Healthy Living

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Sometimes in our quest for optimum health, one may inadvertently do more harm than good to their body by taking vitamin supplements. This is because harmful adverse effects can arise when safe dietary supplements are taken together with safe prescription medications.

A classical example is taking Vitamin A supplements together with the acne drug isotretinoin, which is a vitamin A derivative as this increases the risk of its toxicity. Symptoms of vitamin A toxicity include headache, eye damage, and liver damage.

Patients with leukemia on All-Trans Retinoic Acid (ATRA), which is another vitamin A derivative should also avoid vitamin A supplements for the same reason.

Other drugs that should not be taken concurrently with vitamin A supplements as they increase the risk of its toxicity include bexarotene and etretinate.

Patients taking the antibiotic minocyline, which is also used to treat acne, together with high dose vitamin A supplements are at increased risk for developing benign intracranial hypertension which can cause headaches and visual disorders.

Patients with a history of kidney stones should avoid or use vitamin C supplements cautiously as they can be converted to oxalate increasing their risk of developing kidneys stones.

Patient with clotting disorders, atrial fibrillation or artificial heart valves, who are on warfarin to thin their blood, should avoid high dose vitamin E supplementation as it may increase their risk of bleeding abnormally.

Patients taking insulin or oral diabetic medications and vitamin B3 or niacin supplements may need to have their doses increased as the amount of sugar in their blood and urine may increase.

Patients with kidney disease taking vitamin D supplements are at increased risk of developing high calcium levels in their blood and its abnormal deposition in organs like the kidney.

Patients on the seizure medications phenytoin and phenobarbital should avoid taking high dose folic acid or vitamin B9 supplements as they can provoke seizures.

Patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia on methotrexate should also avoid folic acid supplements as they may reduce the efficacy of their treatment. On the other hand, folic acid is beneficial to patients with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis taking lower doses of methotrexate. For this reason, always consult your doctor before taking any supplement.

When you do consult them, tell them the exact amount of supplements you are taking in scientific units such as milligrams (mg) and international units (IU) rather than in vague unquantifiable terms such as scoops.

Adapted from Vitamins to Avoid by Dr Miriam Kinai

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