Warning: Owing to the risk of contact sensitisation, pharmacists, nurses, and other health workers should avoid direct contact with chlorpromazine; tablets should not be crushed and solutions should be handled with care.

Indications: schizophrenia and related psychoses, adjunct in severe anxiety, as anti-emetic in terminal diseases, hiccup, tranquilization and emergency control in behavioral disturbances.

Cautions: cardiovascular disease, phaeochromocytoma, parkinsonism, acute infections, epilepsy.

Special Precautions: patient should remain in the supine position for 30 minutes after IM injection; bone marrow depression, respiratory, renal and hepatic diseases.

Pregnancy: and breast feeding; elderly susceptible to postural hypotension.

Contra-indications: comatose patients, CNS depression; bone-marrow depression; closed-angle glaucoma.

Side Effects: extrapyramidal symptoms; dystonia and dyskinesia; tardive dykinesia; hypothermia, drowsiness, apathy, pallor, nightmares; insomnia, depression and rarely agitation; cardiovascular symptoms; antimuscarinic effects; endocrine effects; sensitivity reactions; corneal and lens opacities after prolonged use.

Dose: by mouth, psychoses and severe anxiety, initially 25 mg 3 times daily or 75 mg at bedtime (may be doubled in bed-patients), adjusted according to response to 1 g or more in psychoses. Usual maintenance dose, 75-300 mg daily.

Child up to 5 years, 5-10 mg up to 3 times daily; 6-12 years, 1/3-1/2 adult dose.

Intractable hiccup, 25-50 mg 3-4 times daily. Tablets should be swallowed whole.

Child's dose, as oral dose.