Why do we need new handouts for side effects?
It is really surprising that when a patient asks what the potential side effects of a particular medication are and how likely they are to occur, there is not a simple and easily available answer. In my experience, different psychiatrists will give very different answers to what the potential side effects of a particular medication may be and about how common each side effect is.
What are the handouts provide on these pages?
So we made handouts that list, simply and directly, the potential side effects of each medication and the percentage of patients who reported having each problem. Almost all the handouts are only one page long.
These handouts are derived from the Prescribing Information (and other sources where needed).
How should I use the handouts?
The handout for each medication is available as a separate PDF so that you can easily click on that particular medication and use that handout. You can print the handout, send it through your medical record, etc. If you send it through your medical record, there will be documentation that you sent it.
The handouts cover side effects that occur in 1% of more of patients (or at least 1% more often than on placebo). They also ask the patient to look up other aspects of the medication on www.medlineplus.gov. That includes the potentially serious but uncommon side effects.
Many clinicians have told me that they found these simple handouts very helpful. When a patient says that he has blurred vision or headache or whatever, I routinely look up whether that medication has been reported to cause that adverse effect and how commonly.
How do we know that the symptom was an adverse effect?
Whenever available, we took undesirable events that occurred with the drug twice as often as with placebo to be “adverse effects”.
What is a “common” adverse effect?
“Common” adverse effects are listed first, defined as occurring at 5% or more on the drug (or at least 5% more often on the drug than on placebo).
The “less common” adverse effects are listed next, defined as occurring at 1% or more on the drug (or at least 1% more often on the drug than on placebo).
Adverse effects occurring in less than 1% of patients (or at least 1% more often on the drug than on placebo) are not listed in these handouts.
Click on the links below to download or print each handout.
Potential side effects of alprazolam (Xanax®)
Potential side effects of aripiprazole (Abilify®)
Potential side effects of atomoxetine (Strattera®)
Potential side effects of brexpiprazole (Rexulti®)
Potential side effects of bupropion extended-release (Wellbutrin XL®)
Potential side effects of buspirone (Buspar®)
Potential side effects of carbamazepine (Tegretol®)
Potential side effects of cariprazine (Vraylar®)
Potential side effects of citalopram (Celexa®)
Potential side effects of clonazepam (Klonopin®)
Potential side effects of clozapine (Clozaril®)
Potential side effects of desvenlafaxine (Pristiq®)
Potential side effects of doxepin (Silenor®)
Potential side effects of divalproex sodium (Depakote ER®)
Potential side effects of duloxetine (Cymbalta®)
Potential side effects of escitalopram (Lexapro®)
Potential side effects of esketamine (Spravato®)
Potential side effects of fluoxetine (Prozac®)
Potential side effects of fluvoxamine (Luvox®)
Potential side effects of gabapentin (Neurontin®)
Potential side effects of glycopyrrolate (Robinul®)
Potential side effects of lamotrigine (Lamictal®)
Potential side effects of levomilnacipran (Fetzima®)
Potential side effects of lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse®)
Potential side effects of lithium carbonate (Lithobid®)
Potential side effects of lorazepam (Ativan®)
Potential side effects of lurasidone (Latuda®)
Potential side effects of methylphenidate (Ritalin SR®)
Potential side effects of mirtazapine (Remeron®)
Potential side effects of mixed amphetamine salts (Adderall XR®)
Potential side effects of modafinil (Provigil®)
Potential side effects of oxcarbazepine (Trileptal®)
Potential side effects of paroxetine (Paxil®)
Potential side effects of phenelzine (Nardil®)
Potential side effects of pramipexole (Mirapex®)
Potential side effects of pregabalin (Lyrica®)
Potential side effects of quetiapine (Seroquel®)
Potential side effects of risperidone (Risperdal®)
Potential side effects of sertraline (Zoloft®)
Potential side effects of selegiline transdermal system (Emsam®)
Potential side effects of suvorexant (Belsomra®)
Potential side effects of tadalafil (Cialis®)
Potential side effects of temazepam (Restoril®)
Potential side effects of terazosin (Hytrin®)
Potential side effects of trazodone (Desyrel®)
Potential Side effects of trifluoperazine (Stelazine®)
Potential side effects of valbenazine (Ingrezza®)
Potential side effects of varenicline (Chantix®)
Potential side effects of venlafaxine (Effexor®)
Potential side effects of vilazodone (Viibryd®)
Potential side effects of vortioxetine (Trintellix®)
Potential side effects of zaleplon (Sonata®)
Potential side effects of ziprasidone (Geodon®)
Potential side effects of zolpidem (Ambien CR®)
(Note: Patient handouts and worksheets on other topics are available to Members for download from the HANDOUTS page on this website.)
Related Pages
Knowledge is power: Effective strategies for educating patients about potential adverse effects
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Almost 3 months ago I started a patient on citalopram 20mg daily for anxiety. Patient is 37 yrs old, caucasian male otherwise healthy. He also has ADHD and takes methylphenidate CR. He sometimes takes clonazepam for sleep although recently ineffective and switched to estazolam.
He emailed me this week to say that due to Covid-19 he has been checking his temperature more regularly and has noticed that his early morning temperature over past few weeks is 94.2 F. He stated that he read “that some antidepressants and sedatives can cause a decrease in body temperature.”
I am not familiar with that particular A.E. so I checked your pages for those medications and it is not listed (looked at alprazolam since estazolam was not listed). Also his timeframe of “a few weeks” pre-dates the estazolam prescription and the clonazepam was something that his GP prescribed him off/on for a few years.
The only thing that comes to mind is that an older clinical test for hypothyroid is checking early morning temperatures and lower basal AM temps is associated with hypothyroidism; I do not know if that test was ever validated with thyroid function test comparison but I have found it to be useful in some cases. I have no other reason to suspect this patient is hypothyroid.
Thank you,
Jonathan Beatty