Isoniazid is an anti-tuberculosis drug that has a detrimental effect on Koch's bacillus, which causes tuberculosis in the human body. The drug does not have a detrimental effect on any other pathogens of infection. The bactericidal property of Isoniazid (written in the instructions for use) is due to the effect of the drug at the intracellular and extracellular levels, especially on those bacilli that multiply rapidly.
Composition and form of release
Isoniazid can be purchased in pharmacies in the form of tablets and a solution that is used for injection. The main substance of the drug is isoniazid. In pharmacies, you can buy tablets of 100, 150, 200 and 300 mg of the active substance in blisters of 10 tablets in cardboard boxes, as well as polymer cans.
In addition, the tablets have additional components: starch, calcium stearic acid, crospovidone, polysorbate.
There is a solution for injection of 10%, the drug in ampoules of 5 ml and in packs of 1 and 10 pieces. 1 ml of the solution contains 100 mg of the basic substance.
When is Isoniazid taken?
Instructions for the use of "Isoniazid" suggests that it is recommended to be taken in the treatment of active tuberculosis in all its forms and at any location. It has been proven in practice that the drug is particularly effective in the acute form and fresh tuberculosis process. It is recommended to be included in complex therapy for tuberculous meningitis, goes well with other drugs that have an anti-tuberculosis effect. In mixed infections, it is combined with broad-spectrum antibacterial drugs and sulfa drugs.
Instructions for the use of Isoniazid and reviews of doctors say that the drug is recommended for prophylactic purposes in order to avoid the development of tuberculosis:
- healthy people who often have to deal with patients with bacillary tuberculosis;
- children and adolescents in whose family there is a person with an active form of nebacillary tuberculosis;
- adolescents and children in contact with patients with bacillary tuberculosis at school or preschool institutions;
- children and adolescents with a positive reaction to tuberculin, if the Mantoux test is more than 5-6 mm, and for children before the age of four more than 10 mm;
- adolescents and children with primary tuberculosis infection;
- adolescents and children who are sick with diabetes and are infected with tuberculosis, as well as those who receive treatment with immunosuppressants and corticosteroids;
- adults who have residual tuberculous changes and receive immunosuppressants;
- HIV-infected patients with immunosuppression;
- breeders who have to deal with animals suffering from tuberculosis.
For any indication, you should not prescribe yourself a drug. This should only be done by a doctor.
How to take the medicine?
Instructions for use of "Isoniazid" tells how to take the drug correctly so that it does not lead to an overdose, but rather, leads to the maximum therapeutic effect from taking it.
Tablets are taken orally, and the solution is administered intramuscularly or intracavernosally. The dose, as well as the course of therapy, is set individually for each patient, it all depends on the form and nature of the pathology, the age of the patient.
It is recommended to take tablets per day as follows:
- adults and adolescents once in a dose of 300 mg, and as a prophylaxis twice in seven days at 15 mg / kg;
- children once 10-20 mg per kilogram of body weight, and for prophylactic purposes twice a week, 20-40 mg / kg.
Intramuscular injection is recommended to be used according to this scheme:
- adolescents and adults once a day at 5 mg / kg or twice a week at 15 mg / kg per day;
- children once at 10-20 mg / kg or three times a week at 20-40 mg / kg for the prevention of the disease.
The daily dose of the drug for oral and intramuscular administration should be about 300 mg.
An intracavernous preparation is administered at 10-15 mg per kg of body weight once a day.
How to take "Isoniazid" to children?
"Isoniazid" for children (instructions for use says this) is recommended for the treatment and prevention of tuberculosis. Dosage is selected individually depending on the severity of the disease.
Children are prescribed a daily dose of up to 15 mg / kg, which are divided into two doses. The dose should not be more than 300 mg per day. The duration of admission is selected by the doctor.
In injections, the drug is prescribed intracavernosally or intramuscularly, 10-15 mg per kg of the body weight of the child is allowed to be administered per day.
Together, vitamin B 6 is prescribed at 10 mg for every 100 mg of Isoniazid in order to reduce the risk of developing undesirable manifestations, although they are rare in children.
If after taking Isoniazid in children (instructions for use and reviews confirm this), nausea, pain in the hypochondrium on the right side, and appetite are reduced, then you should immediately consult a doctor.
Many parents refuse to give their children the drug, citing the fact that they are not sick and they do not need to take the medicine. But you need to remember that tuberculosis in the first two months may not appear or go on in a latent form. "Isoniazid" in this case will help the child's immunity to cope with tuberculosis.
Undesirable manifestations
No matter how effective the Isoniazid preparation is, the manual says that it can cause side effects in patients after taking it. Patients often experience the following symptoms:
- headache and dizziness;
- psychosis;
- sleep disturbances;
- vomiting and nausea;
- hepatitis from taking medications;
- women may experience menorrhagia;
- in the male half there are manifestations of gynecomastia.
Contraindications
The instruction for Isoniazid reports that not all patients are allowed to use the drug. Therefore, before starting treatment, you need to consult with your doctor and carefully read the instructions for use attached to the medicine. Among the contraindications:
- epilepsy;
- previous polio;
- pathologies affecting the nervous system;
- atherosclerosis;
- eczema and psoriasis in the acute phase;
- myxedema;
- bronchial asthma;
- special intolerance to the drug.
Isoniazid during pregnancy and lactation
During the gestation of the baby, taking "Isoniazid" (instructions for use and reviews confirm this) is contraindicated in a dose of more than 10 mg per day per kg of weight. At lower dosages, it must be taken into account that the main substance penetrates the placenta, which will provoke vitamin K hypovitaminosis and disrupt the psychomotor development of the fetus. The drug easily passes into breast milk, therefore, it can cause serious illness in an infant. At the time of taking the drug, breastfeeding should be stopped.
