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What you should know about Dobutrex
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Please read this information carefully. It does not contain all the information about your medicine that you may need to know, so please ask your doctor or nurse if you have any questions. This leaflet only applies to Dobutrex.
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What is in your medicine?
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Your medicine is called Dobutrex. Its active ingredient is dobutamine hydrochloride. Your medicine came from a glass bottle supplied to the hospital containing 250mg of dobutamine hydrochloride dissolved in 20ml of sterile ‘Water for Injections’. Dobutrex also contains the inactive ingredient sodium metabisulphite.
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Your nurse, doctor or pharmacist will have diluted the Dobutrex liquid before it went through a tube and needle from a bag or pump and into one of your veins. This is called a ‘continuous intravenous infusion’.
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Dobutrex is an ‘inotrope’. An inotrope helps your heart pump blood more strongly every time it beats. Dobutrex is made by Lilly France SA, Zone Industrielle, Fegersheim, France. The product licence is held by Lilly Industries Limited, Dextra Court, Chapel Hill, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 2SY.
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Why Dobutrex?
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Dobutrex is used to make your heart pump more strongly after some types of heart failure, open heart surgery or heart disease. It can also help your heart if you are on a 'PEEP ventilator'. It you are having a routine stress test, you may be given Dobutrex instead of exercise because Dobutrex makes the heart work harder.
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Before your medicine is used
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If you were too ill to discuss your treatment with your doctor, he or she will have decided whether it was safe to use Dobutrex.
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Your doctor may ask you some questions if you are able to help.
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If you answer YES to any of the following questions, tell your doctor or nurse. If you are not sure about anything, please tell them.
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Have you ever had an allergic reaction to Dobutrex or 'sulphites'? (An allergic reaction may include rash, itching, swelling or difficulty in breathing.)
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Are you pregnant or could you be?
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Are you taking any other medicines such as beta blockers?
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These are some of the things your doctor will have thought about:
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Dobutrex is not normally used in children.
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The dose must be enough to help your heart without making it beat too fast, increase your blood pressure too much or change the normal rhythm in your heartbeat (arrhythmia) Your doctor may change the dose to suit you as he or she measures these things Your doctor will be especially careful if your heart has 'flutter' or 'fibrillation' or if you have an 'acute myocardial infarction'
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Inotropes such as Dobutrex may not help if your heart is blocked and cannot till or empty. Some patients' hearts have become hard and do not respond well to inotropes.
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Dobutrex should not be used instead of exercise stress testing if you have 'unstable angina', a diseased heart valve, a blocked aorta or any other condition which would make exercise dangerous for you.
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If your blood pressure drops the doctor may change your dose. He or she will be careful it you already have very low blood pressure.
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The amount of fluid such as blood or plasma in your body must not be low when you are given Dobutrex. Your doctor may give you more blood or plasma before using Dobutrex <PB n=4> <CB n=2> Please read the back of this leaflet <CB n=1> <FIGURE></FIGURE> 
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What you should know about Dobutrex - continued  
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Taking your medicine
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Your doctor will change the dose to suit your needs. Most people need from 2.5 to 10 micrograms of Dobutrex a minute for each kilogram of body weight. Some people may need larger or smaller doses than this.
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Up to 20 micrograms of Dobutrex a minute for each kilogram of body weight is used for stress testing. The doctor will use an ECG machine to study your heart rhythms.
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Dobutrex must only go into a vein
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If you need Dobutrex for more than 3 days, your doctor may decide to step up the dose. When taking you off Dobutrex, he or she may lower the dose slowly.
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While your medicine is used
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Dobutrex may have some side-effects.
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If it hurts where the needle went into your vein or along that vein, tell the nurse.
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Tell the nurse right away if you get any of the following side-effects:
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Nausea, headache, chest pain, palpitations or irregular heartbeat, difficulty in breathing or any allergic reactions.
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Your doctor may check the potassium level in your blood because Dobutrex can affect it.
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If you have any of the above or any other ill-effects, tell your doctor. He or she has more information about Dobutrex and will decide what to do.
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How your medicine is stored
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The hospital pharmacy should keep the 250mg bottles of Dobutrex below 25ºC. They should not use a bottle after the ‘Use before’ date.
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When Dobutrex has been diluted the hospital should use it within 24 hours. The diluted Dobutrex can be kept at room temperature during this time. It may go slightly pink after it is diluted. This is normal. 
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REMEMBER: This medicine is for you. Only a doctor can prescribe it for you. Never give it to others. It may harm them, even if their symptoms are the same as yours.
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'Axid' is a registered trademark of Eli Lilly and Company Ltd.
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Date of Preparation: October 1993.
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&copy; Eli Lilly and Company Limited, 1993.
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