herbs, herbal supplements, vitamins and hiv medication

[thepostergirl]

I have a tendency to like herbs,supplements, and vitamins but I've read with some HIV medications that it's not advisable to take different herbs,supplements,and vitamins with the medication. Does anyone have any insight on this or know anything about this?

[Ann]

Off the top of my head, for poz people Echinacea and St. John's Wort are two to definitely avoid whether or not you're on hiv meds.

You might be interested in checking out various drug interactions on the http://www.hiv-druginteractions.org/

They list some of the more common herbals, as well as the more common recreational drugs. I mention the latter because of a comment you made in another thread.

By the way, I've moved this from the Living forum to the Nutrition forum, which is the more appropriate place for this thread. You might want to have a leisurely look through the Nutrition forum - you may find more answers that way. 

[mecch]

This Canadian site is pretty comprehensive:
http://www.catie.ca/en/practical-guides/practical-guide-herbal-therapies-people-living-hiv

[Bsc86]

Out of curiosity, and still being new to the whole HIV thing, why is echinacea a bad thing? I used to take it all the time whenever the weather changed...helped with a couple of broken bone pains I had, and to cut down colds (before I discovered zicam).

Any other herbs/vitamins I should avoid?

[Ann]

In a nutshell, echinacea stimulates the immune system, which in turn gives hiv more targets - according to my hiv doc.

St John's Wort (a herb used for depression) is also contraindicated for poz people. Not sure why though.

The http://www.hiv-druginteractions.org/ website lists most of the herbals (and also recreational drugs) that should be avoided when poz. You'll find them in the drug interaction charts.

[Miss Philicia]

St John's Wort (a herb used for depression) is also contraindicated for poz people. Not sure why though.

Ingredients in it decrease drug concentrations mostly in PI and NNRTI-based regimens. Not sure what it does with an integrase inhibitor based one since that's kindasorta new.

[Ann]

Ingredients in it decrease drug concentrations mostly in PI and NNRTI-based regimens. Not sure what it does with an integrase inhibitor based one since that's kindasorta new.

True that, but it's more than that.

My hiv doc warned me off SJW long before I was on meds. I just can't remember why one isn't supposed to take it when poz regardless of meds. My brain isn't working properly today and I can't be bothered to google.

[Miss Philicia]

True that, but it's more than that.

My hiv doc warned me off SJW long before I was on meds. I just can't remember why one isn't supposed to take it when poz regardless of meds. My brain isn't working properly today and I can't be bothered to google.

I've not ever heard of that. In fact, many people took it in pre-HAART days when they were only on NRTI-based mono/dual regimens though I don't recall doing so personally. I only recall the warning once the first PI appeared (Saquinavir, late 1995). Interestingly when that med came out IIRC you were supposed to drink it with grapefruit. Everyone thinks that's a no-no but with that medication (before it was reformulated into the superior fortovase) drinking grapefruit juice enhanced the bioavailability. However that particular PI sucked chunks thanks to faulty clinical trial testing and made Miss P resistant to the entire class of first and second generation PI's. Fuckers. NOT.MY.FAULT.

And you know what -- that was the same year if I recall correctly when viral load testing appeared and it took something like close to a year before Blue Cross, which was the better insurance in NYC, would even pay for it. Those really were trying times.