What happens if I overdose Prépacol?
Contact 1-800-222-1222 (the American Association of Poison Control Centers), your local poison control center, or emergency room immediately. Symptoms may include diarrhea; stomach cramps. Fleet Prépacol Enema may be harmful if swallowed.
Proper storage of Fleet Prépacol Enema:
Store Fleet Prépacol Enema at room temperature, between 59 and 86 degrees F (15 and 30 degrees C). Store in a tightly closed container away from heat, moisture, and light. Do not store in the bathroom. Keep Fleet Prépacol Enema out of the reach of children and away from pets.
Overdose of Prépacol in details
Symptoms: High doses usually result to watery stools (diarrhea), abdominal cramps and a clinically significant loss of fluid, potassium, and other electrolytes. Prépacol, as with other laxatives, when taken in chronic overdose may cause chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, hypokalemia, secondary hyperaldosteronism and renal calculi. Renal tubular damage, metabolic alkalosis and muscle weakness secondary to hypokalemia have also been described in association with chronic laxative abuse.
Treatment: After ingestion of oral forms of Prépacol, absorption can be minimized or prevented by inducing vomiting or gastric lavage. Replacement of fluids and correction of electrolyte imbalance may be required. This is especially important in the elderly and the young.
Administration of antispasmodics may be of value.
What should I avoid while taking Prépacol?
Avoid using other medications within 2 hours before or 2 hours after using Prépacol.
Avoid drinking milk or taking an antacid within 1 hour before you take Prépacol by mouth.
Prépacol warnings
Because we advice against the chronic use of Prépacol. You are advised to take Prépacol for not
more than 7 consecutive days. If you need to take laxatives every day, you should see a doctor to have
the cause of your constipation investigated.
If you are elderly or have a heart condition or are taking drugs that can cause torsades de pointes, or
have impaired renal function, it may in some cases be advisable for you to take a lower dose.
Because you should not take this drug for too long as this can cause electrolyte disorders
(hypokalaemia) which could lead to cardiac arrhythmia and renewed constipation. Cases of dizziness
and/or sudden loss of consciousness have been reported in patients taking Prépacol. Analysis of these
cases suggests that they are not necessarily due to the fact that patients had taken Prépacol. They
could rather be due to defecation syncope (sudden loss of consciousness attributed to straining during
defecation) or a vasovagal response to abdominal pain which can be related to constipation, causing the
patient to start taking laxatives.
Because Prépacol should only be administered to children on medical advice. Laxatives should only
be prescribed for children in exceptional circumstances.
If you are taking other drugs as well. Please also read the section headed: “Taking other medicines".
Tell your doctor if any of these aforementioned warnings apply to you, or if this has been the case in the
past.
Pregnancy and breast-feeding
Ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice before taking any medicine.
It is not recommended that Prépacol is taken in the first three months of pregnancy. Prépacol does not enter
the breast milk however it may only be administered during lactation on the prescription of a doctor.
What should I discuss with my healthcare provider before taking Prépacol?
Tell your health care provider if you have any medical conditions, especially if any of the following apply to you:
- if you are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or are breast-feeding
- if you are taking any prescription or nonprescription medicine, herbal preparation, or dietary supplement
- if you have allergies to medicines, foods, or other substances
- if you have heart failure, abnormal levels of fluids or electrolytes in your body, nausea, vomiting, or undiagnosed stomach pain
Some MEDICINES MAY INTERACT with Prépacol suppositories. However, no specific interactions with Prépacol suppositories are known at this time.
Ask your health care provider if Prépacol suppositories may interact with other medicines that you take. Check with your health care provider before you start, stop, or change the dose of any medicine.
Prépacol precautions
As with all laxatives, Prépacol should not be used on a continuous daily basis for more than five days without investigating the cause of constipation.
Prolonged excessive use may lead to fluid and electrolyte imbalance and hypokalaemia. Intestinal loss of fluids can promote dehydration. Symptoms may include thirst and oliguria. In patients suffering from fluid loss where dehydration may be harmful (e.g. renal insufficiency, elderly patients) Prépacol should be discontinued and only be restarted under medical supervision.
Patients may experience haematochezia (blood in stool) that is generally mild and self-limiting.
Dizziness and / or syncope have been reported in patients who have taken Prépacol. The details available for these cases suggest that the events would be consistent with defaecation syncope (or syncope attributable to straining at stool), or with a vasovagal response to abdominal pain related to the constipation, and not necessarily to the administration of Prépacol itself.
There have been isolated reports of abdominal pain and bloody diarrhoea occurring after taking Prépacol. Some cases have been shown to be associated with colonic mucosal ischaemia.
The use of suppositories may lead to painful sensations and local irritation, especially in anal fissures and ulcerative proctitis.
Prépacol should not be used by children under 10 years without medical advice.
Effects on Ability to Drive and Use Machines: No studies on the effects of Prépacol on the ability to drive and use machines have been performed.
However, patients should be advised that due to a vasovagal response (e.g., to abdominal spasm) they may experience dizziness and/or syncope. If patients experience abdominal spasm they should avoid potentially hazardous tasks such as driving or operating machinery.
What happens if I miss a dose of Prépacol?
Since Prépacol is used when needed, it does not have a daily dosing schedule.
If you are preparing for a medical test and you miss your dose, call your doctor for instructions.
References
- DailyMed. "BISACODYL: DailyMed provides trustworthy information about marketed drugs in the United States. DailyMed is the official provider of FDA label information (package inserts).". https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailyme... (accessed September 17, 2018).
- DrugBank. "Bisacodyl". http://www.drugbank.ca/drugs/DB09020 (accessed September 17, 2018).
- MeSH. "Laxatives". https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/68... (accessed September 17, 2018).
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Information checked by Dr. Sachin Kumar, MD Pharmacology
