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How should you take this medication?
This medicine will relieve a headache best if you take it as soon as the headache begins. If you get warning signs of a migraine, take this medicine as soon as you are sure that the migraine is coming
. This may even stop the headache pain from occurring. Lying down in a quiet, dark room for a while after taking the medicine also helps to relieve headaches.
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Possible food and drug interactions when taking this medication
When you are taking a butalbital and acetaminophen combination, it is especially important that your health care professional know if you are taking any of the following:
- Anticoagulants (b
lood thinners), or
- Carbamazepine (e.g., Tegretol) or
- Contraceptives, oral (birth control pills) containing estrogen, or
- Corticosteroids (cortisone-like medicines) or
- Cortic
otropin (e.g., ACTH)ˇXButalbital may make these medicines less effective
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What special precautions should I follow?
Check with your doctor:
If the medicine stops working as well as it did when you first started using it. This may mean that you are in danger of becoming dependent on the medicine. Do not tr
y to get better pain relief by increasing the dose.
If you are having headaches more often than you did before you started taking this medicine. This is especially important if a new headach
e occurs within 1 day after you took your last dose of this medicine, headaches begin to occur every day, or a headache continues for several days in a row. This may mean that you are dependent on the
medicine. Continuing to take this medicine will cause even more headaches later on. Your doctor can give you advice on how to relieve the headaches.
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Other medical problems
ChildrenˇX
- For butalbital: Although barbiturates such as butalbital often cause drowsiness, some children become excited after taking them.
- For acetaminophen: Acetaminophen has been
tested in children and, in effective doses, has not been shown to cause different side effects or problems than it does in adults.
- For caffeine: There is no specific information comparing use o
f caffeine in children up to 12 years of age with use in other age groups. However, caffeine is not expected to cause different side effects or problems in children than it does in adults.
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Overdosage
Anxiety, confusion, excitement, irritability, nervousness, restlessness, or trouble in sleeping (severe, especially with products containing caffeine) ; convulsions (seizures) (for products containin
g caffeine); diarrhea, especially if occurring together with increased sweating, loss of appetite, and stomach cramps or pain; dizziness, lightheadedness, drowsiness, or weakness, (severe) ; freque
nt urination (for products containing caffeine) ; hallucinations (seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not there); increased sensitivity to touch or pain (for products containing caffeine);
muscle trembling or twitching (for products containing caffeine); nausea or vomiting, sometimes with blood;
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What Is It
Fioricet, a strong, non-narcotic pain reliever and relaxant, is prescribed for the relief of tension headache symptoms caused by muscle contractions in the head, neck, and shoulder area. It combines a
sedative barbiturate (butalbital), a non-aspirin pain reliever (acetaminophen), and caffeine.
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