How do you explain why prochlorperazine, a medicine used to treat vertigo, has a dizziness warning on it (L16)? What I often hear pharmacist (student, intern or fully registered), or other health professionals, tell patients is that: “Stemetil is used to help with your dizziness but paradoxically it may cause dizziness.” This is incorrect. But what is worse, is when they do not explain the L16 warning, in an attempt to not scare the patient or hide the fact that they don’t know how to explain it.
I believe this has occurred because in an attempt to avoid technical jargon, the health professional has used the word dizziness as a blanket term and confused themselves. Instead of saying, “Stemetil is used to help with your dizziness but paradoxically it may cause dizziness”, THINK, “Stemetil is used to help with your VERTIGO and it may cause HYPOTENSION.” Under this approach, it becomes clear how to better explain prochlorperazine and L16.
There are a number of causes of vertigo, but it’s commonly caused by problems in the inner ear. It’s NOT caused by a drop in blood pressure. L16 is used for medicines that may cause dizziness, because it has dropped your blood pressure. Don’t get the two confused.
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