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What is promethazine?

Promethazine oral is an antihistamine. It blocks the effects of the naturally occurring chemical histamine in your body.

Promethazine oral is used to treat allergy symptoms such as itching, runny nose, sneezing, itchy or watery eyes, hives, and itchy skin rashes.

Promethazine oral also prevents motion sickness, and treats nausea and vomiting or pain after surgery. It is also used as a sedative or sleep aid.

Promethazine oral may also be used for other purposes not listed in this medication guide.

Precautions

Instructions

Side-effects

Interactions

Precautions

Promethazine oral should not be given to a child younger than 2 years old. Promethazine oral can cause severe breathing problems or death in a child younger than 2. Carefully follow your doctor's instructions when giving this medicine to a child of any age.

Do not use promethazine oral if you have asthma or other lung disease.

Before taking promethazine oral, tell your doctor if you are allergic to any drugs, or if you have:

• epilepsy or another seizure disorder;
• sleep apnea (breathing stops during sleep);
• glaucoma;
• a stomach ulcer or digestive obstruction;
• bone marrow disorder;
• problems with urination;
• high blood pressure or heart disease; or
• liver disease.

If you have any of these conditions, you may need a dose adjustment or special tests to safely take promethazine.

FDA pregnancy category C. This medication may be harmful to an unborn baby. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant during treatment.

It is not known whether promethazine oral passes into breast milk or if it could harm an unborn baby. Do not use promethazine oral without telling your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby.

If you are over 60 years of age, you may be more sensitive to the side effects of promethazine oral.

Promethazine oral can cause side effects that may impair your thinking or reactions. Be careful if you drive or do anything that requires you to be awake and alert.

Avoid drinking alcohol, which can increase some of the side effects of promethazine oral.

Cold or allergy medicine, narcotic pain medicine, sleeping pills, muscle relaxers, and medicine for seizures, depression or anxiety can add to sleepiness caused by promethazine. Tell your doctor if you regularly use any of these medicines, or any other antihistamine.

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Instructions

Seek emergency medical attention if you think you have used too much of this medicine.

Overdose symptoms include severe drowsiness, dizziness, dry mouth, large pupils, flushing, nausea, vomiting, shallow breathing, and fainting.

Take the missed dose as soon as you remember. If it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and take the medicine at the next regularly scheduled time. Do not take extra medicine to make up the missed dose.

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Side-effects

Get emergency medical help if you have any of these signs of an allergic reaction: hives; difficulty breathing; swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat.

Stop using promethazine oral and call your doctor at once if you have any of these serious side effects:

• twitching, or uncontrollable movements of your eyes, lips, tongue, face, arms, or legs;
• shallow breathing, weak pulse;
• hallucinations (seeing or hearing things);
• nausea, stomach pain, low fever, loss of appetite, dark urine, clay-colored stools, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes); or
• fever, muscle stiffness, confusion, fast or uneven heartbeat, sweating, fainting.

Less serious side effects may include:

• dizziness, drowsiness, sleepiness, or confusion;
• blurred vision, dry mouth;
• ringing in your ears;
• mild nausea or vomiting; or
• increased sensitivity to sunlight.

This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Tell your doctor about any unusual or bothersome side effect.

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Interactions

Many drugs can interact with promethazine. Below is just a partial list. Tell your doctor if you are using:

• sedatives or anxiety medicines such as alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), temazepam (Restoril), or triazolam (Halcion);
• antidepressants such as amitriptyline (Elavil), doxepin (Sinequan), nortriptyline (Pamelor), fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), or paroxetine (Paxil);
• narcotic pain medicines such as meperidine (Demerol), morphine (MS Contin, MSIR), propoxyphene (Darvon, Darvocet), hydrocodone (Lortab, Vicodin), oxycodone (Percocet, Percodan), fentanyl (Duragesic), codeine (Fiorinal, Fioricet, Tylenol #3);
• phenobarbital (Luminal), amobarbital (Amytal) or secobarbital (Seconal);
• an MAO inhibitor such as isocarboxazid (Marplan), tranylcypromine (Parnate), phenelzine (Nardil), or selegiline (Eldepryl, Emsam); or
• atropine (Donnatal, and others), belladonna, clidinium (Quarzan), dicyclomine (Bentyl), glycopyrrolate (Robinul), hyoscyamine (Anaspaz, Cystospaz, Levsin, and others), methscopolamine (Pamine), and scopolamine (Transderm-Scop).

This list is not complete and there may be other drugs that can interact with promethazine oral. Tell your doctor about all the prescription and over-the-counter medications you use. This includes vitamins, minerals, herbal products, and drugs prescribed by other doctors. Do not start using a new medication without telling your doctor.

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