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Two-thirds of us in the United States drink coffee every day and three-quarters of us drink it at least once a week. Coffee and the caffeine it contains can be a problem for a number of medications prescribed by your medical team or bought by you on your own.

Most common are cold and flu drugs. Coffee’s caffeine turbocharges the effects of the decongestant pseudoephedrine, branded as Sudafed, or systemically-absorbed decongestant nasal sprays such as Afrin. That will give you the jitters, headaches, restlessness, insomnia, an elevated heart rate, temperature bump, and a even a higher blood sugar.

The caffeine in coffee, chemically similar to the amphetamines in ADHD - hyperactivity suppressing medications, raises your heart rate and keep you from getting to sleep.

Then too, drinking coffee within an hour of taking the thyroid drug levothyroxine, branded as Synthroid, or the anti-osteoporosis medications biphosphonate drugs Fosamax, Actonel, or Boniva reduces their absorption into your body by half.

Coffee also throws off medications taken for depression and other psychological and psychiatric conditions. It reduces the absorption of SSRIs, selective serotonin reuptake inhbitors such as sertraline, Zoloft, and citalopram, Celexa, On the other hand, coffee increases the effects of tricyclic antidepressants such as amitriptyline, Elavil, and imipramine, Tofranil. Consistent coffee drinking can almost double the blood levels of clozapine, Clozaril, taken for psychotic disorders.

Let’s return now to the most common drugs in your medicine cabinet, the pain killers. For the large number of us who take pain pills, the caffeine in coffee increases absorption of acetaminophen, Tylenol, and aspirin by speeding stomach emptying. Coffee also adds to the irritation effect of these drugs on your stomach linings.

As coffee’s caffeine increases both your heart rate and blood pressure, it interferes with the effects of your blood pressure lowering medications,

I’m not suggesting that you stop drinking your cup of morning joe. I am reminding you to be on the lookout for its adverse effects as you take the prescription and over-the-counter drugs that I have just mentioned.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-coffee-medication.html

#coffee #caffeine #deongestants #asthma #adhd #thyroid #depression #anxiety #pain #osteoporosis

Coffee Can Interfere With Common Medications, Over-the-counter and Prescription

Dr. Howard Smith Reports