Pirantel 250 anti-worm tablets for adults: instructions for use

Pharmacological properties of the drug Pirantel

Broad-spectrum anthelmintic agent. Pharmacodynamics. Pyrantel pamoate is an anticholinesterase agent. The depolarizing effect of pyrantel disrupts synaptic transmission in the body of helminths (at first it strengthens it, then inhibits it), leads to the development of neuromuscular blockade and, as a result, to spastic paralysis of the muscles of helminths, facilitating their excretion in feces. It acts on both mature and immature helminths sensitive to the drug; it does not affect larvae in the migration stage. Pharmacokinetics. Practically not absorbed in the digestive tract (less than 3.5%). After a single dose of the drug at a dose of 10 mg/kg body weight, the concentration of Pyrantel in the blood plasma is insignificant - from 0.05 to 0.13 mg/ml for 1–3 hours. After absorption into the blood system, it is partially metabolized in the liver. The main metabolite is 1-3-propanediamine, about 1.2–4.6% of which is excreted in the urine. More than 93% of pyrantel is excreted unchanged in the feces.

How does it work?

The main effect of Pirantel is to block the neuromuscular functions of helminths, which leads to their paralysis.

The drug works in this way:

1. When the active substance enters the body, the helminths cannot continue to develop because they become paralyzed.
2. They are then eliminated from the body.
3. This process does not have a bad effect on human health.
4. Side effects occur very rarely.
5. That is why this drug is prescribed to young children.

The only drawback is the need to repeat the course of treatment, for the following reasons:

1. Because it is impossible to destroy adult helminths and their larvae in one go.
2. Moreover, worms lay a large number of eggs per day.
3. They turn into larvae after a few weeks.
4. Therefore, treatment is repeated after 2-3 weeks.
5. Only then will the use of Pirantel be effective.

The main substance is poorly absorbed in the digestive organs. More than half is excreted unchanged in the feces. This drug is unlike other anthelmintic drugs. It is practically non-toxic. In addition, it comes in the form of a suspension that can easily be given to children.

Use of the drug Pirantel

Prescribed orally in 1 dose at any time of the day; There is no need to fast or take laxatives before using Pyrantel. For enterobiasis and a combination of enterobiasis with ascariasis in adults and children, the drug is prescribed simultaneously at a dose of 10 mg/kg body weight or according to the following scheme:

In severe forms of the disease, a double dose is prescribed - 20 mg/kg per day in 1-2 doses for 2-3 days. To prevent autoinvasion, it is recommended to re-administer pyrantel after 3 weeks at a dose of 10 mg/kg body weight. For isolated ascariasis - 5 mg/kg per day at once. For hookworm, necatoriasis, combination of necatoriasis with ascariasis or other combined helminth infestations, the drug is used at a dose of 10 mg/kg per day for 3 days or 20 mg/kg per day for 2 days. For children under 3 years of age, the drug is prescribed in the form of a suspension for oral use.

How to take Pyrantel tablets for adults right away No colds

Worms are one of the most common problems of humanity. Parasites lurk at every turn, so the problem can affect any of us.

According to studies around the world, about a quarter of the population are carriers of one or another type of helminth.

Therefore, if we are not able to completely eliminate the risk of helminthiasis, we must understand how to deal with this unpleasant disease.

An effective anthelmintic drug Pirantel

On the pharmaceutical market, the choice of drugs to get rid of helminths is incredibly large. Various medications help remove certain types of helminths. Among the entire list, Pirantel is considered one of the most famous drugs.

The drug is available in several forms:

1. Suspension - in this form, Pirantel is recommended to be given to children. The medicine has a sweetish aroma and unobtrusive taste.
2. 250 mg tablets, coated. In this form, the medicine is intended for adults.

The drug is considered effective against necatoriasis, ascariasis, and enterobiasis. The active ingredients of the drug in any form help to paralyze the protozoa that have infected the body, as a result of which they are effectively eliminated naturally, since they are not able to cling to the walls of the stomach.

How to take Pirantel - choose medications in tablets and suspensions

The dosage of the drug in the form of a suspension is usually calculated according to the person’s body weight. There should be 10 mg of active ingredient per 1 kilogram.

