buscopan

How does it work?

Buscopan tablets contain the active ingredient hyoscine butylbromide, which is a type of medicine called an antispasmodic. It is used to relieve colicky abdominal pain that is caused by painful spasms in the muscles of the gastro-intestinal (GI) or genito-urinary (GU) tract.
Hyoscine works by relaxing the muscle that is found in the walls of the stomach, intestines, bowel, bile duct and urinary tract. This type of muscle is called smooth muscle or involuntary muscle. It normally contracts and relaxes in response to natural body chemicals called neurotransmitters. The contractions are caused by a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. These contractions are not under our conscious control and we are not normally aware of them. However, if the muscles go into spasm this can cause pain.
Hyoscine stops the spasms in the smooth muscle by preventing acetylcholine from acting on the muscle. It does this by blocking the receptors on the muscle cells that the acetylcholine would normally act on.
By preventing acetylcholine from acting on the muscle in the GI and GU tracts, hyoscine reduces the muscle contractions. This allows the muscle to relax and reduces the painful spasms and cramps.

What is it used for?

• Spasms of the stomach, intestines or bile duct (gastro-intestinal tract), including those associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
• Spasms of the bladder or urinary system (genito-urinary tract).

Warning!

• This medicine may cause blurred vision and so may affect your ability to drive or operate machinery safely. If affected do not drive or operate machinery.
• You should consult your doctor immediately if you experience any of the following while using this medicine: red and painful eye, possibly with headache, loss of vision, or seeing haloes around lights. These symptoms may be caused by an increase in pressure inside the eyeball and require urgent investigation by your doctor.

Use with caution in

• Elderly people.
• People with a very fast heart rate (tachycardia).
• Heart failure.
• Overactive thyroid gland (thyrotoxicosis).
• People susceptible to blockages in the urinary tract and difficulty passing urine, for example men with an enlarged prostate gland.
• People susceptible to blockages in the intestines.
• People with a high temperature (fever).

Not to be used in

• Abnormal muscle weakness (myasthenia gravis).
• Abnormally large or dilated large intestine (megacolon).
• Closed angle glaucoma.
• Rare hereditary problems of fructose intolerance, glucose-galactose malabsorption or sucrase-isomaltase insufficiency (Buscopan tablets contain sucrose).
• Buscopan tablets are not recommended for children under six years of age.

This medicine should not be used if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. Please inform your doctor or pharmacist if you have previously experienced such an allergy.
If you feel you have experienced an allergic reaction, stop using this medicine and inform your doctor or pharmacist immediately.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding

Certain medicines should not be used during pregnancy or breastfeeding. However, other medicines may be safely used in pregnancy or breastfeeding providing the benefits to the mother outweigh the risks to the unborn baby. Always inform your doctor if you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, before using any medicine.

• This medicine should be used with caution during pregnancy, and only if the expected benefit to the mother is greater than the possible risk to the foetus, particularly in the first trimester. Seek medical advice from your doctor.
• It is not known if this medicine passes into breast milk. It should be used with caution in nursing mothers, and only if the benefits to the mother outweigh any risks to the nursing infant. Discuss this with your doctor.

Side effects

Medicines and their possible side effects can affect individual people in different ways. The following are some of the side effects that are known to be associated with this medicine. Just because a side effect is stated here does not mean that all people using this medicine will experience that or any side effect.

Uncommon (affect between 1 in 100 and 1 in 1000 people)

• Increase in heart rate (tachycardia).
• Dry mouth.
• Reduced ability to sweat.
• Allergic skin reactions.

Rare (affect between 1 in 1000 and 1 in 10,000 people)

• Difficulty in passing urine (urinary retention).
• Hypersensitivity reactions such as narrowing of the airways (bronchospasm), swelling of the lips, throat and tongue (angioedema), or itchy rash.

Unknown frequency

• Anaphylactic reaction.

The side effects listed above may not include all of the side effects reported by the medicine's manufacturer.
For more information about any other possible risks associated with this medicine, please read the information provided with the medicine or consult your doctor or pharmacist.

How can this medicine affect other medicines?

It is important to tell your doctor or pharmacist what medicines you are already taking, including those bought without a prescription and herbal medicines, before you start treatment with this medicine. Similarly, check with your doctor or pharmacist before taking any new medicines while taking this one, to ensure that the combination is safe.
There may be an increased risk of anticholinergic side effects, such as dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation and difficulty passing urine, if this medicine is taken with other medicines that have anticholinergic effects, such as the following:

• other antispasmodics, eg atropine, propantheline, dicycloverine
• antihistamines, eg promethazine, brompheniramine, chlorphenamine, diphenhydramine, triprolidine
• antisickness medicines, eg meclozine, cyclizine, hyoscine hydrobromide
• antimuscarinic medicines for Parkinson's symptoms, eg procyclidine, orphenadrine, trihexiphenidyl
• antimuscarinic medicines for urinary incontinence, eg oxybutynin, trospium, tolterodine
• antiarrhythmics, eg disopyramide, propafenone, quinidine
• tricyclic antidepressants, eg amitriptyline, clomipramine
• antipsychotics, eg chlorpromazine, clozapine, thioridazine
• muscle relaxants, eg baclofen
• amantadine.

If this medicine is taken with domperidone or metoclopramide the actions of the medicines may cancel each other out. This is because metoclopramide and domperidone increase the motility of the gut, whereas hyoscine reduces it.
If you experience a dry mouth as a side effect of this medicine you may find that medicines that are designed to dissolve and be absorbed from under the tongue, eg sublingual glyceryl trinitrate tablets, become less effective. This is usually because the tablets do not dissolve properly in a dry mouth. To resolve this, have a drink of water before taking tablets designed to dissolve on or underneath the tongue