Herb-Drug Risks Cited / Interactions can be dangerous, experts warn. SIDEBAR: An Herb Primer (see end of text) ALL EDITIONS

"On examination of the eye, we saw a fine stream of blood oozing down the margin of the iris," recalls Dr. Marc Rosenblatt, assistant clinical professor at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, who treated the man. "The patient was already taking 325 milligrams of aspirin a day, which wa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNewsday
Main Author By Catherine Heusel. Catherine Heusel is a freelance writer
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Long Island, N.Y Newsday LLC 05.05.1998
EditionCombined editions
Online AccessGet full text

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Summary:"On examination of the eye, we saw a fine stream of blood oozing down the margin of the iris," recalls Dr. Marc Rosenblatt, assistant clinical professor at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, who treated the man. "The patient was already taking 325 milligrams of aspirin a day, which was preventing his blood from clotting. Ginkgo has a similar effect, and the combination of the two apparently led to this bleeding phenomenon, called spontaneous hyphema." It could have been worse. Other, more serious herb-drug interactions have begun to appear in the medical literature, including a case in which the combination of the herb kava plus the tranquilizer alprazolam put a patient into a coma. Stories such as these illustrate what many doctors, pharmacists and herb researchers have been saying for years: Herbal medicines may be natural, but they are still medicines. "The average American takes eight different prescription drugs each year, and the average person over 65 takes 16," notes Dr. Raymond L. Woosley, chairman of the department of pharmacology at Georgetown University Medical Center. "When you add herbal medicines to that mix, it's very easy to run into problems."