Paregoric
Risk Factor: B*
Class: GASTROINTESTINAL AGENTS
/ Antidiarrheals
Contents of this page:
Fetal Risk Summary
Breast Feeding Summary
References
Questions and Answers
Fetal Risk Summary
Paregoric is a mixture of opium powder, anise oil, benzoic acid, camphor, glycerin, and ethanol. Its action is mainly caused by morphine (see also Morphine). The Collaborative Perinatal Project monitored 50,282 mother-child pairs, 90 of which had 1st trimester exposure to paregoric (1, pp. 287295). For use anytime during pregnancy, 562 exposures were recorded (1, p. 434). No evidence was found to suggest a relationship to large categories of major or minor malformations or to individual defects.
[*Risk Factor D if used for prolonged periods or in high doses at term.]
Breast Feeding Summary
See Morphine.
References
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Heinonen OP, Slone D, Shapiro S. Birth Defects and Drugs in Pregnancy. Littleton, MA: Publishing Sciences Group, 1977.
Questions and Answers
Is paregoric or laudanum still used or manufactured?,
Laudanum is still available by prescription in the United States. It is classified as a Schedule II drug under the Controlled Substances Act. Its most common formulation is known as 'deodorized tincture of opium,' and is manufactured in the United States by Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals. The only medically-approved uses for laudanum in the United States are for treating diarrhea and pain. Laudanum, as deodorized opium tincture, contains the equivalent of 10 milligrams of morphine per milliliter. By contrast, laudanum's weaker cousin, paregoric, is 1/25th the strength of laudanum, containing only 0.4 milligrams of morphine per milliliter.
Paregoric is a Schedule III drug under the United States Controlled Substances Act.
Is Paregoric available for sale anywhere?, it was used for colic in the 1950s
Prescription only and then the Pharmacist needs to order it. My, now 12 year old daughter, was prescribed it for her colic symptoms. To the best of my knowledge, it can still be prescribed. It may be best to contact your local pharmacist and/or Doc.
paregoric medicine?, My aunts mom used to give her Paregoric medicine in a special lil cup when she was a child. She states it is outlawed now (?) does anyone know what it was?? And if it is indeed outlawed??
Paragoric is an opiate. It is 10% Opium in a tincture. You can still get it but in some areas you need a doctor's order to get it. Some areas still let you just sign for it.
Buying Paregoric at a pharmacy?, For some reason when I was little there was a bottle of Paregoric in the medicine cabinet. I remember it was labeled "Tincture of Opium" and I learned that Opium was what drug addicts took to get high and was BAD because drugs are bad. Well, I took some to see what it would do. I think it made me sick and I know it made me tired. I am allergic to codeine by the way.
Anyway, since then I have heard that you can go to a pharmacy and ask for it and you sign something and they give you a bottle of it for your kid to take for something. I now know a "tincture" is a relatively weak solution of something in alcohol, as opposed to an "extract" which is relatively stronger.
I have no interest in taking it (it would kill me I think from my codeine allergy) but I am wondering if what I heard is true about getting it without a prescription but needing to sign something at the pharmacy so they can keep track of who is getting it and how much.
So, is what I heard true?
Years ago, this was true. You could get it a the pharmacy counter and sign for it. That is no longer the case. It is a weak mixture of morphine so it is no longer available like that. I don't even think they make Paragoric anymore, but morphine is like a schedule I or II drug and reguires a triplicate prescription that you'll only get from a doctor if you have really severe chronic pain like from cancer. Paragoric was given to infants for colic, a very painful stomach cramp symptom and was widely used. I remember my mother giving it to us but I never knew it was an opiate back then.
