These comments are made for the purpose of discussion and should NOT be used as recommendations for or against therapies or other treatments. An individual patient is always advised to consult their own physician.
Drug Interactions
Question:My aunt takes on a daily basis, synthroid, prmarin, provera, 2 prozac, 2 elavil and voltaren twice a week. She is constipated, tired, can’t sleep, has chest pains once in a while, and has an upset stomach. Could these medications be causing any of these symptions?
Answer: All of these drugs have the potential to cause their own speficic side effects. Prozac in general causes trouble sleeping and constipation, elavil drowsiness and constipation, premarin has several problems-especially with blood pressure and phlebitis, provera commonly causes constipation, and voltaren usually affects the stomach. Synthroid rarely causes problems in the correct dosage. This is a situation where she needs to contact her physicians and try stopping one drug at a time and see what the effect on her overall condition is. Do not try to do this without some outside interaction-figuring out multiple drug interactions is very difficult.
Side Effects
Question:If an individual takes the following drugs in a 24 hour period are there likely to be any interactions or dangerous side effects? Would it be safe to drive a motor vehicle if all these drugs were taken within a 24 hour period?
The medications are as follows:
(1)Micronase 5mg twice a day
(2)Mevacor 20 mg per day
(3)Premarin .625 mg per day
(4)Provera 5 mg per day
(5)Talwin 50 mg twice a day
(6)Toprol 50 mg per day
(7)Ketaprophen 75 mg twice a day
(8)Paxil 20 mg per day.
Answer: I wouldn’t expect any specific interactions;but, like most complicated medicine regimens you just can’t make accurate predictions without adding one drug at a time and observing for any effects. In general, Talwin should not be used with extended use of machinery. The other drugs could be a problem, especially Paxil.
