What are the side effects of antihistamines h-2 blockers?
Although side effects due to the H2 receptor blockers are relatively rare and usually mild, a large number of adverse effects have been reported, in part because of the high use of these drugs. For example, the most common single adverse effect of cimetidine has been a 4% incidence of breast enlargement among males taking the drug in high doses for hypersecretory conditions. Similarly, the incidence of headache among high-dose cimetidine patients was 3.5%. Among patients taking lower doses, the frequency of headache was 2.1% compared to 2.3% in a placebo control group. Decreased white blood cell count was reported in 1 in 1,000,000 patients. The reported side effects from the H2 receptor blocks are: • abdominal pain • back, leg, or stomach pain • bleeding or crusting sores on lips • blistering, burning, redness, scaling, or tenderness of skin • blisters on palms of hands and soles of feet • changes in vision or blurred vision • coughing or difficulty in swallowing • dark-colored urine
