Patient should be advised to take Tegaserod (6 mg twice daily) 30 minutes before meal.
Patient should also be made aware of the possible occurrence of diarrhea during therapy. In most cases, the diarrhea occurred early, is transient, is most often observed as a single episode during the 12 week treatment period, and resolved with continued therapy.
Patients should be instructed to consult their physician if they experience new or worsening abdominal pain not typical of their IBS symptoms.
No clinically relevant drug-drug interactions have been observed with dextromethorphan, theophylline, digoxin, oral contraceptives, and warfarin.
Tegaserod is not recommended in patients with severe renal or hepatic impairment. It is also contraindicated in patients with hypersensitivity to tegaserod or any excipient of this formulation.
Abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, flatulence, headache, fatigue, back pain etc.
Pregnancy: In view of limited experience in human, use of Tegaserod during pregnancy is not recommended.
Nursing mothers: Tegaserod should not be prescribed to nursing mothers.
Diarrhea was reported in some of the patients receiving Tegaserod in the Phase III clinical studies. Caution is required in patients in whom increased diarrhea could have negative effects. Patients who are currently experiencing or frequently experience diarrhea should not initiate therapy with Tegaserod.
Renal impairment: No dosage adjustment is required in patients with mild to moderate renal impairment. Tegaserod is not recommended in patients with severe renal impairment.
Hepatic impairment: No dosage adjustment is required in patients with mild to moderate hepatic impairment, however, caution is recommended when using Tegaserod in this patient population. It has not been studied in patients with severe hepatic impairment, and therefore, it is not recommended in this group.
