How long before it works

The dose usually ranges from mg twice daily up to mg twice daily. The dose ranges from mg to mg. While there are dose ranges for each form, your health care provider will determine the form and dose that is right for you based on your response.

The dose may be increased to mg once daily. The dose for smoking cessation is bupropion SR mg once daily for 3 days and then twice daily for 7 to 12 weeks. You should not take more than one product that contains bupropion, including the products that are used to quit smoking. Do not take more than your prescribed dose since higher doses may increase your risk of having a seizure. Since quickly increasing the dose of bupropion can cause seizures in some people, your doctor will slowly increase your dose.

You can take bupropion on an empty stomach or with food. The SR and XL forms should be swallowed whole — not chewed, crushed, or broken — so that the medication can work correctly in your body and to reduce the risk of serious side effects. The tablet shell from the SR and XL forms may appear in your feces. Consider using a calendar, pillbox, alarm clock, or cell phone alert to help you remember to take your medication. You may also ask a family member or friend to remind you or check in with you to be sure you are taking your medication.

For bupropion IR or SR, if you miss a dose, take it as soon as you remember. Take the remaining doses for the day at evenly spaced times at least 4 hours apart. DO NOT take 2 doses at once. You should not take more than your prescribed dose and doing so may increase your risk of having a seizure. For bupropion XL, do not take an extra tablet to make up for the dose you forgot. Wait and take your next dose at your regular time the next day.

Avoid drinking alcohol or using illegal drugs while you are taking bupropion because the beneficial effects of the medication may be decreased and the risk of seizures may be increased. If you are dependent on drugs or alcohol and would like to stop, consult your healthcare provider for help. Abruptly stopping these substances can result in a seizure, especially when taking bupropion.

If an overdose occurs, call your doctor or You may need urgent medical care. You may also contact the poison control center at Headache, weight loss, dry mouth, trouble sleeping insomnia , nausea, dizziness, constipation, fast heartbeat, and sore throat. These will often improve over the first week or two as you continue to take the medication.

Unlike many antidepressants, bupropion does not commonly cause sexual side effects and may be selected as an alternative treatment when antidepressant-induced sexual side effects are problematic.

Sexual side effects include such problems as difficulty achieving orgasm or ejaculatory delay. In general the risk of seizures due to bupropion is low. The risk of having a seizure increases with higher than recommended doses of bupropion, a history of seizures or head injury, tumor in the brain, severe liver disease, an eating disorder, alcohol or drug dependence, or taking other drugs that can also increase your risk of having a seizure.

There is a low risk of cardiovascular adverse events associated with stimulating agents, including bupropion. This risk increases if you have heart disease, high blood pressure, previous heart attack, or irregular heartbeat, or when used with transdermal nicotine replacement products.

In these cases, a thorough cardiovascular evaluation is recommended before starting this medicine. To date, there are no known problems associated with long term use of bupropion. It is a safe and effective medication when used as directed. Bupropion should not be taken with or within two weeks of taking monoamine oxidase inhibitors MAOIs.

There are several products with the active ingredient bupropion. Do not take more than one product that contains bupropion since this may increase your risk of having a seizure. Certain medications may increase your risk of having a seizure when combined with bupropion. If it has been less than two weeks since your shot, or if you still need to get your second shot, you are NOT fully protected. Keep taking steps to protect yourself and others until you are fully vaccinated two weeks after your final shot.

Vaccines are now widely available. In many cases, you do not need an appointment. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Section Navigation. Important update: Healthcare facilities.

Learn more. To maximize protection from the Delta variant and prevent possibly spreading it to others, get vaccinated as soon as you can and wear a mask indoors in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission. Updated May 27, Minus Related Pages. You may have side effects after vaccination, but these are normal. Most people who take pantoprazole do not have any side effects.

If you do get a side effect, it is usually mild and will go away when you stop taking pantoprazole. Talk to your pharmacist or doctor if these side effects bother you or don't go away:. In rare cases, it's possible to have a serious allergic reaction anaphylaxis to pantoprazole. These are not all the side effects of pantoprazole. For a full list see the leaflet inside your medicine packet.

