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Drug Class
Imidazole
Common Uses
- Overactive Thyroid (Hyperthyroidism)
Common Brand Names
Camazol, Carkozom, Carbizole
Overview
Carbimazole is a medicine used to treat an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism). This is when your thyroid gland makes too many thyroid hormones.
Your thyroid controls things like your heart rate and body temperature. When it makes too many hormones, you can have symptoms such as weight loss, mood swings and feeling irritable.
Carbimazole helps to ease these symptoms by reducing the amount of hormones your thyroid produces.
This medicine is only available on prescription in some countries.
Sometimes your doctor will prescribe carbimazole together with a beta blocker. This can help with your symptoms if you have a fast heartbeat, or feel jittery or anxious.
Important Facts
- You’ll have blood tests before and during treatment with carbimazole.
- When you first start taking this medicine, it can take up to 3 weeks to see an improvement in your symptoms.
- Side effects usually only happen in the first 8 weeks and tend not to last long.
- One rare side effect can be a sudden drop in your white blood cell count. This makes it harder to fight infections.
- If you are pregnant, your dose of carbimazole needs to be monitored carefully.
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