Taking risedronate with other medicines and herbal supplements - Brand names: Actonel, Actonel Once a Week

Cautions with other medicines

When taking risedronate, it's important to not take any other medicines at the same time. This is because other medicines can affect how well your body absorbs risedronate and may stop it working properly.

If you take risedronate first thing in the morning, when you get up, wait for at least 30 minutes before taking your other medicines.

If you take risedronate between meals or in the evening, wait at least 2 hours before taking your other medicines.

Tell your doctor if you're taking:

• antacids to relieve indigestion or heartburn such as Maalox, Mucogel or Milk of Magnesia
• laxatives containing magnesium such as Milk of Magnesia
• cancer medicines such as bevacizumab or thalidomide, or if you're having chemotherapy or taking steroids such as prednisolone or dexamethasone – these may increase the risk of damage to your jawbone
• non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen, which can increase the risk of irritating your food pipe, stomach or gut – taking low-dose aspirin is OK
• antibiotics such as gentamicin, amikacin, streptomycin or tobramycin – these can lower the calcium in your blood
• deferasirox, a medicine used to remove excess iron from the body – this may increase the risk of bleeding from your gut
• parathyroid hormone, a medicine used to treat hypoparathyroidism

Mixing risedronate with herbal remedies or supplements

Tell your doctor if you're taking supplements or multivitamins containing calcium, iron, magnesium or zinc. These supplements can reduce the amount of risedronate absorbed from your stomach if you take them at the same time.

If you take your risedronate in the morning, consider taking your calcium, iron, magnesium or zinc supplement in the evening.

There's not enough information to say that other complementary medicines, herbal remedies and supplements are safe to take with risedronate. They're not tested in the same way as pharmacy and prescription medicines. They're generally not tested for the affect they have on other medicines.