First of all, nobody knows what Reye’s Syndrome really is (if the rate at which we are popping aspirin pills is anything to go by) no one of us has seen a person whose health has gone down due to this disease; otherwise, we should not be using over the counter aspirin medication on small kids. It takes the best of medical practitioners to be able to diagnose the disorder in time. This is rare disease; but when it happens, it can be fatal. To be able to arrest Reye’s syndrome, it needs to be diagnosed in time-something that rarely happens. The disease was first noticed in the users of aspirin which causes the user to be tired, restless, and in severe cases it causes seizures. The ingestion of aspirin for the cure of fever or chicken pox in teenagers and people below the ages of 25 is one of the causes of this disease. One should never self prescribe aspirin medication. It has been hard to diagnose; many cases of this disease have been misdiagnosed due to the similarity of the symptoms of Reye’s syndrome with the symptoms of other diseases.
Reye’s syndrome affects the brain and the liver. If the user of aspirin has liver problems, it may aggravate the situation and cause it to shut down and this could be fatal. This medication increases the level of ammonia in the blood, and causes the mitochondria in the liver cells to die. Subsequently, the fat metabolism ability of the liver cell goes down; and this brings about the increase in the fat in the liver and causing it to shut down. Once it has been diagnosed, the Reye’s syndrome should be treated as soon as possible. Misdiagnosis and treatment of another disorder could worsen the situation; and by the time Reye’s syndrome is diagnosed, it could be to the disadvantage of the sufferer.
Reye’s syndrome could cause brain damage in children; the brain should be protected from losing oxygen and causing further damage. The treatment of this syndrome requires specialized care in the ICU to restore the functions of the liver and the brain .It requires the reduction of ammonia in the blood of the patient. The damage to the health of the person will be discovered with the response to the treatment. Sometimes the damage to the brain may be severe and the patient may have to undergo rehabilitation for several months or years to come back to normal. Sometime, the patient may have to go through therapy to restore the functions of the brain; this includes speech therapy. Normal schooling for the child may no longer be possible.
Prevention of the disease is simple; don’t give aspirin to a user below the age of 25. It may be hard to control the activities of teenager, but you can educate them on the dangers of this disease and watch out for the symptom so that you can diagnose and treat it in time.
