The effectiveness of treatment and rehabilitation of patients suffering from brain function disorders depends on the prescribed therapy regimen. In most cases, doctors recommend a set of drugs that are similar in action and belong to the same pharmacological group. These include Cortexin and Mexidol.
Cortexin and Mexidol are prescribed for the treatment and rehabilitation of patients suffering from disorders of brain function.
How they affect the body
Cortexin is a nootropic drug and has a neuroprotective effect.
The drug has the following therapeutic effects:
- improvement of metabolic processes in nervous tissue cells;
- stimulation of the cerebral cortex;
- normalization of memory;
- increasing the level of learning;
- reducing the toxic effect of psychotropic drugs (in chronic patients).
The active substances of the drug penetrate the brain cells, positively affecting areas of ischemia.
Mexidol also belongs to nootropic drugs. Widely used to treat patients suffering from cerebrovascular accidents. The drug is prescribed during the rehabilitation period after hemorrhagic strokes and TBI.
The drug has antihypoxic, anticonvulsant and nootropic effects.
In addition, the drug:
- eliminates the effects of hypoxia;
- normalizes metabolic processes in brain tissue;
- takes part in speech restoration.
Mexidol has antihypoxic, anticonvulsant and nootropic effects.
Interaction with other tools
The drugs are compatible with most groups of drugs. But there are still some limitations:
- Nootropics should not be taken together with diuretics, as there may be an increase in potassium levels in the blood. This phenomenon is very rare and occurs in isolated cases.
- You should also not combine medications with alcoholic beverages (alcohol inhibits the effect of the main substance).
- The drugs combine well with other nootropics.
In other cases, no interaction of undesirable effects was observed.
What is the difference
Despite the fact that the drugs are similar in therapeutic effect, there are a number of differences between them.
Compound
The active ingredient of Mexidol is ethylmethylhydroxypyridine succinate, which has membrane protective, antihypoxic and nootropic effects. Cortexin has the same pharmacological properties, but it contains a polypeptide complex obtained from the cells of the cerebral cortex of cattle.
Release form
Mexidol is available in the form of a solution for intramuscular or intravenous administration. Cortexin is a lyophilic powder from which a solution for intramuscular administration is prepared.
Age
Mexidol is not used in pediatric practice. Cortexin is prescribed to patients under one year of age and older.
Compatibility of Cortexin with other drugs
When talking about any medicine, the question arises of how it will interact with other drugs. This determines whether the drug can be used as part of complex therapy and whether it can be used to treat a person who has several different diseases.
Cortexin is a nootropic, that is, a drug used to treat damage to the nervous system. This drug contains polypeptides from the cerebral cortex of animals (cattle or pigs).
Once in the human body, Cortexin activates the peptides of our own neurons, due to which the excitatory and inhibitory mediators are balanced. This determines the nootropic, neuroprotective and antioxidant effects of the drug.
The list of indications for its use is very large and includes many diseases:
- Asthenic conditions.
- Specific developmental disorders of language, speech, and learning skills.
- Epilepsy.
- Brain infarction and its consequences.
- Encephalopathy.
- Cerebral palsy.
- Encephalitis, myelitis, encephalomyelitis.
- Impaired cognitive functions (memory and thinking disorders).
- Traumatic lesions of the nervous system.
To treat the above diseases, only one drug is rarely used; complex therapy is most effective. Let's take a closer look at which drugs Cortexin is most often used with.
Drugs with which Cortexin is most often used:
- Mexidol.
- Phezam (piracetam + cinnarizine).
- Cavinton.
- Cerebrolysin.
- Ceraxon.
- Pantogam.
Combinations of these drugs are commonly used to treat neurological diseases.
Let's consider the interaction of Cortexin with each of these drugs separately.
Is it possible to use Cortexin, Mexidol and Phezam at the same time?
Mexidol is an antioxidant; it has membrane-stabilizing, antihypoxic, nootropic, anticonvulsant effects, and reduces the formation of free radicals. In addition to the treatment of neurological diseases, it is used for many pathological conditions. Its mechanism of action is aimed at increasing the body's resistance to damaging factors.
Phezam is a combination medicine consisting of two drugs: piracetam and cinnarizine.
Piracetam is a nootropic that is structurally a derivative of GABA. GABA is a natural mediator of the central nervous system, through which some nerve cells transmit impulses to each other. The administration of Piracetam improves the interaction of neurons, which makes the processes of thinking and reasoning more effective, and has a positive effect on intellectual abilities.
As we found out, Cortexin, Mexidol and Fezam act from completely different sides, while having one common goal. Therefore, when used simultaneously, the positive effect is enhanced.
Is it possible to use Cortexin and Cavinton at the same time?
Cavinton is also a nootropic and has several indications for use.
Firstly, this drug improves blood supply to the brain by reducing blood viscosity and accelerating the process of oxygen transfer to nerve cells.
Secondly, Cavinton reduces the damaging effect of excitatory amino acids on nerve cells, providing a neuroprotective effect.
The simultaneous use of Cortexin and Cavinton will give a more pronounced effect than when they are used separately.
Is it possible to use Cortexin and Cerebrolysin at the same time?
Cerebrolysin is a nootropic and, like Cortexin, contains animal brain peptides. However, upon deeper analysis, it becomes clear that the ratio and composition of the peptides that make up Cerebrolysin and Cortexin differ.
Experts do not consider it advisable to use these drugs together, but quite often recommend their sequential use or alternating courses.
Is it possible to use Cortexin and Ceraxon at the same time?
