Natural Remedies and Medications Never Mix

Natural remedies are not as sweet as you might think and contain deadly ingredients. So, be aware of mixing with certain drugs. Medicinal plants that are found in natural remedies contain potent compounds, pharmacologically active. For this reason, always ask the doctor about herbal medicines you are taking, especially if s/he prescribes medication or if you are already taking prescription or nonprescription. Natural remedies and drugs never mix.

Never mix astragalus or echinacea with some drugs

These plants stimulate the immune system. So, they may counteract the effects of prescribed drugs to alleviate the immune response, as well as treatments against allergies and autoimmune disorders.

• Do not mix garlic with lipid-lowering drugs (such as Lipitor, Zocor, and Lopid) or hypoglycemics, including insulin, aspirin, blood thinners or blood pressure medications. This can enhance the action of these drugs. For example, a small study found that the clotting time in patients taking warfarin and garlic was twice as fast. The mixture of garlic and these drugs can also increase the risk of unusual bleeding after surgery. Stop garlic supplements several weeks before invasive surgery.

• Do not mix the natural remedy balm with thyroid agents or sedatives. This may alter or intensify their effects.
• Do not use natural remedy licorice with any of these medications: blood pressure medications, hormone therapy, corticosteroids, and medicines for the heart. This dangerous mixture of licorice and drugs can decrease the effectiveness of some of these drugs and intensify the effects of some others.

• Avoid the combination of St. John’s wort with antibiotics, decongestants, oral contraceptives, antidepressants, protease inhibitors, anticoagulants, or heart medications. This combination of a natural remedy and drugs can decrease their effectiveness and that of other drugs by 50%. This can also increase blood pressure seriously if we take with MAO inhibitors (a type of antidepressant) or induce drowsiness, excitement, sweating, and other symptoms if taken with antidepressants like Paxil, Prozac, or Zoloft.

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The list of drugs that should not be taken simultaneously with grapefruit is becoming longer, warns a Canadian study. The combination of more than 85 drugs with grapefruit can cause serious medical problems, or even death says a study by Canadian scientists. Many are products prescribed in the life of every day, including cancer, medications against schizophrenia. Are all administered orally.

According to the Canadian pharmacologist, the number of drugs combined with grapefruit and may lead to serious complications climbed from 17 to 43 just by four years. Of a total of 85 drugs that interact with this citrus fruit, 42 do not produce serious side effects. “Unless the health care professionals are aware that the problems they see may be related to the recent consumption of grapefruit by the patient, it is very unlikely they are investigating,” he says. For the most part, he laments, patients do not report that this fruit is part of their diet, and physicians do not think to question them about it.