Cyclizine - Very Dangerous Side Effects

MHRA yellow card scheme - yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/

Alan

I am a 44 year woman and have recently been in Hospital with acute kidney infection. I was given cyclizine as an anti sickness drug prior to a strong pain killer,( neither of these drugs I had had before).

I had a very serious reaction to cyclizine administered intravenously. Within seconds I knew something wasn't right. My heart started pounding and beating erratically,

I felt like i was going to have a heart attack. The nurse carried on and administering the rest of the dose, by this time I was shaking uncontrollably. I felt very light headed and "spaced out". I was really scared because by then I couldn't breath and my whole body was paralysed. I couldn't speak or form words to make any kind of sence, it was like I'd had a stroke! I was drifting in and out of consciousness. The staff then ran several saline drips through very quickly to "flush out the drug" it to 3 hours for me to start to come round from this ordeal and the drug to be out of my system. Cyclizine appears to have this effect mainly on younger women.

Please think twice if a Doctor recommends it.

Last week my 14 year old daughter took Cyclizine for the second time which was prescribed by a doctor for her severe nausea and vertigo linked to a middle ear problem. She was feeling unwell so I suggested she might want to take one of these tablets. She had taken one several weeks previously just before school and reported to me later that she didn't like the way she felt on them and that she had been so spaced out on the way to school she nearly walked in front of a car!

Well she was feeling particularly dreadful this evening and I suggested she might want to try one again as she was in a safe environment and couldn't injure herself. Well, approximately an hour later I was calling 999. I knew that one of the side effects of the drug was drowsiness but the level of drowsiness she was experiencing was off the scale. She was laid out on the sofa, I could hardly get any sentences out of her, she was extremely jumpy and at one point started to cry as I'd frightened her so much when I'd raised my voice, her eyes were rolling back. It was just a terrible situation. When the paramedics arrived they did all sorts of tests and took her pulse. On advice from their doctor she was to be taken into A&E as she was tachycardic.

At A&E the doctors generally accepted and wrote on out letter for our doctor that she had been seen for poisoning by Cyclizine.

She is OK now I think and the A&E docs prescribed another anti-sickness drug, Prochlorperazine, which I was very nervous about her taking, however she had another bad dad yesterday and wanted to try it. She took one and in an about an hour she back to her old chatty self.

There really needs to be more publicity on the frequency of these adverse reactions as they are being prescribed to pregnant women. People do need to know. And I will be reporting to MHRA.

I have twice had Cyclizine IV. I had a very reaction to it on both occasions in that my heart was very fast and I went very floppy.

I do however take cyclizine 5mg orally, although it does make me feel slightly out of it and my throat feels a bit tingly. It works well as an anti-emetic and i have chronic conditions that make me feel very sick, so I take it daily. I would never have it IV again and my husband knows this too.

In the Summer of 2011 I was referred into Hospital in Fort Williams with severe abdominal pain and vomiting. In the emergency department Cyclizine was administered intravenously to control the nausea and in a few seconds I felt worse.I started to shake,speaking became difficult and my vision became blur.Dizziness increased to the state of feeling that I would collapse.Also hearing became harder and keeping awareness was increasingly hard to cope with.My heart beating raised up and became very irregular,I could feel the pulsating in my neck.

Staff took much too long,about 5 minutes to realise that there was something wrong regardless of my symptoms ,signs and complaints,they were terribly unprofessional,the doctor and the nurses present,it was a nightmare to be in their hands.

In October 2011 I was admitted to hospital with the norovirus. After 2 days of being violently sick, I was administered Cyclizine intravenously. Within minutes my body felt like ice, I couldn't open my eyes, my left side went numb and I started to shake involuntarily. My speech was slurred and incomprehensible. My heart felt like it was going to explode. Staff took a long while to react, Doctors were called. I was then monitored every 10 minutes for 20 hours as I nearly dropped into a coma twice. The hospital arranged an emergency MRI as they thought I had, had a stroke. I also had an eeg scan to rule out epilepsy. I was in hospital for 9 more days , unable to talk coherently, walk or focus.

18 months later, after physiotherapy and speech therapy I am still not fully recovered. After having a second opinion with a neurologist, an mri scan confirmed my nervous system had become damaged.

