Demerol Side Effects

As is common with older medications, only vague side effect information is available for Demerol. Problems that may occur with this pain reliever include nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and headaches. While most side effects of the drug appear to be mild, some problems are potentially serious and should be reported to your healthcare provider immediately, including fainting, difficulty passing urine, or chest pain.

Demerol Drug Information

An Introduction to Demerol Side Effects

As with any medicine, Demerol^® (meperidine hydrochloride) can cause side effects. However, not everyone who takes the medication will experience problems. In fact, some people tolerate it quite well. If side effects do occur, in many cases, they are minor and either require no treatment or can easily be treated by you or your healthcare provider.

(This article covers many, but not all, of the possible side effects with Demerol. Your healthcare provider can discuss a more complete list of Demerol side effects with you.)

Possible Side Effects of Demerol

For many medications, the prescribing information carefully explains the exact percentage of side effects that were seen in clinical trials. However, the prescribing information for almost all older medications (including many Demerol products) includes only vague side effect information, with no percentages provided. Therefore, it can be difficult to know exactly how common (or how rare) the side effects of such medications may be.

The most common side effects with Demerol are thought to include:

Lightheadedness
Dizziness
Sedation
Nausea
Vomiting
Sweating.

Other possible bothersome (but usually not serious) side effects that have been reported include:

An unusual pleasant feeling (euphoria) or unpleasant feeling (dysphoria)
Weakness
Headache
Dry mouth
Constipation
Facial flushing.

(Demerol Side Effects Continued: Page 2)