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Maxipime Side Effects
In a majority of cases, people using Maxipime will tolerate the medication fairly well. However, side effects are possible and may include diarrhea, rash, or nausea. It is important to be able to identify the potentially serious reactions to this drug, such as seizures, bloody diarrhea, and breathing problems, which should be brought to your healthcare provider's attention right away.
An Introduction to Maxipime Side Effects
Just like any medicine, Maxipime® (cefepime) can cause side effects. However, not everyone who uses the drug will have problems. In fact, most people tolerate it quite well. If side effects do occur, in most cases, they are minor and either require no treatment or are treated easily by you or your healthcare provider.(This article covers many, but not all, of the possible side effects with Maxipime. Your healthcare provider can discuss a more complete list with you.)
Possible Side Effects of Maxipime
With most medications, studies are performed using both the real drug and a placebo (a "sugar pill" that does not contain any active ingredients) in order to compare the effectiveness and side effects between the real drug and the placebo.
However, studies with Maxipime did not use a placebo, as it would be unethical to treat serious infections with a placebo. Therefore, it was up to the researchers to decide which side effects were probably related to the drug.
Common Maxipime side effects that were determined to be likely related to the drug included:
- Rash -- in up to 4 percent of people
- Diarrhea -- up to 3 percent
- Nausea -- up to 2 percent
- Vomiting -- up to 2 percent
- Itching -- up to 1 percent
- Fever -- up to 1 percent
- Headache -- up to 1 percent
- Irritation at the injection site -- up to 1.3 percent.
Other less common reactions included but were not limited to:
- Thrush
- Vaginal yeast infections
- Hives.
Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD
Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD