Precautions

Drug information provided by: Merative, Micromedex®

It is very important that your doctor check your or your child's progress at regular visits. Blood and urine tests may be needed to check for unwanted effects.

If your or your child's symptoms do not improve within 2 to 3 weeks, or if they become worse, check with your doctor.

Do not use this medicine if you are also receiving certain medicines to treat HIV infection (eg, atazanavir, darunavir, fosamprenavir, ritonavir, saquinavir, tipranavir, Aptivus®, Fortovase®, Invirase®, Lexiva®, Norvir®, Prezista®, or Reyataz®).

Do not use this medicine together with praziquantel. If you need to take praziquantel, you should stop using this medicine 4 weeks before starting praziquantel. You may restart this medicine one day after the last dose of praziquantel.

Liver problems may be more likely to occur if you drink alcoholic beverages regularly while you are taking this medicine. Also, the regular use of alcohol may keep this medicine from working properly. Therefore, you should strictly limit the amount of alcoholic beverages you drink while you are taking this medicine.

Check with your doctor right away if you or your child have a fever, chills, cough, sore throat, swollen, painful, or tender lymph glands in the neck, armpit, or groin, or yellow skin or eyes while using this medicine. These could be symptoms of a serious condition called drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS).

Serious skin reactions can occur with this medicine. Check with your doctor right away if you or your child have blistering, peeling, or loosening of the skin, red skin lesions, severe acne or a skin rash, sores or ulcers on the skin, or fever or chills with this medicine.

Check with your doctor right away if blurred vision, difficulty in reading, or any other change in vision occurs during or after treatment. Your doctor may want you or your child to have your eyes checked by an ophthalmologist (eye doctor).

Do not stop using this medicine suddenly without asking your doctor. You may need to slowly decrease your dose before stopping it completely.

Check with your doctor right away if you have joint pain, stiffness, or swelling, lower back, side, or stomach pain, or swelling of the feet or lower legs. These could be symptoms of an acute gout.

This medicine will cause urine, stool, saliva, sputum, sweat, teeth, and tears to turn reddish-orange to reddish-brown. This is to be expected while you are using this medicine. This effect may cause soft contact lenses to become permanently discolored. Standard cleaning solutions may not take out all the discoloration. It is best not to wear soft contact lenses while using this medicine. Hard contact lenses are not discolored by this medicine. This condition will return to normal once you stop using this medicine. If you have any questions about this, check with your doctor.

Check with your doctor right away if you feel very tired or very weak, or if you have clumsiness, unsteadiness, loss of appetite, nausea, numbness, tingling, burning, or pain in the hands and feet, or vomiting. These may be early warning symptoms of more serious liver or nerve problems that could develop later.

Rifampin and isoniazid combination may cause blood problems. These problems may result in a greater chance of certain infections, slow healing, and bleeding of the gums. Therefore, you should be careful when using regular toothbrushes, dental floss, and toothpicks. Dental work should be delayed until your blood counts have returned to normal. Check with your medical doctor or dentist if you have any questions about proper oral hygiene (mouth care) during treatment.

Before you have any medical tests, tell the medical doctor in charge that you are using this medicine. The results of some tests may be affected by this medicine.

Eating certain foods (eg, Cheshire cheese, Swiss cheese, skipjack, tuna, or Sardinella) or drinking red wine may cause reactions in some patients taking isoniazid-containing medicines. Check with your doctor if flushing, fast or pounding heartbeat, headache, red or itching skin, sweating, dizziness, or lightheadedness occur while you are taking this medicine.

Birth control pills may not work properly while you are using this medicine. To keep from getting pregnant, use another form of birth control along with your birth control pills. Other forms include condoms, diaphragms, or contraceptive foams or jellies.

Do not take other medicines unless they have been discussed with your doctor. This includes prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter [OTC]) medicines and herbal or vitamin supplements.