Promethazine is an antihistamine that has a number of uses:
- To relieve allergic conditions such as hay fever and skin rashes.
- To prevent nausea (feeling sick) or vomiting (being sick), including when caused by motion sickness. It works by blocking certain chemicals (histamines) in your brain that can cause nausea and vomiting.
- To make you feel sleepy. It may be taken for a few days only to help promote sleep in adults with sleeping problems.
Promethazine is available as an injection, a liquid or tablets (10 mg and 25 mg). In New Zealand, promethazine liquid and tablets can be bought from a pharmacy without a prescription, after consultation with a pharmacist (pharmacist-only medicine).
Promethazine must not be used for sedation of children (ie, to make children sleep. It can cause severe breathing problems). |