What happens if I overdose Meropenem?
Contact 1-800-222-1222 (the American Association of Poison Control Centers), your local poison control center, or emergency room immediately. Symptoms may include seizures; slow breathing; tremors.
Proper storage of Meropenem:
Meropenem is usually handled and stored by a health care provider. If you are using Meropenem at home, store Meropenem as directed by your pharmacist or health care provider. Keep Meropenem out of the reach of children and away from pets.
Overdose of Meropenem in details
In mice and rats, large intravenous doses of Meropenem (2200 mg/kg to 4000 mg/kg) have been associated with ataxia, dyspnea, convulsions, and mortalities.
Intentional overdosing of Meropenem I.V. is unlikely, although accidental overdosing might occur if large doses are given to patients with reduced renal function. The largest dose of Meropenem administered in clinical trials has been 2 grams given intravenously every 8 hours. At this dosage, no adverse pharmacological effects or increased safety risks have been observed.
Limited postmarketing experience indicates that if adverse events occur following overdosage, they are consistent with the adverse event profile described in the Adverse Reactions section and are generally mild in severity and resolve on withdrawal or dose reduction. Consider symptomatic treatments. In individuals with normal renal function, rapid renal elimination takes place. Meropenem and its metabolite are readily dialyzable and effectively removed by hemodialysis; however, no information is available on the use of hemodialysis to treat overdosage.
What should I avoid while taking Meropenem?
This medication may impair your thinking or reactions. Be careful if you drive or do anything that requires you to be alert.
Antibiotic medicines can cause diarrhea, which may be a sign of a new infection. If you have diarrhea that is watery or bloody, stop using Meropenem and call your doctor. Do not use anti-diarrhea medicine unless your doctor tells you to.
Meropenem warnings
While Meropenem possesses the characteristic low toxicity of the β-lactam group of antibiotics, periodic assessment of organ system functions, including renal, hepatic, and hematopoietic, is advisable during prolonged therapy.
Prescribing Meropenem in the absence of a proven or stongly suspected bacterial infection or a prophylactic indication is unlikely to provide benefit to the patient and increases the risk of the development of drug-resistant bacteria.
Seizures and other adverse CNS experiences have been reported during treatment with Meropenem I.V. these experiences have occurred most commonly in patients with CNS disorders (e.g., brain lesions or history of seizures) or with bacterial meningitis and / or compromised renal function. · Prolong use of Meropenem may result in overgrowth of nonsusceptible organisms.
Pregnancy:
There are no adequate and well – controlled studies in pregnant women. Therefore Meropenem should be used during pregnancy only if clearly needed.
Breast feeding:
It is not known whether this drug is excreted in human milk. Caution when Meropenem is administered to a breast-feeding woman.
What should I discuss with my healthcare provider before taking Meropenem?
Some medical conditions may interact with Meropenem. Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you have any medical conditions, especially if any of the following apply to you:
- if you are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or are breast-feeding
- if you are taking any prescription or nonprescription medicine, herbal preparation, or dietary supplement
- if you have allergies to medicines, foods, or other substances
- if you have had an allergic reaction (eg, rash, hives, itching, difficulty breathing, swelling, dizziness) to a penicillin antibiotic (eg, amoxicillin), a cephalosporin antibiotic (eg, cephalexin), or to any other beta-lactam antibiotic (eg, imipenem)
- if you have kidney or liver problems, bacterial meningitis, or a history of seizures or central nervous system problems (eg, brain lesions), or you are in shock
- if you are on dialysis
Some MEDICINES MAY INTERACT with Meropenem. Tell your health care provider if you are taking any other medicines, especially any of the following:
- Probenecid because it may increase the actions and the risk of Meropenem's side effects
- Divalproex sodium or valproic acid because their effectiveness may be decreased by Meropenem
- Other medicines that may increase your risk of seizures (eg, tramadol) because the risk of seizures may be further increased when combined with Meropenem. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if you have questions about whether any of your other medicines may increase your risk for seizures
This may not be a complete list of all interactions that may occur. Ask your health care provider if Meropenem may interact with other medicines that you take. Check with your health care provider before you start, stop, or change the dose of any medicine.
Meropenem precautions
The selection of Meropenem to treat an individual patient should take into account the appropriateness of using a carbapenem antibacterial agent based on factors eg, severity of the infection, the prevalence of resistance to other suitable antibacterial agents and the risk of selecting for carbapenem-resistant bacteria. As with all β-lactam antibiotics, serious and occasionally fatal hypersensitivity reactions have been reported.
Patients who have a history of hypersensitivity to carbapenems, penicillins or other β-lactam antibiotics may also be hypersensitive to Meropenem. Before initiating therapy with Meropenem, careful inquiry should be made concerning previous hypersensitivity reactions to β-lactam antibiotics.
If a severe allergic reaction occurs, Meropenem should be discontinued and appropriate measures taken.
Antibiotic-associated colitis and pseudomembranous colitis have been reported with nearly all antibacterial agents, including Meropenem, and may range in severity from mild to life-threatening. Therefore, it is important to consider this diagnosis in patients who present with diarrhoea during or subsequent to the administration of Meropenem. Discontinuation of therapy with Meropenem and the administration of specific treatment for Clostridium difficile should be considered. Medicinal products that inhibit peristalsis should not be given.
Seizures have infrequently been reported during treatment with carbapenems, including Meropenem.
Hepatic functions should be closely monitored during treatment with Meropenem due to the risk of hepatic toxicity (hepatic dysfunction with cholestasis and cytolysis).
Use in Patients with Liver Disease: Patients with pre-existing liver disorders should have liver function monitored during treatment with Meropenem. There is no dose adjustment necessary.
A positive direct or indirect Coombs test may develop during treatment with Meropenem.
The concomitant use of Meropenem and valproic acid/sodium valproate is not recommended.
Meropenem injection contains sodium.
Meropenem contains approximately 2 mEq of sodium per 500-mg dose which should be taken into consideration by patients on a controlled sodium diet.
What happens if I miss a dose of Meropenem?
Since Meropenem is usually administered by a healthcare provider, missing a dose is not likely to occur.
References
- DailyMed. "MEROPENEM: DailyMed provides trustworthy information about marketed drugs in the United States. DailyMed is the official provider of FDA label information (package inserts).". https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailyme... (accessed September 17, 2018).
- DrugBank. "meropenem". http://www.drugbank.ca/drugs/DB00760 (accessed September 17, 2018).
- MeSH. "Anti-Bacterial Agents". https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/68... (accessed September 17, 2018).
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Information checked by Dr. Sachin Kumar, MD Pharmacology
