Convulsions are a very unpleasant and painful symptom that may indicate the presence of certain diseases. Most often, people suffering from muscle spasms are diagnosed with epilepsy. Sometimes cramps can be psychosomatic or neurological in nature. In such cases, the attending physician may recommend a drug such as Finlepsin Retard. Instructions for use, the composition and analogues of this tool are of interest to many patients suffering from spasms or muscle cramps. It is about this medication that will be discussed in this article.
At the beginning - the most interesting
It's no secret that Finlepsin Retard is a relatively new drug in the pharmaceutical market. Prior to this, doctors actively prescribed a similar drug with the simple and simple name “Finlepsin”. Why did you suddenly need to create a new drug based on the old one, adding a new little-known word to its name? What is it - a clever marketing move or a really more advanced tool? What is the difference between Finlepsin and Finlepsin Retard?
Surprisingly, but all the differences lie precisely in this unfamiliar word for ordinary inhabitants - “retard”. This term indicates that the drug has a prolonged effect. What does this mean in practice?
The fact is that the medicine that interests us is made in such a way that it is able to release the active component gradually and continuously, over a certain period of time. Due to this, the therapeutic effect of the drug increases. Moreover, its effect on the body becomes longer, since the concentration of the active component remains at the required level for a longer time.
As you can see, Finlepsin Retard is a more advanced drug, but it will not work for some categories of patients because of its prolonged action. Therefore, follow the recommendations of the doctor who will prescribe you exactly the medicine that will be right for you.
Release form
What is this drug? According to the instructions for use, these are tablets of white or light yellow hue, flat, slightly rounded, with slightly sloping edges.
Depending on the amount of active substance, they are produced in a dosage of 200 mg or 400. The instructions to Finlepsin Retard explain in detail what is the main component of the drug and what is its scope.
Details on the composition
According to the instructions for use, Finlepsin Retard contains four hundred milligrams of carbamazepine. This substance is a derivative of dibenzazepine, due to which it has not only antiepileptic effect, but also antidepressant, antidiuretic and even analgesic.
The manufacturer produces tablets, as already mentioned above, and with a lower dosage. According to the reviews and instructions for use “Finlepsin Retard 200 & rdquo; (the amount of active substance is two hundred milligrams) is conveniently used to treat small patients.
What other components are part of the drug of interest to us? According to the instructions for use of Finlepsin Retard (400 mg or 200 mg - the dosage of the active substance is not so important here), the auxiliary components of the drug are, first of all, a copolymer of ethyl acrylate, trimethylammonioethyl methacrylate and methyl methacrylate, triacetin, a copolymer of ethyl acrylate and methacrylic acid, talc, cellulose microc , colloidal silicon dioxide, crospovidone, magnesium stearate.
So, we examined in detail the composition of the drug with a dosage of 400 mg and 200 of the active substance. The instructions for Finlepsin Retard, reviews about the medication and recommendations for its use will be presented below.
Pharmacological features of the drug
The principle of action of the basic substance is based on the blocking of certain sodium channels (voltage-dependent). Due to this, overexcited neurons are stabilized and synaptic impulses are reduced. The release of glutamate (which is an acid with excitatory properties) also decreases and the threshold of so-called convulsive readiness rises. This reduces the risk of an epileptic seizure.
Also, carbamazepine improves the transport of potassium ions and alters calcium channels (voltage-dependent). This principle of action is also beneficial in preventing seizures.
However, it is important to be careful. According to reviews, Finlepsin Retard has an effect in simple and complex focal seizures (which may also be accompanied by secondary generalization), as well as in tonic-clonic generalized seizures. However, the tool is practically ineffective with the so-called small seizures, as well as with absences or myoclonic seizures.
It was also found that carbamazepine has a positive effect on some psychomotor indicators, since the substance can reduce the feeling of anxiety, aggressiveness, irritability and even depressive symptoms.
Pharmacokinetic properties of the drug
After entering the organs of the gastrointestinal tract, the active substance of the drug is absorbed quite slowly. It is clinically proven that eating does not affect the absorption and effects of the drug. If you take one tablet, then the maximum concentration of carbamazepine in the blood will be as much as 32 hours after administration.
The equilibrium plasma concentration will be reached after one to two weeks. This is due to the prolonged action of the drug. The process of digestibility is influenced by many factors, such as the patient’s well-being, age, severity of the disease, additional medication, liver function, and so on.
It is noteworthy that the binding of carbamazepine to plasma proteins depends on the age of the patient. In adults, the level of such interaction reaches seventy to eighty percent, while in children it is about sixty percent.
You should also know that this substance is able to penetrate the placenta and even pass into breast milk.
Carbamazepine is metabolized in an organ such as the liver, but is excreted mainly by the kidneys (almost eighty percent) and feces (twenty percent).
At what ailments is Finlepsin Retard appointed?
Diseases and their treatment
According to the instructions for use, Finlepsin Retard indications are the following ailments:
- Epilepsy. Again, the remedy helps only with simple and complex focal seizures (which can also be accompanied by secondary generalization), as well as with tonic-clonic generalized seizures.
