Docusatos Docusate Calcium Drug Approvals US Adopted Name International Nonproprietary Names (INNs) in main languages (French, Latin, and Spanish): Dioctyl Calcium Sulfosuccinate; Dioctyl Calcium Sulphosuccinate; Docusato cálcico Chemical name: Calcium 1,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulphosuccinate Molecular formula: C40H74CaO14S2 = 883.2. CAS — 128-49-4. Pharmacopoeias. In US. The United States Pharmacopeia 31, 2008 (Docusate Calcium). A white amorphous solid with the characteristic odour of octil alcohol. Soluble 1 in 3300 of water very soluble in alcohol, in macrogol 400, and in maize oil. Docusate Potassium Drug Approvals US Adopted Name International Nonproprietary Names (INNs) in main languages (French, Latin, and Spanish): Dioctyl Potassium Sulfosuccinate; Dioctyl Potassium Sulphosuccinate; Docusato potásico. USAN: Docusate Potassium Chemical name: Potassium 1,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulphosuccinate Molecular formula: C20H37KO7S = 460.7. CAS — 7491-09-0. Pharmacopoeias. In US. The United States Pharmacopeia 31, 2008 (Docusate Potassium). A white amorphous Read more [...]

Laxative Addiction The huge sale of cathartics and the large variety of preparations offered for the treatment of constipation are not an index of their value and need, but rather serve to emphasize the misconceptions which exist in relation to colon function. The volume of stool evacuated is governed by the quantity of fibre in the food ingested. The frequency of stool passage is related to the size of the colon, and the state of irritability of the rectum and sigmoid. A daily evacuation may be as normal for one individual as one every two or three days is for another. An unduly rigid concept of the necessity of daily evacuation is often followed by the habitual use of cathartics, resulting in overstimulation and irritability of the intestine by increasingly potent drugs. Flatulence, abdominal pain, and even heartburn can be the result of the motility disorder thus induced. Thus, for the most part, treatment of functional constipation is the management of a patient with laxative addiction. Bowel Re-Education To successfully handle patients with laxative addiction, all laxatives must be stopped Read more [...]

Four days after discharge from the hospital, a patient with a recent diagnosis of advanced lung cancer arrived in the emergency department of a Montreal hospital with abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, and urinary retention. His large bowel was grossly distended with stool, and he required numerous enemas and manual disimpactions to dislodge the large quantities of hard feces. The patient presented a classic example of constipation resulting from narcotic analgesic administration, without any concomitant laxative program. An unnecessary hospital admission, a great deal of discomfort for the patient, and an unpleasant task for the nursing staff could all have been avoided. As a physician working in palliative care, I have been continually confronted with patients' problems of constipation. No other preventable symptom produces so much distress for the patient and the caring family. It is common for physicians either to omit completely any prescription for laxatives or to write a prescription for laxatives "as needed" or 'laxative of choice" and to leave further management to nurses. The implication Read more [...]