Complete adverse effect profile including incidence rates and management
Important Safety Information
This is not a complete list of all possible side effects. Contact your healthcare provider if you experience any unexpected symptoms. For serious or life-threatening side effects, seek emergency medical attention immediately.
ADVERSE REACTIONS Adverse reactions to nitroglycerin are generally dose-related and almost all of these reactions are the result of nitroglycerin's activity as a vasodilator.
Headache, which may be severe, is the most commonly reported side effect.
Headache may be recurrent with each daily dose, especially at higher doses.
Transient episodes of lightheadedness, occasionally related to blood pressure changes, may also occur.
Hypotension occurs infrequently, but in some patients it may be severe enough to warrant discontinuation of therapy.
Syncope, crescendo angina, and rebound hypertension have been reported but are uncommon.
Allergic reactions to nitroglycerin are also uncommon, and the great majority of those reported have been cases of contact dermatitis or fixed drug eruptions in patients receiving nitroglycerin in ointments or patches.
There have been a few reports of genuine anaphylactoid reactions, and these reactions can probably occur in patients receiving nitroglycerin by any route.
Extremely rarely, ordinary doses of organic nitrates have caused methemoglobinemia in normal-seeming patients.
Methemoglobinemia is so infrequent at these doses that further discussion of its diagnosis and treatment is deferred (see OVERDOSAGE ).
WARNINGS Use of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) tubing in infusion sets may lead to loss of active ingredient due to adsorption of nitroglycerin to PVC tubing, therefore dosage is affected (see DOSAGE & ADMINISTRATION ).
Nitroglycerin adsorption by PVC tubing is increased when the tubing is long, the flow rates are low, and the nitroglycerin concentration of the solution is high.
The delivered fraction of the solution's original nitroglycerin content has been 20-60% in published studies using PVC tubing;
the fraction varies with time during a single infusion, and no simple correction factor can be used.
PVC tubing has been used in most published studies of intravenous nitroglycerin, but the reported doses have been calculated by simply multiplying the flow rate of the solution by the solution's original concentration of nitroglycerin.
Like all medications, Nitroglycerin In Dextrose can cause side effects. However, not everyone who takes this medication will experience them. Many side effects are dose-dependent and may improve as your body adjusts to the medication. Others may require dose adjustment or medical attention.
Contact your healthcare provider promptly if you experience:
Seek immediate emergency medical care if you experience signs of: