Drug & supplement interaction

Chaparral + Citalopram

Citalopram brand name: Celexa.

No Known Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Oct 4, 2026
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Chaparral and Citalopram 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

Chaparral and Citalopram

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 Citalopram and Chaparral 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.

Chaparral safety at a glance

Chaparral overall Avoid Chaparral has been linked to serious liver and kidney toxicity and is not recommended.
Pregnancy Likely Unsafe When used orally. There are several reports of serious poisoning, acute hepatitis, and kidney and liver damage, including irreversible renal and hepatic failure... Read the full pregnancy detail
Breastfeeding Likely Unsafe When used orally. There are several reports of serious poisoning, acute hepatitis, and kidney and liver damage, including irreversible renal and hepatic failure... 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 Citalopram and Chaparral? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Citalopram

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Citalopram is filed under 11 classifications — including antidepressant drugs, cytochrome p450 2c19 (cyp2c19) inhibitors, cytochrome p450 2c19 (cyp2c19) substrates. Chaparral has documented interactions with 1 drug class — the most serious being hepatotoxic drugs (moderate) — and none of Citalopram’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

Chaparral Does Interact With Other Medications

Chaparral has 372 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Citalopram isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 372 No known interaction 2,458 (incl. Citalopram)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Chaparral

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

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Chaparral and Citalopram May Share a Side Effect

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.

  • Tiredness Additional detail

    Chaparral

    “Chaparral is generally regarded as unsafe for use. Any benefits of therapy may not outweigh the risk of toxicity. Orally, chaparral can cause hepatoxicity, resulting in jaundice, fatigue, right upper quadrant abdominal pain, dark urine, light stools, nausea, diarrhea, weight loss, fever, and anorexia.”

    Chaparral · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in anorexia.

    6 sources cited
    1. 568. Smith BC, Desmond PV. Acute hepatitis induced by ingestion of the herbal medication chaparral. Aust N Z J Med 1993;23:526.. PubMed
    2. 569. Gordon DW, Rosenthal G, Hart J, et al. Chaparral ingestion: the broadening spectrum of liver injury caused by herbal medications. JAMA 1995;273:489-90.
    3. 570. Batchelor WB, Heathcote J, Wanless IR. Chaparral-induced hepatic injury. Am J Gastroenterol 1995;90:831-3.
    4. 571. Katz M, Saibil F. Herbal hepatitis: subacute hepatic necrosis secondary to chaparral leaf. J Clin Gastroenterol 1990;12:203-6.
    5. 3497. Sheikh NM, Philen RM, Love LA. Chaparral-associated hepatotoxicity. Arch Intern Med 1997;157:913-9. DOI
    6. 11121. Chaparral-induced toxic hepatitis-California and Texas, 1992. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 1992;41:812-4.. DOI

    “Orally, chaparral can cause hepatoxicity, resulting in jaundice, fatigue, right upper quadrant abdominal pain, dark urine, light stools, nausea, diarrhea, weight loss, fever, and anorexia. It can also cause cirrhosis, cholestasis, cholangitis, acute hepatitis, and liver failure Multiple cases of severe hepatotoxicity have been reported, including at least two cases requiring liver transplant.

    The nordihydroguaiaretic…”

    Chaparral · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in anorexia.

    6 sources cited
    1. 3497. Sheikh NM, Philen RM, Love LA. Chaparral-associated hepatotoxicity. Arch Intern Med 1997;157:913-9. DOI
    2. 568. Smith BC, Desmond PV. Acute hepatitis induced by ingestion of the herbal medication chaparral. Aust N Z J Med 1993;23:526.. PubMed
    3. 569. Gordon DW, Rosenthal G, Hart J, et al. Chaparral ingestion: the broadening spectrum of liver injury caused by herbal medications. JAMA 1995;273:489-90.
    4. 570. Batchelor WB, Heathcote J, Wanless IR. Chaparral-induced hepatic injury. Am J Gastroenterol 1995;90:831-3.
    5. 571. Katz M, Saibil F. Herbal hepatitis: subacute hepatic necrosis secondary to chaparral leaf. J Clin Gastroenterol 1990;12:203-6.
    6. 11121. Chaparral-induced toxic hepatitis-California and Texas, 1992. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 1992;41:812-4.. DOI

    Citalopram

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

Reported for Chaparral but not commonly for Citalopram: stomach pain, liver problems, kidney problems and weight loss.

