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Other Things You Need To Know About Primary Complex (and other treatment tips)

When I posted my article about 3 Important Things You Need To Know About Primary Complex (and other treatment tips), I have been receiving inquires. I am not an expert in the said field, but I will answer it based on my experience. Remember 3 of kids suffered from it.

Primary Complex Medicine Overdose?

What if for some reason, the mom gave the medicine twice in a day? I did it once.. or twice.. and it seems nothing happened to my kids. Blame to the anesthesia during my labor.. there are just days when I can’t seem to remember if I already gave them their dose or not.. better safe than sorry, I just had to give another one. BUT! If it happened more than twice, please do ask your Pediatrician about it.

Primary Complex is not contagious

but is there a chance that a child can be infected again? Yes. It can re occur, so the main treatment for primary complex involves knowing where your child got it. As much as possible, have the people around you be submitted to skin test and xray.

Primary Complex Medicine effect on Liver

Can it (the medicines used to treat Primary Complex) affect the liver? Rifampicin has been said to be safe to the liver.. though I have heard some news that Isoniozid can damage the liver. I still have to ask our Pediatrician and will keep you posted about it.

MORE ABOUT PRIMARY COMPLEX:

Signs That Your Kids Are Suffering From Primary Complex

We never suspected Primary Complex. We thought they are just on the thin side or that our genes are the culprit. You see, prior to me being overweight, we were a thin couple. So we thought, the kids just got our body built.
They are not gaining weight and when we went to a pedia near our place, she said, it must be Primary Complex. We had them xrayed. And it was quite painful for my third boy, he was not even a year old then and I can’t be with him inside the X ray room since I am already pregnant with Sati.The result was positive, but then again, we need to make sure, by having a PPD. And as I have said before, indeed it was Primary Complex.

So what are the Signs That Your Kids Are Suffering From Primary Complex?

The number one sign is weight loss or the kid not gaining weight. Yo have tried every weight gaining technique. Tried all the pampagana meds and even tried Heraclene but to no avail.
Coughs that is recurrent is another sign and no amount of Antibiotics can put that cough away.
Some says that fever at night is another sign. Come to think of, there were times that they would experience fever at night and I would dismiss it as pilay.
Some says that irritability and crying for no reason most of the time is another sign.
If you had observed this to your kids, don’t hesitate to discuss it with your pedia.

MORE ABOUT PRIMARY COMPLEX:

3 Important Things You Need To Know About Primary Complex (and other treatment tips)

My kids was tested positive of primary complex last April 2009. And after 6 months of drinking Primary complex HRZ kit aka Blood, Urine and Vomit they are clear of TB.

See? It does look like Blood, Urine and Vomit. But my sister who loves food better than me says it’s mayonnaise, vinegar and ketchup.

Here are the 3 things you need to know when battling Primary Complex:

Primary Complex is not contagious. Don’t ever make your kids feel that what they have is something to be embarrassed about. Based on my readings and from my pedia, Primary Complex is now common here in the country. It’s not as scary as it used to be ten years ago and it can be easily cured.
Primary Complex is a from of Tuberculosis on kids. They got it from an adult. When an adult suffering from Tuberculosis made contact to a kid through cough and sneeze, the mycrobacteria M. tuberculosis is transferred to the kid.
Primary Complex is a 6 month long treatment. Not lesser. You need to make sure that you give the meds everyday religiously for 6 months. If not, the bacteria will just evolve and will develop into a more med resistant kind.

When treating Primary Complex, here are some tips that may come in handy:

During the first 4 months, your kids need to take in 3 types of medicines (photo above). On the 5th and 6th month based on the advise of your pedia, the meds may be lessen to two kinds.
It is best to give them meds on the morning, 30 minutes before eating but you can also give it during lunch time (just make sure that you give it 30 minutes before meal time). Also take note of the time you give the meds, it should be the same time all through out the treatment period.
The three meds have different consistencies. If your kids are a bit hard when it comes to medicine, you should give them the pink med first as this is the most ill tasted. This is done so that whenever the kid refused to swallow it up or throw it up, they hadn’t taken in the other meds yet. Give the yellowish next and give the red one last. The red one is the most difficult to swallow, hence they will need a lot of water to consume it. You should give it to them last because they would be full from drinking water to help them swallow the red one.
Stick to the meds your doctor gave you. I tried buying the cheaper kit but it turns out that though I save on money, my kids did not like the taste of the cheaper kind. The photo above is the set from Unilab. Trust them to be child’s tongue friendly (TasteRite™ technology).
If you child gains weight easily, you might wanna consult your pedia every month for the dosage as it’s effectiveness rely on the weight of the kid.

How much is Primary Complex Treatment?
In order for you to know if your kid is suffering from Primary Complex, they will have to undergo two kinds of test, XRAY and PPD (purified protein derivative) or tuberculin skin test.

XRAY test can vary from 300 Philippine Pesos to more than 1K depending on your hospital. In some hospitals, this is shouldered by your HMO, in some it is not.

PPD or Tuberculin Skin test ranges from 600 Pesos to more than 1k, again, depending on your provider and this is NOT shouldered by HMO.

The HRZ Kit (Isoniazid + Rifampicin + Pyrazinamide) from Unilab was less than 500 the last time I bought, so that was last year. A kid can consume 1 to 2 (or 1 to 2 big HRZ kit) bottle a month depending on his weight. It is best to buy it in pack (HRZ kit) as you can save a lot than buying the medicine per bottle. Trust me, I have been there, spend time computing it to see where I can save more. (I will try to update this when I got the prize of each meds).

Rimafed or the red one will be consumed more than the other two. Rimafed is given in more ml than the other two that is why.

The total amount of Peso you will have to spend when treating Primary Complex (if you have a kid that is less than 15 kilos) is around (cost of xray and ppd not included) 5000 Pesos.