For epilepsy, the appearance of seizures that occur suddenly and rarely is typical. This phenomenon is caused by the appearance in many parts of the brain of a large number of foci of unexpected excitement.
Benzobarbital is a synthetic drug with an anticonvulsant effect. What are the reviews, analogues, doses and instructions for use of "Benzonal"?
Release form
The medication is dispensed from pharmacy points in the form of tablets for oral administration, the capsules are packaged in blisters. In total there are three or five of them in the package, ten tablets in one blister. In addition, tablets are available in bottles of fifty pieces. The current trace element is benzobarbital. According to the instructions for use, Benzonal ointment does not exist.
Pharmacological properties
Benzobarbital is a derivative of barbituric acid, on the basis of which a huge number of anticonvulsant, narcotic and sedative medicines are obtained.
Such a compound has an anticonvulsant, sedative, sedative and analgesic effect, which is due to a combination with barbiturate nerve endings. This increases the effect on the body of a non-proteinogenic amino acid and increases the flow of chlorine through the membrane of neurons, provoking its partial polarization of the nuclear spins of atoms and a decrease in permeability.
Since barbiturates nerve endings are located near the inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors of the central nervous system and benzodiazepines, the active substance enhances the interaction of these compounds with their nerve endings.
In addition, benzobarbital increases the suppression of the central nervous system. The drug refers to drugs that have the ability to prevent the occurrence of seizures in patients with epilepsy, for which hypnotic effects are not characteristic.
The product of the metabolism of the active component is considered phenobarbital, which increases the slowdown processes in the central nervous system, which are associated with gamma-aminobutyric acid. In particular, it affects the visual tubercles and ascending brain stem at the level of intermediate neurons.
An active trace element reduces the transmission of nerve fiber membranes for sodium ions and prevents the propagation of impulses from a source of epileptic activity. The drug begins to work sixty minutes after taking the drug. An active trace element is a transmitter of microsomal strains of the liver and reduces the level of bile pigment in blood plasma.
Pharmacokinetic properties
The active substance is instantly absorbed in the stomach. The maximum concentration of benzobarbital is noted three hours after ingestion. Stable blood levels remain on the third day.
The pharmacological concentration in the blood varies from fifteen to forty milligrams per liter. The active trace element does not connect well with blood proteins, spreads evenly in various organs and tissues.
Benzobarbital persists in elevated concentrations in the kidneys, liver, and also passes through histiocytic barriers and into breast milk.
The substance in the body is instantly processed by microsomal liver strains with the formation of phenobarbital, which has an antiepileptic effect. Its half-life is three to four days, and the component is excreted with urine both unchanged and in the form of metabolic products.
Indications
The drug "Benzonal" is recommended for use in the presence of the following conditions and diseases:
- Chronic neurological disease in humans, which manifests itself in the sudden appearance of convulsive attacks.
- Generalized and partial seizures (can be expressed only in partial seizures, without loss of consciousness).
- Epileptic syndrome (a polyetiologic disease caused by brain damage and characterized by repeated convulsive paroxysms).
Contraindications
The drug has a number of restrictions on the use of:
- Increased sensitivity to the substances that make up the tablets.
- Chronic cardiac pathology.
- Liver disease.
- Adrenal insufficiency.
- Chronic inflammatory damage to the airways involving a variety of cellular elements.
- Thyrotoxicosis (a process that occurs in the human body due to a persistent increase in the number of thyroid hormones).
- Hyperkinesis (excessive violent motor acts that occur in addition to the will of the patient).
- Anemia (decrease in hemoglobin concentration in the blood).
- Porphyria (a congenital disease accompanied by impaired metabolism and hemoglobin structure).
- Diabetes mellitus (endocrine disease due to a lack of the hormone insulin in the body or its low biological activity).
- Depressive conditions (a mental disorder characterized by a deterioration in mood and a loss of ability to experience joy, impaired thinking).
Instructions for use "Benzonal"
Tablets are recommended to be taken as follows:
- Tablets should be consumed three times a day (after eating). Single dosing for adult patients is 0.1 grams, the maximum is 0.3 grams.
- It is forbidden to take more than 0.8 grams of active substance per day.
Children are usually prescribed in the following dosages of Benzonal (according to the instructions for use):
- From three to six years, 0.025-0.05 grams are prescribed once and 0.1-0.15 grams is the maximum dosage.
- Children from seven to ten are prescribed 0.05-0.1 grams at a time. The maximum dosage is 0.15-0.3 grams.
- Adolescents from eleven to fourteen years old should take 0.1 grams per use. The maximum dosage is 0.3-0.4 grams.
- Adolescents over fourteen years of age at a time of 0.15 grams, the maximum daily dosage is 0.45 grams.
In most cases, to obtain a therapeutic effect, it is necessary to conduct a longer continuous therapy, the duration of which is determined by a medical specialist.
