Link Between Vicks and High Mucous?

Only 18 months old, the girl struggled to breathe as her grandparents looked on in the emergency department. Pneumonia and asthma were the likely culprits, but she didn't respond to treatment. Her doctors and grandparents racked their brains for an explanation.

Finally, the grandparents mentioned that because she had appeared to have a cold, "we put Vicks (VapoRub) right under her nose. … Could that be it?"

Could be, says Bruce Rubin, a Wake Forest University pediatrician involved in her case: "We just stopped everything and watched her and she started getting better really quickly."
A longtime mucus researcher, Rubin decided to look into a possible link between inhaling VapoRub and breathing difficulties. He studied the airways of ferrets, which, more than rodents, have airways similar to humans.

First, he added a high dose of VapoRub to laboratory dishes containing windpipes that had been removed from ferrets killed for other research. Those windpipes secreted 63% more mucus than windpipe specimens that had not been incubated with VapoRub, Rubin and his co-authors report today in the journal Chest.

The researchers then applied VapoRub near the opening of a tube inserted into the windpipes of healthy ferrets and ferrets in which they had induced windpipe inflammation with toxins from bacteria, done to mimic a chest infection. For comparison purposes, the researchers applied K-Y jelly instead of VapoRub to a similar group of ferrets.

Compared with the K-Y jelly groups, mucus secretion rose in the VapoRub groups by 14% in the healthy ferrets and 8% in those with inflamed windpipes, which itself increases mucus production. The differences weren't statistically significant, but that could be because of the low number of ferrets studied, Rubin says.

The findings in the live ferrets resembled those in the windpipe specimens exposed to a higher VapoRub dose, he says. "It could explain fully what we saw in the child."
Rubin says problems are unlikely in older kids and adults because their airways are bigger. He says his findings apply to any product applied to the skin that, like VapoRub, contains camphor, menthol and eucalyptus.

David Bernens, a spokesman for VapoRub manufacturer Procter & Gamble, notes that the product's label advises against its use in children under 2 and in the nostrils. The label says it should be rubbed on the chest or throat or on achy muscles.

Besides, Bernens says, VapoRub has been around since 1890, and "we have a fair number of clinical studies that demonstrate both safety and efficacy."

Daniel Craven, a pediatric lung specialist at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, says he's not convinced that VapoRub caused the breathing problems in the toddler. "I would still dissuade people from using it because I don't think it works," Craven says. "We need to get a little stronger case to be able to state this is definitely harmful."

Evey's X-Mas Program in Preschool

What a lot of fun Evey had at her X-Mas program. She was singing every song for the most of the part and had an occasional yawn since it was so early in the morning. I didn't record much but managed to get an OK pic from my cell phone.

Good News for Me

Depeche Mode will be releasing there 12th studio album in April 2009, followed by a Tour of the Universe. European dates are only available at this time. I missed them last time they toured, so no matter what (or where I have to drive to see them), I'm there this time. If you want a ticket, let me know now.

More Baking

More baking. Lilly is getting in on the action. Lilly is actually quite the snowball cookie maker. Her little hands are excellent for making a perfectly round snowball cookies.

X-Mas Cookies

Well, it's been too long since I've posted, so here is Evey making Christmas cookies with Terri. Now that Terri broadcast our URL in most Christmas cards this year, that's enough motivation for me to keep this site updated - and I will.

Halloween Movies

Just a quick thought on Halloween movies...each October I try to get into the spirit of the holiday by watching horror movies. This year I decided to rent all the Saw movies. There are currently four of them, with the fifth one coming out in theaters on October 24th. I figured, wow, five Saw movies, something's got to be good about them. Well, they are good, and of course bloody. These aren't your typical bloody gory movies with a lot of killing. There is a great plot and story that takes its time in developing...through all the movies. It's like watching one really long movie in pieces. I'm looking forward to the fifth one coming out but probably won't see it until it's on DVD.

If you really want to see a scary movie, something that is really terrifying, I suggest the Terminator movies or War of the Worlds. Anyone know what the Singularity is?