Viral diseases are quite common in winter. However, these ailments are not always banal colds. We can talk about intestinal infections, and herpetic pathologies. Most often, in such difficult cases, the drug "Arbidol" is prescribed. Reviews of doctors and specialists are almost unanimous - this medication will get rid of the viral infection of both adults and children.
Is it really so? Let's figure it out and get acquainted with real reviews about Arbidol. Instructions for the use of tablets and other forms of drug release will also be presented in this article.
What is this drug? What are its contraindications and side effects? All this can be found in the information below. Analogues of "Arbidol" will also be described. Feedback from patients and specialists will help determine whether to trust this remedy or is it better to choose another medicine.
The most important thing is the release forms
It is this factor that indicates for which category of patients the drug is intended - for adults or for children. Instructions for use "Arbidol" and reviews about thisthe drug is unanimous - it is best to use a suspension for the treatment of babies. However, before use, it must be prepared independently. How to do this will be discussed below. According to reviews, the instructions for use for the children's "Arbidol" describe in detail the algorithm for preparing a sweet medicinal syrup.
So, what is this form of release of the drug? This is a white granular powder, the weight of which is strictly regulated by the annotation to the drug - 37 grams. The powder is inside a glass bottle, the capacity of which is 125 milliliters. On the wall of the bottle there is a mark that indicates a certain level - one hundred milliliters. This is written in the instructions for the children's "Arbidol". According to reviews, the suspension has a white color with a yellow or cream tint. Its pleasant fruity aroma and rather sweet aftertaste make the drug suitable for use by young children. In this, reviews of Arbidol syrup are almost unanimous.
And what about the main form of release of the drug? Most often it is used to treat adults. According to reviews, "Arbidol" in tablets and capsules can be given to children from the age of six. Does this information confirm the instructions for use? We will learn about this a little later. However, first, let's pay enough attention to the composition of the drug, especially its active ingredient.
Medication active ingredient
Regardless of the form of release, the active ingredient of the drug is monohydrate hydrochlorideumifenovir. This is a complex chemical developed by scientists in the Soviet Union. According to numerous data, experts' opinions about Arbidol are contradictory.
Medication intrigue
According to some information, it is not fully understood how umifenovir affects the human body. Moreover, according to various sources, the drug itself has not been subjected to the necessary clinical trials that would confirm its effectiveness and safety.
However, in this matter, information about the drug is also contradictory. Officially confirmed that the necessary studies were carried out. Moreover, the remedy is considered an important and necessary drug for life, therefore it is actively used in the treatment of viral diseases not only in the CIS countries, but also in China.
As mentioned above, the drug comes in three forms. You can learn about each of them from the information provided below.
Capsule ingredients
This form of the drug is available in two dosages - fifty and one hundred milligrams of the active substance. Capsules are painted in two colors - white and yellow, each of them contains a mixture of granules and powder of light yellow shades.
Auxiliary substances are potato starch (about thirty milligrams), microcrystalline cellulose (a little more than 55 milligrams), colloidal silicon dioxide and calcium stearate (two milligrams each), povidone (almost ten milligrams).
What does the capsule shell consist of? This is very important to know, especially for peopleprone to allergies. The composition of the hard shell quinoline dye, gelatin, titanium dioxide. Acetic acid, methyl parahydroxybenzoate, and propyl parahydroxybenzoate may also be added.
Composition of tablets
This form of the drug is also available in a dosage of fifty and one hundred milligrams of umifenovir. The tablets are round, biconvex and white (with a slight yellowish or greenish tinge).
Additional ingredients are titanium dioxide, macrogol 4000, potato starch, hypromellose, croscarmellose sodium, povidone, microcrystalline cellulose, polysorbate 80 and calcium stearate.
Composition of suspension
It is clear that many parents are most interested in what is included in Arbidol for children. According to reviews, the product has a pleasant taste and aroma, so kids use it with virtually no problems. However, isn't it harmful? Judge for yourself.
The dosage of umifenovir in five milliliters of ready-made syrup is 25 milligrams. Additional components are sucrose, silicon dioxide, sucralose, sodium chloride, m altodextrin, starch, flavors and sodium benzoate. Such information is contained in the instructions for the children's "Arbidol". Manufacturers' reviews of the product assure parents that it is effective for treating young patients. However, there is a condition - the drug should be taken only as prescribed by the attending physician in accordance with the instructions for use.
So wegot acquainted with the release form of "Arbidol". Information will be provided below regarding the pharmacological features of the main component of the drug.
