What Are Drug Interactions?
There are two main types of interactions possible when taking medicines:
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Drug-drug interactions occur when two or more medicines react with each other to cause unwanted effects, cancel each other's effectiveness, or increase one of the medicine's effects. |
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Drug-food interactions result from drugs reacting with foods or beverages. For example, mixing alcohol with some medicines may cause you to feel tired and slow your reactions. Another example concerns grapfruit juice. Grapfruit juice, while healthful, should nto be taked with certain blook pressure-lowing medications becuase it can affect how your body metabolizes certain drugs and can increase the blood levels of those medications. |
Seven Steps to Avoid Drug Interactions with OTCs
According to NCPIE's Ray Bullman, there are some practical and easy steps you can take to avoid having problems with the OTC medications you take.
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Always read and follow the Drug Facts Label. The label tells you what th emedicine is for, how and when (and when not) to take the medication, the product's active and inactive ingredients, possible interactions or side effects and warnings. |
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Pay special attention to the active ingredients if you are taking more than one OTC or prescription drug to avoid taking too much of a particular ingredient, which can be dangerous. Many drugs - OTC and prescription alike - contain the same active ingredient. Never take more than one drug with the same active ingredient unless your doctor specifically tells you to. |
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Choose OTC products that treat only the symptoms you have. If you have a cough, buying cough medicine or drops is what you need, not a muli-symptom, extra powerful cold medicine. Keep it simple and only look to treat your exact symptoms. |
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Talk to your doctor if taking an OTC medicine becomes more than a temporary practice or your symptoms do not go away, since most OTC medicines are only intended for short-term use. |
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Keep a list of all the medicines and nutritional supplements you take and share it with your doctors and loved ones. A personal medication record of all you medicines and over-the-counter drugs is helpful and should be brought along to all doctor appointments. Also share your personal medication record with your pharmacist. Use the wallet size UT Med Minder Card (SP632) to help you keep a record of all the medications you take. |
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Make your doctor aware of your full medical history as well as your eating habits. Tell your doctor about your food, medicine, or other allergies; what conditions you have/had and how they are/were treated; and how much coffee, tea or alcohol you drink each day and whether you smoke. All these things can make a difference in the way your medicine works for you. |
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Brink any questions you have to your doctor, pharmacist or other healthcare professional. |