Hydrocortisone, solu-cortef

[coocoocachoo]

Hi, me again. Just a quick question for you. I am a Paramedic and at around 6 am this morning I was called to a severe asthma attack. Apart from salbutamol and atrovent nebs I administered 200 mg of solu-cortef IV.
I know that the actions of hydrocortisone (even given IV) is usually slow in onset. I'm sure that I read somewhere that the solu-cortef 100mg/1ml presentation was of quite quick onset. Could someone please advise as the A/E Dr seemed to think it had started to work already. I was inclined to agree as she wasn't responding to the nebs but seemed to 'perk up' after hydrocortisone.
Cheers.



UK Street medic

[Sir_Dispensalot]

Re: Hydrocortisone, solu-cortef

Just on a given drug being via the IV route the onset of action should be pretty quick as it misses first-pass metabolism in the liver and doesn't have to diffuse through tissue eg in an IM injection. Given that you want the steroid calming down inflammation in the lung - it is the first destination organ after the heart so again onset should be within a few minutes.

I couldn't find any specific info on the net about its speed of onset but if you look in the BNF you'll be able to find the manufacturer's info and then be able to give the info dept of the company a quick ring - they should easily be able to tell you.

[coocoocachoo]

Re: Hydrocortisone, solu-cortef

Thanks for the quick response, I'll check it out.