| |
Gallium nitrate is a form of nitrate salt. Gallium nitrate is used to lower blood levels of calcium when they have become dangerously high in cancer patients. Gallium nitrate may also be used for purposes other than those listed in this medication guide.
Before receiving gallium nitrate, tell your doctor if you are allergic to any drugs, if you have heart disease, or if you take diuretics (water pills). If you have any of these conditions, you may need dosage adjustments or special tests during treatment. Many other drugs can damage the kidneys and should not be used together with gallium nitrate. Tell your doctor if you are receiving chemotherapy, taking an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) pain medicine, or using medicines used to treat a bowel disorder, medications to prevent organ transplant rejection, antiviral medications, or any injected antibiotics. Gallium nitrate must be given as an IV infusion around the clock for up to 5 days, or until blood calcium levels are lowered to a safe level. During your treatment with gallium nitrate, you may also need to be put on IV fluids to keep you from getting dehydrated. To be sure this medication is helping your condition, your blood and urine will need to be tested often. This will help your doctor determine how long to treat you with gallium nitrate.
You should not use this medication if you are allergic to gallium nitrate, or if you have severe kidney disease. Before receiving gallium nitrate, tell your doctor if you are allergic to any drugs, if you have heart disease, or if you take diuretics (water pills). If you have any of these conditions, you may need dosage adjustments or special tests during treatment. FDA pregnancy category C. This medication may be harmful to an unborn baby. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant before you receive gallium nitrate. It is not known whether gallium nitrate passes into breast milk or if it could harm a nursing baby. Do not receive this medication before telling your doctor if you are breast-feeding a baby.
Gallium nitrate is given as an injection through a needle placed into a vein. You will receive this injection in a hospital or emergency setting. Gallium nitrate must be given as an IV infusion around the clock for up to 5 days, or until blood calcium levels are lowered to a safe level. During your treatment with gallium nitrate, you may also need to be put on IV fluids to keep you from getting dehydrated. To be sure this medication is helping your condition, your blood and urine will need to be tested often. This will help your doctor determine how long to treat you with gallium nitrate.
Since gallium nitrate is given by a healthcare provider, it is not likely that you will miss a dose.
Tell your caregivers right away if you think you have received too much of this medicine. Overdose symptoms may include nausea and vomiting, or urinating less than usual.
Follow your doctor's instructions about any restrictions on food, beverages, or activity after you receive gallium nitrate.
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. Tell your caregivers right away if you have any of these serious side effects: increased thirst, swelling in your lower legs; urinating less than usual or not at all; pale skin, easy bruising or bleeding; blurred vision, headache or pain behind your eyes; confusion, hallucinations; noisy breathing, feeling short of breath;
Less serious side effects may include: 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.
Before receiving gallium nitrate, tell your doctor if you are using any of the following drugs: cyclosporine (Gengraf, Neoral, Sandimmune); a steroid such as prednisone; lithium (Eskalith, Lithobid); methotrexate (Rheumatrex, Trexal); pain or arthritis medicines such as aspirin (Anacin, Excedrin), acetaminophen (Tylenol), diclofenac (Voltaren), etodolac (Lodine), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), indomethacin (Indocin), naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn), and others; medicines used to treat a ulcerative colitis, such as mesalamine (Pentasa) or sulfasalazine (Azulfidine); medicines used to prevent organ transplant rejection, such as tacrolimus (Prograf); IV antibiotics such as amphotericin B (Fungizone, AmBisome, Amphotec, Abelcet), amikacin (Amikin), bacitracin (Baci-IM), capreomycin (Capastat), gentamicin (Garamycin), kanamycin (Kantrex), streptomycin, or vancomycin (Vancocin, Vancoled); antiviral medicines such as adefovir (Hepsera), cidofovir (Vistide), or foscarnet (Foscavir); or cancer medicine such as aldesleukin (Proleukin), carmustine (BiCNU, Gliadel), cisplatin (Platinol), ifosfamide (Ifex), oxaliplatin (Eloxatin), plicamycin (Mithracin), streptozocin (Zanosar), or tretinoin (Vesanoid).
Many of these other drugs can damage the kidneys If you are using any of these drugs, you may not be able to receive gallium nitrate, or you may need dosage adjustments or special tests during treatment. This list is not complete and there may be other drugs that can interact with gallium nitrate. Tell your doctor about all your prescription and over-the-counter medications, vitamins, minerals, herbal products, and drugs prescribed by other doctors.
- Your doctor or pharmacist can provide more information about gallium nitrate.
- 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.
Copyright 1996-2006 Cerner Multum, Inc. Version: 1.03. Revision Date: 4/12/2009 4:37:48 PM.;
|
|
