Ice packs and cooling sponge baths, not alcohol, can aid in reducing the high fever commonly seen in children. For codeine, continuous stimulation that arouses, but does not exhaust, the patient is useful in preventing coma. Continuous or intermittent oxygen therapy is usually indicated, while naloxone is useful as a codeine antidote. Close nursing care is essential. Saline cathartics, such as milk of magnesia, help to dilute the concentration of the drugs in the bowel by draining water into the gut, thereby hastening drug elimination.
Adrenergic receptor blocking agents are antidotes to pseudoephedrine.
In practice, the most useful is the beta-blocker propranolol, which is indicated when there are signs of cardiac toxicity. There are no specific antidotes to triprolidine. Histamine should not be given. Pseudoephedrine and codeine are theoretically dialyzable, but the procedures have not been clinically established. Vasopressors may be used to treat hypotension, and excessive CNS stimulation may be counteracted with parenteral diazepam.