CYCLOSPORINE

(SYE kloe SPOR een) Brand: Gengraf, Neoral, SandIMMUNE

What is the most significant information I must know about cyclosporine?

• Cyclosporine may magnify your risk of developing serious infections, cancer, or transplant failure. Conversation with your doctor about the risks and benefits of using this medicine.

• You may not be able to use this medicine if you have kidney malady, untreated or uncontrolled hypertension (high blood pressure), any type of cancer, or psoriasis that has been treated with PUVA, UVB, radiation, methotrexate (Trexall), or coal tar. MAKE Certain ALL DOCTORS INVOLVED IN YOUR CARE KNOW YOU ARE TAKING CYCLOSPORINE.

• Cyclosporine can reason serious side effects, including kidney failure or life-threatening infection. While using cyclosporine, you will need frequent blood trials to be certain cyclosporine is not causing deleterious effects.

• Cyclosporine can lower blood cells that help your body fight infections and help your blood to clot. You may get an infection or bleed more easily. Call your doctor if you have unusual bruising or bleeding, or signs of infection (fever, chills, body aches).

What is cyclosporine?

• Cyclosporine lowers your body's immune system. The immune system helps your body fight infections. The immune system can also fight or "reject" a transplanted organ such as a liver or kidney. This is because the immune system treats the new organ as an invader.

• Cyclosporine is used to prevent organ rejection after a kidney, heart, or liver transplant. Cyclosporine is also used to treat severe psoriasis or severe rheumatoid arthritis.

• Cyclosporine may also be used for purposes not listed in this medicine guide.

What must I discuss with my health care provider till taking cyclosporine?

• You must not use this medicine if you are allergic to cyclosporine. You may not be able to use cyclosporine if you have:

· kidney disease;

· untreated or uncontrolled tall blood pressure; or

· any type of cancer.

• If you are being treated for psoriasis, you must not receive ultraviolet easy therapy (PUVA or UVB), radiation treatments, coal tar, or drugs that weaken the immune system (such as methotrexate) while you are receiving cyclosporine.

• MAKE Certain ALL DOCTORS INVOLVED IN YOUR CARE KNOW YOU ARE TAKING CYCLOSPORINE.

• Cyclosporine can lower blood cells that help your body fight infections, or reason your body to manufacture too many of a determined type of white blood cells. This can lead to serious and sometimes fatal conditions, including cancer, a severe brain infection that can lead to disability or death, or a virus that can reason failure of a transplanted kidney. Conversation with your doctor about your specific risk.

• FDA pregnancy category C. It is not known whether cyclosporine will harm an unborn child. Speak your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant while using this medication.

• Cyclosporine can pass into breast milk and may harm a nursing child. You must not breast-feed while you are using cyclosporine.

How must I take cyclosporine?

• Follow all directions on your prescription label. Your doctor may occasionally change your doze to create certain you get the excellent results. Do not take this medication in larger or less amounts or for longer than recommended.

• You may take cyclosporine with or without food, but take it the same way every time. Cyclosporine must be given in two separate doses every day. Try to take the medicine at the same dosing times every day.

• If your doctor changes your brand, power, or type of cyclosporine, your dosage needs may change. Ask your pharmacist if you have any questions about the new kind of cyclosporine you receive at the pharmacy.

• Measure liquid medication with a particular dose-measuring spoon or cup, not a regular table spoon. If you do not have a dose-measuring device, ask your pharmacist for one. Sandimmune oral solution may be mixed with milk, chocolate milk, or orange juice at room temperature to create the medication taste better. Neoral "modified" (microemulsion) oral solution must be mixed with orange juice or apple juice that is at room temperature.

• While using cyclosporine, you will need frequent blood trials to be certain cyclosporine is not causing deleterious effects. Do not miss any follow up visits to your doctor for blood or urine tests.

