Take care with over-the-counter drugs
Buyers beware.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned how over-the-counter medicine — all medicines that can be used safely without medical supervision — could affect people’s driving.
Christina Madison, associate professor of pharmacy practice at Roseman University of Health Sciences, says there are many considerations to take when choosing medicines with potential side effects.
“When we talk about side effects, there are two big issues,” Madison says.
The first one is the potential to cause drowsiness or dizziness, which might affect a person’s ability to drive.
“An example of this is antihistamines,” Madison says. “Another example are a lot of cough and cold medications. A lot of these products have sleep aids in them and their entire purpose is to make you fall asleep.”
Other examples of medications that could induce side effects include antidiarrheals and anti-emetics, according to the FDA.
Madison says just because a person doesn’t feel the side effects immediately doesn’t mean they aren’t going to take place.
“It depends on how long it takes the drug to work in the body,” she says. “Does it have a quick onset or a delayed?”
Madison says throughout the years, the FDA has changed the requirements so medicine containers have to post potential side effects more prominently
She recommends if people are concerned, they can ask their pharmacist about how the medication can affect them.
The FDA adds that some drugs might even affect the patient into the next day, especially if that person didn’t get enough sleep.
But a second aspect Madison says many people might not think about is if they are taking an over-the-counter drug along with a prescription medication.
She says the combination of two drugs could also have side effects or even increase the potency of side effects.
“You could take your prescription and might make those side effects more effective,” she says. “You could become overly drowsy and dizzy or have a drop in your blood pressure that makes you impaired.”
Also, mixing alcohol with those medications, which is often listed as a warning, could cause interactions that increase the side effects.
Just because people take multiple medications one time and don’t feel side effects doesn’t mean they might not be affected later.
“Multiple things could be going on in this instance,” Madison says. “It could depend on the time period between the medications.”
She adds if a person takes the medications at two separate times and is fine — for instance the medications are taken several hours apart — that could change if they take the products just one hour apart.
“It could also depend on the dosage you took,” she says. “If you took a teaspoon the first time and then doubled it the next time, you’ll have a different interaction.”
Contact reporter Michael Lyle at mlyle@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5201. Follow @mjlyle on Twitter.
