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Does Grapefruit Interact With Any Drug?

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Posted on Wed, 16 Mar 2016
Question: What drugs will interact badly with eating grapefruit? My wife has ulcerative colitis which has been in remission for over a year. Recently she has been having diarrahrea for several days. I do not know if grapefruit is to blame but we have been having it for breakfast recently and I Have heard grapefruit can interact with some medications.
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Answered by Dr. Ivo Ditah (7 hours later)
Brief Answer:
Grape fruit doesn't interact with Lialda(mesalamine) or azathioprine!

Detailed Answer:
Hi and thank you so much for this query.

I am so sorry to hear about this diarrhea that your wife is having. Grapefruit doesn't cause any interaction with these medications. Diarrhea is unlikely to be as a result of drug interactions. Ulcerative colitis has periods of remission and relapse and I want to believe this is an acute flare up. I will rather recommend that she drinks much water at this time to compensate for any losses and monitor her stools to see if there is blood in it. If grapefruit is a recent addition to her diet of which that was not the case, I will recommend that you pause with for a while to see if there should be any change in the frequency of this diarrhea. It is unlikely to have an effect but it never hurts trying to see if there could be something going on that we are not aware of.

In all, unlikely to be related to grapefruits. Probably an acute flare up crisis. I will suggest increased fluids intake and monitoring of stools to see if there is blood. If this diarrhea persist beyond a week, has blood or become very severe(more than 8times/day), I will suggest that we get her evaluated by her gastroenterologist. In severe diarrhea cases, Imodium should be used.

I hope this helps. I wish you well. Feel free to ask for more information and clarifications if need be. Above all, thanks for using our services.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Answered by
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Dr. Ivo Ditah

Internal Medicine Specialist

Practicing since :2002

Answered : 3984 Questions

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Does Grapefruit Interact With Any Drug?

Brief Answer: Grape fruit doesn't interact with Lialda(mesalamine) or azathioprine! Detailed Answer: Hi and thank you so much for this query. I am so sorry to hear about this diarrhea that your wife is having. Grapefruit doesn't cause any interaction with these medications. Diarrhea is unlikely to be as a result of drug interactions. Ulcerative colitis has periods of remission and relapse and I want to believe this is an acute flare up. I will rather recommend that she drinks much water at this time to compensate for any losses and monitor her stools to see if there is blood in it. If grapefruit is a recent addition to her diet of which that was not the case, I will recommend that you pause with for a while to see if there should be any change in the frequency of this diarrhea. It is unlikely to have an effect but it never hurts trying to see if there could be something going on that we are not aware of. In all, unlikely to be related to grapefruits. Probably an acute flare up crisis. I will suggest increased fluids intake and monitoring of stools to see if there is blood. If this diarrhea persist beyond a week, has blood or become very severe(more than 8times/day), I will suggest that we get her evaluated by her gastroenterologist. In severe diarrhea cases, Imodium should be used. I hope this helps. I wish you well. Feel free to ask for more information and clarifications if need be. Above all, thanks for using our services.