• Your condition may need to be treated with a combination of various drugs. Use all medications as directed by your doctor. Read the medicine manual or patient instructions provided with every medicine. Do not change your doses or medicine schedule without your doctor's advice. Every face taking cyclosporine must stay under the care of a doctor.

• Store at room temperature away from moisture and heat.

What happens if I miss a dose?

• Take the missed doze as soon as you remember. Skip the missed doze if it is nearly time for your following scheduled doze. Do not take extra medication to create up the missed dose.

What happens if I overdose?

• Search abnormal medical attention or call the Poison Help line at 1-800-222-1222.

What must I avoid while taking cyclosporine?

• Avoid being around people who are sick or have infections. Speak your doctor at once if you develop signs of infection.

• Do not receive a "live" vaccine while using cyclosporine. The vaccine may not work as well during this time, and may not fully protect you from malady. Live vaccines include measles, mumps, rubella (MMR), rotavirus, typhoid, yellow fever, varicella (chickenpox), zoster (shingles), and nasal flu (influenza) vaccine.

• Grapefruit and grapefruit juice may interact with cyclosporine and lead to unwanted side effects. Discuss the use of grapefruit commodity with your doctor.

• Avoid exposure to sunlight or tanning beds. Cyclosporine can create you sunburn more easily. Wear protective clothing and use sunscreen (SPF 30 or higher) when you are outdoors.

What are the possible side effects of cyclosporine?

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

• Call your doctor at once if you have:

· fever, sweating, chills, body aches, flu symptoms, sores in your mouth and throat, weight loss;

· change in your mental state, problems with speech or walking, decreased vision (may start gradually and get worse quickly);

· light bruising or bleeding, pale skin, feeling light-headed or short of breath, rapid heart course, trouble concentrating;

· pain in the lower back or side, blood in your urine, pain or burning when you urinate;

· rapid weight gain, few or no urinating;

· swelling, warmth, redness, or oozing of the skin;

· vomiting and bloody diarrhea;

· seizure (convulsions);

· tall potassium (slow heart course, weak pulse, muscle weakness, tingly feeling);

· nausea, upper stomach pain, itching, loss of appetite, dark urine, clay-colored stools, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes); or

· dangerously tall blood pressure (severe headache, blurred vision, buzzing in your ears, anxiety, chest pain, shortness of breath, uneven heartbeats).

• General side effects may include:

· swollen or painful gums;

· mild headache;

· stomach pain, constipation, mild diarrhea; or

· tremors or shaking, muscle spasm, numbness or tingly feeling.

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

What another drugs will affect cyclosporine?

• Cyclosporine can harm your kidneys. This effect is heighten when you also use determined another medicines, including: antivirals, cholesterol-lowering drugs, chemotherapy, injected antibiotics, medication for bowel disorders, medicines to treat autoimmune disorders, medication to prevent organ transplant rejection, stomach acid reducers (Tagamet, Zantac), and some pain or arthritis medicines (including aspirin, Tylenol, Advil, and Aleve).

• Much drugs can interact with cyclosporine. Not all possible interactions are listed here. Speak your doctor about all your medications and any you start or stop using during treatment with cyclosporine, especially:

· birth control pills;

· a diuretic (water pill);

· gout medication;

· heart or blood pressure medication;

· HIV or AIDS medication;

· seizure medication;

· steroid medicine (oral, nasal, inhaled, or injectable); or

· St. John's wort.

• This list is not complete and much another drugs can interact with cyclosporine. This includes prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal commodity. Give a list of all your medicines to any healthcare provider who treats you.

Where can I get more information?

• Your pharmacist can provide more information about cyclosporine.

Remember, hold this and all another medicines out of the reach of children, never share your medicines with others, and use this medicine only for the indication prescribed.

Disclaim: Each 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 external 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 must be construed to indicate that the drug or drug combination is safety, effective or appropriate for any given patient. Multum does not assume any responsibility for any aspect of healthcare administered with the help 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.