The Internet has changed the way we live, work and shop. The growth of the Internet has made it possible to compare prices and buy products without ever leaving home. But when it comes to buying medicine online, it is important to be very careful. Some websites sell medicine that may not be safe to use and could put your health at risk. First, it's important to carefully consider the source of information and then to discuss the information you find with your health care professional. These questions and answers can help you determine whether the health information you find on the Internet or receive by e-mail from a Web site is likely to be reliable. The medicines that sold online can be fake (counterfeit or 'copycat' medicines); can be too strong or too weak, or have dangerous ingredients, or have expired (are out-of-date), or haven't been approved or checked for safety and effectiveness, can be made using non-safe standards, or not safe to use with other medicine or products you use.
There are more opportunities today than ever before to learn about your health and to take better care of yourself. It is also more important than ever to know about the medicines you take. If you take several different medicines, see more than one doctor, or have certain health conditions, you and your doctors need to be aware of all the medicines you take. Doing so will help you to avoid potential problems such as drug interactions. Mixing two drugs together could make one of the drugs ineffective. The combination also could increase a drug's effect, and be harmful. The result might be mild symptoms such as nausea, stomach upset, or headache, or more serious symptoms such as a dramatic drop in blood pressure, irregular heart beat, or damage to the liver-the primary way that drugs pass through the human body. When a drug is taken orally, it usually travels from the stomach to the liver, where it can be metabolized-the process of breaking down and removing chemicals from the body. Enzymes are complex proteins that act as catalysts in starting or speeding up chemical reactions. They cause a specific chemical change in other substances without being changed themselves. The most important enzymes in the liver that metabolize drugs are called the cytochrome P450 family of enzymes. These enzymes break down drugs when they pass through the liver or small intestine. A drug may affect these enzymes by inhibiting them, which causes reduced activity of the enzyme and a buildup of the drug in the body. Or drugs may "induce" the enzymes, which causes increased activity of the enzyme and a reduction of the drug in the body. Not everything that happens in a test tube will become meaningful in humans, though. Results from these test-tube studies can tell us whether need to do further testing in people to find out if an interaction is clinically significant. In addition to having a good grasp of drugs and their effects, doctors take medication histories, and they consult with other members of their team to guide them in making decisions about drug interactions. They also use concise drug summaries and resources on pharmacological principles. So rather than asking patients what medications they take, doctors should make the questions specific: "Are you taking any over-the-counter medication? Are you taking any herbal treatments or vitamins?" But it is good way -- consumers remind doctors of everything they take when they are prescribed a new medication. So a patient might say: "Now remember, I'm also taking birth control pills. Is there a risk of interaction with this new medicine?" Drug interactions with dietary supplements includes herbs and vitamins, which can interact with drug-metabolizing enzymes. St. John's wort is an herb commonly used by people with cancer to improve mood, but research has shown it interferes with the metabolism of irinotecan, a standard chemotherapy treatment. Vitamin K (in dietary supplements or food) produces blood-clotting substances that may reduce the effectiveness of blood-thinning medicines like warfarin. Examples of food with tyramine are cheese and soy sauce. Grapefruit juice should not be taken with certain blood pressure-lowering drugs or cyclosporine for the prevention of organ transplant rejection. Alcohol should not be taken with pain relievers such as Tylenol (acetaminophen) or ibuprofen because of the increased risk of liver damage or stomach bleeding.
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