Before Using This Medicine

In deciding to use a medicine, the risks of taking the medicine must be weighed against the good it will do. This is a decision you and your doctor will make. For Quinacrine], the following should be considered:

Allergies—Tell your doctor if you have ever had any unusual or allergic reaction to quinacrine. Also tell your doctor and pharmacist if you are allergic to any other substances, such as foods, preservatives, or dyes.

Pregnancy—Quinacrine crosses the placenta, and its use in pregnant women is generally not recommended.

Breast-feeding—Quinacrine passes into breast milk. However, quinacrine has not been reported to cause problems in nursing babies.

Children—Children tolerate the oral dosage form of quinacrine less well than do adults, and it may cause vomiting in children due to its bitter taste.

Older adults—Many medicines have not been studied specifically in older people. Therefore, it may not be known whether they work exactly the same way they do in younger adults. Although there is no specific information comparing use of quinacrine in the elderly with use in other age groups, this medicine is not expected to cause different side effects or problems in older people than it does in younger adults.

Other medicines—Although certain medicines should not be used together at all, in other cases two different medicines may be used together even if an interaction might occur. In these cases, your doctor may want to change the dose, or other precautions may be necessary. When you are taking quinacrine, it is especially important that your doctor and pharmacist know if you are taking any of the following:

• Alcohol or alcohol-containing medicines—Use with quinacrine may increase the chance of side effects of alcohol.

• Primaquine—Use with quinacrine may increase the chance of serious side effects of primaquine; primaquine shouldnot be taken when you are taking quinacrine.

Other medical problems—The presence of other medical problems may affect the use of quinacrine. Make sure you tell your doctor if you have any other medical problems, especially:

• Alcoholism (or history of) or

• Liver disease—Quinacrine may cause additional liver problems

• Mental illness (severe) (history of)—Quinacrine may cause mood or other mental changes in some patients.
• Porphyria—Quinacrine may make porphyria worse.
• Psoriasis—Quinacrine may cause an attack of psoriasis or make psoriasis worse; patients with psoriasis should not take quinacrine.