Thanks for the link. It mentions Sertraline (Zoloft) which I take. I don’t have grapefruit often, but it’s nice to be aware of this.
If you eat grapefruit regularly and are not on high doses of medications you may be at a steady state and as long as you are monitored regularly you will be OK. However, since grapefruit usually increases the activity of medication, the higher dose you are on the more careful you need to be. At the last medical convention I went to the Florida Grapefruit Board had a booth to convince the doctors that grapefruit juice wasn’t the root of all evil. I felt sorry for them given how many patients take medications that interact.
My doctor told me that I could eat a grapefruit every once in a while if I just skip my simvastatin the night before.
Grapefruit or grapefruit juice can boost the effects of benzodiazepines. When I took Xanax or Klonopin, I’d always wash it down with grapefruit juice for an added kick. Seemed to work.
Interesting. I was under the impression that the interaction would be to keep the statin from working…but there wasn’t any danger or anything. Was the suggestion to skip it to stop you from wasting the pill? Or was your doctor concerned about a dangerous interaction?
ETA: I was also taught that the statin is taken at night, because most of the cholesterol your body creates is done while you sleep at night. The statin interferes with that process. So not taking it the night before, and then eating grapefruit the next day, doesn’t seem to click with my limited knowledge.
-D/a