In the article, we consider the instructions and contraindications for Bromhexine. It acts as a popular remedy that helps to get rid of cough well. The medicine is always in the pharmacy and the price is not too high. Let us further consider in detail the instructions for using this drug. What is Bromhexine prescribed from?
Composition and form of release
The main active ingredient is bromhexine hydrochloride. Initially, a prototype of it was obtained from a special medicinal plant adatode. It has a special substance, vasicin, which has the property of diluting sputum well. Scientists synthesized its chemical analog, which was subsequently called bromhexine. The release form of the medication is tablets. One pill contains 8 milligrams of the same substance along with auxiliary components. This is lactose monohydrate (i.e. milk sugar) in combination with corn or potato starch, gelatin, magnesium stearate and silicon dioxide.
The composition of Bromhexine Berlin Chemi is described in detail in the instructions.
Lactose is required for the correction of taste, smell and color, which is especially important for children. It provides density, so that the tablet does not crumble. In addition, it protects the medicine from moisture. Starch is used as a binder, and gelatin to give the outer shell. Magnesium stearate with silicon dioxide is also used in the manufacturing process. For example, the first is needed for lubrication, and the second is used to prevent clumping.
By the way, the plant form of adatode is still used in oriental medicine as an anti-inflammatory, immunomodulating, antiemetic and expectorant.
What cough does Bromhexine use?
The tool is used in the presence of wet cough with difficult to separate sputum. Doctors prescribe Bromhexine for various types of bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, tuberculosis, pneumonia, bronchiectasis, emphysema, pneumoconiosis. The medication is prescribed as an independent tool or as part of a comprehensive treatment, including in order to facilitate the course of chronic diseases.
So, from what does Bromhexine help?
Indications
Assign Bromhexine for secretolytic treatment in acute chronic bronchopulmonary disease with impaired production and transport of sputum. Namely, with tracheobronchitis, acute and chronic bronchitis, emphysema.
Pharmacology
The drug "Bromhexine" acts as a mucolytic (thinning sputum) medicine, which has an expectorant and, at the same time, weak antitussive effect. The drug helps to reduce the viscosity of sputum (depolymerizing mucopolysaccharide and mucoprotein fibers, increasing the serous component of the bronchial secretion). Thanks to him, sputum volume increases. To a large extent, this medicine facilitates its passage by improving mucociliary clearance (promotion of the mucous secretion by ciliated cells).
Acting as a diluent, the examiner promotes the rapid removal of sputum from the bronchi, improving the rate of external respiration. In addition, it increases the amount of surfactant (a surface active substance that lines the alveoli from the inside), increases production in the lung cells, and also prevents its decay.
The effect, as a rule, manifests itself after five days from the start of treatment. When ingested, it is almost completely, 90 percent, absorbed from the digestive system within thirty minutes. Communication with plasma proteins is eighty percent. It can penetrate the placental, blood-brain barriers, excreted in breast milk.
In the liver, it is able to undergo oxidation and demethylation, metabolizing to ambroxol. The half-life is fifteen hours (due to reverse slow tissue diffusion). The medicine is excreted by the kidneys in the form of metabolites. As part of repeated use, it is able to accumulate.
Drug efficacy
The medicine has the following actions:
- help in diluting sputum, thereby reducing its viscosity;
- promotes good coughing;
- prevents the accumulation of sputum in the bronchi;
- reduces the frequency and intensity of coughing;
- stimulates the secretion of surfactant.
What is surfactant? It is a substance that lines the airways and lungs from the inside. It protects the body from bacteria, protecting the immune system and promoting the absorption of oxygen. Against the background of disease, it can be damaged. It is worth noting that surfactant is almost entirely composed of fat. In order to help the body recover, you need to abandon a fat-free diet at least for the duration of therapy and recovery (fourteen days after the cough disappears).
Instructions for use for children
We will find out at what age Bromhexine is prescribed.
The drug is recommended to be taken in the morning, evening and afternoon. Before or after eating food - it does not matter at all. Dosage depends on age:
- Babies under two years old are not assigned.
- From two to four, 2 milligrams is prescribed, and from four to eight, 4 mg each.
