Compazine side effects?

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Has anyone had the jitters from taking compazine?   I've been using compazine after my chemo treatments to help prevent nausea.  After about day 2, I can't be still and feel as though I'm about ready to jump out of my skin.  My jaw tightens, eyes twitch, my heart races and I am unable to sleep.  I'm over a week past my last chemo and am still experiencing some of these side effects. I've read that compazine can cause these symptoms and was wondering if anyone else had experienced them.  It's a miserable feeling.  I have a script for zofran which I try to use sparingly because it has a higher risk of causing constipation and that's a problem with me.  Are there other nausea meds, such as phenegran, which can be substituted for the compazine that work just as well to control the nausea?   Thank you.

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  • jacee
    jacee Member Posts: 1,384
    edited February 2011

    I was unable to use compazine or zofran for nausea during chemo. Due to severe headaches. I used phergan and it worked well.

    I did have some of the side effects you mention, but it was due to the steroids they gave me during Taxol.

  • AnneW
    AnneW Member Posts: 4,050
    edited February 2011

    Don't take any more Compazine when you get those side effects (in medical terms they are called extrapyramidal)!!! Sometimes they last way longer than the drug does in your body. Please, not another dose.

    Jacee is right about other oprions like good old Phenergan. It's the only one that works for me. Everyone gives Zofran now, especially post-op, and I'll puke unless I have Phenergan. It is pretty sedating for me, but it beats puking!

  • Letlet
    Letlet Member Posts: 1,053
    edited February 2011

    I had a similar reaction to reglan, i jad the jitters and was so twitchy when im usually not like that. My onc told me to stop immediately and to also stop taking compazine because it would also make me like that. She prescribed me ativan for the nausea and for me that worked best.

  • mamaof3bugs
    mamaof3bugs Member Posts: 198
    edited February 2011

    The only anti-nausea that works for me is phenegran, it is the BEST!  All the 'new' ones are crap, they don't work worth a lick.  I puked for four hours after my lumpectomy because the nurses insisted that Zofran was better...once they gave me the phenegran I was up and out the door in 15 minutes.  It will make you very sleepy but after chemo that is a bonus!  Good luck finding a solution, there are so many options you should have not problems.  Angi

  • cblue715
    cblue715 Member Posts: 8
    edited February 2011

    Thank you all for your responses.  I'm going to ask my onc about phenegran.  So what if it makes me sleep.  That might actually be a good thing.  Thanks again.

  • polamom
    polamom Member Posts: 81
    edited March 2011

    I'd try zofran with lots of prunes. :)  Zofran is very nice stuff.  I don't think it ever caused me constipation. I took it with my pregnancies too.  I've had constipation with chemo, of course, but again, I don't think  the zofran contributed and wish I'd tried prunes sooner.  Also, milk of magnesia saved me!! Just the  small dose at night and I go the next day without cramping.

  • PeregrineEllie
    PeregrineEllie Member Posts: 5
    edited March 2011

    Zofran and Phenegran didn't work at all for me! The only drug that did work was Compazine. The only side effect it has is that it makes me tired. How strange how differently the same medications affect different people. I know a lot of people do have really good luck with Zofran and Phenegran (if I'm spelling that right).

     I am thankful for compazine as it's the only thing that's worked!!

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