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29 Medications That May Cause Adverse Interactions with Thyroid Drugs
September 2008
Thyroid medications are among the most widely-prescribed drugs in the U.S. In this article, we review 29 different medications that can have harmful interactions with thyroid medicines such as levothyroxine (Synthroid). There are four major kinds of interaction problems that can occur: • Certain medications can decrease the absorption of levothyroxine resulting in lower levels in the blood. • Other medications can increase the rate at which the body gets rid of levothyroxine, also resulting in lower thyroid levels in the blood. • Other medications can cause changes of levothyroxine binding in blood, decreasing the body's ability to use levothyroxine. • Levothyroxine can affect the safety or effectiveness of other medications by raising or lowering the levels of these other drugs in the blood, causing them to be either infective (lower levels) or dangerous (higher levels).

Dangers of Mixing Alcohol with Certain Medications or Diseases
August 2008
The article discusses 273 drugs that can have harmful interactions with alcohol. Also reviewed are several ways in which these harmful interactions can occur: 1/ Medications Can Increase Alcohol Blood Levels 2/ Additive effects of medications and alcohol. One of the best- known drug-alcohol interactions is when alcohol, a depressant, is taken with other sedative medications, and excessive sedation or depression of respiration can occur 3/Alcohol can increase the blood levels of some medications leading to toxicity of these drugs. 4/ Alcohol also can reduce blood levels of some medications causing them to be less effective. Although some of the interactions between alcohol and medications mainly occur in people who drink heavily (three or more drinks on one occasion), many of these interactions may occur with much lower amounts of alcohol use, such as one to two drinks on an occasion. We strongly urge you to tell your physicians and other health care providers how much alcohol you are drinking so they can effectively assess the risks and advise you about the safe use of alcohol and medications.