Calculating the dose is simple - 5 mg in a measuring cap has 250 grams of active substance. So for 10 kg of weight you will need 4 tiny caps. But modern doctors use a similar scheme for severe cases of worm infection.

In other cases, 1-2 caps are enough for children, depending on age.

It's just as easy with pills. One tablet contains exactly as much active ingredient as a 5 mg cap.

But in case of a mild form of infection, it is better to take Pirantel tablets correctly according to the following recommendations:

1. Adults up to 75 kg are recommended to take three tablets at a time or three caps of suspension.
2. Adults who weigh more than 75 kilograms need to take four tablets or four caps.

Taking Pirantel is not tied to the time of day. You can take the drug at any time. But it is better to take medications during or immediately after meals. It is recommended to chew the tablets well and drink enough water.

How many days should adults take Pirantel?

The course of treatment depends on what form of helminthic infestation has affected the body:

• When diagnosing roundworms or pinworms, the drug is taken once. Moreover, it is imperative that the whole family be treated, since this type of helminthiasis can be transmitted without problems.
• If ascariasis is detected, after the first dose, the drug is taken again 20 days later. The dosage does not change. This eliminates the possibility of re-infection.
• For hookworm, the course of treatment is three days. The dose does not change.
• Necatoriasis and some other types of helminthic infestation require a doubling of the usual dose, and the course of treatment is two days instead of one.

In addition to the rules of administration and dosage, you must adhere to the rules of personal hygiene and eat only clean foods. It is not recommended for adults to drink Pyrantel tablets along with laxatives; they can reduce the effectiveness of Pyrantel on parasites.

Taking Pirantel and negative consequences

Taking an anthelmintic in tablets or suspension generally does not cause side effects.

But some negative manifestations may be noted:

• Problems with stool.
• Temperature increase.
• Rash.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Renal failure due to intolerance to the active substance of the drug in humans.

Such manifestations are rare. Since Pyrantel almost does not enter the blood from the gastrointestinal tract, its administration is easily tolerated.

This makes the anthelmintic drug an effective treatment for helminthiasis in children, pregnant women and nursing mothers.

True, the latter are advised to stop breastfeeding for the duration of treatment so that the active substance does not enter the baby’s body with mother’s milk.

Special instructions for the use of the drug Pirantel

Before using Pirantel, no special preparation or use of laxatives is required. The tablets must be chewed thoroughly before swallowing. In case of enterobiasis, simultaneous treatment of all persons living together is carried out. To achieve an effect in the treatment of enterobiasis, strict adherence to the rules of personal hygiene is necessary, especially for children, as well as repeated administration of pyrantel after 3 weeks. After completion of the course of treatment, a control examination of the stool is carried out for the presence of helminth eggs. Pregnancy and breastfeeding Experimental studies have not revealed a teratogenic effect of Pirantel, but caution must be exercised when prescribing the drug during pregnancy. Since the drug is practically not absorbed and is not excreted into breast milk, there is no need to stop breastfeeding while using the drug.

Action of the medicine

Pyrantel is active against roundworms (nematodes). The most common ones are:

• roundworms;
• pinworms;
• whipworms that enter the intestines with poor-quality food.

The action of the drug paralyzes adult and immature worms of both sexes, preventing their movement and reproduction. Immobilized parasites leave the body naturally through bowel movements: taking additional medication with a laxative effect is not required.

Pyrantel does not have the ability to neutralize helminth larvae and does not destroy egg laying. Due to this feature of the drug, after a course of treatment, the instructions for use recommend deworming again. This will make it possible to eliminate the remaining helminth larvae already in the phase of puberty.

Frequent anthelmintic courses are not recommended. The maximum content of the drug in the patient’s blood is reached three hours after administration.

