Charcoal

Charcoal Uses, Dosage, Side Effects, Food Interaction and all others data.

Activated charcoal, also known as activated carbon, is a medication used to treat poisonings that occurred by mouth. To be effective it must be used within a short time of the poisoning occurring, typically an hour. It does not work for poisonings by cyanide, corrosive agents, iron, lithium, alcohols, or malathion. It may be taken by mouth or given by a nasogastric tube. Other uses include inside hemoperfusion machines.

Active charcoal binds the poison and prevents its absorption by the gastrointestinal tract. In cases of suspected poisoning, medical personnel administer activated carbon on the scene or at a hospital's emergency department. In rare situations, it may also be used in a hemoperfusion system to remove toxins from the blood stream of poisoned patients. Activated carbon has become the treatment of choice for many poisonings, and other decontamination methods such as ipecac-induced emesis or stomach pumping are now used rarely. It interrupts the enterohepatic and enteroenteric circulation of some drugs/toxins and their metabolites.

Activated charcoal is used as a gastric decontamination agent in emergency clinical settings in case of poison or medication overdose. Studies show that early administration of one dose of activated charcoal can adsorb poison in the stomach and reduce absorption while it also works long after ingestion, by interruption of enterohepatic and enterovascular cycling of poison.

Charcoal
Uses
Dosage
Side Effect
Precautions
Interactions
Uses during Pregnancy
Uses during Breastfeeding
Accute Overdose
Food Interaction
Half Life
Volume of Distribution
Clearance
Interaction With other Medicine
Contradiction
Storage

Trade Name	Charcoal
Generic	Activated Charcoal
Activated Charcoal Other Names	Activated carbon, Carbo activates, Carbo activatus, Carbo vegetabilis, Carbon, Carbón activado, Carbon, Activated, Carbon, decolorizing, carbono, Charcoal activated, Charcoal-activated, Charcoal, Activated, Charcoal,activated, Medicinal carbon, Medicinal charcoal
Weight	200mg, 260mg, 250mg, 25g, 15g, 25g, 30g, 50g
Type	Oral capsule, oral delayed release tablet, oral granule for reconstitution, oral suspension
Formula	C
Weight	Average: 12.011 Monoisotopic: 12.0
Groups	Approved
Therapeutic Class	Anti-diarrhoeal, Antidote preparations
Manufacturer
Available Country	United States
Last Updated:	September 19, 2023 at 7:00 am

Uses

Diarrhoea & poisoning due to foods, heavy meals & drugs. Flatulence due to diet & other factors.

Charcoal is also used to associated treatment for these conditions: Abdominal Cramping, Aerophagy, Bloating, Constipation, Delayed Transit Time, Flatulence, Belching, Meteorism

How Charcoal works

Active charcoal acts by binding to the pharmaceutical drugs or poisons such as organophosphates and decreasing the systemic absorption of toxic agents. Molecules with large volume of distribution, thus likely having higher lipid solubility, tends to bind have better absorptive binding to activated charcoal. Following the administration of activated charcoal, cathartics are indicated to evacuate the charcoal-poison bonded complex from the gastrointestinal tract. Activated charcoal may also have an effect on systemic drug levels by lowering the serum levels of already absorbed drugs or toxins. Many absorbed drugs that undergo significant hepatic metabolism and conjugation are eliminated via bile into the small intestines. When they reach the small intestines, drug conjugates can undergo hydrolysis and return to the enterohepatic circulation. Activated charcoal interferes with this process and binds to the conjugated drug before hydrolysis or the free deconjugated drug before reabsorption.

Dosage

Charcoal dosage

Diarrhoea:

Adult: 2-4 tab tds-qds.
Children: ½ adult dose.

Poisoning:

Adult: 2-4 tab/kg body weight
children: 3-4 tab/kg body weight

Flatulence:

Adult: Disintegrate 1-2 tab. Repeat every 2 hr.

Side Effects

As most undesirable effects are based on post-marketing spontaneous reporting, precise frequency estimation is not possible. No adverse reactions to Ultracarbon are known to occur if taken in the recommended dosage to treat the diarrhoea. After very high doses as those taken in intoxications, constipation and intestinal obstruction (mechanical ileus) may occur in individual cases; this can be prevented by administering saline laxatives (eg, sodium sulfate). As medicinal charcoal is excreted in unchanged form, the stools turn black (discoloured faeces) after intake of Ultracarbon tablets.

Toxicity

Adverse effects from the treatment include aspiration into the lungs and possibly pneumonitis, black stools, vomiting, and constipation or diarrhea. The oral LD50 value in rats is 15400mg/kg.

Precaution

Several poisons and drugs require different or additional measures. Medicinal charcoal is not effective in intoxications with organic and inorganic salts as well as solvents eg, for instance, lithium, thallium, cyanide, iron salts, methanol, ethanol and ethylene glycol. Different measures are in these cases indicated to eliminate the poison (eg, gastric lavage).

In many intoxications, a specific antidote must be administered additionally to medicinal charcoal (eg, acetylcysteine in paracetamol poisoning).

To avoid aspiration in unconscious patients, a physician should administer the suspension of Ultracarbon tablets in water by gastric tube.

In patients undergoing multiple dose, activated charcoal therapy after intoxication, gastrointestinal sounds should be monitored frequently to assess peristaltic action.

Ultracarbon should not be used in cases of poisoning with pesticides.

Interaction

Ultracarbon should not be administered together with other drugs because their efficacy can be reduced.

Food Interaction

Take with or without food. Give a higher dose of activated charcoal if it is administered after a large meal.

Elimination Route

No evidence of systemic absorption of activated charcoal

Elimination Route

Fecal excretion.

Contraindication

Febrile diarrhoea. Medicinal charcoal should not be taken in the case of intoxication with corrosive substances (strong acids and alkalis) as this would complicate diagnostic measures eg, oesophagoscopy and gastroscopy.

Acute Overdose

Activated charcoal is well tolerated and due to its lack of toxicity, overdose requiring treatment is unlikely. Should symptoms of overdose like constipation and intestinal obstruction (mechanical ileus) occur, a saline laxative may be administered to enhance the elimination of Ultracarbon tablets.