Medicinal charcoal

Adsorbent powders are nonabsorbable materials with a large surface area. These bind diverse substances, including toxins, permitting them to be inactivated and eliminated. Medicinal charcoal possesses a particularly large surface because of the preserved cell structures. The recommended effective antidiarrheal dose is in the range of 4-8 g. Other adsorbents are kaolin (hydrated aluminum silicate) and chalk. 

Carbon is something we encounter every day. Graphite, which is pure carbon, is the lead in pencils. Diamonds are carbon and so is charcoal. Some hard coals are up to 98% carbon. Carbon is also present in all living things. Forests, for example, are made almost entirely of carbon-containing compounds. Carbon and carbon compounds are widely used as raw materials in industrial products. Many plastics, detergents, foods, and medicines are made from carbon-containing compounds. 

Arsenikon and sandarach mean to Dioscorides, as to Theophrastus, respectively orpiment and realgar. The former, yellow scales or plates, is used in medicine as a depilatory and a caustic. Heated alone, or with charcoal, it loses color and leaves a mass which cooled and powdered is a deadly poison (arsenious oxide). Curdled milk is said to be an antidote. Sandarach, red like cinnabar (dragon s blood, he means), behaves when heated like arsenikon, and in general has properties similar to that substance. He notes that it gives a sulphureous odor when roasted. 

Early humans doubtless found elemental sulfur in volcanic craters, encrusting the edges of hot sulfur springs, and embedded in limestone formations. They discovered that it would bum and used it for medicinal purposes, as a bleach, as a fumigant, as a colorant, and as incense. Its use for these purposes is mentioned in ancient writings. The Romans produced incendiary weapons from sulfur. In the thirteenth century, the Chinese invented gunpowder using sulfur, nitrate, and charcoal. 

Inhibition of enteral coumarin absorption by adsorbents, e.g., antacids, medicinal charcoal Inhibition of hepatic coumarin metabolism, e.g., by cimetidine, metronidazole ... 

A 10-year-old boy developed respiratory depression and became comatose after taking the Chinese patent medicine Diankexing for 6 months. His urine phenobarbital concentration was 95 pg/ml (target range 20-40 pg/ml). The remedy was withdrawn and he was successfully treated with activated charcoal. 

Endre ZH, Charlesworth JA, Macdonald GJ, Wood bridge L. Successful treatment of acute dapsone intoxication using charcoal hemoperfusion. Australian and New Zealand journal of medicine. 1983 Oct l 3(5) 509-l 2. 

Mauro LS, Mauro VE, Brown DL, et al. (1987) Enhancement of phenytoin elimination by multiple-dose activated charcoal. Annals of Emergency Medicine 16 1132-1135. 

UK/HSE. 1983. Carbon disulfide in air Laboratory method using charcoal adsorption tubes, solvent desorption and gas chromatography. London, England United Kingdom, Health and Safety Executive, Occupational Medicine and Hygiene Laboratory. MDHS Report No. 15. 

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