Benztropine Mesylate

Last Reviewed: Sep 18, 2024

Warnings

Benztropine Mesylate Risks, Warnings, and Complications

Benztropine can cause new or worsening health problems in certain high-risk individuals. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about other treatments for your condition if you are at an increased risk of complications from this medication. Some of the risks of taking benztropine include:

IMPAIRED MENTAL AND PHYSICAL ABILITIES: Benztropine can cause drowsiness, dizziness, and blurred vision. Be careful while driving and performing other potentially hazardous tasks such as operating machinery. Tell your doctor if you have persistent or severe dizziness.
DRUG INTERACTIONS: Taking benztropine with certain medications such as phenothiazines, haloperidol, other anticholinergic drugs, or antidopaminergic drugs can increase the risk of gastrointestinal complications such as paralytic ileus, hyperthermia, and heat stroke, which can be fatal.
REDUCED SWEATING: Benztropine can cause anhidrosis (reduced or absent sweating). There are reports of severe anhidrosis and fatal hyperthermia in people who took this medication. Be cautious during hot weather, especially if you do manual labor in a hot environment, are on other atropine-like drugs, are chronically ill, are an alcoholic, or have central nervous system disorders.

Precautions Before Starting Benztropine Mesylate

Tell your doctor if you have ever had allergic reactions to benztropine, any of the active or inactive ingredients in benztropine tablets, or any other medications. Your pharmacy can give you a list of ingredients.

Give your doctor and pharmacist a complete list of all your medicines, including prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines, supplements, and herbal products. This can help avoid possible drug interactions.

Give your doctor a complete medical history. Benztropine may not be safe for people with certain medical conditions such as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), glaucoma, tardive dyskinesia (uncontrolled movements caused by certain medicines), urinary problems, heart problems, blood pressure problems, substance use disorder, mental disorders, and neurological disorders (certain muscle disease and certain nerve disease).

Tell your doctor if you are pregnant, could be pregnant, or are planning a pregnancy. We do not know if benztropine can harm the unborn baby. Also, tell your doctor if you are breast-feeding.

Precautions During Use of Benztropine Mesylate

Keep all your medical and laboratory appointments during treatment with benztropine. Your doctor may adjust your dose based on your response and monitor you for side effects.

Benztropine can cause drowsiness, dizziness, and blurred vision. Be careful while driving and doing other possibly dangerous activities until you know how this medicine affects you. Avoid drinking alcohol as this can make side effects worse.

Avoid unnecessary sun exposure and wear sunscreen and protective clothing while on benztropine. This medicine can increase the sensitivity of your skin to UV rays.

Older adults (age 65 and above) should talk to their health care provider about the benefits versus risks of taking benztropine. There may be other safer medications available.

Tell your doctor if you become pregnant while on benztropine.

Tell all your healthcare providers and laboratory personnel you are on benztropine, especially before any surgery or dental procedures.

Benztropine Mesylate Drug Interactions

Certain other drugs can affect how benztropine works. Possible interactions between benztropine and other medicines can increase the risk of severe adverse reactions. Your healthcare provider may change the dose of your medicine, switch you to a different medication, and/or monitor you carefully for side effects if there are known interactions between benztropine and your other medications. Benztropine can interact with the following medications.

Tricyclic antidepressants such as clomipramine (Anafranil), desipramine (Norpramin), imipramine (Tofranil), and trimipramine (Surmontil)
Haloperidol (Haldol)

Give your doctor or pharmacist a complete list of all your medications, including prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, dietary supplements, and herbal remedies. Also, tell your healthcare professional if you smoke, drink alcohol, or use recreational drugs because some of these substances can cause serious health complications when used with prescription medications.

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