Disulfiram
Side Effects
The effects from disulfiram are intentionally unpleasant to help encourage you to remain sober. Disulfiram causes the following effects when you drink alcohol, with effects lasting from 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- Face and body flushing
- Throbbing in your head and neck, severe headache
- Blurred vision
- Fast heartbeat
- Sweating
- Dry mouth
- Nausea, vomiting
- Dizziness
- Weakness
- Breathing difficulty
- Severe low blood pressure
- Confusion
When you take disulfiram and do not drink, the main effect is drowsiness. Use caution when you drive or operate machinery while taking this medicine.
In rare cases, disulfiram can cause abnormal liver function and numbness or tingling in your hands or feet.
You should not take disulfiram if you:
- Are pregnant.
- Have severe heart, lung, kidney, or liver disease.
- Have serious psychological illnesses (such as Reference psychosis Opens New Window).
- Take certain medicines that interact with disulfiram or those that contain alcohol, such as cough medicine.
See Drug Reference for a full list of side effects. (Drug Reference is not available in all systems.)
| By: | Reference Healthwise Staff | Last Revised: January 18, 2012 |
| Medical Review: | Reference E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine
Reference Peter Monti, PhD - Alcohol and Addiction |
|
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