If the benefits of herbal medicine are recognized, care must be taken not to mix these products with certain drugs. Interactions are possible, and can be dangerous.
Herbal medicine has been recognized since 1986 as a medicine in its own right by the Ministry of Health. It helps to heal by plants and its effectiveness has been recognized by several studies. However, we must be aware of the possible interactions between a “classic” treatment, that is to say based on chemical components, and herbal medicine.
Review published in the British Pharmacological Society Journal attests to the existence of several interactions that can be dangerous for patients.
Consequences that can be dangerous
The researchers gathered data from several reports or studies carried out on the subject. Most of the people involved in these interactions were between the ages of 50 and 70. For some, herbal medicine treatment interacted with drugs prescribed for a transplant, such as a kidney.
The side effects associated with these drug mixtures have led to life-threatening situations, hospitalizations and death in some cases.
Danger with anti-cholesterol and blood thinners
The researchers found side effects especially in patients who took warfarin, an anti-coagulant drug, alkylating agents in cancer, cyclosporine for a kidney transplant or statins, drugs that lower cholesterol.
When these are combined with herbal remedies such as flax seeds, sage, cranberry, St. John’s wort, goji berry, green tea or chamomile, the effectiveness of the treatments is not guaranteed, and especially the patient can suffer from important side effects.
For example, a patient being treated for cardiovascular complications, was taking amlodipine and simvastatin therapy, complained of pain and cramps in his leg. These pains were linked to the ingestion of green tea.
Better understand interactions
For researchers, it is necessary to further study the interactions between herbal medicine products and drugs to better understand the mechanisms that lead to these side effects.
It is thus absolutely necessary to always warn your doctor of herbal medicine products that you take when you are undergoing treatment.
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