How to use activated charcoal for vomiting in a child? This is a common question. We will understand it in more detail.
This drug can be considered one of the most popular drugs available in a home medicine cabinet in almost every family. It is used for various diseases of the digestive system, as well as to cleanse the body. Many consider this tool effective and safe. However, is this really so and is it possible to give activated carbon when vomiting a child? How does it affect the children's body? How to treat small patients?
Vomiting in a child is most often associated with poisoning or a viral infection (rotavirus). For the treatment of these pathologies, various sorbents are used, the group of which also includes activated carbon.
Release form and composition
Activated carbon is produced by many domestic companies, so the abbreviation of the manufacturer is always indicated on the package. All products under this name are the same tablet preparation containing activated carbon as the main substance. Its amount in one tablet, as a rule, is 250 mg (500 mg for certain manufacturers), and talc and potato starch act as additional ingredients of this medicine. The tablets have a round shape, black color, slightly rough surface. Often packaged in blisters or paper packaging of 10 pieces. In pharmacies, they are dispensed with 1 blister, and boxes of 20 or more, together with an annotation for use.
Mechanism of action. Why is activated carbon recommended for vomiting?
The drug refers to absorbent drugs, since it has the ability to absorb various toxic substances. This is due to the significant surface activity of these tablets. The medicine is made from raw materials containing carbon, coconut shells, wood, lignite, peat and so on.
Initially, the raw material is placed in a special chamber, where oxygen does not enter, and is exposed to very high temperatures. In order for the tablet to have many pores, due to which it has high absorbency, an activation process is additionally applied, which involves the steam treatment of coal or exposure to it with certain substances when heated. As a result of these processes, a porous composition is formed.
Many parents are wondering if it is possible to give activated charcoal when vomiting a child?
When a substance enters the digestive system, it prevents the absorption of various toxic compounds, medications (hypnotics, sulfonamides, glycosides), alkaloids, phenol derivatives, metal salts and others into the bloodstream. It is this action of activated carbon that helps to eliminate the symptoms of drug overdose and all kinds of poisoning. Nevertheless, this medication does not absorb salts of iron, alkali and acid poorly, and also can not cope with poisoning with methanol, ethylene glycol and cyanides.
In addition to a variety of toxins and medicines, activated carbon tablets can absorb gases, while not irritating the mucous membranes. The medication is not absorbed or modified in the body, but is excreted through the digestive tract during the day in its original form.
In order to maximize its effect, it is necessary to take activated carbon during vomiting in the first hours from the onset of poisoning or the occurrence of negative symptoms.
Indications for use by children
This medication is used to treat children with a variety of problems in the digestive system. The medicine is effective for vomiting, diarrhea, bloating and other dyspeptic manifestations. Activated carbon is used in the following pathological conditions in a child:
- flatulence;
- foodborne infections;
- viral hepatitis;
- bacterial diarrhea;
- rotavirus infection;
- Salmonella infection
- dysentery;
- gastritis;
- functional diarrhea;
- excessive formation of hydrochloric acid in the stomach.
Activated charcoal helps with vomiting quite quickly.
In case of poisoning
Another of the most common indications for the use of this medicine in children is poisoning, which is accompanied by vomiting and stool disorders. The drug is often prescribed for exceeding doses of various medical devices and for heavy metal poisoning. Many experts also prescribe activated carbon for allergic reactions in children, in order to remove allergens from the body as soon as possible. The medication is used for atopic dermatitis, urticaria and other allergic pathologies.
These pills are considered equally effective in case of a burn disease in children, as well as with an increase in the level of nitrogen and bilirubin in the blood, which can be observed with chronic renal failure, as well as with liver diseases. With these pathologies, activated carbon will help to remove excess bilirubin and other toxins from the body.
A medication can also be prescribed for children who have an x-ray or endoscopic examination. In this case, the task of using the drug "Activated Carbon" is to reduce gas formation in the intestine.
Can vomiting give the child activated charcoal and at what age?
At what age is the medicine allowed?
It is permissible to use the drug for children from birth, that is, this medicine can be prescribed by a doctor as an infant or a one-year-old child, or an older baby. However, in the first years of life, this tool is used exclusively for the purpose of a specialist in acute pathologies, for example, in case of poisoning. It is not recommended to give activated charcoal for vomiting and diarrhea to small children without the appointment of a specialist.
Contraindications
Activated carbon is considered to be a harmless and safe drug, but even it has certain contraindications. Although their list is small, it applies primarily to children. So, treatment with this sorbent is prohibited for erosive lesions of the digestive organs, as well as for intestinal or stomach bleeding. In addition, the drug is not used in case of hypersensitivity, which, although extremely rare, is found in some children. Activated charcoal should not be given for vomiting in children with intestinal atony.
