Drug Interactions
Drug interactions are the Achilles heel of modern medicine. Even with computers, pharmacists, physicians and nurse practitioners may overlook a combination of drugs that is incompatible and could cause serious problems.
Show 1343: Hidden Harms of Herb and Drug Interac…
Millions of Americans take dietary supplements, and most of us assume that they are safe. While that is probably a reasonable rule of thumb, there are some situations that require more vigilance. In p…
Should You Be Taking Vitamin Supplements?
Vitamins were among the most exciting discoveries of the early 20th century. Since then, however, doctors have been expressing a lot of skepticism about the value of taking vitamin supplements. Last y…
Preventing Deadly Drug Interactions Harder Than …
Over a million people are harmed every year by adverse reactions to prescription drugs. Interactions between incompatible medications cause many of these. Others are caused by just too damn many medic…
Are Old Antidepressants (MAO Inhibitors) Still H…
It is estimated that depression affects as many as 1 out of 10 Americans. Teenagers and young adults are even more vulnerable, with as many as 17% impacted. There are ongoing questions about the effec…
If You Take Paxlovid, Will You Get Over COVID Mo…
It appears that most people have put COVID out of mind. That’s because 99% of people shopping, traveling and attending events are no longer wearing masks. We get it. DONE with COVID seems to be the …
How Can You Stop PM Sleeping Pills?
People with insomnia are caught between two hard rocks. On the one hand, they are told that lack of sleep can lead to all sorts of health problems including high blood pressure, forgetfulness, diabete…
Surprising Gabapentin Side Effects
The Food and Drug Administration first approved Neurontin (gabapentin) in 1993 to treat epilepsy. Anticonvulsants are not normally blockbuster drugs. Perhaps that is why the original manufacturer, Par…
Is it Risky to Take Atorvastatin with Grapefruit…
Physicians and pharmacists are super busy these days. Some pharmacists have confided to us that they feel like they are in an I love Lucy skit like this one where Lucy and Ethel wrap chocolates. Patie…
What Pharmacists Don’t Tell You
This critical perspective is from retired pharmacist, Dennis Miller. There’s a huge amount of important information about drugs that pharmacists rarely discuss with customers. Chances are you feel y…
Beware Coffee and Cipro and Other Drug Interacti…
Most of us have learned how much coffee we can handle before getting into trouble with jitters, insomnia or heart palpitations. But some drugs may interact with caffeine to give us more of a java jolt…
Will the Kraken XBB.1.5 COVID Subvariant Get You…
So many variants: Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Delta (B.1.617.2) and Omicron (with lots of subvariants including BA.5, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1). Now we are faced with the Kraken XBB.1.5. It is spreading l…
Thyroid Medicine You Can Take with Breakfast
Many people don't realize that coffee and several other foods may partially block absorption of the thyroid medicine Synthroid (Benvenga et al, Thyroid, March 2008). Over-the-counter medicines such as…
Beware of Serotonin Syndrome from Cough Remedy I…
Chances are good that you’ve heard of serotonin. Scientists have linked this neurotransmitter in the brain to mood. Fluoxetine (Prozac) and its antidepressant chemical cousins (citalopram or Celexa,…
Drinking Coffee with Synthroid Means the Morning…
How do you take your Synthroid, the levothyroxine medication used to treat an underactive thyroid gland? Usually, people are urged to take it first thing in the morning. Ideally, it is taken at least …
Tylenol & Alcohol: Acetaminophen Side Effec…
We keep getting questions from readers who want to know about taking Tylenol & alcohol together. You might think that this question would be easily resolved. The various Tylenol labels are a bit c…
Do Walnuts Really Interfere with Synthroid Effec…
Doctors prescribe the thyroid hormone levothyroxine (Levoxyl, Synthroid, Tirosint, Unithroid) for people whose own thyroid glands do not make enough of this hormone. However, too often they don't prov…
Is the Oral Pill Paxlovid an Answer to COVID-19?
The FDA granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the oral antiviral drugs Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir + ritonavir) and Legevrio (molnupiravir) to treat COVID-19 in December, 2021. Nonetheless, finding…
Amiodarone Side Effects Can Be Life Threatening
Amiodarone (pronounced A-mee-OH-da-rone; brand nanes Cordarone, Pacerone) is a challenging drug. It is considered by many as a last-ditch treatment for life-threatening irregular heart rhythms when no…
Beware of Biotin Interfering With Thyroid Tests
It's alarming to get a laboratory test result that shows a serious problem. Learning later that the test might have given a false reading is also frustrating. One reader discovered that you should bew…
How Much Magnesium Is Enough?
