Drug Interactions

Your doctor and your pharmacist can both provide advice about avoiding interactions between drugs and supplements. Make sure to tell them both about everything you're taking, including supplements and over-the-counter medications. Prepared Patient has two feature articles that may be helpful to you, "Vitamins & Supplements: Before You Dive In" (http://www.cfah.org/hbns/preparedpatient/Vol4/Prepared-Patient-Vol4-Issue4.cfm) and "Side Effects: When Silence Isn't Golden" (http://www.cfah.org/hbns/preparedpatient/Vol4/Prepared-Patient-Vol4-Issue2.cfm).

Medications to avoid or speak to your physician about are:
-Estrogen products such as hormone replacement medications (oestrogel) or birth control medications because they decrease the efficacy of anastrozole.
-Tamoxifen may interact with anastrozole and decrease the efficacy of anastrozole.
-Thalidomide may interact with anastrozole.
-The following herbals should be avoided because they may decrease the efficacy of anastrozole - black cohosh, don quai, Motherwort, Vitex, hops, licorice, red clover, and thyme.
-Medicines similar to luteinizing hormone releasing hormone

Some anti-depressant medications interfere with the action of Tamoxifen, therefore inhibiting its effectiveness. This may result in an increased chance of breast cancer recurrence. The following medications for depression are potential options your physician may consider if you are also taking tamoxifen, but make sure to double check the latest research on this issue.
Venlavaxine (Effexor)
Citalopram (Celexa)
Escitalopram (Lexapro)
Sertraline (Zoloft)

This conversation has more details on this issue:
http://talkabouthealth.com/warning-some-depression-medications-inhibit-the-effectiveness-of-tamoxifen-cyp2d6-enzyme-and-depression-medication-caution.