Customer Reviews

The A-Z Guide to Drug-Herb-Vitamin Interactions: How to Improve Your Health and Avoid Problems When Using Common Medications and Natural Supplements Together

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The editors and authors of this HealthNotes publication have presented the most up-to-date information in an easy to read format without compromising scientific judgement. In the information world of alternative medicine, it is all to easy for conventional medical texts to react out of fear by recommending "extreme caution" for just about any prescription or possible nutrient/herbal interaction. "The A-Z Guide..." does a tremendous job of integrating insights of physicians form several different disciplines (the book is written by an MD, ND, and DC, et. al.), which provides the reader with a diverse and thorough scientific review of known and suspected interactions. I have personally found this book extremely helpful in the waiting room and on my desk as a quick refernce.

The authors of this book have made a significant contribution to the resources available for today's health consumer. By providing this current, well-organized and useful "guide" they are helping those of us trying to protect or improve our own health, and those of us facilitating others in doing that, tremendously! Their research is thorough and and unbiased - I highly recommend it.

There's a lot of good information in this book but I would not recommend it as a reference.

First of all, it isn't totable: it's format makes it a clunker. It's 8 1/2 by 11" and its page format is such that the book could have been printed with half the paper. The added appendices are pretty useless considering the main A to Z section entries pretty much tell you exactly the same thing.

Second of all, the formatting is inconsistent; adding question to your inquiry. Did they make this entry as complete as they did that one?

I very much prefer Meletis/Jacobs' and Brinker's books to this one. For intuitiveness and extensive cross-referencing, Meletis/Jacobs' wins hands down.

The book is large but set out in a series of straightforward sections: the first one on drugs themselves (under generic names - useful if you're British !) with each entry having a general paragraph on the drug (or group of drugs) but then goes onto talk of how it/they interact with herbs and vitamins whether helpful and unhelpful interactions.

There is then a large section on the vitamin, mineral or herbal supplements simply showing which drugs they interact with. The final two sections appear to be for medical professionals only as one is listing the drugs by pharmacist classification and one is a 'book/article source listing' giving the medical sources about each of the drugs.

I'd never realised it wasn't a good idea to take a codeine pain killer compound with tea before - the tannins inhibit the uptake of the drug ! Very interesting.

I am taking a medication that isn't BRAND new to the market but isn't by any means OLD either. It has been released within the last 4 years. I was hoping it would be in this book as I am also taking herbal supplements, but it wasn't. There were other drugs that were supposed to be for the same conditions, but since they are different chemicals the interactions were potentially different, so I didn't find this helpful.

That said, there are plenty of maintstream medications like antibiotics, etc. included in this book so it might be helpful to some folks. I just think that drugs, like computers, change so quickly that books like this can't cover everything. I am on the fence with my recommendation on this one.

I purchased this book as I have fibromyalgia and wanted to try some alternative therapies, and ensure their safety with my prescription medications. I feel that it is an excellent guide for that, and actually is quite useful as a simplified prescription medication guide. It is easy to use, easy to understand, and does a great job of listing and describing medication/herbal/vitamin/supplement interactions. I purchased one for my parents, and my sister purchased one as well. Very useful book if you take any medications and any other type of supplement.

Includes just about every medication available, with the exception of those released after its publication.

The "A-Z" Guide is an essential reference book for anyone who take supplements (vitamins, minerals, or herbs) and also takes medication of any kind--whether over-the-counter or prescription.

This is a comprehensive and very easy-to-use reference guide. You can look up either the medicine or the supplement and found out whether there are any known interactions--positive or negative.

Sometimes the Guide recommends supplements to take along with the medication because the drug either depletes a nutrient (e.g. Lipitor and Coenzyme Q10) or reduces a drug's side effects (e.g. Zoloft and Ginkgo). At other times you shouldn't take the drug and the supplement together because.

Thousands and thousands of well-referenced interactions are included in this valuable book.

NOTE: Some of the earlier reviews of this book refer to the first edition. They cite some legitimate concerns--which appear to have been remedied in the 2nd Edition.

There are many interactions between medicines, medicines & herbs, and herbs. Even doctors are not aware of them all. A responsible person should be aware. All families should have this book, or one like it, if there are any medicines, supplements, herbs, or vitamins being taken in the home. Examples: St. John's Wort-the sun should be avoided. Valerian should not be taken with pharmaceuticals for the depression, sleep, or nervous conditions.

Book is 2006, yet doesn't list some of the RX's I take. Hard to use, also. Some RX's are only listed generically, so you need a computer to check the brand name first.

Very comprehensive book which helps you to have a thorough picture on medication matters. I suggest it to anybody who wants to have an updated medical library.