We do not understand why magnesium does not get the respect it deserves. Physicians have been recommending extra calcium in supplements for decades, but magnesium is often overlooked. We think health …
Multiple BP Meds leads to Lisinopril and Losarta…
When it comes to hypertension (HTN), many physicians strive to meet guidelines set up by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA). According to these organizat…
Beware Mixing Xarelto or Eliquis and OTC Pain Re…
Anticoagulant medications are frequently prescribed to people with atrial fibrillation (AFib). This arrhythmia can cause blood clots that might lead to a stroke. AFib used to be treated primarily with…
Flagyl | Metronidazole and Alcohol = Disaster!
People are often warned to avoid alcohol if they take certain medications. For example, anyone taking sedatives such as alprazolam (Xanax), clonazepam (Klonopin), diazepam (Valium) or lorazepam (Ativa…
Does Alcohol Get into Your Body After Using Hand…
COVID-19 changed how people wash their hands. For months it was hard to find alcohol-based (ethanol) hand sanitizers. That's because there was a run on such products. Then there were reports that quit…
Bad Mix? Diphenhydramine – Benadryl and SSRI A…
There are two kinds of drugs that are taken by tens of millions of people. One is an antihistamine called diphenhydramine (Benadryl). It is highly sedating, which is why many people don’t like to ta…
18 Pharmacists Discuss Their Most Memorable Medi…
This is another excerpt from pharmacist Dennis Miller’s new book The Shocking Truth About Pharmacy: A Pharmacist Reveals All The Disturbing Secrets. The Kindle e-book is available for download on Am…
Can Prilosec Interfere With Vitamin B12 Injectio…
Have you ever heard of pernicious anemia? This rare condition is an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks parietal cells in the stomach. These cells secrete a substance, mysteriously …
Could Heartburn Medicine Clash With Thyroid Pill…
If you have an underactive thyroid gland, you know how important it is to take your thyroid pills on a regular basis. You may have even heard that you should not take your levothyroxine (Euthyrox, Lev…
Will Potatoes Slow Your Recovery from Surgery?
Have you ever gone into the hospital for a planned surgery? If so, you've probably been offered some materials that explain the procedure and tell you what to expect, when to arrive and how long you s…
Could Pomegranate Juice React Badly with Crestor…
Do you know which foods might react badly with your medications? You might not, especially if your pharmacist didn't give you specific information. When you look online, you can find conflicting infor…
Show 1185: What Are the Risks of Too Many Meds?
Every day, an average of 750 senior Americans are hospitalized as a result of medication reactions and interactions. Part of the problem is that as we grow older and accumulate more health conditions,…
Clonazepam Withdrawal | Safe Sedative or Poison?
Klonopin (clonazepam) was first marketed by the Hoffman La Roche pharmaceutical company in 1975. Roche had already cleaned up with this benzodiazepine class of medications. Librium (chlordiazepoxide) …
Herbal Medicines and Prescription Drug Interacti…
Each day more and more people are taking herbs and botanical products to help them with a variety of disorders. The effectiveness of these supplements can vary by condition and individual, but one fac…
Does Green Tea Interact with Heart Drugs?
When you sit down to enjoy a beverage, do you think about whether it might affect the medications you take? Years ago, research on grapefruit juice showed that what you drink can indeed affect your pi…
Will Boniva Interact with Her Pain Reliever?
You may think of bones as hard and unchanging, but that is a misconception. Living bones are constantly undergoing remodeling. Some cells break down bone tissue while other cells build it up. If the b…
Reversing the Admonition to Avoid Vitamin K with…
I was taught decades ago that if patients were taking the anticoagulant warfarin (Coumadin), they would need to avoid green leafy vegetables! That’s because greens are great sources of vitamin K. By…
Warfarin and Green Leafy Vegetables Can Be OK
For decades, patients taking the anticoagulant warfarin, known by the brand name Coumadin, have been admonished to be very careful about consuming foods rich in vitamin K. That’s because too much vi…
Medical Marijuana Users May Require More Anesthe…
Millions of people are now using cannabis regularly. Some smoke marijuana. Others eat marijuana gummies, brownies, chocolate bars, truffles and chocolate chip cookies. Then there is medical marijuana.…
What Is the Story on Grapefruit Juice and Meds?
What do you know about the story on grapefruit juice and drug interactions? Some people have heard that it is risky to combine juice but not fruit with certain medications; others insist that the inte…
Polypharmacy and Premature Deaths Especially in …
Have you been to a doctor’s office or a clinic lately? Chances are very good that a med tech weighed you, measured your blood pressure and took your temperature. This information was entered into a …