Portland Pharmacist Jasmine Nguyen estimates 70 percent of her older patients will supplement their prescriptions with a home remedy.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
People trying to teach immigrants about the dangers of mixing folk remedies with prescriptions have been overwhelmed with interest.
Jasmine Nguyen runs @pharmacy.com, a pharmacy in Southeast Portland. Many of her patients are from Vietnam, Russia, China and Mexico. She estimates 70 percent of her older patients supplement their prescriptions with home remedies.
Most remedies are harmless. Some can even help. But now and then a serious drug interaction can occur.
Nguyen recently had a patient on the blood thinner Warfarin. But he was also taking an herbal remedy from Vietnam that thinned his blood even further. “I told him whatever he’s taken, he needs to let the doctor know, and one of us know, so we can do some research for it," she said.
Too much blood thinner can result in bleeding gums or bowels.
Immigrant activist Mara Woloshin had to postpone a workshop on this issue this month, after overwhelming interest. She’s now looking for a free church or community center for the meeting.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
She says the herbs he was using had been ground up and made into a pill. "Honestly, we don’t have any information because we don’t know what they put in there.”
Medicare and Medicaid consultant Mara Woloshin works with immigrant communities to help them assimilate into U.S. society.
"I have seen pregnant women drinking ground raw fish, which they don't know if it has worms in it or not. I've seen onion skin used in place of antibiotic for very severe wounds that probably should have gone to the ER for stitches. And then I've seen pregnant women who are having pain during breastfeeding, I've seen tea bags put on their breasts which actually exacerbates the drying of the breasts," she said.
Many immigrants will use home remedies because that's what they learned from their families, according to Woloshin. It's also cheaper to use a home remedy than to go to a doctor for a prescription.
Mixing prescriptions with home remedies can cause serious drug interactions.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
But a report by the Oregon Health Authority found that in 2012, hospital charges for unintentional drug overdoses totaled more than $31 million.
People in Oregon's immigrant communities understand there is a problem. Recently, Woloshin had to postpone a workshop on drug interactions after overwhelming interest in southeast Portland.
She’s now looking for a free church or community center to hold the meeting.
And it's not just immigrant communities that need to deal with this issue. Harmful drug interactions can happen with over-the-counter supplements like zinc. Health experts say if in doubt, always consult a doctor.