Pantoprazole is not usually recommended during pregnancy as there's no clear evidence it's safe. A medicine called omeprazole , which is similar to pantoprazole, is safe in pregnancy. However, if you're pregnant, it's better to try to treat your symptoms without taking a medicine. Your doctor or midwife may suggest eating smaller meals more often and avoiding fatty and spicy foods. They may also suggest that you raise the head of your bed 10 to 20cm by putting something under your bed or mattress, so that your chest and head are above your waist.

This helps stop stomach acid travelling up towards your throat. Pantoprazole is safe to take while you're breastfeeding. It passes into breastmilk, but only in small amounts that are not harmful to the baby. If your baby is premature or has health problems, check with your doctor before taking pantoprazole.

Some medicines can interfere with pantoprazole and make you more likely to have side effects. Tell your doctor if you're taking these medicines before you start pantoprazole treatment:. Do not take St John's wort, the herbal remedy for depression, while you're taking pantoprazole. St John's wort may stop pantoprazole working as well as it should.

Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you're taking any other medicines, including herbal medicines, vitamins or supplements. Proton pumps are tiny substances in the lining of the stomach that help it make acid to digest your food. Pantoprazole prevents proton pumps from working properly. This reduces the amount of acid the stomach makes.

You should start to feel better within 2 to 3 days. It may take up to 4 weeks for pantoprazole to work properly so you may still have some symptoms during this time. If you bought pantoprazole without a prescription, and feel no better after 2 weeks, tell your doctor. They may want to do tests or change you to a different medicine. If you take pantoprazole for more than 3 months, the levels of magnesium in your blood may fall.

This can make you feel tired, confused and dizzy and cause muscle twitches, shakiness and an irregular heartbeat. If you get any of these symptoms, tell your doctor. Taking pantoprazole for more than a year may increase your chances of certain side effects, including:.

If you take pantoprazole for longer than 1 year your doctor will regularly check your health to see if you should carry on taking it. It's not known if pantoprazole works less well the longer you take it. If you feel like it isn't working any more, talk to your doctor.

A Hong Kong study published in suggested that people taking PPIs like pantoprazole for at least 3 years have a very small increased chance of developing stomach cancer. For every 10, people taking a PPI long term, it was thought an extra 4 people get stomach cancer. However, the study didn't prove that PPIs were causing stomach cancer and the results may not apply in the UK. People who take PPIs regularly shouldn't be particularly concerned by this study.

However PPIs, like most medicines, have side effects, so it's best to take them for the shortest time possible. Usually, you can stop taking pantoprazole without reducing the dose first. If you've taken pantoprazole for a long time speak to your doctor before you stop taking it. Stopping suddenly could make your stomach produce a lot more acid, and make your symptoms come back. Reducing the dose gradually before stopping completely will prevent this happening.

Like pantoprazole, these medicines are proton pump inhibitors. They work in the same way to reduce acid in your stomach. They generally work as well and have similar side effects. However, they may be given in different doses. Sometimes, if pantoprazole isn't working or doesn't agree with you, your doctor may suggest that you try taking another proton pump inhibitor.

There are other pharmacy and prescription medicines for indigestion and heartburn. Antacids , like calcium carbonate Tums , sodium bicarbonate, Maalox and Milk of Magnesia, relieve indigestion and heartburn by neutralising the acid in your stomach.

They give quick relief that lasts for a few hours. They're ideal for occasional stomach acid symptoms. Some antacids, such as Gaviscon , have an extra ingredient called alginic acid.

They work by lining your stomach so that juices from it don't splash up into your food pipe. They're especially good for relieving acid reflux. Histamine antagonists commonly called H2 blockers reduce the amount of acid made in your stomach, but they do this in a different way to PPIs. They include famotidine Pepcid , ranitidine Zantac , cimetidine Tagamet and nizatidine Axid.

In general, proton pump inhibitors like pantoprazole are used first because they are better than H2 blockers at reducing stomach acid. However, if you don't get on with a proton pump inhibitor for example, because of side effects , your doctor may prescribe an H2 blocker. You can take pantoprazole with an antacid like Gaviscon. Take it 2 hours before or after your dose of pantoprazole. Yes, it's safe to take painkillers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen at the same time as pantoprazole.