Bad reaction to compazine, anyone share this experience?
 

I was in the emergency room last Saturday night and they gave me Compazine and Benadryl by IV, they said it was used to treat migraine headaches.

After a few minutes I broke out in a sweat and felt feverish. I ripped my noise canceling headphones off because I couldn't stand the feeling of them on my head. I was drowsy but feared if I fell asleep I would die.

I got agitated and started hitting the bed rail and kicking the bed. I tried to get the nurse but she didn't respond. My vision was blurry and I could not focus on anything. I became convinced the ER staff was trying to kill me. I wanted to call/text my wife in the waiting room with our girls but couldn't focus to figure out how to use my cell phone.

Finally the doctor came in and then my wife. I could understand them perfectly, I think, but I was incapable of saying more than a few words to them and could not express anything other than I didn't like the medicine. My wife had to sign the discharge papers for me and help me dress and then they let us go.

The next day I Googled Compazine and these seem to be known severe side effects. A couple websites also warned about telling your doctor if you have had a brain injury before taking Compazine.

Has anyone else had any experience with this drug or know anything about it? Thinking about it now still gives me the creeps...

BTW, before giving me the meds they did a CT scan on my brain and found no "acute hemorrhaging" but of course we told them the injury was several weeks old.

Stemetil as it's called here is pretty heavy duty stuff to say it mildly.

The Benedryl was probably to help counteract the effects of the Companzine.

You must have been in a really bad way to have those IV. Do you have very bad migraines all the time or just post injury?

I think it's pretty common to have reactions to that drug. I don't think the reaction would necessarily be related to having a head injury, but I'm not a Doctor. Years ago when I was nursing we used to give it to patients all the time post-op though.

I was actually prescribed it post head injury myself for a short while. It made me edgy and didn't help the vertigo anyway.

My daughter however had a really terrifying reaction to it in the ER setting once. She had some major problems with one kidney that had gone undiagnosed all her life. She was in a very bad way to begin with but they gave her Pethidine for her pain and then Stemetil to stop the nausea and vomiting. To this day she still remembers that terrifying feeling after getting the Stemetil injection.

I hope you're feeling better.

EDITED later to add:

I found some places where it says "contraindicated - head injury", but when I looked further into it all it appears to mean very serious head injuries including subcortical brain damage and coma from what I could tell. If you're concerned please talk to your doctor about it.

I also forgot to ask, did you go back to work?

It has been my experience that Compazine often has dosage mistakes involved with it.

The suppositories were 25mg for adults and 5mg for children. So some doctors ordered 25mg for oral treatments which was very dangerous.

An injection could easily be mistaken the same way.

Compazine belongs to the family of antipsychotics and they can cause malignant neuroleptic syndrome...which is more common in males.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurole...gnant_syndrome

This should be entered into your medical history so that you never get this drug again.(or its relatives)

That must have been very frightening for you and your family!

MrsD--it was very terrifying to me, yes! And like Lara's daughter, it still spikes my anxiety a week later thinking about it. I hope that goes away. Fortunately for my wife's sanity, however, I was too confused to be able to text/call her or tell her when she showed up that night. I told her the next day after I had slept it off.

Lara, I ended up back in the ER last Monday and the first thing I told them was NO Compazine. I did go back to work but it has become pretty obvious it is not going to be realistic right now. I started journaling my symptoms and thoughts through the day and it really is VERY enlightening to see how work is affecting me.

But I see the neurologist on Wednesday. My wife would rather I not go back before then but it will allow me to have a couple more days to document things for the neurologist and for my employer as well. But I am finally understanding what you guys mean by finding my limitations and brain breaks...

I was raised with the "just walk it off" mentality. I have always believed if you push through the pain, it'lol get better. When I hurt my back and needed a lumbar fusion 5 years ago, it got me back on my feet in half the time.

But it doesn't work like that with the brain, does it?

Thank you guys so much for moderating and contributing. I know I'm not telling you something new but this gets SO lonely!! Because everyone thinks just like I did... "Well, you just need to push through it! Walk it off!!"

Thank you so very much