Activated carbon

Activated carbon is a preparation of coal, an intestinal adsorbent.

[1], [2], [3]

Indications of the activated carbon

Indications for use

• The medication is used as a detoxification agent for exogenous and endogenous toxicoses of various origins.
• Also, activated charcoal is used as part of complex therapy for food poisoning, salmonellosis, dysentery.
• Used for poisoning with drugs that are classified as psychotropic, hypnotic, narcotic drugs, alkaloids, salts of heavy metals and other poisons.
• It is used for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, which cause symptoms of dyspepsia and flatulence.
• It is indicated for food and drug allergies.
• Used for hyperbilirubinemia, which occurs against the background of viral hepatitis and other types of jaundice.
• It is used for hyperaemia, which appears due to renal failure.
• It is indicated for use in order to reduce the symptoms of gas formation in the intestine with ultrasound and radiological studies. 

[4], [5]

Release form

Activated carbon is produced in the form of black tablets, having a flat-cylindrical shape and risk, with a slightly rough surface. Each tablet has a weight of two hundred and fifty milligrams and contains an active substance - activated carbon - two hundred and fifty milligrams, as well as an auxiliary substance - potato starch - forty-seven milligrams.

Activated carbon is packaged in ten tablets in a contour non-jaw paper package, which has a polyethylene coating. Each of these packages is placed several times in a group pack of cardboard and supplied with a leaflet with instructions.

[6], [7]

Pharmacodynamics

The drug has an adsorbing effect. In the gastrointestinal tract, activated carbon is able to bind and remove from the body toxic substances of endogenous and exogenous origin, having a different nature. These substances also include different types of microbes and microbial toxins, food allergens, drugs, poisons, alkaloids, salts of heavy metals and gases.

[8], [9]

Pharmacokinetics

The medication does not have the ability to be absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract when administered orally. The approximate duration of the activated charcoal in the digestive system before it leaves the body is about twenty-five hours. The drug is not metabolized in the gastrointestinal tract and unchanged is removed from the body with feces.

[10], [11], [12], [13]

Dosing and administration

Activated carbon is used in the form of whole tablets. It can also be used, pre-chopped, in the form of a suspension in water. In this case, the amount of the medicine needs to be crushed in half a glass of water.

Tablets for abdominal pain are used one hour before meals or any medications. The dosage of the drug for adults is one tablet for every ten kilograms of the patient's weight. The maximum single dose can be eight grams. Activated charcoal is used three or four times a day.

Children from six years old receive activated carbon from the calculation of fifty milligrams per kilogram of the patient's weight three times a day. The maximum single dose of the drug can be up to two hundred milligrams per kilogram of the body weight of the patient.

The course of treatment for acute diseases is from three to five days. With allergic manifestations and chronic diseases, the duration of treatment with the drug can last up to fourteen days.

[16]

Use of the activated carbon during pregnancy

Activated charcoal is not absorbed into the body and does not enter the systemic bloodstream. Therefore, its use is indicated in pregnancy and in the lactation period.

Contraindications

• Presence of an individual drug intolerance.
• The existing stomach ulcer and duodenal ulcer in the stage of exacerbation.
• Presence in the anamnesis of ulcerative colitis.
• Existing hemorrhages from the gastrointestinal tract.
• The onset of atony of the intestine.
• The patient's age is up to six years. 

[14]

Side effects of the activated carbon

• The appearance of constipation or diarrhea.
• Long-term use of activated charcoal (over two weeks) can lead to impaired absorption of calcium and vitamins.
• When using tablets, the feces turn to a dark color.

[15]

Overdose

In case of overdose with these pills from pain in the abdomen, symptoms of nausea and vomiting, as well as constipation, may appear.

In this case, the use of the medicine is canceled and laxatives are prescribed.

[17], [18], [19], [20],

Interactions with other drugs

The medication reduces the effectiveness of all medicines that have been taken with it simultaneously. Activated carbon leads to an increased rate of elimination of drugs that differ in the long half-life, namely, carbamazepine, phenobarbital, diphenylsulfone. The use of the inside of the medication leads to an increase in the clearance of digoxin fivefold.

[21], [22]

Storage conditions

Activated charcoal - the drug is kept out of reach for children at an ambient temperature of no higher than 25 degrees Celsius.

[23]

Shelf life

Activated carbon is stored for 24 months from the date of production.

[24], [25]