Re: Re: Bethanechol Dosage?

[Guest guest]

Sally: I haven't used bethanechol in quite a while but I asked my friend Dr.

Green who has used it about 500 times, and he says he starts with 2.5mg

twice daily between meals and works up by 2.5mg twice daily every 3-5 days to a

maximum of 12.5mg twice daily. He says it works in about 30% of kids he uses it

with, other docs say it helps about 1 in 8 - guess it depends upon who's

talking. However, they say when it does work it really works well - I presume

it works in that subset of kids who are genetically at risk for the G-alpha

protein defect. Families with this have a high incidence of hypothyroidism and

night blindness, but not invariably. Sideways glancing may be a tip-off that

stimulating acetylcholine receptor blockage with bethanechol may be therapeutic

for this subset of kids. Dr. JM

Suzanne wrote: For my 30 lb 3.8 yo, it was .25 mg

twice a day, first thing in the

morning and 3:30pm. The dosing instructions were quite specific - 2

hours after a meal and 1 hour before a meal. It turned out to be

pretty hard to do. Our son's doctor is Dr. Megson, who probably

knows as much about bethanechol as anybody does.

Be aware it lowers the seizure threshhold. We had to stop it for

this reason, though we weren't sure it was helping anyhow.

Suzanne

>

> Hi there -

> What is the typical dosing of Bethanechol? My son is 4.5 years

old

> and about 43 lbs.

>

> Thank you - Sally

>