Bonine For Children

[Nikkimouse76]

Hi all,

 

My family and I are due to set sail in Dec. My kids have motion sickness :(. I have done some research and it seems Bonine is a good solution for their motion sickness. Who has experience with this? What are your opinions? My plan was 1/2 a pill a day, and to start the Bonine 2-3 days before we set sail. Is this a good idea?

 

Thanks so much!

[tammy531]

How old are your children? I swore by bonine for kids for my older son, who thankfully is 13, since they discontinued it! Regular bonine is only for 12 and up. I gave it to my son starting the day before. It worked great, did not cause him any drowsiness or side effects. I am very disappointed they discontinued it!

 

 

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[Ashland]

The chewable raspberry flavored Bonine works great...but do discuss it with their doctor.

[Nikkimouse76]

My kids are 7, 5, and 4. I did discuss this with the pediatrician. He said 1/2 a tablet a day, and that is fine. I was just curious of any experiences with the Bonine.

[tammy531]

My kids are 7, 5, and 4. I did discuss this with the pediatrician. He said 1/2 a tablet a day, and that is fine. I was just curious of any experiences with the Bonine.

 

The adult version? If so.. great to know....my other son is 8 so I was looking for something to replace the children's version. I am not a fan of dramamine....

 

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[Keith1010]

My kids are 7, 5, and 4. I did discuss this with the pediatrician. He said 1/2 a tablet a day, and that is fine. I was just curious of any experiences with the Bonine.

 

You did right by speaking with your Pediatrician.

 

You may have done this already but if not I would confirm that 1/2 applied to the adult dosage.

 

Our experience is that most children do not require bonnie but usually if you have a child who experiences car motion sickness they have high probability of needing Bonine. That was our experience with our two children with our daughter who was bothered with car motion sickness needing Bonine and our son not needing anything.

 

Be sure to read the directions very carefully. It will not be effective if the child is already sick and the same is true for adults.

 

Keith

[Mack2]

The FDA in the US has no pediatric guidelines for the use of Bonine in kids. For some reason, they've never studied the drug on kids.

 

http://www.bonine.com/products/bonine-original#warnings

Do not use for children under 12 years of age unless directed by a doctor

 

The active ingredient of Bonine is the same stuff found in the prescription drug, Antivert (meclizine HCL). It's popular for motion sickness and vertigo but it's never been officially tested and submitted to the FDA for a pediatric dose (although if you have vertigo, you really should see a doctor... scary things can cause vertigo)

http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/lookup.cfm?setid=9350fefc-9c00-182c-c3a9-044d4a40856f

Pediatric Use

Clinical studies establishing safety and effectiveness in children have not been done; therefore, usage is not recommended in children under 12 years of age.

 

Doesn't mean it's not safe... it probably is... but there's no guarantee. So if anything really goes wrong, you accept accountability... or in many cases, your pediatrician accepts responsibility for telling you to use it.

 

I'm a pharmacist. By the book, we can't recommend using it.

 

Meclizine still causes drowsiness... it's just "less drowsy". Which is why you'll find it in the Dramamine less Drowsy formula as the exact same dose as the Bonine.

 

 

... but still not recommended for kids under 12.

 

 

Good thing you spoke to the pediatrician... but I would double check.

[Nikkimouse76]

Not only did I speak with the pediatrician, he also confirmed that he used Bonine with his children (younger than my children) on their cruise. He said it worked well for his children. I am not from the school that I can wait for the kids to get sick before medicating them. Our family's motion sickness is out of control (I get sick if I go down a water slide more than 2x in a row :eek::eek:), and I just can't take the chance. IMO, once you are motion sick it is next to impossible to get rid of that sick feeling until you are on the ground.

[Mack2]

Not only did I speak with the pediatrician, he also confirmed that he used Bonine with his children (younger than my children) on their cruise. He said it worked well for his children. I am not from the school that I can wait for the kids to get sick before medicating them. Our family's motion sickness is out of control (I get sick if I go down a water slide more than 2x in a row :eek::eek:), and I just can't take the chance. IMO, once you are motion sick it is next to impossible to get rid of that sick feeling until you are on the ground.

 

That's cool. As just a pharmacist, I can only recommend what's documented in the literature. Your doc can deem whatever treatment he finds necessary... but I cannot make those judgements, nor make them for all patients, everywhere. It's not supported by clinically documented evidence.

