Clemastine

 Risk Factor: CM
 Class: ANTIHISTAMINES

Contents of this page:

Fetal Risk Summary
Breast Feeding Summary
References
Questions and Answers

Fetal Risk Summary

Reproductive studies with the antihistamine, clemastine, in rats and rabbits have revealed no evidence of teratogenic effects (1). No published reports describing the use of clemastine in human pregnancy have been located.

In a surveillance study of Michigan Medicaid recipients involving 229,101 completed pregnancies conducted between 1985 and 1992, 1,617 newborns had been exposed to clemastine during the 1st trimester (F. Rosa, personal communication, FDA, 1993). A total of 71 (4.4%) major birth defects were observed (68 expected). Specific data were available for six defect categories, including (observed/expected) 13/16 cardiovascular defects, 3/3 oral clefts, 3/1 spina bifida, 4/5 polydactyly, 4/4 hypospadias, and 5/1.9 limb reduction defects. Only with the latter defect is there a suggestion of a possible association, but other factors, including the mother's disease, concurrent drug use, and chance, may be involved.

An association between exposure during the last 2 weeks of pregnancy to antihistamines and retrolental fibroplasia in premature infants has been reported. See Brompheniramine for details.

Breast Feeding Summary

Clemastine is excreted into breast milk (3). A 10-week-old girl developed drowsiness, irritability, refusal to feed, neck stiffness, and a high-pitched cry 12 hours after the mother began taking the antihistamine, 1 mg twice daily. The mother was also taking phenytoin and carbamazepine. Twenty hours after the last dose, clemastine levels in maternal plasma and milk were 20 and 510 ng/mL, respectively, a milk:plasma ratio of 0.250.5. The drug could not be detected in the infant's plasma. Symptoms in the baby resolved within 24 hours after the drug was stopped, although breast feeding was continued. Examination 3 weeks later was also normal. Due to the above case report, the American Academy of Pediatrics believes that the drug should be used with caution during breast feeding (4).

References

1. Product information. Tavist. Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, 1993.
2. Zierler S, Purohit D. Prenatal antihistamine exposure and retrolental fibroplasia. Am J Epidemiol 1986;123:1926.
3. Kok THHG, Taitz LS, Bennett MJ, Holt DW. Drowsiness due to clemastine transmitted in breast milk. Lancet 1982;1:9145.
4. Committee on Drugs, American Academy of Pediatrics. The transfer of drugs and other chemicals into human milk. Pediatrics 1994;93:13750.
   
   

Questions and Answers

Want to buy OTC medication for sinus problems: Clemastine and phenylpropanolamine. What Brand name is this?, Apparently Tavist-D is prescription only. Can Clemastine and phenylpropanolamine be bought OTC?

Tavist is OTC, but in America PPA is off the market. Sorry!

What is the allergy medicine 1 mg of clemastine and 75 mg of phenylpropanolamine, sold as? Thanks.?, IS IT GENERIC AND OTC?

Check with your local Pharmacist. Any drug store Pharmacist should be able to tell you free of charge.

How long is it safe to give my Samoyed histamines for itching?, This hasn't completely cured the itching but seems to have made a little progress after a month of giving him Clemastine 2.65 mg.

We have a client that is on Clemastine long term. As far as I know there are no side affects from it. He may have food allergies that my be controlled by simply changing his diet.

Does he have an itchy face, chronic ear problems, or excessive licking of feet and paws? these are signs of food allergies and when switching his diet you cannot give him anything else but the food for 4 months in order to know if the diet will work or not.

Its for dogs that have allergies or a real bad itch?, The vet gave him Clemastine fumar fron what I cat tell, tried benedryl,hes 13 a shitzu, but the vet med. has not done a thing he itches like crazy and kinda cries cause hes so misserable, guess ill take him back tomorrow?

Take him off ALL commercial food - stop feeding grains, dairy, cooked meats and vegetables. These are inappropriate ingredients for a dog and it is obvious that his immune system is not coping.

Many raw feeders start because of allergy problems with their dogs and have had great results. Most people start with chicken for a few weeks and then add one new protein at a time. Join one of the yahoo raw feeding lists/groups for great advice and support.

MY DOGS nose is warm and dry is that bad?, she looks like so frustrated like if she had been running alot she is panting a lili bit i dunno why this is the first time my house aint that hot the only thing she had was her regular food her regular clemastine pils and since friday her clavamox pills, she has had clavamoz before nothing happen. what could it be?

The whole wet/dry nose thing being a symbol to health is nonsense. It's an old wives tale that means absolutely nothing. A healthy dog can have a dry/warm nose and an unhealthy dog can have a wet nose.
Unless your dog is displaying worrisome symptoms then a dry nose is nothing to worry about.

I wouldn't panic yet, just keep an eye on the dog and if the panting continues for a long period of time then talk to the vet, otherwise don't worry.

