Among the modern and effective antihistamines prescribed for children, drugs in drops are especially popular.... It's easy for parents to dose them, and for babies to swallow. One of these medicines is the Czech medicine Zodak. Is it permissible to use it in children from birth, in what dose is this drug given to children and what side effects can this drug cause?
Release form
Zodak in drops is presented as a transparent liquid placed in 20 ml vials. It can be either colorless or with a light yellow tint. Each milliliter of this solution contains 20 drops.
The medicine bottle is equipped with a special lid to prevent the risk of opening the bottle by a small child. It should be firmly pressed down and then unscrewed counterclockwise. After counting the required number of drops, the bottle must be screwed tightly.
The medicine is also produced in other forms:
- Banana flavored syrup.
- Tablets that have a white film coating.
Composition
Cetirizine is an ingredient in Zodak drops providing antiallergic effect. This substance is presented in the form of a dihydrochloride at a dosage of 10 mg per milliliter of solution. Glacial acetic acid, which is present in the composition, gives the drop odor. In addition, this liquid drug form includes propyl and methyl parahydroxybenzoate, Na acetate trihydrate, glycerol, Na saccharinate dihydrate, and propylene glycol. The remainder of the preparation is purified water.
Operating principle
Cetirizine in the drops has the ability to block H1 receptors, which are sensitive to histamine. This action leads to the cessation of the release of histamine by mast cells at an early stage of the allergic reaction, which facilitates the course of allergic diseases and accelerates recovery. In addition, taking Zodak drops is able to prevent allergic reactions.
Such a drug is also effective in the late stage of inflammation provoked by allergies, since cetirizine affects the movement of cells involved in the inflammatory reaction (neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils), and inhibits the production of inflammatory mediators. Due to the ability to reduce the permeability of small blood vessels, drops help to eliminate tissue edema or prevent it. Also, the drug has an antispasmodic effect aimed at smooth muscles. Such a remedy is also effective for severe itching.
The drops are absorbed very quickly, and then combine with protein molecules in the blood plasma and are transported throughout the body. Most (about 70% of cetirizine) is excreted due to the work of the kidneys. The effect after ingestion can be observed after 20-30 minutes in half of the patients, and an hour after taking the anti-allergic effect is noted in almost all patients. In this case, the effect of the drug lasts up to 24 hours.
Studies have shown that taking drops at a dosage of 10 mg per day for 10 days does not lead to the accumulation of the drug in the body. The half-life of the drug occurs after about 10 hours, but in children under 12 years of age this period is shorter (5-6 hours), and renal pathologies are the cause of its lengthening.
And now Dr. Komarovsky will tell us all the secrets about children's allergies, what are the causes and how to deal with this unpleasant factor.
Indications
Zodak in liquid form is prescribed:
- With conjunctivitis triggered by allergies;
- With allergic rhinitis (both seasonal and year-round);
- With itchy dermatoses, which are caused by a reaction to an allergen;
- With hay fever;
- For any form of urticaria, such as cold or idiopathic;
- With itching, which bothers the child with chickenpox (drops are prescribed as a symptomatic remedy to alleviate the condition of a small patient);
- With angioedema.
From what age is it allowed to take?
In the instructions for the drops, it is noted that this form of the drug is not used in children of the first year of life. Pediatricians prescribe such a medication only to babies who are 1 year old. For children aged from one to 2 years, Zodak is given only in the form of drops. If the child is already more than 2 years old, syrup can be used in his treatment, and from the age of six it is permissible to give the tablet form of the drug.
Contraindications
Zodak drops are not given to children not only under the age of 1 year, but also with hypersensitivity to any of their components. The drug is contraindicated for adults both when carrying a child and when breastfeeding.
Caution and medical supervision are required when prescribing medication for children with chronic renal failure, if a small patient is found to have a severe or moderate form of it. This degree of severity forces you to adjust the dosage regimen.
Since the composition of the drops does not include sugar, it is permissible to prescribe this medication to children with diabetes without the need to change the dose. Saccharin acts as a sweetener in this medicine.
Allergies can be different, and irritants too, but what if you are allergic to drugs? The next issue of Doctor Komarovsky will tell us about this.
Side effects
The digestive system of some children reacts to Zodak with dry mouth and symptoms of dyspepsia. Usually they are transient and disappear after the drops are canceled.
The drug can provoke an allergic reaction, such as itchy skin, hives, skin rashes or Quincke's edema.
If you do not exceed the dose prescribed by the doctor, drops in most patients do not cause sedation, and taking a long course does not lead to tolerance. However, occasionally the medication can cause drowsiness, dizziness, fatigue, headache. It is also possible for such rare symptoms of the effects of cetirizine on the central nervous system, such as agitation or migraine.
Very rare side effects of the drug include thrombocytopenia, taste disturbances, convulsions, fainting, sleep disturbances, blurred vision, tremors of the limbs, diarrhea, increased heart rate, runny nose, weight gain and some other disorders. They are determined by treatment with drops in isolated cases.
Instructions for use and dosage
The drug is taken orally after dilution in a small amount of plain water. Although the consumption of food does not significantly affect the absorption of cetirizine, the annotation to the drops Zodak notes that you can drink such a medicine at any time, regardless of the diet.
