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Prevent accidental vitamin overdoses
How much time does a 2-year-old child need to gobble up 95
vitamin E capsules? About ten minutes, according to a recent
caller to a poison control center. Shortly after that, the
little boy complained that his stomach hurt, and he vomited.
However, that was all that happened, and he was fine later.
Taking a lot of vitamin E at one time, like this boy did,
does not usually cause any problems besides stomach pain and
vomiting, but that's not true of multivitamins containing
vitamin A, vitamin D, or iron. And adding to the problem is
that, since most vitamins are OTC, they do not have to have
child-resistant safety caps. The bottle in this case did not
have a safety cap, and the boy easily opened it. Remember
that all medications, including vitamins and herbal products,
should be stored out of reach of children, EVEN if the bottles
have child-resistant caps.
Institute for Safe Medication Practices
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