Cinnarizine

Indications

Cinnarizine is used for: Nausea and vomiting, motion sickness, vertigo, meniere's disease, peripheral vascular diseases, cerebrovascular disorders, vestibular disorders

Adult Dose

Oral Peripheral vascular disease Adult: 75 mg bid or tid. Motion sickness Adult: 30 mg 2 hr before travel then 15 mg 8 hrly during the journey if necessary. Cerebrovascular disorders Adult: 75 mg once daily. Vertigo and vestibular disorders Adult: 30 mg tid or 75 mg 1-2 times daily.

Child Dose

Oral Motion sickness Child: 5-12 yr 15 mg 2 hr before travel then 7.5 mg 8 hrly during the journey as necessary. Vertigo and vestibular disorders Child: 5-12 yr 15 mg tid.

Renal Dose

Administration

Should be taken with food.

Contra Indications

Proven hypersensitivity to the drug. Parkinson's disease. Childn and neonates.

Precautions

Hypotension; pregnancy; lactation; elderly. May impair ability to drive or operate machineries.

Pregnancy-Lactation

Interactions

CNS depressant effect enhanced with alcohol. Action potentiated by domperidone. Increased sedative effect w/ CNS depressants or TCAs.

Adverse Effects

Side effects of Cinnarizine : Extrapyramidal symptoms sometimes associated with severe depression. Drowsiness, headache, GI upsets, unsteadiness, headache; rarely skin and hypersensitivity reactions, dry mouth, blurred vision, urinary difficulty or retention, constipation and increased gastric reflux, fatigue. Hypolipidaemic effect.

Mechanism of Action

Cinnarizine has calcium-channel blocking activity selective for arterial smooth muscle. It also has some antihistamine activity. Cinnarizine acts as a labyrinthine sedative. It also improves microcirculation by reducing ischaemia-induced blood viscosity.