Typical Side Effects

• A sulfadiazine fact sheet prepared for Medline Plus list the most-typical side effects from taking the medication as diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite and dizziness.
  
  

Side Effects Requiring Medical Attention

• The authors of the Medline Plus factsheet on sulfadiazine advise patients to contact their doctor if they develop a fever, headache, sore throat, difficulty breathing, joint pains, jaundice, bloody urine, tinnitus, bruising or excessive tiredness or weakness. Many of these more serious side effects can indicate that person is having an allergic reaction to sulfadiazine.
  
  

Warnings

• Patients with impaired kidney or liver function should receive sulfadiazine only when their doctor determines that the medication is absolutely necessary. Patients with damaged or diseased kidneys should receive only low doses of sulfadiazine.
  
  

Overdose

• Patients who take too much sulfadiazine can experience anemia and a condition called agranulocytosis. Patients with agranulocytosis suffer damage to their marrow, and their bodies become unable to produce enough disease-fighting white blood cells called neutrophils.
  
  

Drug Interactions

• Many medications can affect or be affected by sulfadiazine. Some medications that may require dosage adjustments or increased therapeutic monitoring if patients take them at the same time as sulfadiazine include cyclosporine (e.g., Gengraf from Abbott), carbamazepine (e.g., Tegretol from Novartis), phenytoin (e.g., Dilantin from Pfizer), rifampin (e.g., Rifadin from sanofi aventis), fluoxetine (e.g., Prozac from Lilly), glimepiride (e.g., Amaryl from sanofi aventis), pioglitazone (e.g., Actos from Takeda), rosiglitazone (e.g., Avandia from GlaxoSmithKline), sertraline (e.g., Zoloft from Pfizer), warfarin, aspirin, naproxen (e.g., Aleve from Bayer) and hydrochlorothiazide.
  
  

Contraindications

• People who have had allergic reactions to other medications known as sulfa drugs cannot take sulfadiazine. Sulfa drugs include sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (e.g., Bactrim from Mutual) and sulfasalazine. Additional contraindications to sulfadiazine use include being younger than 2 months of age, being in the last weeks of pregnancy and using sunscreens that contain the ingredient PABA (i.e., para-aminobenzoic acid).