Before Using

Drug information provided by: Merative, Micromedex®

In deciding to use a medicine, the risks of taking the medicine must be weighed against the good it will do. This is a decision you and your doctor will make. For this medicine, the following should be considered:

Allergies

Tell your doctor if you have ever had any unusual or allergic reaction to this medicine or any other medicines. Also tell your health care professional if you have any other types of allergies, such as to foods, dyes, preservatives, or animals. For non-prescription products, read the label or package ingredients carefully.

Breastfeeding

There are no adequate studies in women for determining infant risk when using this medication during breastfeeding. Weigh the potential benefits against the potential risks before taking this medication while breastfeeding.

Drug Interactions

Although certain medicines should not be used together at all, in other cases two different medicines may be used together even if an interaction might occur. In these cases, your doctor may want to change the dose, or other precautions may be necessary. When you are receiving this medicine, it is especially important that your healthcare professional know if you are taking any of the medicines listed below. The following interactions have been selected on the basis of their potential significance and are not necessarily all-inclusive.

Using this medicine with any of the following medicines is usually not recommended, but may be required in some cases. If both medicines are prescribed together, your doctor may change the dose or how often you use one or both of the medicines.

  • Ephedrine

Other Interactions

Certain medicines should not be used at or around the time of eating food or eating certain types of food since interactions may occur. Using alcohol or tobacco with certain medicines may also cause interactions to occur. Discuss with your healthcare professional the use of your medicine with food, alcohol, or tobacco.

Other Medical Problems

The presence of other medical problems may affect the use of this medicine. Make sure you tell your doctor if you have any other medical problems, especially:

  • Anemia (or history of)—Dinoprostone, when used in doses that stimulate the uterus to contract, may result in loss of blood in some patients that may require a blood transfusion
  • Asthma (or history of, including childhood asthma) or
  • Lung disease—Dinoprostone may cause narrowing of the blood vessels in the lungs or narrowing of the lung passages, especially when it is used in doses that stimulate the uterus to contract
  • Epilepsy (or history of)—Rarely, seizures have occurred with dinoprostone when it is used in doses that stimulate the uterus to contract
  • Glaucoma—Rarely, the pressure within the eye has increased and constriction of the pupils has occurred during the use of medicines like dinoprostone; this may also be a problem with dinoprostone when it is used in doses that stimulate the uterus to contract
  • Heart or blood vessel disease (or history of) or
  • High blood pressure (or history of) or
  • Low blood pressure (history of)—Dinoprostone may cause changes in heart function or blood pressure changes; two patients with a history of heart disease had heart attacks when dinoprostone was used in doses that stimulated the uterus to contract
  • Kidney disease (or history of) or
  • Liver disease (or history of)—The body may not remove dinoprostone from the blood stream at the usual rate, which may make the dinoprostone work longer or cause an increased chance of side effects, especially when dinoprostone is used in doses that stimulate the uterus to contract
  • Problems during delivery, history of or
  • Surgery of uterus (history of) or
  • Unusual vaginal bleeding—There is an increased risk of problems occurring with dinoprostone when it is used in doses that stimulate the uterus to contract

From Mayo Clinic to your inbox

Sign up for free and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips, current health topics, and expertise on managing health. Click here for an email preview.

To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information, and understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your email and website usage information with other information we have about you. If you are a Mayo Clinic patient, this could include protected health information. If we combine this information with your protected health information, we will treat all of that information as protected health information and will only use or disclose that information as set forth in our notice of privacy practices. You may opt-out of email communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail.

Portions of this document last updated: April 01, 2024

Copyright: © Merative US L.P. 1973, 2024. All rights reserved. Information is for End User's use only and may not be sold, redistributed or otherwise used for commercial purposes.