What is the best antihistamine?, What is the best antihistamine pills out there to prevent from allergic tissue swelling?
I've tried stuff like loratadine, chloropyramin and clemastine but none of them really worked. Maybe the first one a bit and the last one but it has really bad side effects, I couldn't even drive properly using it. What can you suggest??

i work as a pharmacy technician and have found that most pharmacists recomment sudafed or benadryl as otc. it really depends on whether it's a cold or just allergies you're dealing with. for allergies, trying zyrtec-d (which is newly available otc) is probably the best choice. for cold symptoms, sudafed or benadryl are your best options. since yours seems to be allergy related, zyrtec is probably the one to go with. it has cetirizine hcl in it which is a quick acting antihistamine.

IS PYODERMA BAD? can it kill a dog? is it curable?, thanks............ also is cefpodoxime an steroid or an antiviotic, clemastine? ana also clavamox?

Pyoderma should not kill a dog. If it was left untreated and the dog became septic I suppose it could, but this would be extremely rare. It is a skin infection caused by certain types of bacteria and yeast. It causes discomfort for your dog and sometimes has a bad odor. It is curable but if the dog is predisposed to pyoderma due to allergies or genetic factors, it may re-occur. Certain breeds are more likely to get pyodermas especially those with many skin folds like shar peis and bulldogs. Cefpodoxime and Clavamox are antibiotics and clemastine is an antihistamine to help with itchiness associated with some pyodermas. Your vet may also recommend bathing the dog with a medicated shampoo.

my dog was just diagnosed with hypothyroidism but..?, ok the only sign she has showed is weight gain but it could be something else, ok and she had skin allergies before and was on clemastine and cefpodoxime then she just stood til present on clemastine...ok my question is they did her only a test yesterday that said she had her thyroid low but ok am wondering if there is more tests to get her done to be exactly sure she has hypothyroidism? and if it could be her clemastine pills who made her thyroid low?....if there is more tests to be done to be sure can you please wrte them down but make it clear to understand please..only names please.....thanks....

Ok, I don't know what you heard that upset you so but here is some information: If you want to ask for more tests, the basics are T4, T3 and TSH.
Left untreated, low thyroid can cause skin and hair dryness, flakiness, dullness and hair loss.
Left untreated, mental dullness or depression, cold intolerance, slow heart rate, constipation, anemia, muscle weakness and atrophy, nerve disturbances, edema, stunted growth, slowed clotting of the blood, and lethargic behavior – such as increased sleeping, less play activity and easy fatigue may also indicate thyroid disease..
Left untreated, a low thyroid can greatly diminish the quality of life.
Of several diseases that can cause weight gain, hypothyroid is the easiest to treat. Another disease could be Cushing's, which is much more serious.
With regularly scheduled check-ups to ensure correct dosage, your dog should be mostly symptom-free for the rest of his or her life.
Hypothyroid dogs who receive proper treatment have a normal life span and are able to maintain good health well into their golden years.
I have been taking thyroid medicine for 31 years now and feel 100% better than before I began.

IS THERE A VET IN HERE??? PLEASE please help me? am scared?, ok first i have a bichon 3 year old, she had a very itchy skin before and they precribed me clemastine and cefpodoxime half tablet of cefpodoxime, then they took out cefpodoxyme and prescribed clemastine for life that was on october last year...recently like 3 months ago she was suffering from itchy ears and they prescribed me cefpodoxime again this time it was 1 and a half tablets and i thought it was alot so i gave her half tablet again [i know am stuipd] and sometimes i would miss giving it to her but I thought nothing bad would happen i was sopposed to had finished those tablets in a month but i still have them i had continued giving those to her half tablet, today i took her to the vet cuz she had a rash in her butt and taill, they said is pyoderma infection so they prescibed me cefpodoxime again and i told the nurse the whole story about it and the nurse said is bad cuz she could beantibiotic resistance, now am scared what if she is already? how would i know? are there tests to

you should see a veterinary dermatologist.they can check if he has any problems and proscribe some meds.Good luck!

OK my dog is now on levothyroixine for her low thyroid problem and...?, am gonna start giving it to her tomorrow 0.5mg twice daily she weights 32 pounds she is a 3 year old bichon and i wanna know is that amount good for her? cuz iread before that first they should star with a dosage of 01 mg or something....i asked the nurse about if she could get more tests done to be sure 100% that she was hypothyroid cuz i had read that tests could show a low thyroid either cuz she had a different desease or cuz of certain antibiotics cus she had been on clemastine and cefpodoxime till now for skin allergies but she said that the total t4 test was sure that she had that, ok and i asked her if she might still show simptoms and she said no cuz she will be on medicament now...and she said to bring her every year for ;evel checks and i thought isnt that to long? cux i read they have to change dosage certain times...

Follow your vet's instructions and ask THEM these questions: every individual is different. Thyroid tests are done before starting meds, after they've been on for several weeks to confirm that this is the right dose, and every 6 to 12 months after that to monitor for changes. The dose is based on body weight and blood level of thyroid hormone, individuals vary. If her dosage is correct then symptoms should go away, this is basically a hormone replacement therapy-giving her something her body can't make in a pill form. Recurrence of symptoms means you need to have her re-tested and make ajdustments. Did they do a t4 only or a full thyroid panel? We make the initial diagnosis with the panel and adjustments with T4-the panel is more expensive but also tests for all stages of thyroid hormone, to see if it's not being made at all or isn't being utilized properly-this helps determine if it's primary thyroid disease or a reaction to to her other medications.