How to Avoid Drug Interactions

We have more and more drugs available to help us feel better and stay healthy, but with all these drugs can come confusion. If you take several medicines or see more than one health care professional, it's important that you keep track of your medications and make sure that all of your doctors are aware of all of your medicines, both prescription and over the counter. This will help you avoid drug interactions and other potential medication safety problems.

Drug interactions can be harmful or they may make your drug less effective or, in some cases, more potent. Drug interactions can also cause unexpected side effects. Before you take a prescription or nonprescription drug, be sure to carefully read the label and any safety information that comes with it. You can reduce the risk of drug interactions and side effects with some knowledge and common sense. Drug interactions fall into three categories:

• Drug-drug interactions. These occur when two or more drugs react with each other and may cause unexpected side effects. For example, taking a sedative to help you sleep while also taking an antihistamine for allergies can slow your reactions and make driving a car or operating machinery dangerous.
• Drug-food/beverage interactions. Some drugs react with certain food or beverages. Mixing alcohol with drugs is a common interaction and can cause you to feel tired or react slowly.
• Drug-condition interactions. This occurs when an existing medical condition makes a drug potentially harmful. For example, nasal decongestants may cause a reaction if you have high blood pressure.

Discuss all the medications you are taking with your health care professional or pharmacist to determine if any potential problems exist between the medications you are taking. There are some online sites that let you to look up medications and read about potential interactions, but make sure you talk to your health care professional if you have any concerns.

Here are a few common interactions that you may want to discuss with your health care provider:

• Some drugs, including the antibiotic rifampin and some anticonvulsants, as well as certain herbal remedies, can reduce the effectiveness of birth control pills and other hormonal forms of birth control, requiring that you use a second form of birth control. Be sure to ask your health care professional about this possibility so you won't be surprised by an unplanned pregnancy.
• Ask your pharmacist what foods to eat or not eat with each drug; some drugs shouldn't be taken with certain foods. Some foods can make medications more or less powerful or interfere with your body's ability to absorb them. For example, drinking grapefruit juice while taking certain medications may increase blood levels of these drugs, which can be dangerous. Other drugs should be taken with a full glass of water or should not be taken with milk. Some should be taken a certain time amount of time before or after you eat (or drink).
• Some common examples of dangerous drug interactions include anticoagulant medications combined with aspirin; antacids combined with certain drugs for Parkinson's disease; and antacids combined with some heart disease medications.

If you or someone in your care is taking a lot of medication, consider asking your primary health care professional, the specialist who has prescribed the majority of your medications or your pharmacist to conduct a "brown-bag checkup" for you. This is a safety measure to ensure all the medications you are taking won't cause any potential problems and don't need to be adjusted to meet changing health needs. Here's how it works:

• Gather all prescription medications, over-the-counter drugs, herbal or natural products and vitamins or minerals you use, place them in a bag and take them to your health care professional and your pharmacist.
• Your health care professional will review all of them to ensure they are the same as those listed on your medical record; your pharmacist will double-check them against your pharmacy profile.
• They will screen them for potential duplication of therapies, side effects or interactions.