Antipsychotic medication, along with psychotherapy, has been helping people with some form of mental disorder live as normal a life as possible for years.

One of these antipsychotics is pipotiazine . This drug is used in many mental illnesses, but it also has a lot of side effects. All of this and some points will be discussed throughout this article.

What is pipotiazine?

Pipotiazine is an antipsychotic or neuroleptic from the phenothiazine group . Like the other elements of this group, pipotiazine has a depressant effect on the central nervous system (CNS).

By blocking dopamine receptors, this drug transforms behavior, prevents over-stimulation and promotes the control of certain mental illnesses classified as psychotic.

The patient begins to notice the effects of pipotiazine between 48 and 72 after the first administration and reaches its maximum effect potential within a week.

In addition, it also has antiemetic, anticholinergic, alpha-adrenergic blocking and sedative effects ; although these are much less in comparison with other phenothiazine drugs.

In what disorders is it used?

As mentioned above, pipotiazine is an antipsychotic and its use is restricted, in most cases, to psychiatric disorders such as chronic psychosis; long-lasting , productive or deficient schizophrenia; chronic hallucinatory psychosis and delusional states.

Another psychological condition for which may be helpful is psychotic anxiety . However, this treatment should never exceed 12 weeks in duration and should always be given as an alternative to the first line drugs used for this condition.

However, it is also used in certain patients for the control of nausea and vomiting or as an adjuvant treatment for tetanus and acute intermittent porphyria.

Finally, pipotiazine can be effective in treating children with severe behavioral problems such as hyperexcitability.

How is it administered?

The use of this drug must always be indicated by the doctor. Usually, pipotiazine is administered intramuscularly , in doses between 25 and 200 mg depending on the patient’s symptoms. These doses are administered by a health professional approximately once every four weeks and have the advantage that their action is much faster than by mouth.

However, in cases where the physician believes it necessary, this may be administered orally in a single daily dose of between 10 and 20 mg. The patient should never take more pipotiazine than recommended. In other words, he should not increase or decrease the dose, nor should he take it on more occasions than indicated, since this can cause serious problems for the person’s health.

What are the side effects?

Pipotiazine is distinguished by frequent adverse effects . However, in most cases, these are quite tolerable and not very serious. These consequences in the body tend to affect mainly the central nervous system and can be grouped into very frequent, frequent, occasional and rare side effects.

In addition, in the event that the patient experiences incidents of fever above 41º, severe muscle tension or respiratory problems, treatment should be discontinued immediately.

Very frequent effects

Those that appear in more than 25% of cases. These are:

  • Drowsiness .
  • Sedation.

Frequent

They appear in 10 to 25% of patients. They are:

  • Blurred vision.
  • Urinary problems .
  • Constipation.
  • Dry mouth.

Occasional

Only 1-9% of the time the patient takes pipotiazine. These occasional effects are distinguished because there is a greater risk of occurrence only at the beginning of treatment. They include:

  • Extrapyramidal symptomatology : parkinsonism, akathisia and dystonia.
  • Orthostatic hypotension.
  • Hypertension .
  • Tachycardia or bradycardia.
  • Transient leukopenia.
  • Hives .
  • Maculopapular or acneiform eruptions.
  • Angioedema.
  • Insomnia .
  • Dizziness.
  • Paralytic ileus.

Rare side effects

These occur less than 1% of the time. They tend to appear between the fourth and tenth week after the start of treatment or up to months and years later.

  • Agranulocytosis.
  • Late dyskinesia .
  • Neuroleptic malignant syndrome. This can be fatal between 15 and 20% of the time and is manifested by fever, muscle rigidity, akinesia, respiratory problems, photosensitivity and convulsions among many other symptoms.

What precautions should be taken?

Due to the potency of the effects of this drug and the possible side effects that it can cause to numerous and diverse organism systems, the patient should inform his doctor of any special health condition he is in.

There are also numerous drugs such as anticholinergics or antidiabetics, among many others, which can interfere with each other and cause serious adverse reactions in the person taking this medication, so the doctor should be informed.

As regards alcohol consumption, research carried out with other phenothiazine antipsychotics has revealed an increase in toxicity . This leads to severe depression of the central nervous system and multiple extrapyramidal adverse effects.

Pregnancy and lactation

Although animal studies have not revealed adverse teratogenic effects; that is, the administration of pipotiazine in pregnant females has not caused malformations in the fetus. It is known that phenothiazines can cross the placenta , so it is recommended only occasional use and in very low doses in pregnant women.

The administration of this drug in pregnant women is only admitted in those cases where there are no safer therapeutic alternatives and by lowering the dose as the time of delivery approaches.

As for breastfeeding, it is not known whether pipotiazine can be excreted with breast milk. However, studies with other phenothiazines establish that it can but that the effects on the baby are still unknown.

However, since these effects can be considerable , the administration of this drug in nursing mothers is not recommended .

Children and elderly

Both minor patients and those elderly people in whom pipotiazine administration is necessary, are much more susceptible to unwanted side effects . Therefore, it is recommended that their health status be closely monitored.

Driving and operation of machines

Pipotiazine can cause alterations in reaction time so it is recommended that you do not drive or operate any type of machinery until you know exactly how this medication affects you.