seem to make much of a difference. She never wheezed. I have another child who definitely does have asthma, and she never wheezes, just get short of breath.

lol, all this talk of asthma reminds me of the ONE time I ever called my ex for help. It was about a month or two after I moved out & I think I had an allergic reaction to something I ate. I don't have food allergies so instead of being alarmed, I went to lie down. Within about a half hour, I was wheezing and felt my throat closing (swelling?). My exBF was asthmatic and I called him & he brought me his inhaler. A couple of puffs and I was fine. It never happened before or since.

Thanks for the link TOS, it gives some interesting background.
But I want to know the mechanisms involved... It seems strange to me that asthma is an inflammation response in the respiratory system, and Motrin (which is an ibuprofen) is an anti-inflammatory agent, but it could trigger asthma
So I went PubMed-ing...
It was tough to find what I was looking for, and the first thing I learned might be of interest to many of us: anti-inflammatories (like Motrin) can increase the risk of Staph infections from chicken-pox and are not recommended for pain relief during chicken-pox...

Anyhow on to asthma and Motrin...
I found a study where 2% of children with mild to moderate asthma had increased bronchospasms from exposure to ibuprofen but they didn't talk about why...
But then I found another that found that ibuprofen was actually less of an asthma irritant than acetominophen and may actually have uses as an asthma suppressant... Again, no mention of molecular mechanism.
And so it carried, back and forth on until I found what I was looking for...

Anti-inflammatories can cause a decrease in antioxidant levels, particularly in the respiratory and digestive systems. Certain asthmas can be exacerbated by decreases in respiratory antioxidant levels.
So what happens is: The Motrin sends a signal to the cells in the lungs to produce fewer antioxidants. In a healthy person, this doesn't matter very much. In an asthmatic, this can trigger an asthma attack and cause inflammation and bronchospasms.
So, it can worsen asthma in asthmatics or cause mild asthma symptoms in people who are not otherwise asthmatic.
Neato.

It sounds to me like your doctor is kind of a hack. If you're able to choose a new one, I'd start shopping around. Diagnosing asthma with no tests just because SD may have had a bad reaction to a pill that he was told was motrin strikes me as a leap. It's also possible that SD is allergic to motrin but doesn't have asthma, or that she feels out of breath because she's got a bad cold or bronchitis, or the pill wasn't motrin, or the pill had more than motrin in it (like a combination motrin/decongestant/whatever pill), or other things.

If something like this happens again and you want a tox screen, you could say that you're concerned SD might have accidentally taken something she shouldn't and you want to be sure. Accidents do happen, after all, and there are a lot of orange pills out there. People make mistakes, even pharmacists get pills confused sometimes, kids get into things they shouldn't and won't admit it. Heck, maybe SD was still feeling bad after the first pill and tried to take a second one herself and got the wrong bottle out of the medicine cabinet. Things happen. At least it's a way to phrase the request without having to accuse BM of purposely giving SD something she shouldn't, so hopefully you can get the screening done with fewer fireworks.

There are a lot of hacks out there. My step mom went to the doctor over and over because she was having terrible headaches for several weeks. They told her it was migraines and gave her pain killers. She was not getting better. She had an aneurysm and my dad believes now that she had several symptoms prior that were written off as something else. (sense of taste and smell was off, headaches, mood swings). It was likely that she was having brain bleeds that affected her mental function. I don't always trust what the doctors say, they are only human. We have to be vigilant for our own health, and especially our children that don't know any better than what we tell them.

btw, my step daughter asked me what the symptoms of asthma are when we were on our way home. She has been fixated with having asthma now. She went to the school nurse and asked her for an inhaler before school yesterday. She wasn't having trouble breathing, but she thought that since the doctor told her she has asthma, she needs the inhaler with her all the time now.

and I'm not putting down the medical field, but my dad says that he's taken my step mom into the hospital to get her trach or feeding tube changed. The personnel will start asking my step mom questions directly. They can see she's in a vegetative state, she can't answer them, but they have ignored my dad while he tries to tell them the answers to their questions, do they really think she's going to wake up and answer them?

it sounds stupid of them, but....I wonder if they have to ask her for some legal purposes like in case she can hear but cannot reply? like for some liability in case somebody complains later that nobody asked her directly (even if she cannot answer).

I know it sounds stupid but people sue doctors for everything nowadays. I know it from friends doctors. this one guy sued local hospital because when he went to the bathroom his butt stuck in a toilet seat(he is morbidly obese). and one visitor sued the hospital because while visiting his relative he sat in the hallway by the window, window was open and visitor got sick. i am serious. it is not a joke. so sometimes medical personnel is required to do bizzare things to prevent law suits.

my grandmother was a registered nurse and she used to tell stories too.

I used to have this on and off part time job translating for a hospital and I and a nurse were yelled by a patient because we talked to his wife (wife made a request to discuss certain issues with her rather than him). He had liver cancer, dimentia, was completely out of it and couldn't comprehend anything anyways in any language. Then because he yelled, I started talking to him and then his wife yelled at me and a nurse: why did you talk to him instead of talking to her. We were frankly upset because it was not our job to determine who to talk to especially if we are yelled at by both. I felt bad for both but we couldn't make them both happy. It is just sometimes impossible to predict. But vegetative stage, this is a bit too much

I certainly appreciate the value of translators, especially in hospitals and the legal system... but it seems to me like they get put through the wringer a lot (being the bearer of bad news, having to try to communicate between people in unfortunate situations and boy would I not want to be one!
Kudos to you FD for being able to do it!

thanks ceph for good words. Yeap, not fun.

I mainly did it for cardiology during angioplasty procedures. But I felt like making a big difference especially with elderly who understandably couldn't commuinicate medical issues with personnel and their families were not allowed in a surgery room during the procedures, but translators are allowed. People were very appreciative both staff and patients because it is tough to describe level of pain or discomfort. You feel like you make a huge difference.

That particular experience was the worst one because the guy was dying and my grandmoher just died recently and it triggered bad memories so when i left the hospital i cried very hard. I don't do it anymore because my schedule doesn't permit me, well maybe very ocassionally like once a year.

Yes, I did it for a legal system too, FBI. Oh this is entirelly different story, not for this forum. Scary stuff. Maybe for an episode of "Law and Order". hahahah

I wouldn't do any of that as a regular job either but as you think of it somebody has to do this stuff.

low-tech idea:

get several "orange" pills, including a Motrin, & ask SD if any of them look like what her mom gave her.

The Law & Order post gave me the idea;
see if SD can identify the culprit in a line-up.