Verpamil
Verapamil is a medicine that helps relax blood vessels, improve blood flow to your heart, lower blood pressure, and reduce your heart's workload.
How to Use
Dosage
For 80 mg tablets, take one tablet three to four times a day. For 200 mg prolonged-release tablets, take one tablet once or twice a day, as prescribed by your doctor.
Method
Swallow tablets whole with a glass of water. Do not chew or crush 200 mg prolonged-release tablets.
The maximum daily dose is usually 400 mg, as directed by your doctor.
Possible Side Effects
- •Headache, dizziness, tiredness, sleepiness
- •Constipation, indigestion, nausea
- •Itching, rash, hives
- •Slow heartbeat, low blood pressure, heart failure, swollen ankles
- •Confusion, depression, sleep problems
- •Numbness or tingling, vision problems, ringing in the ears
- •Heart rhythm problems (AV block II-III), palpitations, fast heartbeat
- •Flushing, pain in legs when walking (intermittent claudication)
- •Dry mouth, diarrhea, stomach pain, vomiting
- •Increased liver enzyme levels
- •Muscle pain, muscle cramps, joint pain, chest pain
- •Increased urination, impotence, irregular vaginal bleeding between periods
- •Increased levels of prolactin (a hormone regulating milk secretion) and associated milk secretion
- •Breast enlargement in men (gynecomastia)
- •Cardiac arrest, fainting
- •Spasms in the bronchi or larynx
- •Bowel obstruction (ileus)
- •Gum overgrowth
- •Easy bruising, small red spots on the skin (vasculitis), sensitivity to light, various skin rashes (erythema multiforme, Stevens-Johnson syndrome), flaky skin inflammation
- •Sudden swelling of the skin, mucous membranes, mouth or throat (angioedema)
- •Hypersensitivity
- •Tremor, nerve-related symptoms (extrapyramidal symptoms)
- •Heart rhythm disorders (e.g., sinus arrest)
- •Hair loss
Important Warnings
- Do not take if you have digitalis poisoning.
- Do not take if you have severe heart failure.
- Do not take if you have untreated or symptomatic heart failure, such as swelling or shortness of breath.
- Do not take if you have very low blood pressure (systolic blood pressure below 90 mmHg).
- Do not take if you have second or third-degree heart block and no functioning pacemaker.
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- Do not take if you have sick sinus syndrome and no functioning pacemaker.
- Do not take if you have atrial flutter or fibrillation linked to an extra electrical pathway in the heart (e.g., Wolff-Parkinson-White or Lown-Ganong-Levine syndromes).
- Do not take if you have a very slow heartbeat.
- Do not take if you are taking medication containing ivabradine for a heart condition.
- Do not take if you are allergic to verapamil hydrochloride or any other ingredient in this medicine.
Use in Elderly Patients
Avoid use in older adults. Use only in special cases. Reduce the dose in moderately severe renal impairment. May exacerbate heart failure. Significant adverse effects include bradycardia, constipation, heart failure and swelling. Consider the numerous potential interactions. Avoid grapefruit. (updated 17.2.2025)