Thalidomide Side Effects and Warnings

What are the precautions when taking this medicine?

• Do not donate blood while using this medicine and for 1 month after stopping.

• If you have HIV infection, talk with healthcare provider.

• If you have seizures, talk with healthcare provider.

• Check medicines with healthcare provider. This medicine may not mix well with other medicines.

• Talk with healthcare provider before receiving any vaccinations. Use with this medicine may either increase the risk of serious infection or make the vaccination less effective.

• You may not be alert. Avoid driving, doing other tasks or activities until you see how this medicine affects you.

• Avoid alcohol (includes wine, beer, and liquor) or other medicines and natural products that slow your actions and reactions.

• You can get sunburned more easily. Avoid sun, sunlamps, and tanning beds. Use sunscreen; wear protective clothing and eyewear.

• Use two forms of birth control that you can trust before treatment begins, during treatment, and for 4 weeks after treatment ends.

• Birth control pills and other hormone-based birth control may not work to prevent pregnancy. Use another form of birth control while taking this medicine.

• If you are a male and sexually active, use a latex condom even if you have had a vasectomy.

• If you are male, do not donate sperm while using this medicine and for 1 month after stopping.

What are some possible side effects of this medicine?

• Feeling lightheaded, sleepy, having blurred vision, or a change in thinking clearly. Avoid driving, doing other tasks or activities that require you to be alert or have clear vision until you see how this medicine affects you.

• Feeling dizzy. Rise slowly over several minutes from sitting or lying position. Be careful climbing.

• Feeling tired or weak.

• Constipation. More liquids, regular exercise, or a fiber-containing diet may help. Talk with healthcare provider about a stool softener or laxative.

• Headache.

• Anemia and low white blood cell count.

• Low calcium levels.

• Swelling.

• Rash.

• Blood clots can rarely occur.

• Nausea or vomiting. Small frequent meals, frequent mouth care, sucking hard, sugar-free candy, or chewing sugar-free gum may help.

• Not hungry.

• Nerve damage may occur.

Reasons to call healthcare provider immediately

• If you suspect an overdose, call your local poison control center or emergency department immediately.

• Signs of a life-threatening reaction. These include wheezing; chest tightness; fever; itching; bad cough; blue skin color; fits; or swelling of face, lips, tongue, or throat.

• Difficulty breathing.

• Chest pain or pressure.

• Swelling or pain of leg or arm.

• Numbness or tingling of hands or feet.

• If you suspect a blood clot.

• Any rash.

• For females, if you become pregnant while taking this medicine.

• No improvement in condition or feeling worse.