You might not think that your daily multi-vitamin could interact with your much stronger prescription medication. Before you get worried, though, you should also know that usually multi-vitamins don’t interfere with other drugs. However, you should always tell your doctor about any other medicines that you take, including everything from multi-vitamins to over-the-counter painkillers. Other drugs that can have toxic interactions with prescription medicine include herbal preparations and complementary medicine. Millions of people take herbal remedies with varying degrees of success, but even herbal remedies can produce deadly results when mixed with prescription drugs or any other drugs.
Common side effects of mixing drugs can include lightheadedness, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, tiredness and mood changes. Sometimes, side effects require hospitalization and can even lead to death. So why do people continue to take multiple drugs at the same time? Sometimes people find themselves addicted to any number of drugs, and they neglect the warnings and think that they will remain safe. However, many more people just don’t know that the drugs they take can interact dangerously.
Mixing prescription drugs with herbal medicines makes up one of the most neglected types of unknowing drug abuse. Here are a few very common types of drug interactions that you should watch out for.
The popular herbal drug Echinacea, when taken with other drugs, can affect your liver enzymes, reducing the efficacy of prescription drugs and increasing negative side effects. Even if you don’t take Echinacea by itself, check the ingredients in other dietary supplements such as your multi-vitamins and cough drops because these can contain the drug, as well.
Another common drug interference occurs when people taking medicine for depression such as any of the selective serotonin reputable inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, concurrently take the popular herbal drug St. John’s Wort. Many people use St. John’s Wort to alleviate mild depression, as well, but when mixed with a prescription medicine, it can have side effects which make you weak and tired.
Also, drinking alcohol when you’re taking antihistamines or antidepressants can cause extreme drowsiness. When on these prescriptions drugs, try to avoid alcohol, but know that your tolerance levels will also change.
So what can you do to reduce your risk of mixing different drugs and incurring these side effects? First of all, take your medicine exactly as your doctor prescribed it. Read the Consumer Medicine Information leaflet that comes with your medicine to learn more about the usage, dosage, side effects and precautions. However, always follow the directions that your doctor gives you if they differ from the leaflet. Always tell your doctor about the drugs you’re taking when she’s deciding on your prescription. Usually, a few different drugs can treat similar ailments. This also means that, if you do experience side effects after you have started taking the prescription drug, you can go back to your doctor and she can most likely give you a different prescription. Also, remember that the side effects of medicine change as you get older, so you may ask to have annual reviews of your medicine to make sure it continues to serve its purpose in a safe way.
By Lisa Zyga