Anti-inflammatory, analgesics, anticoagulants, etc. Some drug associations can be dangerous, even fatal. Here are the most risky combinations and the advice of specialists to avoid them.
A simple headache, a passenger cold, a background treatment … and the danger can arise without preventing. The interactions between drugs are sometimes more formidable than we imagine. Indeed, certain drugs often come back: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen®, Voltarene® or Diclofénac® are commonly used against pain. And yet, some of them can literally multiply the effects of other molecules, until they put their life in danger.
This is what Professor Alain Astier, pharmacy chief at Henri-Mondor hospital recalls to the Allodocteur site: “These drugs pose problems of interactions, especially with lots of products fixed on albumin in blood.” The most worrying case? Their interaction with anticoagulants, which can cause major hemorrhages.
“For people under anticoagulants, the question is whether to give anti-inflammatory drugs or not …”he specifies. These interactions are particularly critical for narrow therapeutic margin drugs, where a slight variation of dose can cause toxicity or ineffectiveness. “These drug interaction problems are particularly serious with so -called narrow therapeutic margin drugs.”
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Shelves filled with medication boxes.
Combinations of common drugs to avoid according to your state of health
Some associations are not recommended at any age, others become particularly risky in those over 75. “In the elderly, there is a contraindication even in anti-inflammatory drugs”, Recalls Dr. Judith Cohen Bittan, geriatrician, and the magazine Women’s Journal.
- Ibuprofen + aspirin (NSAIDs): Hémorrhages and digestive ulcers
- Fervex® + paracetamol 1 g: liver overdose
- Pseudoephedrine (Activeed®, Dolirhume®, etc.) + Nasal vasoconstrictor: hypertension, heart problems
- Millepertuis + contraceptive pill: loss of contraceptive efficiency
- Atarax® + Motilium®: heart rate disorders
- Aspirin + Anticoagulants (Prévisiscan®, Eliquis®, etc.): hemorrhage
- Daktarin® + Diamicron®: severe hypoglycemia
- Subutex® + morphine: brutal withdrawal syndrome
- Colchimax® + Zithromax®: potentially deadly overdose
- Doxycycline + isotretinoin: intracranial hypertension
In an elderly under anticoagulant, the use of anti-inflammatory drugs must be dismissed. “For a 75-year-old or more person who has osteoarthritis and who is under anticoagulant, we no longer use anti-inflammatory drugs, we refer to other analgesics, even sometimes morphine …”
