Drug & supplement interaction

Boneset + Ibuprofen

Ibuprofen brand names: Motrin, Children's Motrin, Advil, Children's Advil, Fenbid Forte Gel, and others.

No Known Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 13, 2026
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Boneset and Ibuprofen 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. Additionally, although there is no interaction, the two are separately associated with some of the same side effects, which would make a new symptom harder to attribute to one or the other.

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Interaction report

Boneset and Ibuprofen

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 Ibuprofen and Boneset in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — there is often limited research on supplements and herbal products, especially around drug interactions.

If you decide to take both, the practical routine is simple: add one new thing at a time and note the date you started it. If the combination is going to disagree with you, it usually shows in the first days to a couple of weeks — and a start date turns “I’ve been feeling off” into something a pharmacist can actually work with. 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.

Boneset safety at a glance

Boneset overall Use caution Limited safety data and possible liver-toxic alkaloids mean it should be used carefully and short-term, if at all.
Pregnancy Possibly Unsafe When used orally. Hepatotoxic PAs are common in this genus of plants; however, the alkaloids in boneset have not been adequately characterized to determine thei... Read the full pregnancy detail
Breastfeeding Possibly Unsafe When used orally. Hepatotoxic PAs are common in this genus of plants; however, the alkaloids in boneset have not been adequately characterized to determine thei... 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 Ibuprofen and Boneset? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Ibuprofen

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Ibuprofen is filed under 10 classifications — including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (nsaids), cytochrome p450 2c9 (cyp2c9) substrates, anticoagulant/antiplatelet drugs. Boneset has documented interactions with 1 drug class — the most serious being cytochrome p450 3a4 (cyp3a4) inducers (moderate) — and none of Ibuprofen’s classifications are among them.

Classification data comes from our licensed Natural Medicines dataset. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded there, so this describes how the check was run — it is not a safety guarantee.

Keep it in perspective

Boneset Does Interact With Other Medications

Boneset has 87 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Ibuprofen isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 87 No known interaction 2,743 (incl. Ibuprofen)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Boneset

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Boneset. Pick one to open its full report.

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Boneset and Ibuprofen May Share Several of the Same Side Effects

This is not an interaction. Neither one changes how your body handles the other, and nothing here says they react together. What our sources do show is that each has separately been linked to the effects below — so taking both can make those effects more likely to turn up, and harder to pin on one or the other if they do. One of them is worth acting on rather than waiting out — marked below.

  • Liver problems Worth acting on Additional detail

    Boneset

    “Orally, boneset is reported to cause nausea and severe diarrhea and vomiting. Additionally, other plants in the Eupatorium genus contain the hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs). However, the alkaloids in boneset have not been adequately characterized to determine their toxic potential. Liver toxicity and liver damage may be possible in high doses.”

    Boneset · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in diarrhea.

    2 sources cited
    1. 12842. Roeder E. Medicinal plants in Europe containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Pharmazie 1995;50:83-98.
    2. 102557. Colegate SM, Upton R, Gardner DR, Panter KE, Betz JM. Potentially toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids in Eupatorium perfoliatum and three related species. Implications for herbal use as boneset. Phytochem Anal. 2018;29(6):613-626.

    Ibuprofen

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Ibuprofen. Read the label on DailyMed ›

  • Vomiting / Nausea reported in 6.5% of FDA reports for Ibuprofen Additional detail

    Boneset

    “Orally, boneset has been reported to cause nausea and severe diarrhea and vomiting.”

    Boneset · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in diarrhea.

    1 source cited
    1. 12842. Roeder E. Medicinal plants in Europe containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Pharmazie 1995;50:83-98.

    Ibuprofen

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Ibuprofen, and in voluntary FDA adverse-event reports. Read the label on DailyMed ›

Reported for Boneset but not commonly for Ibuprofen: diarrhea.

Effects for Ibuprofen come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Boneset come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Where a percentage is shown, it is the share of 283,500 voluntary FDA FAERS reports for Ibuprofen that mention that effect — a reporting proportion, not an incidence rate and not evidence the drug caused it. Wording is matched across sources by our own clinical vocabulary, so treat this as a prompt to pay attention, not a diagnosis.

Special populations

Boneset in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Pregnancy And Lactation Possibly Unsafe

When used orally. Hepatotoxic PAs are common in this genus of plants; however, the alkaloids in boneset have not been adequately characterized to determine their toxic potential. Hepatotoxic PAs might be teratogenic; avoid using.

