Pulvis Ipecacuanhae et Opii Compositus.—Compound Powder of Ipecacuanha and Opium.
Related entry: Ipecacuanha (U. S. P.)—Ipecac - Opium (U. S. P.)—Opium.
SYNONYM: Diaphoretic powder.
Preparation.—Take of opium, in powder, 10 grains; camphor, in powder, 40 grains; ipecacuanha, in powder, 20 grains; bitartrate of potassium, 160 grains; Mix them (Beach's Amer. Prac.).
In preparing the powder, the camphor must first be reduced to powder by trituration with a few drops of alcohol, then add a small portion of the bitartrate of potassium, continue the trituration until the camphor has been still further divided, add the opium in powder, then the ipecacuanha, and, lastly, the remainder of the bitartrate, and triturate all together for 15 or 20 minutes.
Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage.—This powder is an excellent anodyne and diaphoretic, and is, perhaps, superior to any other preparation in its diaphoretic effects upon the system. It is of great efficiency in all febrile and inflammatory diseases, diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera morbus, gout, rheumatism, after-pains, all cases of irritability or excitement, and whenever an anodyne conjoined with a diaphoretic is indicated. It favors perspiration without augmenting the heat of the body. The above is the original formula, but practitioners vary in preparing it according to their favorite views; thus some omit the cream of tartar and substitute nitrate of potassium or bicarbonate of sodium, while others omit the opium substituting in its place lactucarium or twice the quantity of oleoresin of cypripedium, rendered dry by the addition of magnesia. Dose, 3 to 5 grains every 3 or 4 hours in febrile or inflammatory diseases, and, in some cases, 10 grains, 3 times a day. Its action may be materially promoted as a diaphoretic by warm drinks, such as catnip, balm, or sage tea, lemonade, etc., which, however, should not be given immediately after the administration of the powder, lest vomiting be provoked. In rheumatism, pneumonia, cerebral affections, hepatic diseases, etc., it is frequently combined with small doses of resin of podophyllum.
