Your morning medication… and grapefruit?

Your daily routines can be a good way to help you remember to take your medication. For instance, if you have a medication that you take once a day, you may remember it best if you take it with the same meal every day.

Depending on the medication you’re taking, however, there is one thing you may be doing every day that could cause trouble – and it’s a surprising thing: drinking a glass of grapefruit juice or eating a grapefruit.

When you take a medication, the amount that gets into your system can be affected by certain digestive enzymes. It just happens that grapefruit is digested with the same enzyme that processes many common medications. If you have grapefruit juice, or eat a grapefruit, or eat some grapefruit marmalade, it will affect how much of that enzyme is available for processing your medication – even if you don’t have them at the same meal.

This may sound like you won’t be getting enough of the medication. Actually, in most cases, you may be getting too much, and that could affect your heartbeat, your muscles, your breathing, or several other important processes in your body.

Is this a concern for you? Many medications of different kinds are affected by grapefruit, but many more are not. Ask your Rexall™ pharmacist whether you need to avoid grapefruit or other food items.

If you do need to avoid grapefruit, just make another healthy change to your daily routine. You’ve already added taking your medication as a healthy habit. Just replace your grapefruit juice with a glass of apple or pear juice, or have a cantaloupe wedge in place of a grapefruit… and be healthy every day!