Activated carbon for children: instructions for use and dosage

"Activated carbon" is one of the most famous drugs that almost every family has at home. Adults use it in various diseases of the digestive system and to cleanse the body, calling such a tool safe and effective. But is it possible to give such a drug to a child and in what cases is it justified? How does it affect the children's body in case of poisoning and how to give this medicine to the smallest patients correctly?

“Activated carbon” is produced by many Russian companies, so sometimes the manufacturer’s abbreviation is indicated on the medicine package next to the name. For example, the designation "MS" corresponds to the company "Medisorb", and the letters "UBF" indicate that the drug is manufactured by the company "Uralbiopharm". However, all these agents are the same drug in tablets, containing the active compound of the same name - activated carbon as the active ingredient.

Its amount in a single tablet is usually 250 mg (some manufacturers have 320 mg or 500 mg tablets), and the starch ingredient is potato starch and sometimes talc. The tablets themselves are round, slightly roughened and black in color. They have a chamfer, and sometimes there is a risk. They are often placed in blisters or paper packaging of 10 pieces each and are sold both in 1 blister and in boxes of 20, 30, 40 or more tablets along with instructions.

"Activated carbon" refers to adsorbing agents, since it has properties to absorb various substances. This is due to the significant surface activity of the tablets. The drug is made from raw materials that contain carbon - wood, coconut shells, peat, brown coal, and so on.

First, such raw materials are placed in a chamber where there is no access to oxygen, and exposed to very high temperatures. In order for tablets to have many pores, due to which they have a high absorption capacity, an activation process is additionally used. It provides for the treatment of coal with steam or certain substances with strong heating. As a result, a substance is formed with a huge amount of pores.

When such a drug enters the digestive tract, it prevents the absorption into the blood of toxic compounds, phenol derivatives, drugs (hypnotics, glycosides, sulfonamides), alkaloids, metal salts and other substances. It is this action of "Activated Carbon" that helps eliminate overdose of drugs and various poisonings. However, such a drug badly absorbs alkali, iron salts and acids. He does not cope with poisoning with methanol, cyanides or ethylene glycol.

In addition to various toxins and drugs, tablets can absorb various gases. At the same time, the mucous membranes are not irritating coal This medication is not absorbed and does not change in the body, and goes out through the digestive tract completely during the day.

Most often, "Activated Carbon" is used for various problems with the digestive system. The drug is in demand for vomiting, diarrhea, bloating and other dyspeptic manifestations. The drug is used for:

• flatulence;
• foodborne diseases;
• viral hepatitis;
• bacterial diarrhea;
• rotavirus infection;
• salmonella infection;
• dysentery;
• gastritis;
• functional diarrhea;
• excessive formation in the stomach of hydrochloric acid.

Another frequent indication for the use of drugs are poisoning. The drug is prescribed when exceeding the dosages of various drugs and poisoning with salts of heavy metals. Many doctors also prescribe "Activated carbon" for allergies in order to more quickly remove allergens from the body. The drug is used for urticaria, atopic dermatitis and other allergic diseases.

No less effective is the use of tablets with charcoal and with burn disease, as well as with elevated levels of nitrogen or bilirubin in the blood, which is observed in chronic renal failure and various liver diseases. With such pathologies, the intake of "Activated Carbon" will help eliminate excess bilirubin and other toxins from the body.

The use of "Activated carbon" in children is possible from the very birth, that is, this drug can be prescribed by the doctor to both the infant or the one-year-old child and the older child. However, in the first years of life, this remedy is used exclusively as prescribed by a doctor for acute diseases, for example, in case of poisoning. It is not recommended to give tablets to young children without consulting a specialist.

“Activated carbon” is used to be considered a harmless means, however, it also has contraindications, although their list is not very large. Thus, the use of this sorbent is prohibited for ulcerative lesions of the digestive system (gastric ulcer, ulcerative colitis), as well as for bleeding from the intestines or the wall of the stomach. In addition, the drug is not used in the case of hypersensitivity, which, although very rare, but occurs in individual patients. Do not use tablets in patients with intestinal atony.

Fecal masses after taking the drug usually turn black, but this should not frighten parents, because the color change does not have a harmful effect. In some patients, the drug can provoke constipation, loose stools and dyspepsia, and if you take "Activated carbon" for a long time (more than two weeks), it will adversely affect the absorption calcium, protein, vitamins and other nutrients.

The drug must be swallowed and washed down with water. The smallest tablet is ground in a spoon to make a powder. Then some water is added to it and the resulting suspension is given to the child to drink. Do not combine the reception of "activated carbon" and food - the drug should be given to the patient 1-2 hours before meals or 1-2 hours after the child eats.

The dosage of tablets for a particular child must be calculated by weight. Most often, in an acute condition, 50 mg of the active ingredient per kg of the patient’s body weight is recommended. For example, if symptoms of an intestinal infection appear in a 5-year-old child with a weight of 20 kg, then this patient needs 4 tablets of 250 mg per dose (50 * 20 = 1000 mg) per dose.