Side effects
Feces of a child after taking this medication usually becomes black, but this should not scare parents, since a change in the color of feces is not associated with the harmful effects of coal on the child's body. In some children, this medication can provoke constipation or, conversely, thinning the stool, as well as dyspepsia. If you give activated charcoal to children for a long period of time, this can adversely affect the absorption of calcium, vitamins, protein and other beneficial substances.
Dosage and administration
The tablets must be swallowed and washed down with water. For children who have not yet learned how to use them correctly, it is recommended to grind activated carbon in a spoon until a homogeneous mass is obtained. A little water is added to it, and this suspension is given to the child. It is not recommended to combine the intake of Activated Carbon medicine and food, since the medication works best if you take it 1-2 hours before or after the child eats.
The dosage of the medication for each child must be calculated by weight. As a rule, with acute diarrhea and vomiting, 50 mg of coal per kilogram of body weight of the child is recommended. For example, when symptoms of an intestinal disease appeared in a 4-year-old child weighing 20 kg, then he needs 4 tablets of activated charcoal at a time.
In case of poisoning, this drug should be given to children after washing the stomach in high dosages. The maximum amount of coal is 0.2 grams per 1 kilogram of patient weight. For example, a dangerous condition is observed in a 3-year-old baby who weighs 17.5 kg. The maximum dosage for it will be 3.5 grams of active substance, which is equal to 14 tablets of the drug.
When vomiting in a child, activated charcoal can be crushed and dissolved in water to make it more convenient to take.
Duration of use
The duration of use of this medication depends on the cause of the pathological condition in children. For example, if a child has poisoning, a medication is taken several days before normalization of health. With rotavirus infection, salmonellosis or other intestinal infections, specialists often prescribe medication for 2-3 days. With flatulence - from 3 to 7 days.
In certain cases, longer therapy is required, however, giving activated charcoal to children is not recommended for longer than 14 days.
Overdose
If the recommended dosage is exceeded in children, the following pathological signs may occur: nausea, general weakness, severe diarrhea, headache, or vomiting. Since the medication is not absorbed, in this situation, symptomatic agents can be used until the child's condition returns to normal.
An overdose of activated carbon threatens the body with the loss of beneficial substances - potassium and calcium, which is extremely dangerous for the heart and blood vessels, and also threatens the development of dysbiosis and a decrease in immunity.
Can activated carbon with vomiting be combined with other agents?
Drug interaction
Due to the strong adsorbing effect, the activated charcoal drug is not recommended for children to be given simultaneously with other medicines, as this reduces their absorption, which leads to a weaker therapeutic effect.
For this reason, the intake of sorbent and other medication should be carried out with an interval of two hours.
Now it’s clear how to give your child activated charcoal when vomiting.
Analogues of the drug
Instead of activated carbon, you can give your child other medications with the same substance, for example, Sorbex or Carbopect preparations, which are released in capsules. In addition, there is a medication in which alumina is added to activated carbon to increase effectiveness. It is a powder for Enterumin suspensions. For children, it is prescribed for various indications, for example, with hepatitis, intestinal infections or allergic reactions.
In addition to activated carbon preparations, a specialist can recommend enterosorbents containing other active substances, for example:
- “Polysorb MP” - removes toxins and pathogenic compounds due to colloidal silicon dioxide. It is made in the form of a powder for suspensions and is applied to children of any age for poisoning, diarrhea, renal failure, etc.
- Smecta is a medicine containing aluminosilicate (a natural component) and is available in powders with the scent of orange or vanilla. The drug is prescribed for children in the treatment of antibiotics, food allergies, vomiting, abdominal pain.
- Enterosgel is a sorbent that acts due to polymethylsiloxane polyhydrate and is produced in the form of a gel. The drug binds harmful substances without damaging the digestive tract. It is in demand for hepatitis, dysbiosis, intestinal infection and other problems.
- Polyphepan is an enterosorbent that contains hydrolysis lignin obtained from the processing of conifers. Effective for poisoning, burns, food allergies, asthma and other diseases. It can be used at any age.
It is recommended that you study the instructions for activated carbon in advance. With vomiting for children, such a drug will help almost immediately.
Reviews
This medication has long existed in the pharmacological market and is known to almost all parents. It is used in children with vomiting, nausea, with intestinal infections and flatulence. Many parents prefer this medicine because it is a time-tested drug. Others use more modern enterosorbents and explain this by the fact that activated carbon is produced in tablets, which not every child agrees to take. Many children have difficulty swallowing the drug in this dosage form, so sorbents in gels or suspensions are prescribed for them. Another negative factor: at one time, the child needs to drink several tablets at once, with which certain difficulties are also observed.
In general, the reviews contain a lot of information about the effectiveness of activated carbon for vomiting in a child, and it is used quite often.