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.
Beware of Serotonin Syndrome from Cough Remedy I…
Chances are good that you’ve heard of serotonin. It is a neurotransmitter in the brain that has been linked to mood. Fluoxetine (Prozac) and its antidepressant chemical cousins (citalopram or Celexa…
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 is considering Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the oral drug molnupiravir to treat COVID-19. You can read the latest information on this antiviral medication at this link. Pfizer submitt…
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 vitamin supplements. New research …
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…
Surprising Gabapentin Side Effects
Gabapentin (Neurontin) was initially introduced as an anticonvulsant, which is not normally a blockbuster drug category. However, doctors prescribe gabapentin far more often than you might imagine. At…
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…
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…
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…
Cranberry Compounds Help Prevent Antibiotic Resi…
As bacteria develop resistance to an increasing number of antibiotics, doctors have been searching for a way to counter antibiotic resistance and increase the power of antimicrobial agents. This is a …
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 …
Taking Lisinopril | Avoid POTASSIUM but ZINC Cou…
Lisinopril is about the most popular drug in the pharmacy. This ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitor is swallowed by over 20 million hypertensive Americans every day. Over 110,000,000 bo…
Improving Patient Safety by Reducing Alert Fatig…
Drug interactions are a serious hazard in hospitals and in the community. If patients receive prescriptions for incompatible medications, they can experience severe side effects that may even be life …
What Is the Other Drug Epidemic?
Much has been written about the epidemic of opioid drug misuse, overdose and death. With more than 130 people dying every day in this country as a result of opioid overdose, we all have a right to be …
Do Antibiotics Interact with Oral Contraceptives…
Here's a riddle for you: When does 1+1= 0 and 3 simultaneously? The answer: When a woman takes antibiotics together with birth control pills. That's because the antibiotics can reduce the effectivenes…
Will Pain Reliever Interact with Anticoagulant?
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the most popular pills in the drugstore. People can buy them without a prescription and use them to treat nearly any type of pain. Although the …
Taking Synthroid in the Middle of the Night
An underactive thyroid gland is a surprisingly common condition, affecting up to 5 percent of adult Americans. More people experience subclinical hypothyroidism than overt hypothyroidism. Nonetheless,…
Why the Holidays Hold Hidden Medication Risks!
This is a dangerous time of the year for tens of millions of people. That’s because nondrinkers frequently find themselves in situations where they are expected to have a drink. It might be at a nei…
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…
Should You Worry About Pomegranate Juice Interac…
Have you ever wondered whether something you are eating or drinking could affect your medication? It's not a crazy idea. For more than 20 years, we have known that grapefruit juice can increase blood …
Show 1136: Do You Really Need That Pill?
Americans take a lot of medications. We appear to have adopted the advertising-based attitude that there is a pill for every ill. But while some medicines may be helpful or even essential in some circ…
Will Your Child Suffer a Dangerous Drug Interact…
Years ago, children were unlikely to take medication for more than a short period of time such as during an ear infection. That has changed dramatically in recent years, according to a study published…
Vraylar (Cariprazine) Side Effects, Interactions…
Have you seen a Vraylar commercial? A woman is having a manic episode. She has Post-it Notes everywhere and as the camera pulls back we see that she is working in an office that is supported by a giga…
Why We Can’t Just Slap a Label on It
“Don’t you just have to slap a label on it?” Pharmacists around the country hear the same thing, all day, every day. I know this because I am in several pharmacist groups on Facebook, each with …
Antibiotic Plus BP Medicine Led to Deadly Drug I…
We have been writing about the dangers of drug interactions for over 40 years. We assumed that when computers entered the scene doctors would check for dangerous drug combinations before prescribing a…