Drug Combinations You Need to Avoid

Note to seniors (and anyone else) mixing prescriptions with painkillers and/or their favorite dietary supplements: Don't do it until you check with your doctor to make sure they don't interact to cause you harm.

A new study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that 1 in 25 people in their late 50s and older is risking dangerous drug interactions by mixing, for example, the blood thinner warfarin with garlic pills.

That's right, garlic pills are drugs. So, too, are potassium and niacin supplements. At least you should think of them that way, says study coauthor Stacy Tessler Lindau, an assistant professor of medicine-geriatrics at the University of Chicago School of Medicine.

Five dangerous drug combinations you need to avoid