Bibliography

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Brucellosis. Parasites. Link
• Corbel MJ Parasitic diseases // World Health Organization. Link
• Young EJ Best matches for intestinal parasites // Clinical Infectious Diseases. — 1995. Vol. 21. - P. 283-290. Link
• Yushchuk N.D., Vengerov Yu.A. Infectious diseases: textbook. — 2nd edition. - M.: Medicine, 2003. - 544 p.
• Prevalence of parasitic diseases among the population, 2009 / Kokolova L. M., Reshetnikov A. D., Platonov T. A., Verkhovtseva L. A.
• Helminths of domestic carnivores of the Voronezh region, 2011 / Nikulin P. I., Romashov B. V.

An article for patients with a doctor-diagnosed disease. Does not replace a doctor's appointment and cannot be used for self-diagnosis.

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Additional Information

After treatment with this drug, worms may not leave the body intact. There are problems that may occur that are not listed in the instructions for use.

Therefore, before starting treatment, it is worth considering the following information:

• If treatment with Pirantel did not bring the desired result, then the reason for this is improper use.
• Because of this, the person incorrectly calculated the required dosage.
• There may also be an option that the medicine was used for other purposes.
• First of all, a person must make sure that there are helminths in his body.
• Pyrantel is not used for prophylactic purposes.
• It differs significantly from other anthelmintic drugs. It does not kill worms, but paralyzes them. This is a very important advantage.

After using Pirantel, a person can see fragments of adult helminths in the stool. This suggests that they are digested and excreted naturally.

In such cases, you should not panic, as this indicates the effectiveness of the drug. It is confirmed that worms lived in the human intestines for a long time.

If a person is sure that treatment with this drug did not bring the desired result, then he should check several points:

• the presence of worms in the body;
• correct application;
• determination of dosage.

If everything is correct, then you need to choose another anthelmintic drug. Better yet, contact a parasitologist.

There are analogues that can be used in such cases. For example: Pirantel-Vishva, Vormil, Helmintox, Nemozol. If Nemozol is prescribed for children, then reviews from mothers can be read here.

Side effects

Like any drug, Pirantel has side effects. But they happen very rarely. In this case, it is necessary to stop treatment immediately.

Among them are:

• Nausea (rarely accompanied by vomiting), diarrhea, abdominal cramps, decreased appetite, frequent urge to defecate.
• Headaches, dizziness, lack of sleep, lethargy, increased fatigue, drowsiness.
• Very rarely - hearing loss, hallucinations, clouding of consciousness.
• Skin rash, hives, itching.
• Fever.

The instructions for use contain detailed information and should be read before use. If a person experiences adverse reactions during treatment, they should immediately inform their doctor. Most often, in such cases, treatment is stopped and another drug is prescribed.

Side effects of Pirantel: pain, nausea, fever

Pyrantel, along with albendazole and mebendazole, is one of the three most widely used anthelmintic drugs. The proven effectiveness and extremely low price of Pyrantel for many people become reasons to drink this remedy not only as prescribed by a doctor, but also on a regular basis as a preventive measure.

But is such a tactic reasonable in relation to a drug that is associated with cases of leukemia (blood cancer) in children, not to mention two dozen not so serious side effects? Let's look at what exactly is the toxicity of Pirantel, what consequences its use entails, what to do if side effects occur, and what people's reviews say about this anthelmintic.

Harm of the drug

Like all chemical anthelmintics, Pirantel is harmful not only to parasites, but also to their hosts, which manifests itself in a whole bunch of side effects.

The most common of them, according to the observations of doctors and reviews of patients, are digestive problems: nausea, sometimes turning into vomiting; sharp stomach pain and pain in the lower abdomen; temporary disturbances in the sense of smell and taste; elevated temperature, which can last a long time - up to several days. Less common are allergic reactions (the appearance of a profuse red rash on the face) and central nervous system disorders (dizziness, insomnia and severe fatigue for several days).

Although, in comparison with albendazole and mebendazole (which can cause dangerous blood diseases such as neutropenia, thrombocytopenia and leukopenia), pyrantel was recognized as a gentle anthelmintic, it should be taken with precise dosage. Thus, a three-day course of treatment for hookworm is designed specifically for the gradual destruction of parasites. Exceeding the dose of the drug will provoke the immediate death of most of the helminths, which will cause severe poisoning of the body.

