Tuberculosis Medicine - Ethambutol

What is Ethambutol?

Ethambutol is an antibiotic medicine used to treat tuberculosis (TB) disease. Ethambutol is used in combination with other TB medicines to treat TB. This medication kills or stops the growth of the bacteria that causes TB.

Things to remember when taking this medicine:

• Take your medicine at the same time every day or as instructed by your doctor.
• Ethambutol may irritate your stomach; take it with food.
• Do not stop taking your medicine unless your health care professional tells you to do so.
• If you miss a dose, take it as soon as possible, but never take two doses at one time.
• If you are taking other prescription or over-the-counter medicines, please discuss these with your health care professional to help avoid any serious drug interactions.
• Tell your health care professional if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breast feeding. If you become pregnant while taking Ethambutol, call your doctor/nurse.
• Do not drink alcohol while taking this medicine. You could damage your liver.
  If this is not possible, limit your intake to one to two drinks per week.
• Store Ethambutol in a cool, dry place, out of reach of children.

Side effects to watch for:

Some common side effects include:

• upset stomach,
• loss of appetite, or
• skin rash.

Ethambutol may cause changes in how well you see with one or both eyes. If you have blurred vision or changes in how you see colours, stop taking the medicine and call your health care professional.

If you take Ethambutol for longer than two months, you will need to have your eyes checked.

Remember:

You must keep your appointment at TB clinic, KFL&A Public Health or your doctor's office, to be monitored regularly while on this medicine.

Call KFL&A Public Health at least two weeks before you need more medicine.
Arrangements will be made for a refill of your prescription. All TB medications are free of charge.

If you have questions or concerns, please call KFL&A Public Health at 613-549-1232 or 1-800-267-7875,

ext. 1287.

Revised: 2011-07-27