Before Receiving 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 suramin, the following should be considered:

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

Before giving the full dose of suramin, your doctor will give you a test dose to make sure you are not allergic to this medicine.

Pregnancy—Suramin has not been studied in pregnant women. However, studies in animals have shown that suramin may cause birth defects or death of the fetus. If you have a very serious disease, such as African sleeping sickness, and there are no other medicines available for use, your doctor may want to treat you with suramin even if you are pregnant. However, suramin is not recommended for use in pregnant women with less serious conditions, such as river blindness. Before receiving this medicine, make sure your doctor knows if you are pregnant or if you may become pregnant.

Breast-feeding—It is not known whether suramin passes into breast milk. Although most medicines pass into breast milk in small amounts, many of them may be used safely while breast-feeding. Mothers who are receiving this medicine and who wish to breast-feed should discuss this with their doctor.

Children—Suramin can cause serious side effects in any patient. Therefore, it is especially important that you discuss with the child's doctor the good that this medicine may do as well as the risks of receiving it.

Older adults—Elderly people are especially sensitive to the effects of suramin. This may increase the chance of side effects during treatment.

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. Tell your health care professional if you are taking any other prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter [OTC]) medicines.

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

• Kidney disease or
• Liver disease—Patients with kidney or liver disease may have an increased chance of side effects