The Importance of Supplement-Drug Interaction Checkers
A supplement-drug interaction checker can be a valuable tool if you take prescription medications along with dietary supplements. With conventional medicines, doctors generally know the everyday drug interactions. However, if you take a supplement to combat any nutrient deficiencies or alleviate troubling symptoms, your healthcare provider could prescribe a medication that causes a supplement-drug interaction. WellKabinet™ supplement-drug interaction checker helps you automatically detect unsafe interactions so you can make informed decisions about your health.
What Causes Supplement-Drug Interactions?
Interactions occur when drugs, supplements, other substances, or even medical conditions change another drug’s performance in your body. Interactions could increase or decrease a drug’s potency or cause undesirable and possibly dangerous side effects, depending on the type of interaction and its severity.
Are Supplement-Drug Interaction Checkers Essential?
Medical experts encourage patients to consult their healthcare provider before beginning a new medical regimen because science is not static and unchanging like math. 2+2 will always equal 4. However, science evolves daily as new research and products become available. Consequently, it can be difficult for healthcare providers to be sufficiently knowledgeable about all fields of medicine and aware of all breakthroughs, as nobody knows everything—especially if they do not specialize in a given area. This can make it hard to identify interactions on the spot. A supplement-drug interaction checker allows you to enter any supplements and Rx drugs you take so that you can ask your healthcare provider to investigate any identified interactions and remedy your care plan as needed. Pharmacists specialize in drugs and drug interactions—but they typically have too many patients, so monitoring over-the-counter products and supplements would be impossible. A supplement-drug interaction checker may not be as essential as water or oxygen, but many patients believe the peace of mind they get from easily checking for drug interactions and supplement interactions adds an extra layer of safety that is an integral tool in their wellness journey.
How Dangerous Are Supplement-Drug Interactions?
The potential risk you could face from a drug or supplement interaction varies on a case-by-case basis. For instance, grapefruit juice can affect how the body metabolizes statins, directly impacting how much of the drug enters the blood. The consequence depends on factors like your medical condition’s severity and how much grapefruit juice you have. Drug interactions and supplement interactions are similarly complex to food and drug interactions.
How Do Supplement-Drug Interaction Checkers Work?
After WellKabinet™ supplement- drug interaction checker identifies a potential supplement-drug interaction, it will display beside the relevant supplement or drug. Each drug interaction or supplement interaction will receive an interaction rating based on the interaction’s severity, how likely the occurrence of an interaction is, and how much evidence there is to indicate an interaction. In addition, there is a summary of the possible outcomes of an interaction.
How to Interpret WellKabinet™ Interaction Ratings
WellKabinet™ uses existing research to detect interactions according to severity, occurrence, and level of evidence. Together, these variables work together to give each potential interaction one of the following ratings:
- No Interaction
- Mild Interaction
- Moderate Interaction
- Severe Interaction
Interpreting these ratings will vary depending on the interaction, so it's generally best to look at why the interaction has its rating. For instance, a moderate rating could be moderately severe, with possible occurrence, and the level of evidence could have a D rating. Although it is possible someone may have a moderately severe interaction, it is also possible they may not have an interaction. If the level of evidence has a D rating, it may be based on theoretical evidence from preliminary findings that may still require further human studies.
How to Avoid Supplement-Drug Interactions
The best way to avoid supplement interactions or drug interactions is through open and honest communication with your doctor or healthcare provider. Your doctor’s primary concern is providing you with the best possible treatment; transparency is the only way they can see the complete picture and help you receive the quality care you deserve.
WellKabinet™ Is More Than a Supplement-Drug Interaction Checker
WellKabinet™ is much more than a supplement-drug interaction checker. The ability to check for supplement-drug interactions is merely one of WellKabinet’s™ valuable features. With Wellkasa’s™ new digital medicine cabinet, you can organize your Rx drugs and supplements, and access 20,000 research papers simplified across 1500 natural medicines and 900+ conditions. You can also journal your progress and efficacy of your complete medicine regimen and share your WellKabinet™ with your healthcare providers. The best part? Your WellKabinet™ subscription also gives you a 15 % discount and free shipping on supplements purchased from Wellkasa™.