Side effects
When taking excessively high dosages of the drug and not observing the regimen of the drug, the following negative points arise:
- Dependence.
- Addictive.
- Drowsiness.
- Lethargy.
- Inhibition.
- Headache.
- A pathological condition that occurs when the smooth muscles of the bronchi are contracted.
- Lowering blood pressure.
- Involuntary oscillating eye movements of high frequency.
- Loss of appetite.
- Anemia.
- Thrombocytopenia (a condition characterized by a decrease in platelet count).
- Thrombophlebitis (a disease characterized by an inflammatory process in the vein wall with a blood clot in its lumen).
- Slowing down mental reactions.
- Ataxia (partial or complete loss of coordination of voluntary muscle movements).
- Allergic reactions.
Overdose
Symptoms of this phenomenon are:
- Visual impairment.
- Dysarthria (a violation of pronunciation due to a violation of the innervation of the speech apparatus resulting from damage to the nervous system).
- Inhibition of the respiratory center.
- Pulmonary edema.
- A sharp decrease in blood pressure.
- Hemorrhages in places of pressure.
- Cyanosis (cyanotic coloration of the skin and mucous membranes).
- Impaired kidney function.
- Bradycardia (decreased heart rate).
- Migraine.
Chronic drug poisoning is expressed in confusion, irritability, problems falling asleep, and a decrease in the ability to critically evaluate what is happening.
In case of an overdose of the drug, it is necessary to wash the stomach, take activated charcoal, as well as complex and resuscitation treatment, which is aimed at regenerating and maintaining the normal functioning of the liver, kidneys, nervous and respiratory systems.
Features
It must be remembered that Benzonal increases the effect of narcotic analgesics, as well as drugs for general anesthesia, sleeping pills, ethanol, and antidepressants.
In addition, the medicine reduces the effect of tetracyclines, vitamin D, paracetamol, glucocorticosteroids, cardiac glycosides. If the patient used other barbiturates before treatment, the patient may experience sleep loss.
In this case, as a rule, from fifty to one hundred milligrams of phenobarbital or other sleeping pills are prescribed. "Benzonal" has an impact on the ability to drive a car and complex mechanisms. During therapy, patients experience a poor rate of psychomotor reactions. It is necessary to refrain from complex work that requires increased attention and an immediate response. About how much the drug costs, of course, is not mentioned in the instructions for use. Reviews to "Benzonal" call the price of the drug this - 160 rubles.
The use of the drug during pregnancy and breastfeeding
Since the active substance passes through the placenta and into breast milk, it is not used during pregnancy and lactation. According to the instructions for use, Benzonal increases the effect on the body of sleeping pills, narcotic analgesics, ethyl alcohol, antipsychotics, tranquilizers, antidepressants. With the simultaneous use of a medication with paracetamol, anticoagulants, tetracyclines, glucocorticosteroids, the effect of using the latter decreases.
Generics
According to the spectrum of exposure analogues of "Benzonal" are:
- "Hexamidine."
- Tegretol.
- Primidon.
- Lamictal.
- "Hexamidine."
- "Phenobarbital."
- Primidon.
Hexamidine
The drug is an anticonvulsant and poorly sleeping pill. The drug is produced in the form of cylindrical, white tablets, with a risk.
"Hexamidine" is used for essential trembling and epilepsy of various origins, which are manifested by convulsive seizures. In addition, the medication is recommended for use in myoclonic, focal seizures, but in this situation it is practically ineffective. The drug is also prescribed as part of complex anticonvulsant therapy.
The cessation of administration or the replacement of a medication with another medicine is carried out gradually, since with a long course of therapy, dependence may occur.
Phenobarbital
Refers to antiepileptic drugs. Reviews of the drug indicate that "Phenobarbital" significantly increases the protective function of the liver and is often used to combat various toxic effects on the body.
Based on the reviews of Phenobarbital, small doses of the drug have a sedative effect, so the drug is often used in complex treatment with other medicines in the treatment of neurovegetative disorders.
Storage conditions
The drug is dispensed from the pharmacy strictly according to the prescription of a medical specialist. Shelf life is four years, it is recommended to store the drug at temperatures up to twenty-five degrees.
Opinions
Reviews about "Benzonal" and analogues, the instructions for the use of which were described above, are somewhat controversial. Some people like this drug, because it is inexpensive and effective, while others have to abandon its use due to negative side effects.
In most cases, patients immediately report such signs that arise during therapy, for example: nausea, speech disorders, irritability.
Many patients to whom the medication is suitable are satisfied with the result of treatment and have been using it for many years.
So, we reviewed the reviews and instructions for use with Benzonal and its analogues. The price of drugs, as the responses indicate, on average varies from 150 to 600 rubles, so you can choose something suitable for your financial capabilities without much difficulty.