Drug & supplement interaction

Apitherapy + Tofacitinib

Tofacitinib brand names: Xeljanz, Xeljanz XR.

No Known Interaction
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Apitherapy and Tofacitinib in our sources. Absence of a documented interaction is not the same as proven safety, and does not guarantee one does not exist. Do not start, stop, or change a medication or supplement based on this page; confirm with your pharmacist or doctor first.

Know someone interested in this? Share
Interaction report

Apitherapy and Tofacitinib

We checked these two against our interaction database. Here is what we found.

No Known Interaction Found

We did not find a documented interaction between Tofacitinib and Apitherapy in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — research on Apitherapy alongside specific medications may be limited.

Worth understanding: our licensed dataset holds no drug-interaction record for Apitherapy at all — not against Tofacitinib, and not against any other medication we track. This verdict therefore rests on the absence of any recorded data, not on research that looked at this combination and found nothing. We cannot rule an interaction out.

Apitherapy is a treatment rather than something you take. Tell whoever provides it which medicines you use, and ask your prescriber whether it is appropriate for your health and treatment. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

Always talk with your pharmacist or doctor before making changes to your medications or supplements, particularly if you take several medications or have an ongoing health condition.

Apitherapy safety at a glance

Apitherapy overall Use caution Bee venom can cause severe, even life-threatening allergic reactions in sensitive people.
Pregnancy Likely Safe When apitherapy using honey is consumed in food amounts. Read the full pregnancy detail
Breastfeeding Likely Safe When apitherapy using honey is consumed in food amounts. Read the full breastfeeding detail

Pregnancy & breastfeeding ratings are from Natural Medicines (Therapeutic Research Center) — the full detail is in the Special populations card below. Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

Still wondering about combining Tofacitinib and Apitherapy? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
What to actually watch for

What Tofacitinib’s Own FDA Label Lists

This is not an interaction — none of it involves Apitherapy. These are the most notable effects listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of Tofacitinib’s own FDA label, for the medication by itself. Knowing the drug’s own list makes it easier to work out the likely cause if something new turns up while you have Apitherapy and take the medicine. 6 of them are worth acting on rather than waiting out — marked below.

  • Low blood sugar Worth acting on
  • Blood clots Worth acting on
  • A low white blood cell count Worth acting on
  • Liver problems Worth acting on
  • A higher chance of infection Worth acting on
  • An allergic reaction Worth acting on
  • Joint pain mentioned in 29.0% of FDA reports for Tofacitinib
  • Headache mentioned in 7.3% of FDA reports for Tofacitinib
  • Diarrhea
  • A skin rash

From the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Tofacitinib. Read the label on DailyMed › Where a percentage is shown, it is the share of 185,980 voluntary FDA FAERS reports for Tofacitinib that mention that effect — a reporting proportion, not an incidence rate and not evidence the drug caused it. Apitherapy’s licensed record lists no adverse effects our clinical vocabulary could match, so there is no Apitherapy side to compare — that is a limit of the record, not a statement that Apitherapy has no side effects.

Special populations

Apitherapy in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Pregnancy And Lactation Likely Safe

When apitherapy using honey is consumed in food amounts.

Pregnancy And Lactation Possibly Safe

When apitherapy using bee venom is given by subcutaneous injection by a trained medical professional. Significant adverse effects to fetus or mother have not been reported. However, some clinicians decrease maintenance dose by half during pregnancy.

Pregnancy And Lactation Possibly Unsafe

When apitherapy using bee venom is given by subcutaneous injection in high doses. High doses of bee venom can increase release of histamine, which can cause uterine contraction; avoid using in high doses.

DISCLAIMER: This tool is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be interpreted as specific medical advice. Patients should consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making decisions about therapies and/or health conditions.© 2026 Therapeutic Research Center

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Tofacitinib

This page covers Apitherapy only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Tofacitinib page lists 184 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Grapefruit (major), St. John's Wort (major), Acacia Rigidula (moderate) and Active Hexose Correlated Compound (ahcc) (moderate).

