Suspension "Helmintoks" for children: instructions for use

For the treatment of worm infestation in a child often prescribe such a drug as Gelmintoks. Especially for young children, it is released in the form of a suspension. When and why is it used in childhood and how to dose such medicine?

Gelmintoks in suspension is represented by a homogeneous liquid, which has a characteristic aroma and a light yellow tint. When stored in solution, a precipitate appears, but stirring helps to return the suspension with ease.

The suspension is sold in brown glass bottles of 15 ml. Attached to it is a spoon containing 2.5 ml of the drug. The drug is also produced in coated tablets, presented in two dosages.

Providing antihelminthic ingredient of the suspension ingredient is pyrantel. It is contained in an amount of 5 grams in 100 ml of the medicine, and in a dose of 50 mg in 1 ml. To keep the product liquid, homogeneous, long-term stored and smell good, it was added crystallized sorbitol, soy lecithin, povidone, polysorbate 80, glycerol, sodium benzoate, sodium aluminum silicate, purified water, citric acid, silicone emulsion, caramel flavoring and black currant.

Pyrantel in the composition of the drug affects the helminths sensitive to it (pinworms, hookworms, roundworm), resulting in the parasites develop neuromuscular blockade. This leads to the expulsion of worms from the body, both immature and mature.

The drug is almost not absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract, and approximately 93% of its active compound is excreted with unchanged feces. The remaining amount of pyrantel partially changes in the liver cells and leaves the patient's body with urine.

The reason to appoint a suspension are helminthiasis caused by parasites that are sensitive to pyrantel. The drug is in demand for enterobiasis and ankilostomidosis, as well as for ascariasis.

Treatment with pyrantel can be carried out at any age, but it is necessary to administer Gelmintoks suspension to babies up to 6 months very carefully. You can take medicine for such babies only after a doctor's prescription. In addition, in the annotation to the suspension noted that This form is intended for babies who weigh more than 12 kilograms. The tablet form is prescribed from the age of 6 (125 mg tablets of Pyrantel).

The drug is not prescribed if:

• The child has an increased sensitivity to pyrantel or any other ingredient of the suspension.
• The child has liver failure.
• A small patient was diagnosed with myasthenia.

Suspension can adversely affect the gastrointestinal tract of the child, which is manifested by painful sensations in the abdomen, loss of appetite, nausea, dilution of the chair, vomiting. Also, medication may lead to allergies, headaches, fatigue and drowsiness, dizziness, hearing impairment, insomnia.

In addition, the liver enzyme activity may increase for some time in the child taking the drug. In rare cases, the drug provokes confusion, fever, hallucinations, or paresthesia.

• Shake the medicine before use.
• Suspension is taken orally at any time of the day. It is not necessary to drink such a drug on an empty stomach.
• The measuring spoon contains 125 mg of pyrantel.
• When infected with ascaris and pinworms, the medicine is given once, calculating the dose by patient weight. One kilogram of body weight requires 12.5 mg of active substance, therefore for every 10 kg of weight, one measuring spoon of suspension is needed.
• To prevent repeated enterobiasis or ascariasis, the medicine can be taken in the same dose 3 weeks after the first use.
• When infected with ankilostomy in an endemic zone or a serious invasion, the dosage of Pyrantel per 1 kg of baby weight per day rises to 25 mg. The drug give 2-3 days, with the entire dose can be offered to the baby once or divided into 2 doses.
• If the hookworm proceeds easily and outside the endemic zone, the dosage will be 12.5 mg / kg per dose.

Do not simultaneously treat a child with Helmintox and preparations containing piperazine or levamisole. When administered with theophylline, its concentration in the blood increases.

This medicine, like other anthelmintic drugs, sold in pharmacies by prescription only. On average, the price of one bottle of suspension is 130 rubles.

It is necessary to keep the suspension at home in a place where the direct rays of the sun do not fall and small children cannot reach. The optimal storage temperature is up to + 25 ° С, and the shelf life of the drug is 3 years.

The use of the suspension in a child with helminthiasis mothers are mostly satisfied. They like that the drug should be drunk only once, and the effect of the drug is very high. The disadvantages include the presence in the composition of flavoring and preservatives, as well as frequent side effects (many babies have weakness, nausea, poor appetite and other symptoms of intoxication).

You can replace the drug with another anthelmintic drug in the form of a suspension (Pirantel, Nemozol) or tablets (Dekaris, Vormin, Nemozol, Vermox, Pyrantel). At the same time to select the analogue should consult a doctor, because each of the drugs for worms has its own age restrictions and contraindications.

From the transfer of the popular pediatric doctor E.O. Komarovsky you can learn all about helminths and how to deal with them.