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 vancomycin, the following should be considered:

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

Pregnancy—Vancomycin has not been reported to cause hearing loss or kidney damage in the infants of women given vancomycin during their second or third trimester of pregnancy.

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

Children—Vancomycin 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 will do as well as the risks of using it.

Older adults—Elderly people may be especially sensitive to the effects of vancomycin. This may increase the chance of hearing loss or kidney damage.

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 receiving vancomycin, it is especially important that your health care professional know if you are taking any of the following:

• Aminoglycosides by injection (amikacin [e.g., Amikin], gentamicin [e.g., Garamycin], kanamycin [e.g., Kantrex], netilmicin [e.g., Netromycin], streptomycin, tobramycin [e.g., Nebcin]) or
• Amphotericin B by injection (e.g., Fungizone) or
• Bacitracin by injection or
• Bumetanide by injection (e.g., Bumex) or
• Capreomycin (e.g., Capastat) or
• Cisplatin (e.g., Platinol) or
• Cyclosporine (e.g., Sandimmune) or
• Ethacrynic acid by injection (e.g., Edecrin) or
• Furosemide by injection (e.g., Lasix) or
• Paromomycin (e.g., Humatin) or
• Polymyxins, especially colistimethate (e.g., Coly-Mycin M) and polymyxin B (e.g., Aerosporin) or
• Streptozocin (e.g., Zanosar) or
• Vecuronium (e.g., Norcuron)—Use of these medicines with vancomycin may increase the chance of side effects

• Dexamethasone (e.g., Dalalone L.A., Decadrol, Decadron)—Use of dexamethasone with vancomycin may keep vancomycin from working properly

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

• Kidney disease or
• Loss of hearing, or deafness, history of—Patients with kidney disease or a history of hearing loss or deafness may have an increased chance of side effects