Impact on diseases
What effect does the active substance have when it enters the human body? Since "Arbidol" is an antiviral agent, it is able to suppress viruses that cause diseases such as influenza, SARS and others. First of all, these are the causative agents of influenza B and A, as well as rhinovirus, coronavirus, adenovirus, and so on. This information is contained in the instructions for Arbidol. Reviews about the drug will be presented below.
The antiviral effect is achieved due to the fact that umifenovir binds to special pathogen proteins called hemagglutinins, thereby preventing the virus from merging with the cells of the human body. As a result of this fusion, the inflammatory process manifests itself. However, thanks to Arbidol, the interaction between the virus and cellular structures does not occur. The pathogen simply circulates through the circulatory system, and after some time it dies.
However, these are not all the pharmacological properties of Arbidol. Reviews of doctors indicate another feature of the drug. It is able to stimulate the body's immune system, thereby increasing its protective function. This is due to the fact that umifenovir activates phagocytosis and promotes the accelerated production of interferon protein, which is known to be responsible for the development of immune responses and the destruction of harmful microorganisms.
Reviews about “Arbidol” (tablets, capsulesand suspensions) are rather controversial regarding its pharmacological effects on the body. According to some sources, the drug does not reduce the duration of the disease. However, a number of studies prove that umifenovir can not only reduce symptoms and prevent the development of complications, but also shorten the recovery period and even prevent the development of a viral infection, if the drug is used in the early stages of the inflammatory process.
It is also necessary to mention one more feature of the drug - it is able to have a detoxifying effect due to blocking the process of damage that viruses have on he althy cells. Due to this, the decay products that have arisen at the site of damaged cells are significantly reduced in quantity.
Pharmacokinetic properties of the drug
Umifenovir is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream from the gastrointestinal tract. Within an hour and a half, its maximum plasma concentration is reached. Thanks to this, the substance is actively distributed throughout the tissues and cells of the body, achieving a fairly rapid effect.
Umifenovir breaks down in the liver. Its half-life is twenty hours. Most of the drug is excreted through the bile and very little through the kidneys. During the first day after the start of taking the medication, ninety percent of its active substance leaves the body.
Under what ailments is the use of “Arbidol” justified? Feedback from patients and specialists will help us identify a specific list of diseases,for which this antiviral drug is being used.
In what cases is the remedy prescribed
What are the indications for the use of the drug? First of all, the drug is prescribed as a prophylaxis for influenza, as well as SARS. However, to achieve the effect, it is necessary to start taking the remedy as early as possible, preferably before the first symptoms of the disease appear. This is confirmed by numerous reviews of patients who managed to prevent the disease due to timely antiviral therapy.
Also, the drug is used for the complex speech of rotavirus (or acute intestinal infections). In combination with other medicines, it can be taken to treat pneumonia, bronchitis, herpes.
It is also important that "Arbidol" is prescribed for prophylactic purposes after surgical interventions, to prevent possible infections.
How to use the drug to achieve maximum effect? Instructions for use "Arbidol" explains that the dosage depends primarily on the form of the disease and the age of the patient.
How adults are treated
First, let's talk about how to help adult patients overcome various ailments with the help of medication. Most often, for the treatment of patients older than twelve years, a dosage of "Arbidol" of 100 mg is used. Reviews show that it is better to use a suspension for the treatment of children from two to twelve years old.
So, how to take the drug according to the instructions? For more precise recommendations regarding the schedule of intake and dosage, it is better to contact yourthe attending physician, who, based on the clinical picture, will be able to prescribe the most accurate treatment regimen.
However, general information about the use of the drug can be found by carefully studying the annotation to the remedy.
According to the manufacturer's recommendations, Arbidol should be taken as a preventive measure depending on the situation. For example, with regular contact with a patient suffering from influenza or respiratory diseases, the drug should be taken once a day for two hundred milligrams (that is, two tablets with a dosage of one hundred milligrams). The course of preventive therapy is two weeks. If we are talking about intermittent contact with people infected with a viral infection, for example, during a massive epidemic of acute respiratory infections or influenza, you should use the same amount of medication once a day. However, this should not be done every day, but after two on the third. The duration of the drug is three weeks. The same scheme should be used to prevent the development of bronchitis and herpetic infection.
If we are talking about preventing the development of a postoperative infection, then the attending physician may prescribe "Arbidol" in the amount of two hundred milligrams two days before the proposed intervention, and also two and five days after the manipulation.
And what about the treatment of adult patients and adolescents from twelve years old? For mild flu, acute respiratory infections or acute respiratory viral infections, you must take two hundred milligrams of umifenovir every six hours (that is, four times a day). The duration of therapy is notless than five days.