In case of poisoning, the medicine should be given to the child after washing the stomach in a higher dose. The maximum allowable amount of coal is 0.2 grams per kilogram of body weight of a small patient.For example, a dangerous condition is found in a baby at the age of 4 years old, which weighs 17.5 kg, then the maximum dosage of “Activated Carbon” for such a child will be 3.6 grams of active substance (0.2 * 17.5), which corresponds to 14 tablets of 250 mg.

The duration of the use of "activated carbon" depends on the reason why the medicine was started to be given to the child. For example, if a patient has a poisoning, the medication is taken only a few days before the condition improves. If a baby has rotavirus, salmonellosis, or another intestinal infection, the doctor often also prescribes the drug for 2-3 days. In order to get rid of flatulence, the drug is used from 3 to 7 days.

If a child drinks pills in a higher dose than the maximum amount of medication for his weight, nausea, general weakness, severe diarrhea, headache, or vomiting may occur. Since the medicament is not absorbed, symptomatic agents can be used in such a situation, and after a few days the patient’s condition returns to normal.

An overdose of "Activated Carbon" can also be chronic if the pills are given to a child for more than two weeks every day. This threatens with the loss of useful substances (for example, potassium will be removed from the body, which is dangerous for the patient’s cardiovascular system), the development of dysbacteriosis and a decrease in immunity. If you find such an overdose, you need to cancel the medication and help the weakened body, for which symptomatic therapy is also used.

Because of the strong adsorbing effect, tablets are not recommended to be given concurrently with any other drugs, since “Activated carbon” will affect their absorption (reduce it), which will lead to a weaker therapeutic effect.

"Activated carbon" is sold in a pharmacy as a non-prescription drug, so there are no difficulties with buying it. The price of the drug affects the manufacturer and the number of pills in the pack. In this case, the drug is available and costs from 3 rubles for 10 tablets. The average price of a pack of 50 tablets is 45-47 rubles.

"Activated carbon" should be stored at a temperature not higher than +25 degrees Celsius. It is very important to put the tablets in a dry place so that no vapors or gases act on it. If you store the drug in a wet environment or without packaging, its sorption properties will decrease. The shelf life of the drug is 2 or 3 years from the date of manufacture and is indicated on the package.

On the use of "activated carbon" in children there are mostly positive reviews. They call the drug effective and affordable, so this sorbent more often than other means include in the home first-aid kit. According to moms, the medicine quickly helped with poisoning, diathesis, bloating, diarrhea, rotavirus and other health problems. The disadvantages of such tablets are often not noted.

Only occasionally there are complaints about the difficulty of taking a large amount of the drug (it can be difficult for a child to swallow several tablets or a suspension prepared from them).

Instead of “Activated carbon”, you can give your child another medicine with the same active ingredient, for example, the drugs “Carbopect” or “Sorbex”, which are available in capsules. In addition, there is a preparation in which alumina is added to activated carbon to enhance the effect. It is called “Enterumin” and is represented by the powder from which the suspension is made. Children are prescribed for various reasons, for example, for hepatitis, allergic reactions or intestinal infections.

In addition to preparations of activated carbon, the doctor may advise and enterosorbents, which contain other active substances, for example:

• "Polysorb MP". This drug helps to eliminate toxins and harmful compounds due to the presence in the composition of colloidal silicon dioxide. It is produced in the powder from which it is made into a suspension and is given to children of any age in food poisoning, functional genesis diarrhea, renal failure and other pathologies.

• «Smecta». This medicine is popular because of its natural origin (it contains aluminosilicate, called smectite) and safety (it can be used at any age, even for a month-old baby). “Smekta” is produced in portion packs, inside of which is either a powder with vanilla or orange flavor, or a ready-made thick caramel suspension. The drug is discharged at food allergies, treatment with antibiotics, vomiting, abdominal pain and other painful conditions. Analogues of such drugs are "Neosmectin"And" Diosmektit ", which contain the same active ingredient.

• «Enterosgel». This sorbent works due to polymethylsiloxane polyhydrate and is produced in the form of a gel-like mass. It binds harmful substances and does not injure the digestive tract. The drug is allowed even for infants and is in demand for heparitis, dysbiosis, intestinal infections, elevated acetone and other problems.

• "Polyphepan". The effect of such powdered enterosorbent is provided by a substance called hydrolyzed lignin (it is obtained from the processing of coniferous wood). The drug is used for poisoning, burn wounds, allergies to drugs or food, asthma, dyspepsia, cirrhosis of the liver and other diseases. In children, it can be used at any age.

• «Enterodez». This Russian-made adsorbent is represented by powder bags containing povidone. This ingredient effectively binds toxic substances and removes them from the body, therefore, Enterodesis is prescribed for infectious diseases, kidney problems, burns and other problems.

For how to take this drug, see the next video.