Dramamine (Dimenhydrinate) as an Adjunct to PAS (Para-aminosalicylic Acid) in the Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis

¹ Senior Resident Physician, Southeast Florida Tuberculosis Hospital, Lantana, Florida, U. S. A.

1) Acid PAS with sodium bicarbonate is tolerated much better than is sodium PAS and when toxic symptoms appear they are much more severe with the sodium PAS.

2) A significant group of patients taking PAS in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis find it intolerable (16 per cent of this group).

3) Statistics on tolerance are difficult to evaluate since patients are known to discontinue the medication by themselves because of gastrointestinal symptoms without reporting it.

4) Dramamine is of value in relieving the intolerable toxic symptoms experienced by some of the patients taking PAS with NaHCo₃ and is therefore recommended for this purpose (14 of 17 or 83 per cent were helped in this study).

5) Dramamine is of little help in relieving the symptoms caused by sodium PAS in some patients (only three or 13.5 per cent of those experiencing symptoms were aided in this study).

6) Drowsiness is a common side reaction and is the only one experienced in the clinical use of dramamine.