There are more opportunities today than ever before to learn about your health and to take better care of yourself. It is also more important than ever to know about the medicines you take. If you take several different medicines, see more than one doctor, or have certain health conditions, you and your doctors need to be aware of all the medicines you take. Doing so will help you to avoid potential problems such as drug interactions. Drug interactions may make your drug less effective, cause unexpected side effects, or increase the action of a particular drug. Some drug interactions can even be harmful to you. Reading the label every time you use a nonprescription or prescription drug and taking the time to learn about drug interactions may be critical to your health. You can reduce the risk of potentially harmful drug interactions and side effects with a little bit of knowledge and common sense. Drug interactions fall into three broad categories:
Drug-drug interactions occur when two or more drugs react with each other. This drug-drug interaction may cause you to experience an unexpected side effect. For example, mixing a drug you take to help you sleep (a sedative) and a drug you take for allergies (an antihistamine) can slow your reactions and make driving a car or operating machinery dangerous.
Drug-food/beverage interactions result from drugs reacting with foods or beverages. For example, mixing alcohol with some drugs may cause you to feel tired or slow your reactions.
Drug-condition interactions may occur when an existing medical condition makes certain drugs potentially harmful. For example, if you have high blood pressure you could experience an unwanted reaction if you take a nasal decongestant.
Drug Interactions and Over-the-Counter Medicines
Over-the-counter (OTC) drug labels contain information about ingredients, uses, warnings and directions that is important to read and understand. The label also includes important information about possible drug interactions. Further, drug labels may change as new information becomes known. That's why it's especially important to read the label every time you use a drug.
The "Active Ingredients" and "Purpose" sections list:
the name and amount of each active ingredient
the purpose of each active ingredient
The "Uses" section of the label:
tells you what the drug is used for
helps you find the best drug for your specific symptoms
The "Warnings" section of the label provides important drug interaction and precaution information such as
when to talk to a doctor or pharmacist before use
the medical conditions that may make the drug less effective or not safe
under what circumstances the drug should not be used
when to stop taking the drug
The "Directions" section of the label tells you:
the length of time and the amount of the product that you may safely use
any special instructions on how to use the product
The "Other Information" section of the label tells you:
required information about certain ingredients, such as sodium content, for people with dietary restrictions or allergies
The "Inactive Ingredients" section of the label tells you:
the name of each inactive ingredient (such as colorings, binders, etc.)
The "Questions?" or "Questions or Comments?" section of the label (if included):
provides telephone numbers of a source to answer questions about the product
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