Indications
Salbutamol tablets are indicated for the relief of bronchospasm such as occurs with asthma, bronchitis and emphysema.
Dosage and Administration
Usage:Oral
Adults
The usual total daily dose is 12 to 32mg in three or four divided doses. However in the elderly patient or the patient particularly responsive to these agents, the initial dosage should be 2mg three or four times daily.
Children:
Aged over 12 years: The usual total daily dose is 6 to 8mg in divided doses.
Aged 6 to 12 years: The usual total daily dose is 6 to 8mg in divided doses.
Aged 2 to 6 years: The usual total daily dose is 3 to 8mg in divided doses
Precautions & Warning:
Caution should be used in patients suffering from angina, severe tachycardia or thyrotoxicosis.
Use with caution in diabetic patients as this product may cause an increase in blood sugar levels
Contraindications:
Use in patients with a known hypersensitivity to the sympathomimetics.
Adverse Reactions:
1. The only side effect of significance is a fine tremor of skeletal muscle, which occurs in some patients,usually the hands and the effects are dose related.A few patients feel tense; this is also due to the effects on skeletal muscle and not to direct CNS stimulation. With doses of salbutamol higher than those recommended or in patients who are unusually sensitive to beta-adrenergic stimulants, peripheral vasodilation and a compensatory increase in heart rate may occur.
2. Occasionally headaches have been reported. Lactic acidosis, myoclonus, pulmonary oedema, hypokalaemia, cardiac arrhythmias may also occur and very rarely hypersensitivity reactions including angioedema, urticaria, bronchospasm, hypotension and collapse.
3. There have been spontaneously reports of myocardial ischemia in post-marketing experience (frequency unknown).
Drug interactions:
Caution should be exercised in its use with anaesthetic agents such as chloroform, cyclopropane, halothane and other halogenated agents.
Salbutamol should not cause difficulty in micturition because unlike sympathomimetic drugs such as ephedrine, it does not stimulate -adrenoceptors. However, there have been reports of difficulty in micturition in patients with prostatic enlargement.
The effects of this product may be altered by guanethidine, reserpine, methyldopa, tricyclic antidepressants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors.
Storage instructions:
Keep in a cool, dry place and away from children.