Activated carbon - a wonderful drug that has many useful properties. It is an ideal sorbent and filtering means. The quality of coal is divided into wood, stone and coke, and of particles of it is fractional, granular and powdered. Activated carbon is used in filters for purification of air and water from heavy metals pharmaceutical and chemical industries. The pharmacology of activated carbon made from peat, stone, charcoal and other substances of vegetable origin.

How does activated carbon

Of great importance is the porous structure of the activated carbon increases the contact surface. Due to this, the absorption of toxic substances, the retention and output. The activated carbon absorbs lead acetate, strychnine, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), cocaine, many medications (including iodine, penicillin, aspirin, phenobarbital) and inorganic substances (chlorine, lead and mercury). It is capable of adsorbing gases, heavy metals, toxins and poisons and other chemicals to the extent that thousands of times its own weight. Activated charcoal also absorbs intestinal gas and eliminates the unpleasant smell of different types of gases.

Use of activated charcoal

Activated carbon is widely used in medicine, infectious diseases, and diseases involving the processes of putrefaction and fermentation in the gut, poisoning drugs, alkaloids, household, food, and industrial poisons, and other hazardous substances, allergies and diarrhea, flatulence, dyspepsia, asthma Bronchial asthma - the body's response inadequate   and atopic dermatitis Atopic dermatitis - allergic inherited .

If the skin impose a poultice wet powder activated carbon through its permeable membrane and the pores with liquid and microparticles go bacteria and toxins. Activated charcoal attracts them like a magnet!

Healers of ancient Egypt and even the "father of medicine" Hippocrates recommended the charcoal to treat digestive disorders and poisoning. North American Indians used it to treat bloating and skin infections, as well as to relieve inflammation.

Charcoal adsorption of gases has been opened in 1773 by the Swedish chemist Scheele, and the adsorption of substances from solutions using activated carbon - in 1785. Russian chemist Lovitz. From this time the activated carbon Activated carbon - old but indispensable   Steel used as antidotes for binding toxins which have got into the gastrointestinal tract, as well as for adsorption of gases at bloating (flatulence).

In 1981 it was found that the activated carbon reduces the formation of gas after consumption of foods and other legumes, flatulence. It absorbs excess intestinal gas and bacteria, their generators.

Also, activated carbon helps get rid of bad breath Breath (halitosis) - is sometimes useful to close the mouth It has been purified of bacteria, not only the mouth, but the digestive tract. According to some reports, the drug even cleans the blood from harmful substances.

When food poisoning the most important thing - it's timely assistance. And here it is of great importance, as prepared for such assistance to be relatives or acquaintances of the victim, who appeared with him at the time of poisoning.

Food poisoning - What you need to do first

Any food poisoning Food poisoning: how to avoid becoming a victim of its own stomach   - Is getting into the gastrointestinal tract of food, which contains the toxins. It may be foodborne (multiply in food poisoning bacteria and their toxins), botulism (botulinum poison poisoning, most often found in home-canned), poisoning plant or animal poisons. In any case, the body tries to get rid of the poisonous product vomiting (cleaned stomach) and diarrhea (cleanses the intestines).

Therefore, the assistance that should be provided to the affected at this stage - is to remove the poison from the body. With this purpose in the first place to wash the stomach. The sooner this is done, the better, but even a few hours a gastric lavage is not useless, since removed from the body remains of the poison.

It is necessary to give the patient drink plenty of fluids (from a half liter to liters) and induce vomiting by clicking on the root of the tongue. This procedure is not a one-off - you need to wash the stomach to clean water.

For washing, you can use the following solutions at room temperature: soda solution (based soda bread teaspoon per cup of water) or slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate. Permanganic dangerous because the solution can be its undissolved crystal that could cause burns mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract. So potassium permanganate first diluted in a small amount of water in a concentrated solution, and then this solution was added to water intended for the lavage, making sure that there were no crystallites.

Stomach can be washed simply with water, also at room temperature. To enhance the effect of removing toxins from the stomach into a liter of water can be added 10 pounded charcoal tablets or sachet smekty. And activated carbon, and smectite Smecta - necessary in any medicine cabinet Adsorbed on themselves poisons and remove them from the body.

After the stomach is washed prior to pure water to do enema simply with water. But sometimes such intensive washing is insufficient, and the victim continues to lose fluid in the form of vomiting and diarrhea. In this case, you should immediately call an ambulance.

Medical care in cases of poisoning also begins with gastric lavage, this time with a probe - is more reliably remove all the toxins from the stomach. If this does not help, then the patient is sent to the hospital to make up for the loss of fluid and mineral salts with a dropper.

How to restore the gastrointestinal tract after poisoning

After poisoning during the day is better not to consume any food and drink only liquids. It can be boiled water, slabozavarennogo tea without sugar, mineral water without gas, brine (2 incomplete teaspoon of salt per liter of water), rehydron (special saline solution that is prepared from the powder). Drink must first small sips often, every 3 - 5 minutes. Then, if the body contains liquid, the volume can be increased.

The next day, if not vomiting, it is possible to take liquid food - mucous soups, liquid porridge, mashed potatoes diluted with boiling water, not milk. This correction digestive failure and more complete digestion usually prescribed enzymes - mezim, festal. In the future it will be possible to switch to non-concentrated broth, the meat of young animals crushed and steamed in the form of steam cutlets or meatballs, boiled fish, a thick porridge, cottage cheese, jelly, tea. Enzyme preparations usually take for one - two weeks depending on the condition.

In the future to restore the activity of the gastrointestinal tract and the normal intestinal microflora prescribe a course of probiotics - bacteria - the natural inhabitants of the intestine to help digest food, to synthesize certain vitamins and contain the growth of pathogenic microflora, which can cause infectious-inflammatory processes.

These drugs are bifidumbakterin Bifidumbacterin - restores normal intestinal microflora , Probifor, laktobakterin, bifiform Bifiform - Drug Usage , Kolibakterin. Courses of treatment for these drugs are different, take them according to instructions.

When food poisoning is important not only to provide first aid to the patient, and then restore the gastrointestinal tract.

Galina Romanenko