
Drug Interactions: Know the Ingredients, Consult Your Physician
Medical Author: Dennis Lee, M.D.
Medical Editor: Jay M. Marks, M.D.
John is a gentleman with a delightful sense of humor, a successful businessman, a loving husband, and a proud father of two beautiful children. I first met him more than 10 years ago in a local hospital. (Both of us were under 40 years of age.) I was asked by his internist to help manage John's serious liver disease. The way in which he developed his liver disease demonstrates how ordinarily-safe, over-the-counter (OTC) medications can be deadly when used improperly and the potentially serious nature of adverse interactions among drugs and of drugs with food.
While actual dates of the events have become fuzzy, I remember the essence of what happened. John had more than a few drinks at a New Year's Eve party at a local restaurant. The following morning, he developed nausea, vomiting, headacheand flu-like symptoms. He took several over-the-counter cold/flu medications every few hours for relief from his symptoms; as the symptoms persisted he took more medications.