With bronchitis, pneumonia, laryngitis and other viral infections of a cold nature, treatment should be carried out according to the above scheme. However, on the sixth day, the drug is not canceled, but simply the number of doses decreases. From now on, two hundred milligrams of Arbidol should be taken once every seven days and so on for four weeks.
If the patient is concerned about the development of chronic bronchitis or a herpes infection, then the first seven days it will be necessary to take the drug at two hundred milligrams every six hours. Then the same dosage should be taken once a day every two days. The duration of the course will be four weeks. Treatment with "Arbidol" in this case should be complex.
In the acute course of rotavirus infection in the intestine, the medication is taken according to the scheme corresponding to the treatment of mild influenza and SARS.
Little patients and tablet formulations
It has already been mentioned above that for the treatment of children under twelve years of age, Arbidol in suspension is best suited. Reviews indicate that liquid medicine is easier for babies to swallow than its solid tablet counterpart.
And yet, children from six to twelve years old can take Arbidol in capsules or tablets. What dosage should be followed in this case? Everything depends on the disease. The attending physician will prescribe for your child the best treatment regimen that would suit him in all respects. Instructions for usemedication contains only general information regarding the treatment of children.
So, as a preventive measure for influenza or acute respiratory infections, when a child is in close contact with a sick person, one hundred milligrams of Arbidol is prescribed once a day for two weeks. As a prevention of respiratory ailments during mass epidemics, as well as in order to prevent the development of herpes or chronic bronchitis, this drug can be prescribed to a baby one hundred milligrams every two days.
If a child needs surgery, then for preventive purposes Arbidol can be prescribed two days before the manipulation, and also two days later, and then another three days later. A single dose of umifenovir is one hundred milligrams.
If we are talking about the treatment of viral diseases, then the drug is prescribed to children depending on the type of disease:
- Influenza, acute respiratory infections or SARS - one hundred milligrams every six hours (that is, four times a day) for five days.
- Pneumonia, bronchitis or laryngitis - one hundred milligrams four times a day. The course of therapy is five days. starting from the sixth day - one hundred milligrams once a week.
- Exacerbation of chronic bronchitis or herpes. In this case, "Arbidol" is prescribed in a complex one hundred milligram tablet four times a day. The duration of treatment is about a week. Then the drug is taken one hundred milligrams a day every two days. And so for four weeks.
- Severe rotavirus infections - one hundred milligrams every six hours. Course duration– five days.
Little patients and liquid form of the drug
The manufacturer recommends that children from two to six years of age take the suspension. The dosage and treatment regimen is usually prescribed by a pediatrician, however, in the instructions for use of the drug, you can find general recommendations regarding the use of the drug.
A single dose of umifenovir for babies of two to six years is fifty milligrams, that is, ten milliliters of the finished suspension. For children from six to twelve years old, one hundred milligrams of the active substance (that is, twenty milliliters of syrup) is prescribed at one time.
The dosage regimen depends primarily on the disease itself. To prevent seasonal epidemics of acute respiratory viral infections or influenza, the course of treatment lasts three weeks (twice a day). A similar treatment regimen can also be recommended if the child is in direct contact with the sick person.
For influenza and other respiratory ailments, Arbidol is supposed to be treated four times a day for five days. This treatment regimen should also be followed in the treatment of complex rotavirus infections.
If a child has a coronavirus (the so-called SARS syndrome), the drug is recommended to be taken once a day for two weeks.
General rules for taking the drug
When is the best time to take the remedy? The manufacturer recommends taking the medication immediately before meals. Tablets should be swallowed without chewing with a small amount of water (about half a glass). Wash downsuspension is not needed.
How to prepare a liquid preparation
It's very simple. Water should be boiled and cooled to room temperature. Then it is recommended to pour about thirty milliliters of liquid into the container for the powder, after which the bottle is closed with a lid and shaken thoroughly several times. After such manipulations, the necessary amount of water is added to the container (up to the mark applied by the manufacturer on the bottle wall). The solution is then closed again to shake thoroughly.
In the future, before use, it is recommended to shake the product well so that the suspension takes the form of a homogeneous solution. To dose the drug, it is best to use a measuring spoon or use a special measuring syringe, which can be purchased at any pharmacy.
When not to take umifenovir
The main contraindications include individual intolerance to the active substance or other components of the drug. That is why we studied the composition of the antiviral agent in detail at the very beginning of the article.
Also, the medication should not be taken in the first trimester of pregnancy. Children under two years of age are one hundred percent contraindications for taking umifenovir. The suspension, as already mentioned, can be taken from the age of two children, but tablets are best used to treat children six years of age and older.
