Mefenamic Acid Post Surgery

[Knight147]

hey
does anybody know the MAXIMUM dose of mefenamic acid?
all the literature i can find only seems to suggest that it be 500mg tds.... some anaesthetists in my hospital like to prescribe as 1-2 (500mg-1g) QDS....
any ideas what the TOXIC dose is??
i have also seen some community Rx for mefenamic acid 1g tds.
any literature available to confirm this???

M

[admin]

Originally Posted by Knight147

hey
does anybody know the MAXIMUM dose of mefenamic acid?
all the literature i can find only seems to suggest that it be 500mg tds.... some anaesthetists in my hospital like to prescribe as 1-2 (500mg-1g) QDS....
any ideas what the TOXIC dose is??
i have also seen some community Rx for mefenamic acid 1g tds.
any literature available to confirm this???

M

I have no idea off the top of my head, but if I were were at work the first thing I would do is ring up the manufacturers of Ponstan and speak to them. I've nearly always found the drug info people at these companies have all the data to hand you need.

[Knight147]

thanks for your reply

the drug companies only tend to refer to the SPC and well to be honest even we can do that......!
and ofcourse from a legal point of view they can only recommend what is stated in the SPC

what i need is the absolute but safe MAXIMUM dose used - most probably unlicensed?!!
looked in micromedex not much help there either.


M

[Zoggite]

I had a similar situation today whith a script for a 12-year-old cystic fibrosis patient, calling for 800 creon 10.000 capsules, "take 43 caps daily"
YES, that's forty-three caps daily!!!
She actually takes 14 caps in her hand, and just swallows them in one go as though they were popcorn, with a mouthful of water; and this TDS with an extra capsule at lunchtime...
But where on earth do you find out whether this is OK or not?
I remember facing a script for 300mg dosulepin daily, + 40mg diazepam daily and 10 mg haloperidol daily, all for the same patient, on a saturday afternoon...?

[the old merlin]

Originally Posted by Zoggite

I
But where on earth do you find out whether this is OK or not?
I remember facing a script for 300mg dosulepin daily, + 40mg diazepam daily and 10 mg haloperidol daily, all for the same patient, on a saturday afternoon...?

The best thing to do in my experience with something like the Creon is talk to the Med Info Dept at the generating hospital. Must have started in secondary care, and SOMEONE there will have seen several such patients. Otherwise, ring the info dept of the company concerned, find out to whom you are speaking, tell them what's happening and ask if they have any comments. You may or may not get a sharp intake of breath!

In the second case, if it's a repeat Rx you've got the address (although I think Zoggite you're in a holiday town aren't you?), so contact a Med Info dept on Monday and take it from there.