Question

I am a breastfeeding mother and i want to know if it is safe to use Flunarizine HCl? Is Flunarizine HCl safe for nursing mother and child? Does Flunarizine HCl extracts into breast milk? Does Flunarizine HCl has any long term or short term side effects on infants? Can Flunarizine HCl influence milk supply or can Flunarizine HCl decrease milk supply in lactating mothers?

Flunarizine HCl lactation summary

Flunarizine HCl is unsafe in breastfeeding
  • DrLact safety Score for Flunarizine HCl is 5 out of 8 which is considered Unsafe as per our analyses.
  • A safety Score of 5 indicates that usage of Flunarizine HCl may cause serious side effects in breastfed baby.
  • Our study of different scientific research indicates that Flunarizine HCl may cause moderate to high side effects or may affect milk supply in lactating mother.
  • Our suggestion is to use safer alternate options rather than using Flunarizine HCl .
  • It is recommended to evaluate the advantage of not breastfeeding while using Flunarizine HCl Vs not using Flunarizine HCl And continue breastfeeding.
  • While using Flunarizine HCl Its must to monitor child for possible reactions. It is also important to understand that side effects vary largely based on age of breastfed child and time of medication in addition to dosage.
  • Score calculated using the DrLact safety Version 1.2 model, this score ranges from 0 to 8 and measures overall safety of drug in lactation. Scores are primarily calculated using publicly available case studies, research papers, other scientific journals and publically available data.

Answer by Dr. Ru: About Flunarizine HCl usage in lactation

Calcium-channel-blocking drug which is a piperazine derivative antihistamine with sedative effects.Used in prophylaxis of migraines and dizziness. At latest update no published data on excretion into breast milk were found.It may increase prolactin level (from Cortelli Formisano 1985 to 1991).Despite its high protein-binding capacity, because of a very long half-life span (18 days), there is a higher risk of excretion into breastmilk. A known and safer alternative should be preferred until more published data on this drug related to breastfeeding is available, - e.g. Propranolol, Metoprolol, Sertraline, Escitalopram, Amitrptilina or Valproate for Migraine prophylaxis (Pringsheim 2012, Davanzo 2014) and Nimodipine, Betahistine or Ginkgo biloba for vertigo prophylaxis, especially in the neonatal period and in case of prematurity.

Alternate Drugs for Anti-vertigo Drug

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