Can I take other medications when I’m taking chemotherapy?
Some other medications, vitamins or natural products may interact with chemotherapy or other cancer medications. This means that when taken together, they can change how well your cancer medication works or can cause other problems that can damage your health.
To protect your health, make sure you tell your health-care team the names of all the medications (including vitamins and natural products) you are taking. This includes medications that you take without a prescription as well as any vitamins, herbs or alternative medicines that you take for your health.
You should also talk to your health-care team about how best to stay up-to-date with your routine vaccinations (vaccines or shots) and about getting seasonal vaccines such as the flu vaccine each year.
Important note about drugs
Street drugs also interact with your cancer medication. As a teen, you might be tempted to experiment with different drugs, but they can have very harmful effects on your body during treatment. If you do decide to experiment with drugs, it’s important that you tell your health-care team about it. See our lifestyle section for more on drugs and alcohol during treatment.