Quite frankly I am lucky to be here.

I am not sure why it is so difficult to get this drug recognised for what damage it can do. I am now two years into complaints, I have been through the drug company Amdipharm and the director their Peter Stonier who wanted the open case closed with no investigation and closed it well before they are supposed to close their cases. The Hospital edited notes because the nurse gave by IV quickly and was supposed to give oraly. This investergation has gone around for two years. The ombudsman just want the case closed stating there are only two cases regarding this recorded although I looked at the same documentation they did and 10 were reported. I have gone back to them but they do not seem to have any interest. ALL I WANT IS FOR THEM TO LOG THESE CASES AGAINST THE DRUG SO THERE ARE MORE CASES SHOWING THE EFFECTS THIS DRUG HAS HAD ON PEOPLE. There seems to be a real difficulty in doing this, they all admit the drug caused the pacient to loose the use of her legs for six months but getting this registered is impossible, I wonder how many cases of adverse reactions there are out there that nobody knows of and how many hospitals have mis diagnosed due to us not being able to get these cases registered so that doctors can search them. And before you say it, yes I have tried the yellow card scheme and guess what, they had no interest. I have all the proof, evidence and witnesses yet no body is interested. Someone must be getting some money somewhere and I think it will take deaths from this drug to get this recognised.

Paul, I cannot tell you how distressed I was to read your latest post. I would like to discuss this further with you. My email address is xxx perhaps we can discuss how we can get them to log the casesI think i know of 2 cases where there have been deaths recently, relating to this drug. How is your mother now? Personally, I am frustrated that after 18 months I am still struggling with day to day life, caused undoubtedly by this drug.

Emis Moderator comment: I have removed the email address as we do not publish these. If users wish to contact each other directly please use the message service

I cannot understand why these events to not get registered on the database.

I believe it is the hospitals responsibility to inform the drug companies. However as we are all aware, the staff are struggling with the workload and the paperwork and something more important overrides it. Patients seem to be unaware that they are able to contact the drug companies themselves. I am only aware of this due to supportive friends who work within the NHS and who are lawyers.

I previously posted my experience with Cyclizine back in February. I thought I would post an up date....

It's been 3 months since I was given the drug intravenously and I am still suffering from side effects.

These side effects really affect me when I'm feeling tired, had a busy day or a bit run down.

The whole of my left side still twitches and has the sensation of being numb.

I find it difficult to concentrate and feel very spaced out.

This is usually accompanied with sheer exhaustion, to the point where I have to lie down and sleep. Before I was given this drug I never had any of these problems and could function normally.

Something does need to be done to stop this drug being administered.

Emm44 I feel for you. I too am having the same symptoms 18 months on. I cannot seem to process any information for a long period of time, especialy when tired. I am still having leg spasms on my left side, tingling and slurred speech in stressful situations and upon any exertion. prior to this, I was healthy, ran a half marathon, worked and looked after 4 demanding children. I am half the person I was.

I have tried everything and I mean everything to get the experience I was involved in reported and no one is interested and just say it cannot be proved. Hospitals do not want to take the blame for injecting fast and cover up, the drug company does not want the drug to be registered as dangerous and the ombudsman will not investigate the issue. We are all getting no where. I had a meeting with the drug company who closed the case two months early than any of there cases with only the reason of the hospital said they cannot prove it. They had no interest and didn't want it proved. If we could at least get these cases logged somewhere it would be a step in the right direction but that is not going to happen due to much corruption.

Paul. Do not give up. Lets use Hillsborough as an example. It took them 14 years and the courage of a mother to fight for her sons name.

I have just filled in the yellow card scheme, I am hitting on 5 yrs since my one dose of intravenous cyclazine and I can honestly say it has ruined my life. I have gone from a healthy happy mom to a frightened withdrawn mess that cries most days. I cannot go a week without having bad turns, vaso vagal attacks, palpitations, dizzy spells I'm not enjoying life and worse still because of how severe the symptoms are on a bad day I'm nervous going out alone in case I have an attack, I can't exercise as this is a trigger even simple tasks like carrying a load of washing makes my heart pound I am so miserable and so angry that I was ever given that drug.