Hydroxyzine Oral: Dosing, Duration, and Precautions
Hydroxyzine guidance for moderate anxiety and insomnia, with QT and anticholinergic precautions.
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Source reviewed
February 2024
Guide category
Oral drugs
Safety boundary
Prescription medicine information for clinician-guided use.
Kenza Health Hub presents this medicine page as structured health education. Check dose, route, interactions, pregnancy or breast-feeding considerations, and local protocol with a qualified clinician or pharmacist. Read our medical editorial policy.
Therapeutic action
Sedating H1 antihistamine.
Indications
- Moderate anxiety.
- Insomnia.
Forms and strengths
- 25 mg tablet.
Dose
Reduce the dose by half in older patients.
Moderate anxiety
- Adult: 25 to 50 mg 2 times daily, maximum 100 mg daily.
Insomnia
- Adult: 25 mg once daily at bedtime.
Duration
- Moderate anxiety: as short as possible, maximum 2 weeks.
- Insomnia: 7 to 10 days.
Contra-indications, adverse effects, precautions
- Do not administer to patients with closed-angle glaucoma, prostate disorders, dementia, or history of QT interval prolongation.
- Do not combine with drugs that prolong the QT interval.
- Administer with caution, maximum 50 mg daily, in older patients and patients with hepatic or severe renal impairment.
- May cause drowsiness, headache, dizziness, anticholinergic effects, and rarely seizures, QT prolongation, or allergic reactions.
- Administer with caution and monitor combination with CNS depressants and anticholinergic drugs.
- Avoid alcohol during treatment.
- Pregnancy and breast-feeding: avoid.
Source
MSF Essential drugs practical guidelines (January 2026)
This page combines source-derived medicine reference sections with Kenza editorial context, while leaving out the Storage and Remarks sections from the source batch.
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