- Neuralgia. For example, idiopathic glossopharyngeal, trigeminal, etc.
- Diabetic neuropathy or damage to the peripheral nerves against diabetes mellitus, accompanied by pain.
- Seizures of various genesis, provoked by multiple sclerosis, paresthesia, paroxysmal dysarthria or ataxia.
- Alcohol withdrawal, complicated by convulsions, anxiety syndrome, sleep disturbances and so on.
- Mental disorders. These include some types of schizophrenia, psychosis, and the like.
How long to wait for the result?
This is a very common question. Many patients would like to drink a miracle pill and get an instant result, but this is not always possible.
As you know, “Finlepsin Retard” has a prolonged effect, therefore, according to reviews, you should not expect a quick result. For example, the anticonvulsant effect of regular use of the drug is achieved after a few days, less often - a few hours. If the trigeminal nerve is affected, the pain syndrome will disappear only after eight hours, in some cases it will be necessary to wait a few days.
Next, we will discuss how to take the drug. The instructions for Finlepsin Retard in 200 mg and 400 mg are identical. Therefore, when deciding what concentration of active ingredient you need, pay attention to the dosage recommended by your doctor.
General recommendations
How to take pills? This can be done during the meal or immediately after the meal. Drink the pills with plenty of fluids. Doctors may recommend dissolving the drug in water (or even in juice). The digestibility of carbamazepine is not affected.
Dosage and dosage regimens
Instructions for use of the medication offer general recommendations regarding its administration. Therefore, for more detailed information, you should consult your doctor. It is he who will prescribe the correct dosage and dosage regimen.
According to the instructions, the maximum dosage of Finlepsin Retard per day should not exceed 1600 milligrams. Most often, doctors prescribe a drug in a dosage of from 400 to 1200 milligrams, divided into one or two doses.
Below we consider general recommendations for the use of the drug for the treatment of a disease.
Epileptic seizures
It is best to take the drug of interest to us as monotherapy. Usually, treatment is started with a minimum dosage, gradually increasing it to the required value in order to achieve the desired therapeutic effect.
If the drug serves as an addition to the existing antiepileptic therapy, then it is also administered gradually, without changing the dosage of essential medicines without need.
What to do if you forgot to take the pill? In this case, you should immediately take a pill, but in no case should you take a double dose of the medication.
So, how to treat epilepsy in adults? Start with a minimum dosage of two to four hundred milligrams, gradually increasing the amount of carbamazepine, until the condition improves. To maintain the result, you need to take Finlepsin Retard at 800-1200 milligrams per day.
For the treatment of epilepsy in young patients, the dosage of the active substance is calculated in accordance with age. For example, therapy should be started with one tablet per day (200 milligrams of carbamazepine). The dosage is gradually increased by one hundred milligrams per day to achieve the necessary therapeutic effect.
Supportive therapy for children from six to ten years is to use 400-600 milligrams per day, divided into two. Older children can take carbamazepine as a maintenance treatment of 600-1000 milligrams per day.
What to do if the effect is achieved and epileptic seizures no longer bother the person? According to the reviews of specialists and patients, it is impossible to stop taking the drug in any case. It is necessary to gradually reduce the dosage of the drug, and then two or three years after the complete disappearance of convulsive seizures.
Neuralgia of various etiologies
In this case, the prescribed dosage will be small. You can start taking the drug with 200-400 milligrams per day. Gradually, the amount of the drug taken can be doubled. Supportive therapy involves taking the drug in a dosage of four hundred milligrams.
Alcohol withdrawal
Therapy for this disease is recommended for use in a hospital. The patient may be prescribed a daily dose of Finlepsin Retard at six hundred milligrams. If necessary, the dosage is doubled. The attending physician may recommend in the morning to take a third of the daily norm of carbamazepine, and in the evening - the rest.
Therapy can be combined with other drugs, with the exception of sleeping pills and sedatives.
Other ailments
To eliminate the seizures caused by multiple sclerosis, Finlepsin Retard is prescribed two hundred or four hundred milligrams per day (twice a day). The same dose is recommended in the treatment of psychoses of various etiologies. In rare cases, it can be doubled.
This treatment regimen is recommended by the manufacturer for the treatment of neuropathy in diabetes mellitus.
Contraindications
First of all, the drug can not be prescribed if the patient has found individual intolerance to one or another component that is part of the product. Also, the medication can not be used for such serious ailments as anemia or leukopenia, atrioventricular block, intermittent porphyria.
Under close medical supervision, the drug can be prescribed to patients suffering from chronic heart failure decompensated species, liver or kidney pathologies, hypothyroidism, hypopituitarism, intraocular pressure, and so on. Elderly people should also take the drug with caution.
Future and lactating mothers
If a woman suffering from seizures of various origins is of childbearing age, then she is prescribed Finlepsin Retard as monotherapy, and then at a minimum dosage. It is clinically proven that when using the drug as the only treatment method, the risk of possible fetal abnormalities is much lower than from the use of combination therapy. Therefore, it is best for such patients to consider options for quality contraceptives to prevent conception while taking Finlepsin Retard.
