Metoclopramide

Metoclopramide is a medication used for stomach and esophageal problems. It is commonly used to treat and prevent nausea and vomiting, to help with emptying of the stomach in people with delayed stomach emptying, and to help with gastroesophageal reflux disease. It is also used to treat migraine headaches. Common side effects include: feeling tired, diarrhea, and feeling restless. More serious side effects include neuroleptic malignant syndrome and depression. It is thus rarely recommended that people take the medication for longer than twelve weeks. No evidence of harm has been found after being taken by many pregnant women. It belongs to the group of medications known as dopamine-receptor antagonists and works as a prokinetic. In 2012, metoclopramide was one of the top 100 most prescribed medications in the United States. It is available as a generic medication. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. In 2020, it was the 352nd most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 600,000 prescriptions. Metoclopramide is commonly used to treat nausea and vomiting associated with conditions such as uremia, radiation sickness, cancer and the effects of chemotherapy, labor, infection, and emetogenic drugs. As a perioperative anti-emetic, the effective dose is usually 25 to 50 mg (compared to the usual 10 mg dose). It is also used in pregnancy as a second choice for treatment of hyperemesis gravidarum (severe nausea and vomiting of pregnancy). It is also used preventatively by some EMS providers when transporting people who are conscious and spinally immobilized. In migraine headaches, metoclopramide may be used in combination with paracetamol (acetaminophen) or in combination with aspirin. Evidence also supports its use for gastroparesis, a condition that causes the stomach to empty poorly, and as of 2010 it was the only drug approved by the FDA for that condition. It is also used in gastroesophageal reflux disease.