Don't Do Skittles

We all know not to do drugs. Drugs aren't cool. Hugs not drugs. Choosers are losers and losers are choosers - don't do drugs, DON'T (Paula Abdul flashback to the 80's). Unfortunately, I found myself last night googling "OD of Dextromethorphan." What I was really looking to find out was if I'd inadvertently given my son too much cough medicine, and if so if it was dangerous. What I found was that this is actually a *street* drug which people use:

DXM is often abused in high doses by adolescents to generate euphoria and visual and auditory hallucinations. Illicit use of DXM is referred to on the street as "Robo-tripping" or "skittling."

Wow. Exciting stuff considering that it was dawning on me that I'd just given my kid a slight OD of *skittles*. The confusion all happened when I gave Jimmy a dose of Robitussin combined with the tiny remnants of a bottle of Delsym (I figure that since the Robitussin didn't have as much cough suppressant as what he was allowed, I'd supplement it with the remaining Delsym.) Well, my neat-o little concoction didn't work; he coughed all afternoon, and I vowed to make sure to give him something better before I put him to bed. Come 7PM, I researched some online and found Children's Nyquil to be the way to go for a quiet and calm night for all in the house. I gave Jimmy his dose and tucked him into bed and then began cleaning up after dinner. This is when it hit me that I'd given him WAY too much medicine over a brief 4 hour period (all of the above medicines intending to last minimally 6 hours. . ) I found myself pondering the fact that I had just become one of *those* parents who get confused about their child's cold medicine schedule and varying doses and unintentionally overdoses them; I had become one of *those* parents that were the cause of ALL children's cold medicines being pulled from the shelves last year. I always figure you'd have to be something of a nimwit to give your kid too much medicine; really I assumed parents were trying to drug their children and then pawning off their grave error on a simple mistake. I am now one of those parents; and yes, it was a simple mistake.

I got up several times through the night to check on Jimmy and make sure his breathing wasn't too shallow, or that he wasn't having seizures, or in a state of coma (all side effects of ODing on Skittles). Fortunately, Jimmy was just fine. I had to wake him up from a deep sleep this morning to get him ready for school (which is not normal as he's usually the one waking me up), and I have to say I really wondered if he'd had any nice *trips* throughout the night. All the same, I'm glad to say that experience is done with, and I'll try to be a bit more cautious when doling out the cold medicines to my children. I, on the other hand, who has never done drugs (though I've frequently hoped dealers would approach me with a deal!) have now found the solution hiding in my medicine cabinet to a really rough day ;)


(For those who may wonder if I'm for real or not, I'm only joking!)