herb/Percocet interactions?

July 28, 2009

A young adult male with severe back injuries (following a car accident) is

seeing me for acupuncture treatments. He has been on Percocet 5/350 for over a

year and does not normally go for more than a day without Percocet. Acupuncture

helps a bit but does not hold. I would like to put him on Shen Tong Zhu Yu Tang

but I am worried about herb/drug interactions. Has anyone ever weaned a patient

off Percocet by ramping up a qi-and-blood moving formula and then gradually

reducing the Percocet? Does anyone know anything about herb/Percocet

interactions? My patient won't be able to drop the Percocet until another pain

reliever can step in to manage his pain.

Thanks in Advance,

Wendy Lehnert Ph.D., MAOM, Lic.Ac.

July 29, 2009

It has been my experience that analgesics slow down progress of

treatment, but that there are no/few interactions other than that.

Percodan has asprin in it, so there may be a bit more bruising as with

asprin, but I have found that this does not occur with percocet.

DAVe

On Jul 28, 2009, at 10:23:42 PM, " Wendy Lehnert " <digidam

wrote:

A young adult male with severe back injuries (following a car

accident) is seeing me for acupuncture treatments. He has been on

Percocet 5/350 for over a year and does not normally go for more than

a day without Percocet. Acupuncture helps a bit but does not hold. I

would like to put him on Shen Tong Zhu Yu Tang but I am worried about

herb/drug interactions. Has anyone ever weaned a patient off Percocet

by ramping up a qi-and-blood moving formula and then gradually

reducing the Percocet? Does anyone know anything about herb/Percocet

interactions? My patient won't be able to drop the Percocet until

another pain reliever can step in to manage his pain.

July 29, 2009

Hi Wendy

There are probably no major interactions between herbs and Percocet (oxycodone).

But there are some issues. First, of course, is to make sure the patient isn't

addicted to Percocet. Since the morphine derivatives, as this is, can decrease

intestinal peristalsis, care must be given to increased absorption of the herbs.

I would use a lower dose than normal while the patient is still taking the

Percocet as the patient will probably absorb more. And this is a good rule in

general when combining herbs and drugs: start at a low dose and slowly increase.

This way any interactions should be discovered when the signs and symptoms are

minimal. And, another of course, no changing of pharmaceutical doses should be

done without the MDs direct involvement. There are a few interactions with

Percocet, all of which with minimal evidence and in my opinion not strong enough

to warrant changing therapy. For more info about combining herbs and drugs,

check out my article at:

http://www.bluepoppy.com/blog/blogs/blog1.php/2009/07/08/seven-steps-to-avoid-dr\

ug-herb-interacti.

Dr. Greg Sperber, BMBS, DAOM, MBA, L.Ac. of Clinical Services and Clinical Chair

Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, San Diego

Author of Integrated Paharmacology, Combining Modern Pharmacology with Chinese

Medicine<http://bluepoppy.com/cfwebstorefb/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display & \

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