Precautions and Warnings With Pemetrexed

HealthSavvy Sign In | Prior to taking pemetrexed (Alimta®), talk to your healthcare provider if you have:Kidney disease, such as kidney failure (renal failure) Pleural effusion (accumulation of fluid in the lining of the lungs and chest cavity) Ascites (accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity) Any allergies, including to food, dyes, or preservatives. Also, let your healthcare provider know if you are:Pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant Breastfeeding. You should also be sure to tell your healthcare provider about all other medications you are taking, including prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.Warnings and precautions to be aware of prior to taking pemetrexed include the following:This medication can decrease the ability of bone marrow to produce blood cells. This can result in anemia and other serious conditions. Because your immune system depends on certain blood cells, you may be more susceptible to infections while taking pemetrexed (see Chemotherapy and Infections).

If your blood counts become too low while on pemetrexed, your healthcare provider may need to reduce your pemetrexed dosage or delay future doses. In severe cases, you may have to stop taking this medicine altogether. While taking pemetrexed, it is very important that you take folic acid supplements and get vitamin B12 injections as directed by your healthcare provider. This helps prevent (or reduce the severity of) some pemetrexed side effects. Your healthcare provider may also recommend that you take a corticosteroid, such as dexamethasone, as this reduces the risk and severity of skin rashes due to pemetrexed. Your healthcare provider should monitor your kidney function (using a simple blood test) before each dose of this medication, as you should not receive pemetrexed if your kidneys are functioning too poorly (the kidneys help clear this medication from the blood). At this time, it is unknown how conditions involving excess fluid accumulation in the body -- such as with pleural effusion or ascites -- may affect this medication. Your healthcare provider may need to drain the excess fluid before giving you a pemetrexed dosage. Pemetrexed can interact with other medications (see Drug Interactions With Pemetrexed). Pemetrexed is considered a pregnancy Category D medication. This means that it is probably not safe for use during pregnancy. Talk to your healthcare provider about the risks and benefits of using the drug when pregnant (see Alimta and Pregnancy). It is not known if pemetrexed passes through breast milk. Therefore, if you are breastfeeding or plan to start, discuss this with your healthcare provider prior to taking the drug (see Alimta and Breastfeeding). function createlink(url, title, index ) { var p=document.createElement("P"); p.setAttribute("onclick", "clickAnchor(event)" ); setClass( p, "chapterList" ); var a = document.createElement( "a"); a.style.color = "white"; var c = url.replace(/'/g, "'"); a.setAttribute("href", c ); a.innerHTML = title; p.appendChild( a ); return p; } function updateLinks() { var toc = document.getElementById("chapterTOC"); toc.innerHTML = ""; var p; p = createlink("#chapter_0","What Should I Tell My Healthcare Provider?", status.index ); toc.appendChild( p ); p = createlink("#chapter_1","Specific Pemetrexed Precautions and Warnings", status.index ); toc.appendChild( p ); p = createlink("/pemetrexed/precautions-and-warnings-with-pemetrexed-p2.html#chapter_2","Who Should Not Take Pemetrexed?", status.index ); toc.appendChild( p ); p = createlink("/pemetrexed/precautions-and-warnings-with-pemetrexed-p2.html#chapter_3","Final Thoughts", status.index ); toc.appendChild( p ); } updateLinks(); function addToolbarButton(txt,divclass,hrefdest,onclickfunc,title,id) { var tb = document.getElementById("articleToolbar"); var td = document.createElement("TD"); if(id) td.setAttribute("id",id); var d = document.createElement("div"); setClass(d,divclass); d.onclick = function(e){ if (!onclickfunc||onclickfunc(e)!=false) {window.open(hrefdest,"_blank","");}}; d.setAttribute("title", title ); var href = document.createElement("A"); href.setAttribute("href", hrefdest ); href.onclick = onclickfunc; href.setAttribute("title", title ); href.innerHTML = txt; href.target = "_blank"; td.appendChild( d ); td.appendChild( href ); tb.appendChild(td); } function savvyClick(event) { createCookie("articleReferer",window.location + "|Precautions and Warnings With Pemetrexed",0,".emedtv.com"); urchinTracker("/savvyclick/http://mesothelioma.emedtv.com/pemetrexed/precautions-and-warnings-with-pemetrexed.html"); var sc=readCookie("SAVVYLOGIN"); if (sc) { savvyAddTopic("Pemetrexed"); } else { grayWindow(); $('#logintext').html('Sign in to your HealthSavvy account to add this topic:'); document.forms['signinform1'].action='/savvy/loginAddTopicAndReturn.html'; document.forms['signinform1'].topicName="Pemetrexed"; domenu(event,'logininfo',0,-100,true,true,true); $('#email1').focus(); } return false;} function savvyAddTopic(str) { $.ajax({ url: "/savvy/ajaxAddTopic.txt?topic=Pemetrexed", success: function(data){if (data.substring(0,2)=="OK") {data = data.substring(2, data.length);$("#hs_savvy_favorite").css("display","none");}showMessageBox(data); }}); } function createToolbar() {var st=readCookie("SAVVYTOPCIS");if (!st || st.indexOf("|Pemetrexed|")==-1) {addToolbarButton("HealthSavvy", "tb_hsicon tool_sp", "#", savvyClick, "HealthSavvy","hs_savvy_favorite");} addToolbarButton("Share", "tb_face tool_sp", "http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3a%2f%2fmesothelioma.emedtv.com%2fpemetrexed%2fprecautions-and-warnings-with-pemetrexed.html&t=Precautions+and+Warnings+With+Pemetrexed", function() {urchinTracker("/facebookshare/http://mesothelioma.emedtv.com/pemetrexed/precautions-and-warnings-with-pemetrexed.html");}, "Share on Facebook",null); addToolbarButton( "Share", "tb_twit tool_sp", "http://www.emedtv.com/twittershare.html?status=Currently+reading+Precautions+and+Warnings+With+Pemetrexed+on+eMedTV%3a+http%3a%2f%2fmesothelioma.emedtv.com%2fpemetrexed%2fprecautions-and-warnings-with-pemetrexed.html", function() {urchinTracker("/twittershare/http://mesothelioma.emedtv.com/pemetrexed/precautions-and-warnings-with-pemetrexed.html");}, "Share on Twitter",null); addToolbarButton( "Email","tb_mail tool_sp", "#", function(event) {emailPage(event);return false;}, "Email Article",null); if ( window.external && typeof(window.external.AddFavorite) != "undefined" ) { addToolbarButton( "Add", "tb_favorite tool_sp", "#", function(event) {bookmarkPage(event);return false;}, "Bookmark Article",null); } addToolbarButton( "Print","tb_print tool_sp", "#", function(event) {printPage(event);return false;}, "Print Article",null); } createToolbar(); Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD; Arthur Schoenstadt, MD Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD var s = "Last" + " updated/reviewed: "; var lm = document.getElementById("lastmodified"); if ( lm ) { s += "October 27, 2009"; lm.innerHTML = s; } 

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