Stelazine

Stelazine treats anxiety and schizophrenia. Tell your doctor right away if you have any unusual muscle movements.

Stelazine Overview

Updated: 

Stelazine is a prescription medication used to treat schizophrenia or anxiety. Stelazine belongs to a group of drugs called typical antipsychotics, which work by altering the level of certain natural substances in the brain to restore mental balance.

This medication comes in tablet form and is typically taken 2 times a day, with or without food.

Common side effects of Stelazine include drowsiness, dizziness, skin reactions, rash, and dry mouth. Do not drive or operate heavy machinery until you know how Stelazine affects you.

How was your experience with Stelazine?

First, a little about yourself

Tell us about yourself in a few words?

What tips would you provide a friend before taking Stelazine?

What are you taking Stelazine for?

Choose one
  • Other
  • Psychotic Disorders
  • Schizophrenia

How long have you been taking it?

Choose one
  • Less than a week
  • A couple weeks
  • A month or so
  • A few months
  • A year or so
  • Two years or more

How well did Stelazine work for you?

Did you experience many side effects while taking this drug?

How likely would you be to recommend Stelazine to a friend?

Uses of Stelazine

Back to Top

Stelazine is a prescription medication used to treat schizophrenia or anxiety.

This medication may be prescribed for other uses. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

Generic

Back to Top

Trifluoperazine

For more information on this medication choose from the list of selections below.

Stelazine Drug Class

Back to Top

Stelazine is part of the drug class:

Side Effects of Stelazine

Back to Top

Serious side effects have been reported with Stelazine. See the “Drug Precautions” section.
Common side effects of Stelazine include the following:

  • drowsiness
  • dizziness
  • skin reactions
  • rash
  • dry mouth
  • insomnia
  • an absence of periods for women
  • fatigue
  • muscle weakness
  • loss of weight due to a loss of appetite
  • blurry vision
  • tremors or shakes

This is not a complete list of Stelazine side effects. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

Tell your doctor if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away.

Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.

Stelazine FDA Warning

Back to Top

Increased Mortality in Elderly Patients with Dementia-Related Psychosis

Elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis treated with antipsychotic drugs are at an increased risk of death. Analyses of seventeen placebo-controlled trials (modal duration of 10 weeks), largely in patients taking atypical antipsychotic drugs, revealed a risk of death in drug-treated patients of between 1.6 to 1.7 times the risk of death in placebo-treated patients. Over the course of a typical 10-week controlled trial, the rate of death in drug-treated patients was about 4.5%, compared to a rate of about 2.6% in the placebo group. Although the causes of death were varied, most of the deaths appeared to be either cardiovascular (e.g., heart failure, sudden death) or infectious (e.g., pneumonia) in nature. Observational studies suggest that, similar to atypical antipsychotic drugs, treatment with conventional antipsychotic drugs may increase mortality. The extent to which the findings of increased mortality in observational studies may be attributed to the antipsychotic drug as opposed to some characteristic(s) of the patients is not clear. Stelazine is not approved for the treatment of patients with dementia-related psychosis