The dosage and frequency of taking the medication is directly affected by the child's age:
- A child older than one year up to two years of age is shown a two-time intake of the drug in a single dose of 5 drops, which corresponds to 2.5 mg of cetirizine per dose. The remedy is given the first time in the morning, and the second time in the evening.
- If the child is 2 years old, then until the age of 6, the daily dosage remains 5 mg of cetirizine, that is, 10 drops, but the regimen of use is both double (morning and evening) and single (all 10 drops are given at one dose usually in the evening).
- The daily dose for children 6-12 years old is 10 mg of cetirizine, which are contained in 20 drops. The drug can be given once a day in full dose or divided into two doses of 10 drops.
- For a child over 12 years of age, Zodak is given in a dose of 20 drops once a day, mainly in the evening.
Another interesting program of Dr. Komarovsky about seasonal allergies in children.
Concomitant diseases also affect the dosage of the drug in childhood. For example, liver dysfunctions are the reason for limiting the daily dose of cetirizine to 5 mg, that is, children of any age with liver disease are given a maximum of 10 drops per day. If a child has renal failure, as a rule, the dose recommended for his age is halved, for example, a baby at the age of 4 is given not 10, but only 5 drops of Zodak per day.
The duration of the drops is determined by the doctor on an individual basis, but most often the drug is used for 7 or 10 days. If a longer course of treatment is required, the drug is usually prescribed for three weeks, and then drops are not taken for seven days, after which therapy can be continued.
Overdose
Taking cetirizine in a high dose (more than 50 mg at a time) leads to the appearance of:
- Fatigue;
- Tachycardia;
- Lethargy;
- Increased irritability;
- Weakness;
- Drowsiness;
- Headache;
- Delayed urine flow.
You can help a child with an overdose by contacting a doctor and using symptomatic therapy. At the same time, there is no antidote to Zodak drops, and hemodialysis does not remove cetirizine from the child's body. If an excess of the dose is detected immediately, gastric lavage is recommended, and then the baby is given activated charcoal or other sorbent.
Interaction with other drugs
Annotation to the drops notes that no pronounced effects from the liquid form of the Zodak preparation, affecting the treatment with other medicines, have been established. However, it is not recommended to combine such an antiallergic drug with any drugs that can depress the nervous system, as well as with alcohol-containing drugs. If this medicine is used together with theophylline, it affects the elimination of cetirizine from the body, but does not in any way affect the action of theophylline.
Terms of sale
Since Zodak in the form of drops is an over-the-counter medication, it can be freely purchased at the pharmacy without showing a doctor's prescription. The average price of one bottle of medicine is 200 rubles.
Storage conditions
The manufacturer does not provide for any special conditions for storing drops of Zodak. An important point is only to restrict access to medication from young children. In addition, you can not give the child the remedy if its expiration date has expired (it is 3 years).
And now Dr. Komarovsky will tell us about childhood allergic rash and "sort out" the methods of treatment.
Reviews
Parents who used Zodak in drops to treat their children respond mostly positively to this drug. They note that the drug copes well with various allergy symptoms, for example, reduces throat swelling, eliminates bronchospasm, accelerates the elimination of rashes, and reduces itching.
The shape of the drops of the mother is called convenient and the packaging of the product is satisfied, and the taste of the medicine does not cause protest in most babies. Judging by the reviews, the bottle is consumed very economically, and the cost of the mother's medicine is called low and acceptable, which is why it is often chosen instead of the more expensive analogue - Zyrtec drops.
Many parents do not find any drawbacks in the drug. Only occasionally in reviews do they mention an allergy to Zodak and the occurrence of drowsiness in young patients after taking it, which is why the remedy has to be given once in the evening. Also, some babies do not like to drink drops because of their smell and taste.
Analogs
The drug Zyrtec, which is also produced in the form of drops, has an almost identical composition with Zodak drops. Its main ingredient is also cetirizine, but it is prescribed from 6 months of age and costs a little more.
Other agents containing cetirizine can also replace any of these drugs, for example, Cetirizine HEXAL drops, Parlazin drops or Cetrin drops. In addition, children can be given Cetrin syrup or tablet forms of the drugs Parlazin, Zyrtec, Cetirizin-Teva, Letizen, Cetirinax, Cetrin and others.
In the treatment of allergies in a child, the doctor can also use medicines with a different composition, but with a similar therapeutic effect, among which are in demand:
- Erius syrup, the main ingredient of which is desloratadine. He is prescribed at the age of 1 year and older.
- Tavegil tablets, which contain clemastine. They are prescribed for children over six years old.
- Suprastin tabletscontaining chloropyramine as an active ingredient. They are prescribed from the age of three, and if treatment is required for a younger child, an injection form is used, which is allowed from 1 month of age.
- Fenistil drops, which are based on dimethindene. The drug is contraindicated in newborns, so it can only be given to babies over a month old. This anti-allergic agent is a good substitute for Zodak drops in children under 6 months old.
- Claritin syrup, eliminating allergy symptoms due to the presence of loratadine in the composition. This medication is used in the treatment of children over two years old.
