Dimetane

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

Stop using brompheniramine and call your doctor at once if you have a serious side effect such as:

• fast or uneven heart rate;
• mood changes;
• tremor, seizure (convulsions);
• easy bruising or bleeding, unusual weakness;
• feeling short of breath; or
• urinating less than usual or not at all.

Less serious side effects may include:

• dizziness, drowsiness;
• dry mouth, nose, or throat;
• constipation;
• blurred vision; or
• feeling nervous or restless.

This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.

This medicine may cause blurred vision or impair your thinking or reactions. Be careful if you drive or do anything that requires you to be alert and able to see clearly.

Drinking alcohol can increase certain side effects of brompheniramine.

Ask a doctor or pharmacist before using any other cold, cough, allergy, or sleep medicine. Antihistamines are contained in many combination medicines. Taking certain products together can cause you to get too much of a certain drug. Check the label to see if a medicine contains an antihistamine.

Avoid becoming overheated or dehydrated during exercise and in hot weather. Brompheniramine can decrease sweating and you may be more prone to heat stroke.

Ask a doctor or pharmacist before using this medicine if you regularly use other medicines that make you sleepy (such as narcotic pain medication, sedatives, sleeping pills, muscle relaxers, and medicine for seizures, depression or anxiety). They can add to sleepiness caused by brompheniramine.

Ask a doctor or pharmacist if it is safe for you to take brompheniramine if you are also using any of the following drugs:

• atropine (Atreza, Sal-Tropine);
• benztropine (Cogentin);
• topiramate (Topamax);
• zonisamide (Zonegran);
• anti-nausea medications such as belladonna (Donnatal), dimenhydrinate (Dramamine), methscopolamine (Pamine), or scopolamine (Transderm Scop);
• bladder or urinary medications such as darifenacin (Enablex), flavoxate (Urispas), oxybutynin (Ditropan, Oxytrol), solifenacin (Vesicare), tolterodine (Detrol), or Urogesic Blue;
• bronchodilators such as ipratropium (Atrovent) or tiotropium (Spiriva);
• irritable bowel medications such as dicyclomine (Bentyl), hyoscyamine (Hyomax), or propantheline (Pro Banthine); or
• ulcer medicine such as glycopyrrolate (Robinul) or mepenzolate (Cantil).

This list is not complete and other drugs may interact with brompheniramine. Tell your doctor about all medications you use. This includes prescription, over-the-counter, vitamin, and herbal products. Do not start a new medication without telling your doctor.

Especially in infants and small children, antihistamines in overdosage may cause hallucinations, convulsions, death. Codeine may cause or aggravate constipation. Antihistamines may diminish mental alertness. In the young child, they may produce excitation.

Signs and Symptoms

Serious overdose with codeine is characterized by respiratory depression, extreme somnolence progressing to stupor or coma. In severe overdosage, apnea, circulatory collapse, cardiac arrest and death may occur. The central nervous system effects from overdosage of brompheniramine may vary from depression to stimulation. Anticholinergic effects may also occur. Overdosage of phenylpropanolamine may be associated with tachycardia, hypertension and cardiac arrhythmias.

Toxic Doses

Doses of 800 mg or more of codeine have caused partial loss of consciousness, delirium, restlessness, excitement, tremors, convulsions and collapse, or respiratory paralysis with such sequelae as mydriasis, marked vasodilatation, and finally death. A 2.5 year old child survived a dose of 300-900 mg of brompheniramine; the lethal dose of phenylpropanolamine is in the range of 50 mg/kg.

Treatment

Respiratory depression should be treated promptly. Oxygen, intravenous fluids, vasopressors and other supportive measures should be employed as indicated. If necessary, reestablishment of adequate respiratory exchange through provision of a patent airway and the institution of assisted or controlled ventilation must be provided. The narcotic antagonist, naloxone, is a specific antidote to codeine-induced respiratory depression, and should be administered by intravenous route if appropriate (see package insert for naloxone). Since the duration of action of codeine may exceed that of the antagonist, the patient should be kept under constant surveillance.

Gastric emptying may be useful in removing unabsorbed drug, either by inducing emesis or lavage; precautions against aspiration must be taken. Stimulants or depressants should be used cautiously and only when specifically indicated. If marked excitement is present, one of the short-acting barbiturates or chloral hydrate may be used.

Patients should be warned about engaging in activities requiring mental alertness, such as driving a car or operating dangerous machinery.

Dimetane is part of the drug class:

• Substituted alkylamines

This medicine may cause blurred vision or impair your thinking or reactions. Be careful if you drive or do anything that requires you to be alert and able to see clearly.

Drinking alcohol can increase certain side effects of brompheniramine.

Ask a doctor or pharmacist before using any other cold, cough, allergy, or sleep medicine. Antihistamines are contained in many combination medicines. Taking certain products together can cause you to get too much of a certain drug. Check the label to see if a medicine contains an antihistamine.

Avoid becoming overheated or dehydrated during exercise and in hot weather. Brompheniramine can decrease sweating and you may be more prone to heat stroke.