Description

What is Multivitamins + Minerals (MolviteTM OB Tablet)?

Pregnancy is a delicate condition requiring special nutritional care. During this state when the mother carries and nurtures a new life within her womb, extra care must be undertaken to ensure her good health and that of her baby’s. The twin tasks of keeping the expectant mother in the pink of condition and of nurturing a healthy unborn baby until birth depend, to a large extent, upon the mother’s correct dietary intake and her supply of additional nutritional support.

Good nutritional pre-natal care must always consider that the expectant mother has to share her blood circulation with the baby in her womb, and that the baby’s nutrients and oxygen supplies from re-channeled blood from the mother. Thus, the pregnant mother must receive additional blood-building substances, vitamins, minerals, plus other nutrients in predetermined quantities to keep her body working normally and to ascertain that the baby she is carrying is well nourished.

It is also necessary that a continuous extra supply of vital food nutrients be provided to the mother during the post-natal period and up to lactation.

MOLVITE™ • OB tablet is a special nutritional supplement formulated to provide maximum nutrient values to the pregnant mother and the rapidly developing baby in her womb. Incorporated into each tablet of MOLVITE™ • OB are substantial amounts of the important nutrients required for a successful gestation and delivery. A daily dose of MOLVITE™ • OB tablet is also ideal and requisite for the lactating mother with the benefits consequently passed on to the breast-fed infant.

MOLVITE™ • OB tablet is coated with a layered enteric crust which protects its contents from premature degradation by the gastric acid to allow maximum absorption in the intestinal tract. This special coating also masks the non-palatable tastes of the constituted ingredients, thus contributing to better dosage compliance among patients.

What is MolviteTM OB Tablet used for?

MolviteTM OB Tablet is indicated for the maintenance or proper nutrition during pregnancy and lactation. It is also used for the prevention of maternal and fetal complications caused by nutritional deficiencies, to promote proper fetal development and for prophylaxis and therapy or iron and folic acid deficiencies and other nutritional anemia.

How should MolviteTM OB Tablet be taken?

MolviteTM OB Tablet should be taken one tablet once a day or as prescribed by the physician.

It is best taken on an empty stomach. It is also recommended to take small amount of food to avoid gastrointestinal problems.

When should you not take Multivitamins + Minerals (MolviteTM OB Tablet)?

Do not take this medicine if the patient is allergic to any constituent of the formulation.

What care or precautions should be observed when taking this medicine?

Do not exceed the recommended daily dose.

Should be used with caution in patients with gastrointestinal disorders, since iron salts can exacerbate gastrointestinal bleeding.

Particular care should be taken by patients with iron storage or iron absorption diseases such as hemochromatosis and hemoglobinopathies.

What are the undesirable effects of Multivitamins + Minerals (MolviteTM OB Tablet)?

Multivitamins + Minerals (MolviteTM OB Tablet) contains iron and as with all iron preparations, the stool may become black after taking this formulation. However, this is completely harmless.

Oral iron supplements have been associated with hypersensitivity reactions which include anaphylaxis and skin reactions such as rash, pruritus, urticaria, edema and photosensitivity.

Gastrointestinal irritation and abdominal pain with nausea and vomiting, diarrhea or constipation may be experienced. These effects, which are usually related to the amount of elemental iron taken, may be reduced by taking the medicine with or after food or by beginning therapy with a small dose and increasing gradually.

Riboflavin in large doses may cause bright yellow discoloration of the urine that may interfere with certain laboratory tests.

What other medicine or food should be avoided while taking Multivitamins + Minerals (MolviteTM OB Tablet)?

Iron salts are poorly absorbed orally and food may affect absorption. Compounds containing calcium and magnesium, including antacids and mineral supplements, bicarbonates, carbonates, oxalates or phosphates may affect absorption of iron by the formation of insoluble complexes.

The absorption of both iron salts and tetracyclines is diminished when taken together orally. If treatment with both drugs is required, a time interval of about 2 to 3 hours should be allowed between them.

Time interval is also advised for patients taking trientine and iron supplement. The response to iron may be delayed in patients receiving systemic chloramphenicol. Iron is chelated by acetohydroxamic acid, reducing the absorption of both. Iron should not be given with dimercaprol as toxic complexes may form.

Iron salts can also decrease the absorption, bioavailability and clinical effect of the following drugs: cefdinir, bisphosphonates (e.g. alendronate), entacapone, fluoroquinolones, levodopa, methyldopa, mycophenolate mofetil and penicillamine. Iron salts may reduce the efficacy of levothyroxine.

Omeprazole may affect the bioavailability of dietary vitamin C and reduce the absorption of Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12). Absorption of vitamin B12 from gastrointestinal tract may be reduced by neomycin, aminosalicylic acid, histamine–2 receptor antagonists, colchicine and colestyramine.

What should you do if you miss a dose?

If you miss a dose, you must take it as soon as you remember it. Do not double the next dose to make up for the missed one. You may skip the missed dose and continue your regular dosing schedule if it is almost time for the next dose.

What are the signs and symptoms of overdose and what to do when you have taken more than the recommended dosage?

Iron overload may occur as a result of excessive or mistaken therapy especially with injectable therapy which may lead eventually to hemochromatosis, where pigment deposition in skin and other organs may occur, mild liver dysfunction, endocrine dysfunction (e.g. failure of the adolescent growth spurt, hypogonadism, sometimes diabetes and hypothyroidism), and heart disease (e.g. pericarditis, heart failure and arrhythmia). Serum iron concentrations have also been used as an indication of the severity of overdosage. If unchecked, the iron buildup can lead to death.

In cases of iron overdose, the stomach should be emptied by gastric lavage before administering deferoxamine preferably within one hour of ingesting a significant amount of iron.

Administration of vitamin B12 with doses greater than 10 mcg daily may produce a hematological response in patients with folate deficiency. Indiscriminate use may mask the precise diagnosis.

How should Multivitamins + Minerals (MolviteTM OB Tablet) be stored?

Store at temperatures not exceeding 30 C. Keep the medicine out of reach of children.

When should you consult your doctor?

Generally, and untoward adverse effects experienced with Multivitamins + Minerals (MolviteTM OB Tablet) should be immediately be reported to your doctor.

For suspected adverse drug reaction, report to the FDA: www.fda.gov.ph