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PlainMeds

What the label lists and what reports show

Meperidine side effects

Meperidine's FDA label: “Most common adverse reactions were lightheadedness, dizziness, sedation, nausea, vomiting, and sweating.” FAERS holds 9,161 reports naming it through July 30, 2026; the reaction reported most often, leaving out the conditions it is used for, product-use terms and outcomes, is drug hypersensitivity (3,275 reports).

  • Generic listed
  • Boxed warning
  • DEA Schedule II

Check it at the source: the meperidine FDA label on DailyMed (effective November 29, 2025, EPIC PHARMA, LLC); the FDA FAERS public dashboard.

What does the label list?

From the label: adverse reactions

Most common adverse reactions were lightheadedness, dizziness, sedation, nausea, vomiting, and sweating.

From the label: adverse reactions, continued

The following serious adverse reactions are described, or described in greater detail, in other sections: • Addiction, Abuse, and Misuse [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2) ] • Life-Threatening Respiratory Depression [see Warnings and Precautions (5.3) ] • Interactions with Benzodiazepines or Other CNS Depressants [see Warnings and Precautions (5.4) ] • Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome [see Warnings and Precautions (5.5) ] • Opioid-Induced Hyperalgesia and Allodynia [see Warnings and Precautions (5.9) ] • Serotonin Syndrome [see Warnings and Precautions (5.10) ] • Adrenal Insufficiency [see Warnings and Precautions (5.12) ] • Severe Hypotension [see Warnings and Precautions (5.13) ] • Gastrointestinal Adverse Reactions [see Warnings and Precautions (5.15) ] • Seizures [see Warnings and Precautions (5.16) ] • Withdrawal [see Warnings and Precautions (5.17) ] The following adverse reactions associated with the use of meperidine were identified in clinical studies or postmarketing reports. Because some of these reactions were reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure. …

Source: FDA drug label, EPIC PHARMA, LLC, effective November 29, 2025 (SPL set fae5cc34-5917-4445-9516-25f97ffca8db), via openFDA; the full label on DailyMed

What do FAERS reports show?

9,161 reports list meperidine among the medicines taken, each a report of something that happened, not proof the medicine caused it; 746 are coded as a death and 1,775 as a hospital stay. Counts follow how widely a medicine is used and watched, and they are not a measure of how risky it is. Of the 19 reactions below, 6 are named by the same term (in US spelling) in the label's adverse reactions, warnings or patient leaflet; a reaction the label does not name may still be there under another word, and a report does not show that the medicine caused it.

Reports received each year

The 25 most reported reactions

  • Drug Hypersensitivity3,275
  • Drug Ineffective (a use or a product term, not a reaction)1,352
  • Pain (a use or a product term, not a reaction)1,279
  • Nausea (named in the label)1,229
  • Off Label Use (a use or a product term, not a reaction)963
  • Hyperhidrosis928
  • Drug Intolerance814
  • Rash (named in the label)798
  • Vomiting (named in the label)752
  • Overdose (a use or a product term, not a reaction)746
  • Hypertension723
  • Headache (named in the label)684
  • Pyrexia657
  • Fatigue (named in the label)627
  • Joint Swelling599
  • Infusion Related Reaction588
  • Hypersensitivity (named in the label)587
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis586
  • Upper Respiratory Tract Infection583
  • Thrombocytopenia511
  • Drug Dependence510
  • Psoriasis510
  • Treatment Failure (a use or a product term, not a reaction)509
  • Infection462
  • Exposure During Pregnancy (a use or a product term, not a reaction)457

Source: FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) via openFDA, reports through July 30, 2026; reactions as MedDRA preferred terms

What next?

Meperidine: the full record
label, generics, price, shortages, recalls
Side effects hub
the most reported medicines and reactions