drug interaction

[Guest guest]

My dad has so many health problems and takes sooo many different medications, but just keeps getting worse. I know I could help him, but I worry because I don't have enough knowledge about perscription drugs. How do I know if the drugs will react to the herbs in any way? I don't want to cause him any more harm. I hope you can point me in the right direction. Thanks.

Kathy.

[Guest guest]

Hopefully one doctor is standing watch and coordinating all the medications.

It's gotten to a point where doctors have to use computers to check for

possible interactions among prescription drugs. As for interactions between

drugs and herbs, you have to be more specific. Some herbal reactions are

known, but there are also many that are not known yet but are possible. So

knowing what medications are being used is vital.

 

In general, the more gentle " spice " herbs such as peppermint, clove, and

foenugreek, tend to interact less. However, mints are known to interfere

with many homeopathic medicines, which of course are not medications that

most people know about.

 

Herbs like comfrey, milk thistle, lobelia, and feverfew are more active in

the body, which increases the chance of interactions with medications. Any

herb that works on the liver has a greater danger in this regard, because

most medications are processed in the liver at some point in their operating

cycles.

 

At 09:37 AM 4/4/02 -0600, you wrote:

>My dad has so many health problems and takes sooo many different

medications, but just keeps getting worse. I know I could help him, but I

worry because I don't have enough knowledge about perscription drugs. How do

I know if the drugs will react to the herbs in any way? I don't want to

cause him any more harm. I hope you can point me in the right direction. Thanks.

>Kathy.