Smecta powder is used for vomiting, nausea, and stool disturbance (diarrhea). Is the drug safe for children and pregnant women, what is the daily dosage, can side effects follow? About this and much more in the main content of the article.
Material Content:
The composition (active substance) of the drug
Probably there is no such person who at least once on himself did not feel gastric and intestinal disorders. The causes of such problems can be not only overeating, but poisoning, viruses. In any cases, sorbent preparations will help. This is a group of medications that have an adsorbing effect (absorb toxic substances and pathogenic organisms, excrete naturally). “Smecta” is a sorbent.
The composition of the drug is simple to indecent, its active ingredient is dioctahedral smectite, otherwise - diosmectite. What it is?
Diosmectite is a mixture of aluminum and magnesium silicates. Their special structure allows enveloping viruses, microbes and toxins, carefully removing them without harming the body. By the way, "Smecta" is indicated in the treatment of intestinal flu (rotovirus infection), when other drugs are simply impossible to use due to copious vomiting.
What else contains Smecta?
Only excipients, these are:
- glucose monohydrate;
- flavorings - vanilla and orange;
- sodium saccharin.
Attention! The product contains sucrose! "Smecta" displays only pathogenic substances, but does not affect the content of vitamins and other useful substances in the human body!
As for the effect on the stomach, the drug only benefits. Smecta envelops the walls of the gastrointestinal tract, which prevents further trauma to small foreign particles, toxins and microbes by the acidic environment of the stomach. Injured areas are covered with the same protective layer, which reduces pain, prevents the further development of the disease, internal bleeding.
The drug does not enter the bloodstream, therefore it does not accumulate in the body, it is a completely safe substance for both adults and children, for pregnant and lactating women.
Indications for use with nausea
Enterosorbent is dispensed in any pharmacy without a prescription.
It is applied when:
- food poisoning;
- alcohol and toxic poisoning;
- help in relieving hangover;
- infections caused by bacteria;
- infections of unknown origin;
- pain in the digestive tract;
- colic;
- digestive disorders: colitis, gastritis and ulcer, cholecystitis and so on;
- with nausea and vomiting of unknown origin;
diarrhea.
Despite the fact that Smecta is dispensed without a prescription, it can harm if used improperly! Therefore, before using the powder, you need to consult a doctor. It is advisable to call a specialist at home, if it is not possible, then you can take medicine so that you can get to the hospital.
Smecta is available in powder form and is packaged in sachets. There is an annotation in the box, but some pharmacies offer to buy the drug individually, and there is no instruction for use in such cases. It happens that the annotation is simply lost at the most inopportune moment, and people do not know how to breed the sorbent.
Instructions for use for adults
Smecta should be taken on an empty stomach - before meals or in between (2 hours before, and at least 2 hours after) between meals. Of course, such a scheme is good when a diet is not prescribed. There are times when it is better to take the powder after a meal, for example, with heartburn.
Read also: causes heartburn
- Adults need to dilute a bag in half a glass of warm water. You can use milk, juice, tea and other non-alcoholic and non-carbonated drinks.
- With profuse vomiting, for example, during a rotovirus infection, you need to take 3 sachets three times a day.
- If vomiting is single, then one application should be enough.
- With diarrhea, you can drink up to 6 packets per day.
Method of administration and dosage for children
Enterosorbent is good because it is applicable not only to adults and adolescents, but also to the smallest patients, even newborns! When a child vomits, Smecta is diluted with water, juice, milk, milk, breast milk and other non-carbonated drinks, and baby food.
Application:
- Dilute the sachet in a 50 ml liquid.
- Children under the age of one year should give a teaspoon. Dosage - a sachet per day.
- Older than a year, but less than two years old, 1-2 sachets per day are shown (the method of administration is also 1-2 teaspoons).
- From two years, you can give up to three sachets per day.
At any age, when taking Smecta it is indicated to drink more fluid, this will help prevent dehydration of the body.
During pregnancy and lactation
Expectant mothers and women who breastfeed are contraindicated in many drugs. But what if tormented by heartburn, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea? Smecta will help!
The drug is completely safe for both mothers and their babies - future ones, or already born! Smecta does not enter the milk, as it is not absorbed into the body, but acts only in the digestive tract. Even if the drug got into milk, he would not have brought any troubles to the baby.
As for the dosage, it is exactly the same as for all adults! The only thing is not to take the sorbent for more than three days in a row.
Contraindications, side effects and overdose
The first thing to remember, Smecta is a sorbent that removes from the body all the excess that it finds.This “junk” may include antibacterial drugs taken for treatment. Smecta can reduce the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment, so you can take the powder 2 or 2 hours after taking other drugs.
Enterosorbent has few contraindications:
- intestinal obstruction;
- frequent constipation;
- intolerance to the components of the sorbent.
Side effects:
- constipation - rarely happens, only in people with a tendency to constipation or with an overdose of sorbent;
- an allergic reaction to the components of the drug.
As for overdose, in such a situation there can only be constipation. The fact is that the described drug slightly weakens intestinal motility, and in case of an overdose it will be difficult to empty it. If this happened, then the reception of "Smecta" will need to be completed.
In any case, with problems with the gastrointestinal tract, if they occur with an "enviable" frequency, you need to contact a gastroenterologist. Constantly taking sorbents is not a normal state of affairs. You need to get a doctor’s consultation, undergo an examination, receive appropriate treatment! Health to you!
