There are roughly two kinds of drugs used in space. One kind is common medicine, such as purple liquid medicine for treating trauma, disinfection and compression bandage, antibacterial ointment, sedative and analgesic injection, antidiarrheal and gastroenteritis tablets, anti-cold and antihypertensive drugs, anti-inflammatory antibiotics and so on. The other is special drug treatment. These include:
1. Anti-space motion sickness drugs
Space motion sickness is a common disease in space activities, similar to "seasickness" and "carsickness" on the earth. At the onset, the symptoms of this disease include pallor, sweating, nausea, vomiting, epigastric discomfort and loss of appetite, which lasts from several hours to several days, affecting the health of astronauts and reducing work efficiency. One-third to one-quarter of astronauts in the United States and the former Soviet Union have suffered from this disease. It can be seen that the incidence of space motion sickness is high and it spreads widely. Taking drugs for space motion sickness has a certain effect on inhibiting and relieving the symptoms of motion sickness. These drugs include anticholinergic drugs and antihistamines. In the early space flight, American astronauts took antihistamines such as oxazine and gant, and later studied scopolamine and phenylephrine. Taking it alone is not as effective as compound prescription. In addition to oral administration, there is also a kind of adhesive tape with ointment, which can be attached to the skin of the head and achieve therapeutic effect through skin absorption.
2. Anti-radiation drugs
Astronauts flying in space face two risks of space radiation. One is space particle radiation, including solar flares and particles in the earth's radiation belt. In the event of a solar flare, astronauts may receive a radiation dose of 350 ~ 800 rem of upper body skin. The second is artificial radiation sources, such as nuclear power and nuclear batteries carried on spacecraft. According to the measurement, although the radiation received by American and Soviet astronauts mostly did not exceed the allowable standard, a few astronauts on spacecraft, such as Gemini, Apollo 14 and Soyuz 35, received a considerable amount of radiation in space, and two former Soviet astronauts who flew in space 175 days received 7 rem. Therefore, drug prevention is one of the measures to protect the health of astronauts. This kind of commonly used drugs include sulfadiazine and amino 2- isothiourea, which have a certain protective effect on high-energy atoms and can be used with vitamins.
3. Anti-decalcification drugs
Under the influence of weightlessness, the excretion of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and other inorganic salts in urine increases, and the monthly loss is generally 0.3% ~ 0.5% of the total human body, which is equivalent to three times of the decalcification of people in bed, and the loss of the bearing weight of human bones is greater than this ratio. The consequences of a large amount of decalcification, in addition to the risk of kidney calculi, may also be due to severe osteoporosis after returning to the earth, so that slight exertion and activity will cause fractures, especially fractures of the spine or long bones. In order to prevent decalcification, besides proper physical therapy and diet therapy, drug therapy is also an important preventive measure. These drugs include calcium phosphate preparations. The loss of bone calcium in astronauts who take such drugs is significantly lower than that in astronauts who do not take drugs.
4. Drugs to regulate sleep
During the long-term space flight, astronauts will have abnormal emotions such as emotional excitement, fantasy, hallucination and dreaminess, which seriously interfere with sleep and affect work efficiency and health. Therefore, the spacecraft is equipped with some sedatives and hypnotics for astronauts to take to regulate their sleep. These drugs should take effect soon after taking them, and the efficacy will disappear soon after waking up. There should be no side effects such as drowsiness and listlessness. The salute of the space station in the former Soviet Union was equipped with sleeping pills such as tranquilizers, and the Apollo spacecraft in the United States was equipped with sleeping pills and injections such as sleeping pills and sedatives. Astronauts on the American space shuttle were once disturbed by static electricity. The ground control center telegraphed them to take the designated sleeping pills and tranquilizers, and then they fell asleep soon.
5. Drugs to improve working ability
People working in the spaceship environment have to withstand the test of weightlessness, overweight, noise, high temperature, low temperature, special lighting, narrow environment and other special environments. People's sensory function, motor function and brain central function will all be tired because of this environment, which will have an impact on work. Especially in the long-term space flight, this kind of fatigue will appear periodic cycle, and taking some drugs to improve work ability can eliminate fatigue. These drugs include powerful stimulants such as amphetamine, and nonspecific drugs such as ginseng, acanthopanax senticosus and blush with shame. The former has the function of saving money, is easy to become addicted and reduces appetite; The latter is less irritating and lasts a long time. They have their own advantages and disadvantages, but they can promote work efficiency and stabilize work mood to some extent. Therefore, astronauts should take some drugs to promote their work and enhance their activity energy even if they are not ill in space flight, otherwise, once fatigue breaks out, they will distract their work and bring bad consequences.
The medicine cabinet in the spaceship is not completely set for diseases, but also for rest and work. There are dozens of medicines. Here is a list of medicines in the medicine box in the cockpit of Apollo spacecraft in the United States, showing the situation of astronauts taking medicines.