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

Overlapping uses

What Ibuprofen Is Prescribed For, and What Boneset Has Been Studied For

These two come up together because they touch the same health topic — not because they do the same job. Ibuprofen is a prescription medicine with approved uses on its FDA label. Boneset is a supplement: what follows is what researchers have looked at it for, and how strong that evidence is.

Ibuprofen is prescribed for: Oral ibuprofen products (tablets, coated tablets, and liquid-filled capsules) are used to temporarily relieve minor aches and pains from headache, backache, toothache, muscular aches, menstrual cramps, minor arthritis pain, and the common cold, and to temporarily reduce fever. The oral prescription tablet (Ibu) is also indicated for the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, mild to moderate pain, and primary dysmenorrhea (painful periods). Caldolor, an intravenous (IV) form, is approved for adults and children 3 months and older to manage mild to moderate pain, to manage moderate to severe pain alongside opioid pain medicines, and to reduce fever. A separate intravenous solution, Ibuprofen Lysine, is used specifically in premature infants to close a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) — an abnormal blood vessel connection near the heart — when standard medical management has not worked.

Boneset has been studied for:

  • Common Cold studied, not established Boneset has been studied for this. Natural Medicines rates the evidence: Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate Read what the research shows

    Boneset for common cold

    Preliminary clinical research shows that taking a specific homeopathic product (Eupatorium perfoliatum D2) derived from boneset has a similar effect to aspirin on symptoms of the common cold.

    1 source cited
    1. 36793. Gassinger, C. A., Wunstel, G., and Netter, P. [A controlled clinical trial for testing the efficacy of the homeopathic drug eupatorium perfoliatum D2 inthe treatment of common cold (author's transl)]. Arzneimittelforschung. 1981;31(4):732-736.

Effectiveness ratings and the research summaries above are the verbatim record from the Natural Medicines database, which grades evidence from “Effective” down to “Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate”. A rating below the top of that scale means researchers have looked at it — not that it works, and never that it can stand in for a prescribed medicine. Do not stop or replace Ibuprofen on your own; if you are taking Boneset for the same health topic, tell your prescriber, especially if the medicine is being adjusted to a target.

From our Q&A

Questions About Boneset or Ibuprofen

These are real questions from readers, answered by the pharmacists at HelloPharmacist — written by a person, not generated from a database. Each one covers Boneset or Ibuprofen, not necessarily both, but if one is close to what you were about to ask it will usually go further than a database entry can:

Not quite your question? Ask our pharmacists directly — it is free, there is no account required, and answers usually come back within 24 hours.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Ibuprofen

This page covers Boneset only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Ibuprofen page lists 286 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Asarabacca (major), Beer (major), Danshen (major) and Piracetam (major).

By severity: 7 major · 243 moderate · 36 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Ibuprofen page

“Most people treat ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) as an everyday pain reliever, which is exactly why this list of 286 interacting supplements deserves real attention rather than a shrug. The dominant pattern by far is bleeding: 202 of these ingredients can add to the bleeding and stomach irritation ibuprofen already causes, and the seven maj…”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Ibuprofen interaction page

One more smart check

Taking Boneset as Part of a Dietary Supplement Product? Check It for Interactions

We hold 118 real supplement products containing Boneset, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Boneset. Even though Boneset itself has no known interaction with Ibuprofen, another ingredient on your label might. Find your product and we’ll check every ingredient on its label:

How much people look this up

Where Boneset and Ibuprofen 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 Boneset
Top half

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

29 days ago today
Medication Ibuprofen
Top 1%

#19 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 Boneset reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 13, 2026. The Boneset and Ibuprofen records this page draws on were last updated July 10, 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 .
Supplement

About Boneset

What is Boneset?

  • Colds and flu
  • Fever
  • Body aches
  • Congestion
  • Immune support

Boneset is a traditional North American herb long used in teas for fevers, colds, and flu, but modern human studies are very limited. It contains compounds (pyrrolizidine alkaloids) that may harm the liver, so it should be used cautiously and avoided during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Eupatorium perfoliatum · Asteraceae · Dried above-ground parts (leaves and flowering tops) · Tea, tincture, capsules, dried herb

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

Boneset: dosing

There is no well-established, standardized dose for boneset. Traditional preparations were usually made as a hot tea from the dried herb, but reliable modern dosing guidelines are not available.If you choose to use a commercial product, follow the directions on the label and do not exceed them.

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

Read the full Boneset monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Ibuprofen

What Is Ibuprofen Used For?

