Prochlorperazine, formerly sold under the brand name Compazine among others, is a medication used to treat nausea, migraines and anxiety. It is a less preferred medication for anxiety. It may be taken by mouth, rectally, injection into a vein, or injection into a muscle.Common side effects include sleepiness, blurry vision, low blood pressure, and dizziness. Serious side effects may include movement disorders including tardive dyskinesia and neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Use in pregnancy and breastfeeding is generally not recommended. It is a typical antipsychotic which is believed to work by reducing the action of dopamine in the brain.Prochlorperazine was approved for medical use in the United States in 1956. It is available as a generic medication. In 2019, it was the 313th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 1 million prescriptions. Medical uses
Vomiting
Prochlorperazine is used to prevent vomiting caused by chemotherapy, radiation therapy and in the pre- and postoperative setting. A 2015 Cochrane review found no differences in efficacy among drugs commonly used for this purpose in emergency rooms. Migraine
Prochlorperazine, generally by intravenous, is used to treat migraine. Such use is recommended by The American Headache Society. A 2019 systematic review found prochlorperazine was nearly three times as likely as metoclopramide to relieve headache within 60 minutes of administration. Labyrinthitis
In the UK prochlorperazine maleate has been used for labyrinthitis, which include not only nausea and vertigo, but spatial and temporal jerking and distortion.
Vertebrate pesticide
4-Aminopyridine is also used under the trade name Avitrol as 0.5% or 1% in bird control bait. It causes convulsions and, infrequently, death, depending on dosage. The manufacturer says the proper dose should cause epileptic-like convulsions which cause the poisoned birds to emit distress calls resulting in the flock leaving the site; if the dose was sub-lethal, the birds will recover after 4 or more hours without long-term ill effect. The amount of bait should be limited so that relatively few birds are poisoned, causing the remainder of the flock to be frightened away with a minimum of mortality. A lethal dose will usually cause death within an hour. The use of 4-aminopyridine in bird control has been criticized by the Humane Society of the United States. Medical use
Fampridine has been used clinically in Lambert–Eaton myasthenic syndrome and multiple sclerosis. It acts by blocking voltage-gated potassium channels, prolonging action potentials and thereby increasing neurotransmitter release at the neuromuscular junction. The drug has been shown to reverse saxitoxin and tetrodotoxin toxicity in tissue and animal experiments. In calcium entry blocker overdose in humans, 4-aminopyridine can increase the cytosolic Ca2+
concentration very efficiently independent of the calcium channels. Multiple sclerosis
Fampridine has been shown to improve visual function and motor skills and relieve fatigue in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). However, the effect of the drug is strongly established for walking capacity only.