- From six to ten years, 6 mg is prescribed.
- Over ten years old and adults are prescribed 8 milligrams.
This is confirmed by the instructions for use for Bromhexine for children.
For adults
Depending on the manufacturer, one pill may contain a different amount of active substance. In most cases, Bromhexine for adults contains 8 milligrams per tablet. As part of the reception, you must follow the instructions or prescription of the doctor. The maximum allowable dose is 60 milligrams per day. A tangible effect, as a rule, occurs on the fourth day of admission.
It is necessary to try to drink more liquid, due to this the effect of Bromhexine will increase, and sputum, in turn, will liquefy much faster.
It is required to take the considered tablets inside, washing them down only with still water. Other drinks may react with the described pharmaceutical drug, destroying it or provoking certain side effects.
Pregnancy
It is undesirable to take this remedy when bearing a fetus. First, the doctor will suggest a more gentle therapy. Only in exceptional cases is Bromhexin nevertheless appointed, after weighing all the pros and cons and deciding that there is no other way. The logic of the decision is as follows: if the expectant mother does not accept this drug, then the child will suffer more from her illness than from this medicine.
True, this does not mean that harm will be done. There is such a risk, but subject to strict adherence to the doctor’s recommendations, it is minimized. It also happens that the manufacturer has insufficient statistics on the use of the drug by pregnant women. Then a note about the inappropriateness of the reception is made in order to just be safe.
At the same time, a particular attending physician may have extensive experience in treating with this medicine, so do not panic at all if a person has been given such an appointment. You just need to discuss your doubts with the doctor.
Compatibility with other medicines
Bromhexine has poor compatibility with codeine-containing drugs (be it Codelac along with Nurofen or Terpincode, and so on). The simultaneous use of these funds makes it difficult to exit pathogenic secretions. The active substances of the described medication are destroyed under the influence of alkaline solutions. Taking this medicine, you can not perform the following actions simultaneously:
- Gargle with a solution of soda.
- To put alkaline droppers (using the preparations "Lactosol" or "Trisamine").
- Use a mineral water or alkaline drink (we are talking about recipes of traditional medicine, according to which water with the addition of soda is used to treat cough and stomach).
Contraindications "Bromhexine"
This tool is not used or is used with extreme caution, that is, under the supervision of a doctor, in the presence of such conditions:
- The development of bronchial asthma.
- The appearance of an exacerbation of a stomach ulcer.
- The occurrence of gastric bleeding (even if there were a long time).
- The simultaneous use of "Codeine" or alkaline drugs.
- Pregnancy and lactation factor.
- The development of diabetes (due to lactose in the composition).
- The appearance of kidney failure (the drug is excreted through this organ and can accumulate during its diseases).
- The occurrence of individual intolerance and age up to two years.
Contraindications "Bromhexine" should be strictly observed.
Side effects
Against the background of the use of the described drug, some side effects are possible. This may be, for example, a headache along with slight dizziness, excessive sweating, an allergic skin rash, heartburn, indigestion, gas, heaviness in the abdomen. Less common is nausea combined with vomiting, fever and chills.
In the event that these effects occur with self-treatment, it is necessary to immediately stop taking. If a medicine is prescribed by a doctor, then you should immediately contact him for a second consultation in order to replace this drug.
Overdose
The consequences of an overdose of Bromhexine, which would be life-threatening, are unknown today. But the following symptoms are not excluded, which can be expressed in the form of frequent vomiting, diarrhea (loose or too frequent stools), pain in the pancreas.
As part of the treatment, overdoses are washed in the stomach using a probe. And when there is no such possibility, they artificially induce vomiting in the first hours after the use of the tablets in question. Due to the high degree of binding to blood proteins and the large volume of distribution, refusal of the drug during hemodialysis or forced diuresis, as a rule, does not occur.
Storage
This drug should be stored in its original packaging with the obligatory observance of temperature conditions. In this case, low humidity is also important along with the absence of direct exposure to rays. The maximum shelf life of the pills is indicated on the package (usually it is about three years). The medication should not be used after the expiration date.
We examined the main contraindications of Bromhexine and a brief instruction to it.