Product Details

Product Information of Loniten 5mg Tablets

Do not take LONITEN:
• If you are allergic to minoxidil or any of the other ingredients of this medicine (listed in section 6).
• If your high blood pressure is caused by hormones from a tumour
(phaeochromocytoma), usually near the kidneys

Warnings and precautions
Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before using LONITEN:
• If you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant.
• If you have heart failure (you may feel breathless, wheezy or tired and your ankles may swell up);
• If you have ever had a heart attack.

LONITEN tablets encourage salt and water to remain in your body. Too much salt and water in the body can make you feel breathless, wheezy, sick and tired, and can stop LONITEN working properly. LONITEN also makes your heart beat faster.
To avoid these problems, your doctor will prescribe two other medicines for you to take with LONITEN. One will be a water tablet (diuretic) to help your body get rid of excess water, and the other a beta-blocker or similar medicine to stop your heart beating too fast or angina pain in the chest.

If your doctor gives you a low salt diet, follow it carefully. You should weigh yourself daily and keep an accurate record of your weight while you are taking this medicine. Tell your
doctor if you put on more than 1 to 1.5 kg. The cause could be extra fluid in your body. Tell your doctor if you think you have gained weight– even though it may not be due to the
medicine. Your doctor will want to monitor fluid and salt (electrolyte) levels in your body.
You may recognise increased hair growth (hypertrichosis) after starting treatment, this usually emerges in the face but may subside with continued treatment. This side effect is reversible
upon stopping treatment but may take one to six months.
Your doctor will want to make regular checks on your blood pressure and general health. You should also have occasional checks on your heart.
If you have an ECG test (to check the electrical activity of your heart) or any blood tests, remind your doctor that you are taking LONITEN, as it can change the results.
Your doctor may monitor your blood for the very rare possibility of decreased white blood cells and platelets cells.
In some patients, inflammation of membrane around heart, fluid accumulation under the membrane around heart (cardiac tamponade) can occur. Your doctor should monitor these
carefully and may try to drain the fluid or may consider stopping treatment with LONITEN.
Patients with kidney failure and undergoing haemodialysis may need smaller doses of LONITEN, which should be used with special care in these patients to maintain electrolyte balance in body.

Other medicines and LONITEN
Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking, have recently taken or might take any other medicines, including medicines obtained without a prescription.
It is particularly important you tell your doctor about any other medicine you are taking to reduce your high blood pressure. These medicines may interact with LONITEN by causing
blood pressure to drop too low. In particular, tell your doctor if you are taking guanethidine or betanidine so you can be monitored whilst on treatment with LONITEN or your doctor
may consider stopping these therapies before starting treatment with LONITEN.
Your doctor will tell you when and how to stop taking this medicine.

Pregnancy and breast-feeding
If you are pregnant or breast-feeding, think you may be pregnant or are planning to have baby, ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice before taking this medicine. LONITEN passes into breast milk and is not recommended if you are breast-feeding unless your doctor thinks it is necessary