If pregnancy has occurred, then it is worth reconsidering the use of the medication, since it can cause various abnormalities in the fetus. To reduce the likelihood of developing pathologies in the embryo, future mothers are prescribed folic acid throughout the entire period of gestation, and before the birth, the attending physician prescribes preparations based on vitamin K.
During breastfeeding, this medication is better not to take. If his intake is necessary for health reasons, then it is advisable to transfer the baby to artificial feeding.
Side effects
It is clear that such a strong and serious drug as Finlepsin Retard will have an extensive list of side effects. How can they be expressed?
According to reviews, the most common unpleasant symptoms accompanying the medication are headaches, weakness in the body, dizziness, constant desire to sleep.
Less commonly, involuntary movements such as tics or tremors may disturb the patient. Sometimes people experience side effects such as depression, aggression, loss of appetite, psychosis, muscle weakness, and even paresis.
Also, patients quite often complain of allergic reactions that accompany carbamazepine, such as urticaria or skin rash. “Finlepsin Retard” can have a negative effect on the blood forming organs, provoking the development of leukopenia, eosinophilia, anemia and so on.
Other unpleasant symptoms during treatment with the drug may include nausea and dry mouth, vomiting, diarrhea or constipation, and abdominal pain. In addition, the drug can adversely affect the liver, triggering the development of such serious ailments as pancreatitis, hepatitis and others.
Quite rarely, you can hear complaints of the cardiovascular system during treatment with the drug. Nevertheless, unpleasant symptoms can occur. In this case, they will manifest themselves in arrhythmias, increase or decrease in pressure, aggravation (or even development) of heart failure, thrombophlebitis.
Quite often, taking the drug is accompanied by edema, weight gain, as well as various disorders in various metabolic processes of the body.
What else do patients taking Finlepsin Retard complain about? Very rarely, taking the drug is accompanied by disorders in the genitourinary system, which can lead to nephritis, renal failure, decreased potency, urinary retention, or, conversely, frequent urination.
Sometimes side effects are manifested in impaired taste, tinnitus, and visual impairment.
You should also know that taking the drug is reflected in laboratory blood counts. Therefore, during the treatment process, you must regularly take the necessary tests.
The above symptoms can serve as an indicator of an overdose of the drug. In this case, you need to contact a specialist.
Interaction with different medicines
You should be extremely careful when prescribing the drug in combination with other drugs. It must be borne in mind that substances such as verapamil, fluvoxamine, diltiazem, dextropropoxyphene, desipramine, cimetidine increase the plasma concentration of carbamazepine. The same applies to the known macrolides (clarithromycin, josamycin, erythromycin), azoles (ketoconazole, itraconazole, fluconazole), as well as ritonavir, isoniazid and even grapefruit juice.
On the other hand, the concentration of the active substance is lowered by substances such as phenytoin, doxorubicin, valpromide, oxcarbazepine, phenobarbital, metsuximide and others.
But how does the drug act on other drugs? Finlepsin Retard can reduce the concentration (and hence effectiveness) of substances such as digoxin, midazolam, cyclosporine, levothyroxine, praziquantel, tetracycline, dexamethasone, methadone, theophylline, haloperidol, ethosuximide, as well as oral contraceptives and progesterogens based on ) and some antidepressants (tricyclics).
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According to reviews, the price of Finlepsin Retard (400 mg) is relatively low. For fifty tablets, it will be necessary to lay out about 250-320 rubles. If we are talking about a drug with a lower dosage of two hundred milligrams, then the price will be even less - approximately 180-220 rubles.
Is a recipe for Finlepsin Retard necessary? Yes, the drug is sold in pharmacies only upon presentation of a prescription from the attending physician.
Storage recommendations
The instructions for use advise you to preserve the drug in a dark place protected from children and animals at a temperature of no more than thirty degrees. The shelf life of the packaging is three years from the date of manufacture.
Real reviews
What do patients taking this drug say? Firstly, many speak with gratitude about the manufacturer of the drug, because thanks to the treatment they were able to not only reduce epileptic seizures, but also completely recover from them. According to the recommendations of numerous patients for this effect, Finlepsin Retard should be taken for a very long time (several years) and it must be canceled correctly, according to the schedule prescribed by your doctor.
Many people say they really defeated epilepsy. Moreover, thanks to this drug, young women suffering from seizures were able to give birth to healthy children, taking the medicine under the supervision of a doctor throughout the pregnancy.
There are also a lot of patient reviews that the medication helps with trigeminal neuralgia, as well as with strong mental pathologies associated with mood swings, depression or aggression. And this despite the relatively low price of the drug!
Of course, the drug does not help everyone. Some complain of severe side effects, due to which they had to cancel the course of treatment with Finlepsin Retard. Moreover, for some he did not bring any positive result.
As you can see, everything is very individual, however, as with any other pharmacological preparations. Someone came up with a remedy, but someone caused a storm of negative symptoms and emotions.
So, we figured out how to take Finlepsin Retard tablets. Reviews, instructions for use and other important information about the drug were also presented.