Cases of death of animals have been described after incorrect calculation of the dose of an antiparasitic agent: death not due to the action of the substance, but rather due to severe intoxication with the destruction products of worms.

The full list of side effects is as follows:

• migraine;
• sleep disturbance;
• increased fatigue;
• dizziness;
• paresthesia;
• decreased hearing acuity;
• confusion;
• hallucinations;
• anorexia;
• nausea;
• vomit;
• stomach pain;
• diarrhea;
• increased activity of transaminases in the liver;
• skin itching;
• exanthema;
• hives.

The rarest and at the same time the most dangerous consequence of taking Pirantel is the development of leukemia.

The toxicity of the substance forces doctors to be extremely careful when prescribing Pirantel to pregnant women. For children under six months of age and in parallel with breastfeeding, this drug is never used.

What to do if side effects occur

Treatment in this case is symptomatic - i.e. depends on the body’s specific reactions to Pirantel.

The most universal remedy is enterosorbents - drugs that absorb toxic substances (in this case from the death of helminths) in the gastrointestinal tract. They are taken for nausea, vomiting, and fever after Pirantel. These include:

• Activated carbon;
• diosmectite (Smecta);
• Polysorb
• Enterosgel
• kaolin, etc.

If headaches occur and you cannot simply wait them out, you can take analgesics based on paracetamol and caffeine: '

• Solpadeine;
• Caffetin;
• Migrenol, etc.

Insomnia that occurs after taking Pirantel can be eliminated with such over-the-counter and relatively safe sleeping pills as:

• Melaxen;
• Donormil;
• Novo-Passit;
• Corvalol.

Intoxication of the body with decay products of killed parasites deserves special mention. If there is no effect from conventional enterosobrents, the doctor may prescribe a suitable detoxifying agent. This symptom indicates a strong infestation, and in order to avoid further poisoning, it is better to continue the treatment course with natural plant-based antiparasitic agents.

Reviews about the drug

Although in most cases treatment with Pyrantel is very “painless”, severe infestations and individual reactions of the body can cause unpredictable and long-lasting consequences. This is exactly what the following reviews collected on the Internet demonstrate.

Edward: “I found pinworms in the stool, it seems. I didn’t go to the doctors, I decided to take Pirantel myself. The next day after taking it, for some reason the itching in the anus intensified, and in addition, it became worse: I felt nauseous, the temperature rose to 37.2 and is still there.”

Anna: “Three cats live at home, so I decided to worm myself just in case. I bought Pirantel and after taking it I realized how good it was that I didn’t give it to cats. At first I felt hot and sweaty, but soon it stopped.

Then the right side of my body became swollen, and now my stomach hurts. It's like there's a tug in the lower abdomen. Shortness of breath began. It's the second week, the abdominal pain is still there. I do not know what to do. And the pharmacy assured that there were no drugs safer than Pirantel.

I’m afraid to think what side effects others have.”

Valentina: “The pediatrician prescribed Pirantel for my son after an analysis revealed ascariasis and enterobiasis in the child. I gave the child half a tablet. The day passed as usual. The next evening, my son’s temperature rose and lasted for a long time, until the morning.

The child hardly slept, drank water every half hour, and began vomiting in the morning. The next analysis did not find worm eggs in the stool. Conclusion: the remedy is effective, but for those who value their health, it is better to be treated under the supervision of a doctor.

Poorly suited for prevention."

Pyrantel is a relatively mild anthelmintic, but it is not without the toxicity inherent in such drugs. The unpredictability of the consequences forces the use of Pirantel only as prescribed by a parasitologist and only after detection of real helminthiasis.

Source: https://gelmintov.net/lekarstva/pobochnye-dejstviya-pirantela.html

Contraindications

Pyrantel has virtually no contraindications. It is one of the safe anthelmintic drugs.

But treatment with its help is impossible in the following cases:

• In case of hypersensitivity to the main substance - pyrantel, as well as auxiliary components.
• Liver failure.
• During lactation.

Pregnant women should refrain from treatment in the first trimester of pregnancy. Then you need to consider how necessary treatment with Pirantel is.