Twelve students from a southwest Ottawa school were taken to hospital Wednesday after having a reaction to over-the-counter drugs.

Ottawa paramedics said the students began feeling nauseous and reporting numbness in their hands shortly after lunchtime at South Carleton High School in Richmond.

"We can identify one medication, and the other medication we're told is also an over-the-counter medication," said paramedic spokesperson J.P. Trottier. "Again, this was ingested this morning, and since a few of them were having symptoms this afternoon we alerted the school officials."

Trottier was clear that the drugs weren't illegal or prescription, but wouldn't say what kind they were.

One possibility is that the students took the drugs thinking they were a pain reliever when they turned out to be something else.

"They're upset, they're crying, they're talking a lot," said school principal Trudy Garland. "I'm just trying to manage the parents and the police and the paramedics that are in there ensuring the kids are safe."

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Norman Fetterley