Compazine Side Effects

Serious Adverse Side Effects

Compazine | Prochlorperazine has some very serious adverse side effects associated with it that can be quite serious. They include:

Cardiovascular side effects like prolonged QT interval, or the space of time it takes the heart muscles to contract in a heartbeat
Neurological side effects like tardive dyskinesia, or involuntary and jerking body movements
Other side effects like neuroleptic malignant syndrome, a life-threatening disorder brought about by adverse side effects to the medicine

Common Adverse Side Effects

Compazine | Prochlorperazine has no established common and less severe adverse side effects.

Warnings & Recalls for Compazine

Black Box Warning

Compazine | Prochlorperazine has a “black box” warning associated with it that denotes that elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis treated with drugs such as Compazine | Prochlorperazine, are at an increased risk of death.

Contraindications

The contraindications of Compazine | Prochlorperazine are as follows:

Children under the age of 2 or weighing less than 20lbs
Comatose state
Hypersensitivity to prochlorperazine or phenothiazines
Pediatric surgery
Concurrent use with large amounts of central nervous system depressants such as alcohol or narcotics

Who Should Not Take This Drug

Compazine | Prochlorperazine should never be taken by the following patients with these preexisting conditions:

Elderly patients
Adolescents and children displaying symptoms of Reye’s syndrome
Patients with a history of low white blood cell count
Patients with bone marrow depression
Patients with cardiovascular disorders
Children with acute illness or dehydration
Concurrent use with metrizamide
Patients with glaucoma
Extreme heat exposure

Pregnancy Warning

This drug has a pregnancy category rating of “C”, which means that it doesn’t pose that much of a risk to the fetus, however use of it should be discontinued after conception.

Compazine Treatment and Use

Compazine | Prochlorperazine is a drug whose classification is that of a dopamine receptor antagonist that also belongs to phenothiazines of antipsychotic agents used for the treatment of nausea and vertigo. It should be noted that this drug is available as an anal suppository, liquid solution or in pill form. Its also known to be a very powerful antipsychotic agent, 10-20 times more potent than chlorpromazine. Compazine | Prochlorperazine can also be used to treat migraines. It is worth noting that there are intravenous solutions of this drug used to treat status migrainosus.

Off-label uses for Compazine | Prochlorperazine include chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and labyrinthitis.

See the “Warnings and Recalls” tab to get more information about this drug’s “Black Box” warning.

How This Drug Works

Compazine | Prochlorperazine is known to be a derivative of phenothiazine that also depresses the chemoreceptor trigger zone, in turn controlling severe nausea and vomiting.

Dosage Information

The safety and the efficacy of administering this drug to children under the age of 2 years or less than 20 pounds of weight has as of yet not been established. For adults who are being administered this drug for severe nausea and vomiting, Compazine | Prochlorperazine has a dose of 25mg rectally twice daily.

Other Names for Compazine

Brand Names

Compazine

Stemzine

Buccastem

Stemetil

Phenotil

Generic Name

Prochlorperazine