By severity: 3 major · 143 moderate · 38 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Tofacitinib page

“Supplements deserve genuine care alongside tofacitinib (Xeljanz, Xeljanz XR), a medicine that deliberately dials down the immune system to control conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis. Most of the interactions on this page run through the liver enzymes that clear the drug, meaning an herb can push its blood level…”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Tofacitinib interaction page

How much people look this up

Where Apitherapy and Tofacitinib Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Apitherapy
Top half

#637 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Tofacitinib
Steady interest

#1,746 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Where does our data come from?
  • Source: the Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) clinical database — the evidence-graded professional reference for herb & supplement interactions.
  • Citation library: 103,510 references behind our interaction content, 65,311 of them resolved to verified PubMed/DOI sources. See every Apitherapy reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 20, 2026. The Apitherapy and Tofacitinib records this page draws on were last updated June 22, 2026.
  • What “no known interaction” means: no documented interaction in the sources above — not a guarantee of safety. Supplements are studied far less than prescription drugs, so we say exactly what the evidence supports, and nothing more.
Data structure & sourcing designed and verified by .
Treatment approach

About Apitherapy

What is Apitherapy?

  • Joint pain and arthritis
  • Multiple sclerosis symptoms
  • Wound and skin care
  • Allergies (with bee pollen)
  • General wellness and immune support

Apitherapy is the use of honeybee products such as bee venom, propolis, royal jelly, honey, and bee pollen for health purposes. Solid scientific evidence for most claimed benefits is limited, and bee venom in particular can trigger dangerous allergic reactions. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before trying it, especially if you have allergies.

Honey bee products (honey, bee venom, propolis, royal jelly, bee pollen) and bee stings · Bee venom injections, live bee stings, topical creams, capsules, lozenges, tinctures, raw honey

An interaction check asks whether these two react with each other — it does not ask whether Apitherapy is a good idea for someone in your situation. Here is what our Apitherapy record says about it on its own.

Apitherapy: dosing

There is no standardized dose for apitherapy. The right amount depends heavily on which bee product is used and the form it comes in, and many products are not tightly regulated.Bee venom therapy is not a do-it-yourself treatment and should only be done by a trained practitioner under medical supervision.

From our Apitherapy monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Apitherapy monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Tofacitinib

What Is Tofacitinib Used For?

Brand names: Xeljanz, Xeljanz XR

  • Tofacitinib is used alone or with other medications to treat rheumatoid arthritis (condition in which the body attacks its own joints causing pain, swelling, and loss of function) in adults who are unable to take or did not respond to one or more tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor medication(s). It is also used to treat psoriatic arthritis (a condition that causes joint pain and swelling and scales on the skin) in adults who are unable to take or did not respond to or tolerate one or more TNF inhibitor medication(s). Tofacitinib is used to treat ulcerative colitis (a condition which causes swelling and sores in the lining of the colon [large intestine] and rectum) in adults who are unable to take or who did not respond to one or more TNF inhibitor medication(s). It is also used to treat polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (PJIA; a type of childhood arthritis that affects five or more joints during the first six months of the condition, causing pain, swelling, and loss of function) in children 2 years and older who are unable to take or who did not respond to one or more TNF inhibitor medication(s). Tofacitinib is in a class of medications called Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors. It works by decreasing the activity of the immune system.

See full Tofacitinib drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Apitherapy

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Apitherapy — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
0Moderate
0Minor
2,829No known interaction
No interaction 2,829 drugs checked — show the list
Evidence & sources

Apitherapy References

The 2 references that drive our Apitherapy monograph and interaction data, from the evidence-graded Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) database. Citations with a link open the study on PubMed or the publisher’s site.

  1. Hebel SK, ed. Drug Facts and Comparisons. 52nd ed. St. Louis: Facts and Comparisons, 1998.
  2. Centers for Disease Control. Botulism in the Unites Sates, 1899-1996. Handbook for epidemiologists, clinicians, and laboratory workers, 1998. Available online: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/botulism.PDF.

Medication overviews come from MedlinePlus (NIH); supplement label data from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists — see our data sources and editorial standards.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Having Apitherapy While Taking Tofacitinib: Common Questions

Is it safe to have Apitherapy while taking Tofacitinib?
We do not list a known interaction between Apitherapy and Tofacitinib. That does not guarantee the combination is risk-free, so confirm with your pharmacist or doctor — especially if you take other medications or have a health condition.
Does Tofacitinib interact with any supplements?
Yes. Tofacitinib has documented interactions with 184 supplements in our database — Apitherapy is not one of them. The Tofacitinib interaction page linked on this page lists every one, ranked by severity.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

Still Have a Question About Tofacitinib and Apitherapy?

Our pharmacists answer your medication & supplement questions — free.

Ask a pharmacist

This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.