Interaction with other drugs
- Instructions for use with Isoniazid tablets warns that combining it with Paracetamol is prohibited in order to prevent the risk of hepato- and nephrotoxicity.
- Ethanol makes Isoniazid as toxic as possible and increases metabolism.
- Reduces metabolic transformations and increases the amount of Alfentanil in the bloodstream.
- "Cycloserine" and "Disulfiram" increase the undesirable effects after taking the drug.
- Instructions for use of Isoniazid warns that the drug increases the hepatotoxicity of Rifampin.
- With extreme caution, it is necessary to combine it with hepato- and neurotoxic agents, since there is a high degree of danger of enhancing undesirable manifestations.
- Strongly suppresses the metabolism of “Phenytoin”, which leads to its increase in the bloodstream, which means that the toxic effect will increase.
- Antacid drugs slow down absorption and significantly reduce the amount of Isoniazid in the circulatory system.
- If this drug is taken together with Enfluran, the formation of an inorganic fluoride metabolite, which has a nephrotoxic effect, can increase.
- The drug reduces the amount of "Ketoconazole" in the bloodstream.
Special instructions for use
Instructions for use "Isoniazid" (300 mg) warns that alcohol should not be consumed during therapy. It is very important to combine the drug with vitamins B 1 and B 6 , as well as glutamic acid, sodium salt, to ensure good prevention of peripheral neuropathy.
It is very important to observe the maximum intervals between doses of the drug, and after an hour it is still additionally take antacids. During treatment, it is important to follow a diet that should not contain cheese, fatty fish and seafood. If you combine this food and treatment with Isoniazid, then there is chills, fever, itching, palpitations, weakness, sweating, metabolic disorders of histamine and tyramine. To prevent the development of resistance to pathogens, the drug is used in combination with other anti-tuberculosis drugs.
To reduce the risk of unwanted effects, the instructions for use with the drug "Isoniazid" warns that it is better to take it with "Pyridoxine", glutamic acid or "Thiamine." Before starting therapy in patients determine the rate of inactivation by the content in the blood and urine. For patients in whom metabolism is accelerated, the dosage is increased.
Analogues of "Isoniazid"
The main component of the drug is isoniazid. If suddenly for some reason it cannot be prescribed to a patient, then you can find good and effective analogues of Isoniazid. Instructions for use and reviews say that such drugs also give a good result. Among the analogues can be identified such:
- "Protub-2" showed a good effect, but only in the initial stages of the development of pathology. Additionally, rifampicin and pyridoxine hydrochloride are present in its composition.
- "Isoniazid-Ferein" is available in tablet form and as a solution for injection, can be used for prophylactic and therapeutic purposes. If it is taken for a long time, then the risk of developing the resistance of microorganisms to its main component increases.
- "Tubazide" is a synonym for isoniazid, and also has similar properties. Tubazid tablets are used in the treatment of all forms of tuberculosis.
- "Phtisopyram" in the form of tablets contains pyrazinamide, which often provokes neuropathy in patients, but it is enough to add vitamin B 6 to the treatment , and all symptoms quickly go away.
- Rifacomb is a broad-spectrum antibiotic that is used to treat various infections, including tuberculosis. This tool is not resistant to other antibiotics, is well absorbed by the intestines and has a good therapeutic effect.
Preventative methods
Prevention is aimed at protecting the patient from tuberculosis. To conduct it, you need to follow some recommendations:
- Immunization of the population, especially for children, who are most often susceptible to infection, as their immune system is weaker than in adults.
- Timely detection and diagnosis of the disease.
- Clinical examination of patients with tuberculosis.
- After an accurate diagnosis, the patient needs to provide high-quality medical support, diagnosis and therapy with the necessary complex of drugs, which will give a chance to fully recover and live a full life.
- It is possible to better protect low-income and vulnerable groups of the population, this also applies to HIV-infected people from tuberculosis.
- Conduct regular outreach to all segments of the population, especially for schoolchildren and students.
- To help in every possible way to develop more effective drugs and diagnostic methods to protect people from tuberculosis.
Thanks to the early identification of patients with tuberculosis, providing them with all the necessary drugs, it is possible to prevent the rapid spread of infection among the population. In the fight against dangerous diseases, Isoniazid for adults (the instructions for use clearly states this) gives the best results in therapy.
Reviews
According to doctors who have long used Isoniazid in the treatment of tuberculosis patients and monitor their recovery, the drug gives quick and good results. But in order for it to really give the desired result, you need to adhere to small recommendations:
- Do not interrupt the course of treatment, as some forms of tuberculosis are so resistant that the disease can develop with even greater intensity.
- The duration of treatment is selected for each patient individually, depending on the category and form of the disease.
- The doctor must necessarily take the medication to adjust the dosage at the first request and not to miss the relapse.
Isoniazid tablets and ampoules (instructions for use and reviews confirm this) are easily tolerated by patients, only in rare cases causing undesirable manifestations. This medicine helps preventive measures to protect against a dangerous disease for everyone who has to contact patients, for example, medical workers.
Often you can find negative reviews about "Isoniazid". But in fact, when doctors begin to understand why the patient complains about the drug, it turns out that the dosage regimen was not followed or the dose was reduced, since it seemed to the patient that the medicine caused him general malaise.
In order for the drug to give the desired result, to help get rid of the infection, which recently could not be cured at all, you need to thoroughly study the instructions for Isoniazid (reviews of many patients confirm this), follow the scheme exactly and observe the dosage. But, as practice shows, complex therapy gives a more effective result, only it should be selected by a doctor who will take into account the patient's concomitant diseases and prevent the manifestation of side effects.
Tuberculosis is a serious disease that, if untreated, will lead to death, but modern medicines can completely cure the pathology.