Ceraxon, like many of the above drugs, is a nootropic. However, its mechanism of action is completely different. Ceraxon is a precursor substance to fats, from which the membranes of cells, including nerve cells, are built. Due to this property, the use of this drug reduces the damaging effects on nerve cells and helps accelerate their recovery.
With the simultaneous use of Cortexin and Ceraxon, the overall positive effect is enhanced.
Recently, many analogues of Ceraxon have appeared, including Recognan, which has the same effect, but is more affordable. When used together with Cortexin, the effect is also enhanced.
Is it possible to use Cortexin and Pantogam at the same time?
Pantogam is a medicine that contains hopantenic acid. This acid is a nootropic that has a mild stimulating effect, which is manifested by the acceleration of processes occurring in the brain. This ensures the normalization of processes occurring in the brain and promotes the rapid restoration of nerve structures when they are damaged.
With the simultaneous administration of Cortexin and Pantogam, the therapeutic effect will be more pronounced.
Is it possible to use Cortexin and Lidocaine at the same time?
It is worth noting that Cortexin is introduced into the body diluted: in solutions of anesthetics, water for injection or saline (0.9% NaCl solution). Water for injection and saline solution are not medicines and dilutions of another drug are used. Their goal is to create the necessary concentration of the active substance.
However, local anesthetics are drugs in themselves and usually have a number of actions other than being an anesthetic. Therefore, it is worth separately considering the interaction of Cortexin with them (using the example of lidocaine).
Lidocaine has an anesthetic effect due to its ability to reduce the excitability of nerve cell membranes. However, it is this ability that is the reason for the antiarrhythmic effect of this drug.
Side effects such as decreased heart rate and changes in blood pressure may occur when using lidocaine. In addition, allergic reactions often occur when this drug is administered.
It was revealed that the use of the local anesthetic lidocaine as a solvent for preparing the solution is associated with an increase in the severity of adverse reactions, and therefore its combined use with Cortexin is not recommended.
But at the same time, there is an anesthetic that can be safely used together with Cortexin as a solvent - this is procaine (Novocaine).
Using multiple medications at the same time is a complex issue. It is necessary to take into account the chemical structure of the drugs, their mechanisms of action and the patient’s condition. The best option is to take medications strictly as prescribed by your doctor, having first read the instructions for use of each drug.
Source: https://korteksin.ru/o-korteksine/vzroslye/sovmestimost-korteksina-s-drugimi-lekarstvennymi-preparatami
Indications for use
Cortexin
The drug is prescribed in complex therapy of the following pathological conditions:
- cerebral circulatory disorders;
- consequences of traumatic brain injury;
- encephalopathy;
- acute and chronic forms of encephalitis;
- impaired memory and concentration;
- epileptic seizures;
- asthenic syndrome;
- delayed speech and psychomotor development in children;
- cerebral palsy;
- brain damage due to Alzheimer's disease;
- after brain surgery.
Cortexin is prescribed in complex therapy for cerebral circulatory disorders.
Mexidol
The product is used in the following cases:
- consequences of acute cerebrovascular accident;
- rehabilitation after a TBI;
- encephalopathy;
- vegetative-vascular dystonia;
- neuroses;
- IHD;
- withdrawal syndrome;
- intoxication with antipsychotic drugs.
How to take at the same time?
The course must be prescribed by a doctor. The duration and dosage depend on the diagnosis and the patient’s health characteristics. Most often, treatment lasts from 5 days to a month.
Actovegin can cause allergies, headaches, fever, intense sweating, dizziness, and swelling.
Ampoules must not be mixed. Only one drug can be administered with one injection. The tablets can be taken at the same time. You can take 3 Mexidol tablets (125-250 mg) per day, and 1 to 3 Actovegin tablets.
How long will it take for them to take effect?
The effect appears faster when used together than when using only one medicine. Separately, Actovegin begins to act half an hour after administration, the maximum effect is observed after 2-6 hours. Mexidol's effect appears within 5 minutes after the injection.
Special instructions for the use of Cortexin and Mexidol
Pregnancy and lactation
There is no data on clinical studies of these drugs and their effect on the fetus. Use during pregnancy is not recommended. During treatment, breastfeeding should be temporarily stopped.
Childhood
Cortexin is used in pediatrics; Mexidol is not used to treat children.
Elderly age
Both drugs are used in gerontological practice. Dosages may be reduced depending on the age, weight and general condition of the patient.
Difference between drugs
But quite often neurologists prescribe both drugs at the same time, why if the effect is approximately the same?
The fact is that the active ingredients of the drugs Cortexin and Mexidol are different. If Mexidol is a development based on chemical elements, then Cortexin is a natural extract from the brain cells of domestic animals, whose body is as close as possible in structure to humans.
Natural elements are more easily and quickly accepted by the damaged body, the action occurs more efficiently and quickly. Mexidol strengthens this effect. At the molecular level, chemicals are better perceived by the body. You can compare this process to the construction of a building. If there is a foundation, then brick and concrete together build a strong wall. This is how Cortexin interacts with Mexidol and restores the damaged nervous system as quickly as possible.
It is important to use drugs in childhood. Cortexin is well tolerated and accepted by children even in the first year of life, so it is actively used in cases of damage to the nervous system due to birth trauma and hemorrhages. The drug helps many children with speech and mental development delays. The safety and effective action of Cortexin made it possible to compensate for damage in many children at the stage of active growth and development.
Mexidol is used more in older patients. Then the body is more susceptible to chemical drugs, and the body’s rejection of the drug in the form of side effects is less likely. Often prescribed after injuries or coronary heart disease.
