Rifampin

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What is the most important information I should know about rifampin?

Before taking rifampin, tell your doctor if you are allergic to any drugs, or if you have liver disease or porphyria ( (a genetic enzyme disorder that causes symptoms affecting the skin or nervous system).

Take this medication for the full prescribed length of time. Your symptoms may improve before the infection is completely cleared. Rifampin will not treat a viral infection such as the common cold or flu.

Take the rifampin capsule on an empty stomach 1 hour before or 2 hours after a meal.

Rifampin can make birth control pills less effective. Ask your doctor about using a non-hormone method of birth control (such as a condom, diaphragm, spermicide) to prevent pregnancy while taking rifampin.

There are many other medicines that can interact with rifampin. 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. Keep a list with you of all the medicines you use and show this list to any doctor or other healthcare provider who treats you.

Do not wear contact lenses while you are taking rifampin. This medicine may discolor your tears, which could permanently stain soft contact lenses.

Warning

Remember, keep this and all other medicines out of the reach of children, never share your medicines with others, and use this medication only for the indication prescribed.

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What is rifampin?

Rifampin is an antibiotic. Rifampin prevents bacteria from spreading in your body.

Rifampin is used to treat or prevent tuberculosis (TB).

Rifampin may also be used to eliminate a bacteria from your nose and throat that may cause meningitis or other infections, even if you do not have an infection. Rifampin prevents you from spreading this bacteria to other people, but the medication will not treat an infection caused by the bacteria.

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

Precautions

You should not use this medication if you are allergic to rifampin.

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

liver disease; or
porphyria (a genetic enzyme disorder that causes symptoms affecting the skin or nervous system).

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

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.

Rifampin passes into breast milk and may harm a nursing baby. Do not use this medication without telling your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby.

Do not wear contact lenses while you are taking rifampin. This medicine may discolor your tears, which could permanently stain soft contact lenses.

Instructions

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

Overdose symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, itching, headache, weakness, fast or uneven heart rate, or feeling like you might pass out.

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

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.

Call your doctor at once if you have a serious side effect such as:

fever, chills, body aches, flu symptoms;
joint pain or swelling;
easy bruising or bleeding, weakness;
urinating less than usual or not at all; or
nausea, stomach pain, loss of appetite, itching, dark urine, clay-colored stools, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes).

Less serious side effects may include:

tired feeling; or
red or orange colored urine, stools, tears, sweat, or saliva.

This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Tell your doctor about any unusual or bothersome side effect. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.

Interactions

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

acetaminophen (Tylenol);
a blood thinner such as warfarin (Coumadin);
a barbiturate such as phenobarbital (Solfoton);
diazepam (Valium) or similar medicines such as alprazolam (Xanax), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), midazolam (Versed), temazepam (Restoril), triazolam (Halcion), and others;
a beta-blocker such as atenolol (Tenormin), bisoprolol (Zebeta, Ziac), labetalol (Normodyne, Trandate), metoprolol (Lopressor, Toprol), propranolol (Inderal, InnoPran), timolol (Blocadren), and others;
clofibrate (Atromid-S);
steroids such as prednisone, fluticasone (Advair), mometasone (Asmanex, Nasonex), dexamethasone (Decadron, Hexadrol) and others;
birth control pills or estrogen hormone replacement;
heart medicines such as digoxin (Lanoxin), disopyramide (Norpace), quinidine (Quinaglute, Quinidex), mexiletine (Mexitil), tocainide (Tonocard), verapamil (Calan, Verelan, Isoptin), or enalapril (Vasotec);
HIV medicines such as delavirdine (Rescriptor), saquinavir (Invirase, Fortovase), ritonavir (Norvir), nelfinavir (Viracept), and others;
ketoconazole (Nizoral), itraconazole (Sporanox), or fluconazole (Diflucan);
methadone (Dolophine);
phenytoin (Dilantin), ethotoin (Peganone), and mephenytoin (Mesantoin);
sulfa drugs (Bactrim, Gantanol, Septra, and others);
diabetes medication you take by mouth;
cyclosporine (Sandimmune, Neoral); or
theophylline (Elixophyllin, TheoCap, Theochron, Uniphyl).

This list is not complete and there are many other medicines that can interact with rifampin. 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. Keep a list with you of all the medicines you use and show this list to any doctor or other healthcare provider who treats you.

Disclaimer

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided by Cerner Multum, Inc. ('Multum') is accurate, up-to-date, and complete, but no guarantee is made to that effect. Drug information contained herein may be time sensitive. Multum information has been compiled for use by healthcare practitioners and consumers in the United States and therefore Multum does not warrant that uses outside of the United States are appropriate, unless specifically indicated otherwise. Multum's drug information does not endorse drugs, diagnose patients or recommend therapy. Multum's drug information is an informational resource designed to assist licensed healthcare practitioners in caring for their patients and/or to serve consumers viewing this service as a supplement to, and not a substitute for, the expertise, skill, knowledge and judgment of healthcare practitioners. The absence of a warning for a given drug or drug combination in no way should be construed to indicate that the drug or drug combination is safe, effective or appropriate for any given patient. Multum does not assume any responsibility for any aspect of healthcare administered with the aid of information Multum provides. The information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. If you have questions about the drugs you are taking, check with your doctor, nurse or pharmacist.