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Activated

Activated Charcoal Overview

It was 1831. In front of his distinguished colleagues at the French Academy of Medicine, Professor Touery drank a lethal dose of strychnine and lived to tell the tale. He had combined the deadly poison with activated charcoal.

That's how powerful activated charcoal is as an emergency decontaminant in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, which includes the stomach and intestines. Activated charcoal is considered to be the most effective single agent available. It is used after a person swallows or absorbs almost any toxic drug or chemical.

  • Activated charcoal is estimated to reduce absorption of poisonous substances up to 60%.

  • It works by adsorbing chemicals, thus reducing their toxicity (poisonous nature), through the entire length of the stomach and small and large intestines (GI tract).

  • Activated charcoal itself is a fine, black powder that is odorless, tasteless, and nontoxic.

  • Activated charcoal is often given after the stomach is pumped (gastric lavage). Gastric lavage is only effective immediately after swallowing a toxic substance (within about one-half hour) and does not have effects that reach beyond the stomach as activated charcoal does.


Next: How Activated Charcoal Works »

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Activated Charcoal

Barbiturate Abuse Overview

Barbiturates are a group of drugs in the class of drugs known as sedative-hypnotics, which generally describes their sleep-inducing and anxiety-decreasing effects.

  • History of use and abuse
    • Barbiturates were first used in medicine in the early 1900s and became popular in the 1960s and 1970s as treatment for anxiety, insomnia, or seizure disorders. With the popularity of barbiturates in the medical population, barbiturates as drugs of abuse evolved as well. Barbiturates were abused to reduce anxiety, decrease inhibitions, and treat unwanted effects of illicit drugs. Barbiturates can be extremely dangerous because the correct dose is difficult to predict. Even a slight overdose can cause coma or death. Barbiturates are also addictive and can cause a life-threatening withdrawal syndrome.
    • Barbiturate use and abuse has declined dramatically since the 1970s, mainly becaus...

Read the Barbiturate Abuse article »



Read What Your Physician is Reading on eMedicine

Toxicity, Barbituate »

Barbiturates are the earliest class of sedative-hypnotic agents to be developed and were once extremely popular drugs of abuse. 

Read More on eMedicine »

Medical Dictionary