 

The research just isn't there for Bonine (meclizine) and children.

 

Also, even though us pharmacy guys are all about the drugs, the current trend on medicating revolves around the "less is more"-type thinking.

 

I mean, when we were kids in the 70's and 80's... Your nose started running, your doc gave you the pink stuff post-STAT!

We found later in the mid-90's that it lead to some levels of antibiotic resistance. That whole schpeal. Drug utilization reviews found that, back in the day, people were on too many meds. Drugs prescribed to counteract the symptoms of other drugs that may have had side effects.

 

So, just in the interest of safety. I feel it's still pretty responsible to let folks know about the FDA recommendations regarding Bonine and kids under 12.

 

I just add the links to the official language because this is the internet... It's not an admonishment, rather, it's just a druggist trying to be responsible.

[crusinmama06]

Mack I was thinking about you the other day. There was a discussion on a FB group and children's bonine came up and how it was pulled from the market. I wonder why? I was meaning to come and ask you about it. Of course I still have some here - probably shouldn't use it then should I?

 

Luckily my kids have pretty solid sea legs but we have had some rough nights at sea and that children's bonine came in handy.

[Mack2]

Mack I was thinking about you the other day. There was a discussion on a FB group and children's bonine came up and how it was pulled from the market. I wonder why? I was meaning to come and ask you about it. Of course I still have some here - probably shouldn't use it then should I?

 

Luckily my kids have pretty solid sea legs but we have had some rough nights at sea and that children's bonine came in handy.

 

Children's Bonine wasn't very popular. Mine always went out of date... but then again, I rarely recommended it.

 

Basically, Children's Bonine is the same drug that is in Marezine, another old, old motion sickness medication that was the ONLY thing you could get in the 60s. The active ingredient is Cyclizine... a precursor of Meclizine.

 

Marezine went up to space with the Apollo Space Program, it's that old... who knew? right?

Cyclizine was first discovered by Burroughs Wellcome (GlaxoSmithKline today) when researching anti-histamines. Cyclizine was found to be an effective and long-lasting anti-emetic. It was sold as Marezine in the US, and Marzine in France in 1965. The drug became popular when NASA used it as an anti-emetic for their first occupied moonflight. This image shows the packaging for Marzine showing an astronaut in space, presumably on the moon.

 

 

Marezine lost popularity when Dramamine came out.

 

Unfortunately, cyclizine was only tested in kids up to 6 years of age...Nothing in the Harriet Lane Handbook. So, like meclizine, we can't recommend it for anyone under 6.

I checked the FDA website to see if they made Bonine pull it off the market, but didn't find anything... so I suppose Bonine just killed it for their own reasons.

 

The current FDA labeling guidelines for OTC motion sickness meds are here:

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/cfrsearch.cfm?cfrpart=336&showfr=1

 

Cyclizine is still listed.

 

I know you can still find Marezine... just break the tablet in half, and it's the same dose as the Children's Bonine. 25mg.

[larronry]

This was a wonderful discussion and thanks for the information. 2 cruises ago I was so glad we had kids bonine with us. It was the first time he got seasick and the worst I ever did as I've always been able to use the medicine and prevent it before. Although benedryl and kids dramamine both use Dimenhydrinate he has a history of it making him drowsy but it's still an option. Otherwise I can find the equivialent children's dose for Cyclizine.

 

My son's pediatrician is old school in that he doesn't believe kids get seasick (one of the few areas be butt heads). BTW I'm a child of the 70s Mack and my pediatrician didn't believe in handing out the pink stuff like candy. I am grateful that my son's pediatrician has the same attitude although 1 time he really regretted the delay. They still give out the pink stuff for the common cold around here.

[crusinmama06]

Mack - you are AWESOME!!!! I knew you would be able to break it down for us!

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to write that all out (with pictures no less)

 

I have to bookmark this to refer others back to.

[Mack2]

Where I am, the docs slowed down on prescribing the pink stuff for everything upper respiratory. About 10 years ago,they started asking people to buy nebulizers and writing scripts for the Proventil (albuterol) or Duoneb (albuterol/ipatropium bromide) breathing treatments.

 

Scared a LOT of parents because they thought their kids had asthma or something. Not all the doctors explained anything about the bronchoilitis.

 

Now everything is cool. Folks are calmer now.

[tammy531]

Thank you Mack2!!! Will be on the hunt for Marezine!

 

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