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What Causes Sweating And Dizziness After Getting IV Fentanyl?
I was given IV fentanyl yesterday for pain post cataract surgery. Was discharged 15-20 minutes after the injection, became quite ill enroute to home, profuse sweating, dizzy and I fainted I guess, family states I was unresponsive for a short period of time. When I woke up I voided incontinently, vomited profusely. Should I consider this as an allergic response/adverse effect and steer clear of this med in the future if I should have to have any further procedures?
posted on
Sun, 11 May 2014
Medically reviewed by
Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team
Sun, 23 Dec 2018
Answered on
Mon, 24 Dec 2018
Last reviewed on
Hello,
Fentanyl may cause both vomiting and symptoms of faintness as it may make the blood pressure drop too low levels particularly if the starting blood pressure was on the low side.
When prescribing potent opioids most doctors would try to prevent nausea and vomiting by adding drugs with anti-vomiting effects to the regimen. Metoclopramide is such a drug (for example).
Nausea and vomiting on their own may cause sweating and faintness, so I can't say if it was fentanyl that directly caused the low blood pressure or its side effect (nausea/vomiting).
If you had no itching or shortness of breath and you got better thereafter then it was probably a side effect. An allergic reaction with faintness would have gone worse without treatment.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Take care
Regards,
Dr Panagiotis Zografakis, Internal Medicine Specialist
Fentanyl may cause both vomiting and symptoms of faintness as it may make the blood pressure drop too low levels particularly if the starting blood pressure was on the low side.
When prescribing potent opioids most doctors would try to prevent nausea and vomiting by adding drugs with anti-vomiting effects to the regimen. Metoclopramide is such a drug (for example).
Nausea and vomiting on their own may cause sweating and faintness, so I can't say if it was fentanyl that directly caused the low blood pressure or its side effect (nausea/vomiting).
If you had no itching or shortness of breath and you got better thereafter then it was probably a side effect. An allergic reaction with faintness would have gone worse without treatment.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Take care
Regards,
Dr Panagiotis Zografakis, Internal Medicine Specialist
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