Metoclopramide Injection: Uses, Dosage, Side Effects, Precautions and Alternates

Quick overview

Metoclopramide Injection is a prokinetic agent and antiemetic given into a muscle or vein to prevent and relieve nausea and vomiting, and to help the stomach empty its contents more quickly. It is used for conditions such as diabetic gastroparesis, chemotherapy- and surgery-related nausea, migraine-related nausea, and certain medical procedures. It works by speeding up movement of food through the stomach and intestines and by blocking brain signals that trigger nausea and vomiting.

What is Metoclopramide Injection

Metoclopramide Injection is a medicine given into a muscle or vein to prevent and relieve nausea and vomiting, and to help the stomach empty faster.

Metoclopramide Injection uses

• Relieves symptoms of slow stomach emptying in people with diabetes, including nausea, vomiting, heartburn, loss of appetite, and feeling too full after meals
• Prevents nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy
• Prevents nausea and vomiting that may occur after surgery
• Helps empty the intestines during certain medical procedures
• Relieves nausea and vomiting from migraine headaches
• Relieves nausea and vomiting related to cancer treatment, childbirth, and infectious diseases
• Helps with placing tubes into the intestine

Benefits of Metoclopramide Injection

• Helps prevent and control nausea and vomiting
• Used for nausea and vomiting after surgery in appropriate patients
• Helps manage severe diabetic gastroparesis by improving stomach emptying
• May help prevent chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting in certain treatment settings
• Injection is useful when oral medicine cannot be taken

How Metoclopramide Injection works

This medicine works by speeding up how quickly food moves through the stomach and intestines, and it blocks signals in the brain that trigger nausea and vomiting.

Metoclopramide Injection dosage

This medicine is given as an injection into a muscle or slowly into a vein by a healthcare provider. If injecting at home, use it at around the same times every day. Follow your prescription label directions carefully and ask your doctor or pharmacist about anything you don't understand. Use exactly as directed; do not give yourself more, less, or more often than prescribed.

When used for chemotherapy-related nausea, it is typically given before chemotherapy starts and then at set intervals afterward.

If you forget a dose at home, give it as soon as you remember unless it is almost time for the next dose — in that case skip the missed dose; do not give a double dose. Continue your normal diet unless your doctor tells you otherwise.

Available forms and strengths

• Injection (liquid) for injection into a muscle or vein

Side effects of Metoclopramide Injection

Common

• Drowsiness
• Excessive tiredness
• Weakness
• Headache
• Dizziness
• Restlessness
• Nervousness or jitteriness
• Agitation
• Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
• Pacing
• Foot tapping
• Slow or stiff movements
• Blank facial expression
• Diarrhea
• Nausea
• Breast enlargement or discharge
• Missed menstrual period
• Decreased sexual ability
• Frequent urination
• Urinary incontinence
• Flushing
• Bowel irregularities
• Insomnia

Serious

• Tightening of the muscles, especially in the jaw or neck
• Speech problems
• Depression
• Thinking about harming or killing yourself
• Fever
• Muscle stiffness
• Confusion
• Fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat
• Sweating
• Seizures
• Rash
• Hives
• Swelling of the eyes, face, lips, tongue, mouth, throat, arms, hands, feet, ankles, or lower legs
• Difficulty breathing or swallowing
• High-pitched sounds while breathing
• Vision problems
• Uncontrolled or repeated movements such as lip smacking, tongue darting, or chewing movements (possible sign of tardive dyskinesia)
• Shuffling walk, slowing of all movement, muscle tremor
• Sudden high body temperature, very high blood pressure, and severe convulsions (neuroleptic malignant syndrome)
• Jaundice or yellowing of the skin or eyes, often with fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, dark urine, or light-colored bowel movements
• Allergic reaction including fainting, swelling of limbs, face, lips, mouth or throat causing difficulty swallowing or breathing

Warnings and precautions

• This medicine can cause a serious muscle problem called tardive dyskinesia, which causes uncontrollable movements, especially of the face. This may not go away even after stopping the medicine. The longer you receive it, the higher the risk, so doctors usually limit treatment to no more than 12 weeks.
• Do not use this medicine if you have ever had an allergic reaction to metoclopramide or similar medicines such as procaine or procainamide.
• Do not use if you have certain conditions such as a tumor on the adrenal gland (pheochromocytoma), bleeding or blockage in the stomach or intestines, or epilepsy, or if you take certain medicines that can cause movement disorders.
• This medicine should not be used in children under 1 year of age.
• Older adults should generally avoid this medicine unless it is being used for slow stomach emptying, because it may not be as safe or effective as other treatments for them, and they have a higher risk of side effects.
• Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant. If you become pregnant during treatment, contact your doctor.
• Tell your doctor if you are breastfeeding, since the medicine passes into breast milk and can be absorbed by your baby.
• Tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, as this medicine may need special caution or dose changes.
• Tell your doctor if you have liver problems, as this medicine may need special caution or dose changes.
• Do not drink alcohol while receiving this medicine, as it can worsen side effects like drowsiness.
• This medicine can cause dizziness, light-headedness, tiredness, or drowsiness. Be careful before driving or using machines until you know how it affects you.

Storage

• Keep your supplies in a clean, dry place that is out of the reach of children when you are not using them
• Your healthcare provider will tell you how to dispose of used needles, syringes, tubing, and containers to avoid accidental injury
• Dispose of unneeded medications in a way so that pets, children, and other people cannot take them
• Do not flush this medication down the toilet; use a medicine take-back program
• Store in a cool dry place, protected from light, where the temperature stays below 25°C
• Usually stored in the hospital ward, clinic, or pharmacy by your healthcare provider

When to see a doctor

• Call your doctor right away if you develop uncontrollable body movements, such as lip smacking, mouth puckering, chewing, frowning, scowling, sticking out your tongue, blinking, eye movements, or shaking arms or legs.
• Call your doctor immediately if you have muscle tightening (especially jaw or neck), speech problems, depression, thoughts of harming yourself, fever, muscle stiffness, confusion, irregular heartbeat, sweating, seizures, rash, hives, swelling of the face/lips/tongue/throat/limbs, difficulty breathing or swallowing, high-pitched breathing sounds, or vision problems.
• Call your doctor straight away, or go to the nearest hospital emergency department, if you notice an allergic reaction, uncontrolled repeated movements, shuffling walk with muscle tremor, sudden high fever with severe muscle stiffness and convulsions, or yellowing of the skin or eyes.
• If someone has collapsed, had a seizure, has trouble breathing, or cannot be woken up, call emergency services right away.

Alternatives

• Olanzapine
• Dexamethasone
• Prochlorperazine
• Granisetron
• Ondansetron