Caution in use
Pregnancy is a relative contraindication for drug treatment. This is due to the fact that the experiments on the use of the agent were carried out only on animals. Duringsuch studies have not shown that umifenovir adversely affects the embryo or delivery. On the other hand, the use during the period of gestation is better to refrain from taking this antiviral medication.
If a woman is breastfeeding and decides to take the drug as prescribed by her doctor, then it is better for her to stop breastfeeding for the entire period of therapy. This is due to the fact that, according to some reports, "Arbidol" is able to penetrate into breast milk.
Patients suffering from liver diseases of varying complexity should also be treated with caution with this medication.
Adverse reactions
According to the assurances of the manufacturer, side effects while taking "Arbidol" are extremely rare. Most often, these are the usual allergic reactions in the form of hives, skin rashes, itching, possible headaches, nausea, problems with the stool. If any negative symptoms occur with the start of the drug, you should definitely inform your doctor about this.
Drug and other medicines
According to the official instructions for use, Arbidol interacts well with various pharmacological preparations, so it can be prescribed in combination with almost any drug.
Overdose and other indications
Regarding an overdose of Arbidol, we can say with confidence that no such cases have been recorded. If you have exceeded the norm of umifenovir and feel unwell, you should wash your stomach, take activated charcoal and, possibly, call an ambulancehelp.
Can I take the drug for those who are engaged in activities that require increased attention and speed of reaction? Yes. According to the instructions, the drug does not affect the human nervous or mental system.
Helpful storage tips
The following recommendations are given by the manufacturer regarding the storage of the product:
- shelf life is three years;
- temperature - no higher than 25 degrees;
- a place out of the reach of children and out of the sun.
Important information - the cost of funds
What can we say about the price of the antiviral drug we are interested in? The average price of "Arbidol" at a dosage of fifty milligrams varies within 150 rubles for ten tablets. A drug with a dosage of the active substance of one hundred milligrams will cost more - up to 250 rubles for ten tablets. What about syrup powder? Its average cost does not exceed three hundred rubles per pack.
Drug substitutes
If this drug does not suit you for some reason, you can use its analogues. Reviews of "Arbidol" indicate that the drug quite often caused negative reactions from the body, so patients had to replace it with another one.
Before discussing the analogues of the drug, it is necessary to mention one more form of its release. This is Arbidol Maximum. Reviews about this remedy show that it differs from the remedy of interest to us only in dosage. The amount of active ingredient in eachcapsules is two hundred milligrams. Many patients claim that it is very convenient to use this drug in treatment. Since to take a single dose of umifenovir, only one capsule should be swallowed, and not two, as is the case with simple Arbidol.
So, how to replace the drug if its composition does not suit the patient? You can use the following recommendations:
- Kagocel pills.
- Amizon tablets.
- Groprinosin drug.
- Oxolinic ointment.
- Gel, suppositories or solution for injections “Panovir”.
- Proteflazit drug.
- Tilaxin tablets.
- Drug “Remantidin.
The medicines mentioned above differ from each other in composition and form of release. Therefore, they have different contraindications and side effects, as well as recommendations regarding their use. It is clear that only the attending physician has the right to prescribe these drugs as a substitute for Arbidol.
Real reviews
So we moved on to the most interesting. What do real patients who have been prescribed Arbidol say? In short, not everyone is delighted with this tool. Although there are many positive and even rave reviews about the drug, unfortunately, it does not help everyone. Yes, a medication can help prevent the development of an ailment or can help speed up recovery, but this does not always happen and not with everyone.
Many people admit that the course of treatment with Arbidol turned out to be a waste of money for them andprecious time when you could take another antiviral drug with a more effective effect.
Moreover, some people share that the remedy not only did not benefit them, but even caused harm in the form of side effects. Among them, patients list fever, rashes and more.
Unfortunately, people call the drug a dummy or a placebo drug. Others are frightened by information flying around the Internet about allegedly negative experimental studies of this medication.
And yet, against the background of this negativity, there are real cases when the drug helped someone overcome an unpleasant disease and recover. Real cases have also been noted when the drug has shown its effectiveness as a prophylactic.
As you can see, "Arbidol", despite the assurances of manufacturers and some experts, has rather conflicting reviews. Therefore, to use it for a viral infection or not is up to you! Do not trust the advice of friends and the Internet. Contact your doctor. And then your recovery will come quickly and without complications.
We have analyzed the instructions for use of the drug for adults and for children. Reviews about Arbidol were also considered.