Brand names: Motrin, Children's Motrin, Advil, Children's Advil, Fenbid Forte Gel, Ibugel Forte, Arthrofen, Ebufac, Rimafen, Calprofen, Fenpaed, Galprofen, Nurofen for Children, Orbifen for Children, Brufen, Brufen Retard, Fenbid, Tab-Profen, Ibuprofen, Calodor

Oral ibuprofen products (tablets, coated tablets, and liquid-filled capsules) are used to temporarily relieve minor aches and pains from headache, backache, toothache, muscular aches, menstrual cramps, minor arthritis pain, and the common cold, and to temporarily reduce fever. The oral prescription tablet (Ibu) is also indicated for the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, mild to moderate pain, and primary dysmenorrhea (painful periods).

Caldolor, an intravenous (IV) form, is approved for adults and children 3 months and older to manage mild to moderate pain, to manage moderate to severe pain alongside opioid pain medicines, and to reduce fever. A separate intravenous solution, Ibuprofen Lysine, is used specifically in premature infants to close a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) — an abnormal blood vessel connection near the heart — when standard medical management has not worked.

Most-Reported Side Effects for Ibuprofen

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (283,500 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Fatigue 18,755 reports
Nausea 18,290 reports
Headache 16,566 reports
Arthralgia 13,469 reports
Dyspnea 13,139 reports
See full Ibuprofen drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Boneset

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

0Major
87Moderate
0Minor
2,742No known interaction
87 Moderate 2,742 No interaction
Moderate

87 interactions

Showing 60 of 87 moderate interactions — see all 87 on the Boneset page.

No interaction 2,742 drugs checked — show the list

We also checked Boneset against these medications and found no known interaction in our sources. Open any page to confirm.

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,742 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Boneset list.

See the full Boneset interactions page
See every supplement checked against Ibuprofen, ranked by severity
Evidence & sources

Boneset References

The 5 references that drive our Boneset 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. Chojkier M. Hepatic sinusoidal-obstruction syndrome: toxicity of pyrrolizidine alkaloids. J Hepatol 2003;39:437-46. PubMed
  2. Roeder E. Medicinal plants in Europe containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Pharmazie 1995;50:83-98.
  3. Wang YP, Yan J, Fu PP, Chou MW. Human liver microsomal reduction of pyrrolizidine alkaloid N-oxides to form the corresponding carcinogenic parent alkaloid. Toxicol Lett 2005;155:411-20. PubMed
  4. Gassinger, C. A., Wunstel, G., and Netter, P. [A controlled clinical trial for testing the efficacy of the homeopathic drug eupatorium perfoliatum D2 inthe treatment of common cold (author's transl)]. Arzneimittelforschung. 1981;31(4):732-736.
  5. Colegate SM, Upton R, Gardner DR, Panter KE, Betz JM. Potentially toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids in Eupatorium perfoliatum and three related species. Implications for herbal use as boneset. Phytochem Anal. 2018;29(6):613-626.

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

Taking Boneset and Ibuprofen Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Boneset with Ibuprofen?
We do not list a known interaction between Boneset and Ibuprofen. 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.
Do Boneset and Ibuprofen have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to 3 of the same effects. That is not an interaction: neither changes how your body handles the other. It does mean that if one of those effects turns up, it can be harder to tell which one is behind it. They are listed on this page with the source behind each.
Are Boneset and Ibuprofen used for the same thing?
They overlap in purpose, which usually means the real question is whether you need both rather than whether they are safe together. This page lists the shared uses and how strong the evidence is for Boneset in each. That is a conversation for your prescriber, especially if Ibuprofen is being adjusted to a target.
How was the Boneset and Ibuprofen combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Ibuprofen is filed under 10 classifications, and Boneset has documented interactions with 1 drug class — none of Ibuprofen's classifications are among them. A medication can belong to classes beyond those recorded in our dataset, so this describes how the check was run rather than guaranteeing safety.
Does Boneset interact with any other medications?
Yes. Boneset has 87 documented drug interactions in our database — Ibuprofen is simply not one of them. If you take anything else, it is worth checking each one; they are all listed on this page.
Does Ibuprofen interact with any supplements?
Yes. Ibuprofen has documented interactions with 286 supplements in our database — Boneset is not one of them. The Ibuprofen interaction page linked on this page lists every one, ranked by severity.

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

Where next

Keep Exploring

Boneset monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Ibuprofen drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Ibuprofen supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Ibuprofen, ranked by severity Supplement interaction checker Check any supplement or product against your medications Browse medications A–Z Every drug we’ve checked against herbs & supplements References The 5 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Ibuprofen and Boneset?

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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.