What Should I Tell My Healthcare Provider Before Taking Granisetron?
You should talk with your healthcare provider prior to taking this medication if you have:
- Liver disease, including cirrhosis or liver failure
- Any allergies, including allergies to food, dyes, or preservatives.
Also, let your healthcare provider know if you are:
- Pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant
- Breastfeeding.
Make sure to tell your healthcare provider about all other medicines you are taking, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.
Nausea and vomiting are complex processes involving many chemicals in the body and several parts of the body, including the brain and the small intestine. It is likely that granisetron works in the small intestine, but it may also work in the brain.
Granisetron works by blocking serotonin, a chemical produced by the body that is associated with nausea and vomiting. Serotonin has many effects in the body and has several receptors where it can bind. Granisetron blocks serotonin at a specific type of receptor (the 5-HT3 receptor), which is important for nausea and vomiting. It has no effects on other types of serotonin receptors in the body.
In studies of granisetron to prevent nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, up to 88 percent of people who took the drug experienced no vomiting, and up to 63 percent had no nausea within the first 24 hours after chemotherapy.
Granisetron has also been studied for the prevention of nausea and vomiting due to radiation. In these studies, the medication significantly reduced the chance of vomiting.
Previous
