Tagamet (Cimetidine) Drug Information: Overdosage and Contraindications

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May 27, 2012

Tagamet

Heartburn »

Overview of Heartburn

The esophagus is a tube that connects the mouth to the stomach. It is made of muscles that work to push food toward the stomach in rhythmic waves. Once in the stomach, food is prevented from refluxing (moving back into the esophagus), by a special area of circular muscle located at the junction of the esophagus and stomach, called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). A pressure difference across the diaphragm, the flat muscle that separates the chest from the abdomen, also tends to keep stomach contents in the stomach.

The stomach combines food, acids, and enzymes together to begin digestion. There are special protective cells that line the stomach to prevent the acid from causing inflammation. The esophagus does not have this same protection; if stomach products reflux back into the esophagus, they can cause inflammation to the lining.

Heartburn Causes

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OVERDOSE

Studies in animals indicate that toxic doses are associated with respiratory failure and tachycardia that may be controlled by assisted respiration and the administration of a beta-blocker.

Reported acute ingestions orally of up to 20 grams have been associated with transient adverse effects similar to those encountered in normal clinical experience. The usual measures to remove unabsorbed material from the gastrointestinal tract, clinical monitoring and supportive therapy should be employed.

There have been reports of severe CNS symptoms, including unresponsiveness, following ingestion of between 20 and 40 grams of cimetidine, and extremely rare reports following concomitant use of multiple CNS-active medications and ingestion of cimetidine at doses less than 20 grams. An elderly, terminally ill dehydrated patient with organic brain syndrome receiving concomitant antipsychotic agents and Tagamet (cimetidine) 4800 mg intravenously over a 24-hour period experienced mental deterioration with reversal on Tagamet (cimetidine) discontinuation.

There have been two deaths in adults who were reported to have ingested over 40 grams orally on a single occasion.