Bergamot and medication interactions

[chadizzy1]

Thanks for that list man, that's going to come in handy for sure. Does that happen to be a complete list?

That's a 100% complete list.

[squeezyjohn]

What about the Lundgrens ones - they don't contain bergamot do they?

[SnusBooth]

That's a 100% complete list.

Oh okay. Stinks that Lab13 Formula+ isn't on your list of bergamot free Snus, I was really wanting to try that one someday!

[chadizzy1]

What about the Lundgrens ones - they don't contain bergamot do they?

OP is listed as being from the US, so I just shared snuses from BuySnus. I'm not sure what Northerner ships to the US so I just went with the BuySnus store listings.

[jagmanss]

The amount of bergamot oil used in snus is so small that this won't be an issue.

Common sense. I've seen snus production first hand, I've seen how little flavor additive is needed to flavor snus, and with amounts that small, any reaction between bergamot and medication would be very, very, very rare, virtually a 0.01% chance of anything reacting negatively.

I agree with chad 100%

I have been snusing now for over 4 years now and take meds and have had no negative affects whatsoever......

You should be more worried about the negative health issues associated with cigarettes, Dip and chew......

I'm Calling BS .....

Maybe the OP is just trying to justify keeping on smoking or dipping..... I find it hilarious that anyone on this forum would actually buy into this load of crap.....

I'd recommend ignoring such nonsense.....

[SnusBooth]

I agree with chad 100%

I have been snusing now for over 4 years now and take meds and have had no negative affects whatsoever......

You should be more worried about the negative health issues associated with cigarettes, Dip and chew......

I'm Calling BS .....

Maybe the OP is just trying to justify keeping on smoking or dipping..... I find it hilarious that anyone on this forum would actually buy into this load of crap.....

I'd recommend ignoring such nonsense.....

I really don't think it'd be that much of an issue either, but it is something to be cautions about. I talked to my doctor yesterday and he said that he doesn't see bergamot "contraindicating" anything (of the meds I'm taking) but he said to just be all around careful with herbal things. So yeah, there's one point of view on it. It still is concerning because with psychiatric medications anything "grapefruit-y" can almost triple the amount of medication that is available in the blood. That means if say you're taking 30mg of a pill, it will concentrate it to 90mg which can cause for an overdose and or more side-effects of the medication.

I'm not a doctor and I don't claim to be. I'm just passing along what I was told. However it is always good to be cautious, I know I at least will be with bergamot Snus. Luckily there are tons of available Snuses that don't contain it for people that just want to err on the side of caution.

EDIT: I just want to clarify also - I've been using General White portions (bergamot) for awhile now, and have gone through can after can. I didn't even start worrying about the bergamot (possibly) altering levels of meds in the blood until I read this post so I also agree that I think it's fine to use after doing some research on it last night and tonight. My doctor telling me he DID NOT see any contraindications between my many medicines and bergamot also helped. Like I said though, being cautious is not a bad thing.. it's a good thing!

[resnor]

How does 30mg become 90mg? This is some neat stuff. Lol

[SnusBooth]

How does 30mg become 90mg? This is some neat stuff. Lol

Basically what I mean is that grapefruit increases the concentration of the affected medicine in your blood up to (with certain medications) almost 10 times what the concentration should be. I'm no scientist, I'll surely admit that. My doc said he didn't see any contraindications from Bergamot though so I'm taking his word for it. Sorry if what I said sounded stupid!

EDIT: What the OP said does make technical sense though. Bergamottin is one of the many furanocoumarins found in grapefruit juice. Bergamottin comes from the oil extracted from the Bergamot orange (obviously). So technically the OP was right that it CAN interact with medications. There are also several other furanocoumarins found in grapefruit juice, so I'm not sure if ALL of those need to be present to raise plasma concentration levels or if only one of them can affect the levels. Hmm.

I'm still going to trust what my doctor said but that IS interesting!

[Snotgifff]

I take xanax...I asked my doc about the grapefruit warning on the label. He said " you'd have to eat or drink a shitload of the stuff to have any affect". Never had a problem with grapefruit juice...or snus. I wouldn't worry for a second about bergamot in snus.

[Mroe]

I agree with chad 100%

I have been snusing now for over 4 years now and take meds and have had no negative affects whatsoever......

You should be more worried about the negative health issues associated with cigarettes, Dip and chew......

I'm Calling BS .....

Maybe the OP is just trying to justify keeping on smoking or dipping..... I find it hilarious that anyone on this forum would actually buy into this load of crap.....

I'd recommend ignoring such nonsense.....

I don't smoke anymore and have never dipped. I can bring up more research if you still think it's "BS" but it's been pretty thoroughly documented. I came here for help after reading something that had me concerned and receiving a response from my pharmacist that had me doubly concerned. If bergamot hasn't bothered you, that's great! It had me worried, though. From what I've read here, it's basically a non-issue for people who have their medication levels monitored via a blood test. I don't, and I'm not willing to take the chance of accidentally overdosing on something just to get my nicotine fix if there are other options. I'll be sticking to Chad's list and saving my beloved General White for special occasions, per my pharmacist's advice.

[Mroe]

How does 30mg become 90mg? This is some neat stuff. Lol

It has to do with the way the enzymes in the liver metabolize different compounds. The furanocoumarins in grapefruit and other related citrus fruits can inhibit the production of a certain enzyme needed to metabolize many medications. If one isn't fully metabolizing one's medication, the level of the drug in the blood builds up. My pharmacist said it typically happens over the course of months or even years of consuming the citrus and taking the medication, but even based on that, I'm not willing to take the risk. It's a decision I think each of us has to make for ourselves, and many seem to be okay with the risk associated with grapefruit/bergamot/Seville oranges/whatever-the-hell-else. Good for them, I say! I'll stick with being overly cautious.

[resnor]

I get it. 30mg doesn't become 90mg. You just end up with say, 5mg staying in your system, so your next 30mg is actually kinda like 35. Then 5 stays from that, and you have 40mg floating around when you take the next dose, etc etc.

[QuincyBaker]

http://www.m.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides...ications-risky

This is a pretty simple explanation of grapefruit juice enzyme inhibition.

Grapefruit juice is a very powerful inhibitor of the cytochrome P450 CYP3A4 enzyme, which plays a huge role in metabolizing a lot of medications. So much so that some medications, like opioids or benzodiazepines (and many more) can fail to metabolize and grow to toxic, overdose levels in your blood; building up and failing to metabolize to leave your system.

It really can be very dangerous.

With the amount of bergamot oil in bergamot-centric snuses though, I mean, I really don't think it would matter. Not only is there a very small amount of bergamot, you actually consume and digest only a fraction of it.

I would think one would have to actually eat a can of snus before any liver enzymes would be sufficiently inhibited to cause any worry. The grapefruit/bergamot/Seville orange/whatever has to actually be digested, transferred to your circulatory system, travel to your liver, where they will then inhibit the CYP3A4 enzyme. There's just not enough bergamot oil in a snus to do that; not even close to enough with the amount of spit that actually gets swallowed.

I can get where the worry comes from, but with bergamot snus, there's nothing to worry about.