II. Indications
- Excessive Gas (Eructation, Flatulence, Bloating)
-
Infantile Colic (off-label)
- Not recommended (no benefit over Placebo)
III. Dose
- Adult (and age >=12 years): 40-125 mg orally after meals and at bedtime as needed (max 500 mg/day)
- Child (age 2 to 12 years): 40 mg orally four times daily as needed (max 480 mg/day)
- Infant (age <2 years): 20 mg orally four times daily as needed (max 240 mg/day)
IV. Mechanism
- Silicone-based drug used for Flatulence and bloating
- Acts as a local gastrointestinal surfactant
- Reduces gastrointestinal gas bubble surface tension
- Allows gas bubbles to coalesce together and to be expelled from the Gastrointestinal Tract via Flatulence or Eructation
- Simethicone does NOT modify gastrointestinal gas production
- Does not reduce gas production due to food intolerance (e.g. Lactose Intolerance, FODMAP) or medications
V. Pharmacokinetics
- Not absorbed
- Excreted in the stool
VI. Efficacy
-
Infantile Colic
- Several controlled Clinical Trials have been performed
- No evidence that Simethicone is better than Placebo in Infantile Colic
- Lucassen (1998) BMJ 316(7144):1563-9 [PubMed]
VII. Safety
- Pregnancy Category C (but not absorbed)
- Unknown safety in Lactation (but not absorbed)
VIII. Resources
- Simethicone chewable tablet (DailyMed)
IX. References
- Hamilton (2020) Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia
- Ingold (2023) Simethicone, StatPearls, Treasure Island, Florida
Images: Related links to external sites (from Bing)
Related Studies
| simethicone (on 12/21/2022 at Medicaid.Gov Survey of pharmacy drug pricing) | ||
| SIMETHICONE 125 MG TAB CHEW | Generic OTC | $0.10 each |
| SIMETHICONE 180 MG SOFTGEL | Generic OTC | $0.06 each |
| SIMETHICONE 80 MG TAB CHEW | Generic OTC | $0.03 each |