Naturally it must be safe - but you should check all the same

Thursday 28th January 2010 2:11pm

advice It is increasingly common for people to be treated with both prescription and complimentary medicines, often for the same condition.

Take for example arthritic pain. At some stage most people who use glucosamine or fish oil would also need to resort to paracetamol or an anti-inflammatory for those ‘bad days’ to help manage the pain.

It’s common for people to ask their healthcare practitioner about mixing prescribed medications but it often doesn’t occur to them that interactions can occur between seemingly safe complimentary medicines and other drugs. Just because they are safe doesn’t mean that they are nor with any risk at all.

The most commonly prescribed blood pressure lowering drugs in Australia usually come with a warning against taking potassium supplements at the same time. This can lead to dangerous potassium levels and arrhythmias. Potassium supplementation is not all that common in Australia but did you know that many glucosamine preparations sold here are a glucosamine-potassium-sulphate complex making them potentially unsuitable for the vast majority of Australians on blood pressure tablets.

The risk might be small but it is not zero. Using a glucosamine hydrochloride product will avoid that risk altogether.

Likewise St John’s wort is commonly used in many over the counter preparations in products used for sleeplessness, pre-menstrual tension, anti-stress products and others. These products should be avoided by most people that are taking prescription anti-depressants in the SSRI class. Again serious incompatibilities are rare but they can be very severe in some people.

These are just a couple of common examples but there are many more and there is only one safe way to make sure that your supplements do not interact with your prescribed medications and that is to ask your pharmacist or doctor to check it out for you.

Please don’t rely on the fact that you haven’t “felt any different”, on your neighbour’s advice or even on the internet. You need specific information about you and your medications not generalisations.

So if you are taking any medications prescribed by a medical practitioner discuss with them any complimentary medicines you might be taking as well so they can assess the risk of any adverse interactions.

Check up and be safe.

Chances are you can carry on with your supplements of choice…. But you never know.

This information is not intended as a substitute for qualified medical advice. Please consult a properly qualified health care practitioner.