Be careful with Apple’s Drug Interaction Checker
I set up my 15 Pro Max as a fresh new testing device, and I added the same drugs that I had on my 16 Pro Max. This list on my 16 Pro Max was ported over from my health data when I set it up initially.
Here’s the list of drugs that I setup as a dummy patient profile:
Crestor (generic name is rosuvastatin) - cholesterol medicine.
Lisinopril - blood pressure medication.
Zocor (generic name is simvastatin) - this is the same drug category as Crestor, used for cholesterol medicine.
Chantix - for smoking cessation.
Simvastatin - literally the same drug as Zocor.
Rifampin - used for treating tuberculosis.
Gemfibrozil - cholesterol medicine.
Promethazine VC with Codeine - used to treat cold, stuffiness, and allergy symptoms.
Accutane - for severe acne.
I had the exact same list of drugs on both phones, but I had more drug interactions on my 15 Pro. The 16 Pro was only showing 8 Serious and 4 Moderate interactions, while the 15 Pro was showing 2 Critical, 9 Serious, and 5 Moderate interactions.
I tried to see what was the reason behind this, and I could not see anything different. Sure, I skipped putting an image background and pill color for my 15 Pro drugs, but that shouldn’t matter.
The main drug causing more interactions was Gemfibrozil, so I archived it and then unarchived it to see if it would “fix” the amount of drug interactions I had. That did fix the problem.
In fairness to Apple, these type of glitches happen in all software based systems, including Pharmacies.
Considering there were 2 Critical and 1 Serious interactions that would not be seen, it’s always a good idea to consult with your care team whenever new medications are added or doses are changed. Even when taking over-the-counter medications, you should add it to your drug list to see if it can have harmful effects.
It also can’t hurt to archive and then unarchive your medications every so often.
After I archived Gemfibrozil and then unarchived it…
I got the proper amount of Drug Interactions to display.