What is Drug Interaction Checker?
Healthline's Drug Interaction Checker permits you to determine if any two drugs or any drug and food, alcohol or tobacco may cause an undesirable reaction. Not every combination of drugs is included in the checker — but Healthline and Multum have made every effort to include not only all of the most common drugs and their interactions but also all known interactions that are serious and life threatening.
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What is a drug interaction?
A drug interaction is the chemical and/or physical effect of a medication, herb or supplement that is not desired while taking another medication, herb or supplement at the same time. In addition, a drug interaction may result in abnormal results when certain lab procedures are performed and can also occur when some medications are taken by people who have certain medical conditions.
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What is a side effect?
A side effect is a mental or physical experience that is not desired or intended when taking a single medication, herb or supplement. Every drug, herb and nutritional supplement has the potential to cause side effects.
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How do you describe the interactions between three or more drugs?
Studies and observations that yield what we know about drug interactions are almost exclusively restricted to two drugs at any one time. So when you enter three or more drugs we check for interactions between all possible combinations of any two drugs. So if you enter three drugs - you will see the interactions between drugs one and two, drugs one and three and drugs two and three. And of course we will display any reactions between drug one and food, alcohol and tobacco and so on for drugs two and three.
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What should I do if I find a drug interaction?
In general you should contact your doctor to determine a course of action. The description of any interaction, in general, will guide you as to the severity of the interaction, and that can be a guide as to the urgency of the need to seek further advice.
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How current is your drug interaction information?
Our data is updated monthly. Urgent FDA notifications are posted on our site as soon as they are received via the FDA news feed on our Drug Home page.
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What if I experience a drug interaction which is not listed on your site?
You should contact your doctor about any adverse reactions that you are experiencing.
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If there are no interactions listed can I safely assume that none exist?
We do not know of every possible interaction between drugs that there is or that there could be so it is possible that even though no interactions are listed the potential still does exist.
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How can I tell whether what I am experiencing is the result of a drug interaction or a side effect?
Any experience that is not welcome when taking a medication, herb, or supplement is an adverse reaction whether it is a side effect of a single medication or the interaction between another. If an adverse reaction occurs you should contact your doctor to determine a course of action.
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Why are food, alcohol and tobacco sometimes listed in the search results?
We automatically search for and provide interaction information between the drug(s) you selected and food, alcohol and tobacco.