Effects for Citalopram come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Chaparral come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Wording is matched across sources by our own clinical vocabulary, so treat this as a prompt to pay attention, not a diagnosis.

Special populations

Chaparral in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Pregnancy And Lactation Likely Unsafe

When used orally. There are several reports of serious poisoning, acute hepatitis, and kidney and liver damage, including irreversible renal and hepatic failure. Advise patients not to use products containing chaparral.

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

From our Q&A

Questions About Chaparral or Citalopram

These are real questions from readers, answered by the pharmacists at HelloPharmacist — written by a person, not generated from a database. Each one covers Chaparral or Citalopram, 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 Citalopram

This page covers Chaparral only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Citalopram page lists 191 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Grapefruit (major), Lithium (major), St. John's Wort (major) and 5-htp (moderate).

By severity: 4 major · 144 moderate · 43 minor.

Open the Citalopram interaction page

One more smart check

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

We hold 83 real supplement products containing Chaparral, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Chaparral. Even though Chaparral itself has no known interaction with Citalopram, 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 Chaparral and Citalopram 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 Chaparral
Top half

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

29 days ago today
Medication Citalopram
Top 5%

#102 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 Chaparral reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified October 4, 2026. The Chaparral and Citalopram 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 Chaparral

What is Chaparral?

Chaparral
  • Pain and inflammation
  • Skin conditions
  • Antioxidant/general wellness
  • Infections
  • Traditional 'detox' remedies

Chaparral is a desert shrub long used in traditional medicine, but there is no reliable proof it treats any condition. It has been linked to serious and sometimes irreversible liver and kidney damage, and the FDA has warned against using it. Because of these safety concerns, we recommend avoiding chaparral.

Larrea tridentata · Zygophyllaceae · Leaves and twigs · Tea, capsules, tablets, tinctures, topical salves

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

Chaparral: dosing

There is no safe or established dose for chaparral. For chaparral specifically, the best advice is to avoid it.

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

Read the full Chaparral monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Citalopram

What Is Citalopram Used For?

Brand name: Celexa

Citalopram treats depression. Newer tablet and capsule labels specify major depressive disorder (MDD) in adults.

Older tablet and oral solution labels say it is used for depression and was studied in outpatients with major depressive disorder. Its effect in hospitalized depressed patients has not been adequately studied. It also helped people keep their response for up to 24 weeks after the first 6 to 8 weeks of treatment, so prescribers should periodically recheck whether long-term use still makes sense for you.

See full Citalopram drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Chaparral

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

0Major
372Moderate
0Minor
2,457No known interaction
372 Moderate 2,457 No interaction
Moderate

372 interactions

Showing 60 of 372 moderate interactions — see all 372 on the Chaparral page.

No interaction 2,457 drugs checked — show the list

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

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,457 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Chaparral list.

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

Chaparral References

The 16 references that drive our Chaparral 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. Smith BC, Desmond PV. Acute hepatitis induced by ingestion of the herbal medication chaparral. Aust N Z J Med 1993;23:526.. PubMed
  2. Gordon DW, Rosenthal G, Hart J, et al. Chaparral ingestion: the broadening spectrum of liver injury caused by herbal medications. JAMA 1995;273:489-90.
  3. Batchelor WB, Heathcote J, Wanless IR. Chaparral-induced hepatic injury. Am J Gastroenterol 1995;90:831-3.
  4. Katz M, Saibil F. Herbal hepatitis: subacute hepatic necrosis secondary to chaparral leaf. J Clin Gastroenterol 1990;12:203-6.
  5. Klepser TB, Klepser ME. Unsafe and potentially safe herbal therapies. Am J Health Syst Pharm 1999;56:125-38. PubMed
  6. Sheikh NM, Philen RM, Love LA. Chaparral-associated hepatotoxicity. Arch Intern Med 1997;157:913-9. DOI
  7. Heron S, Yarnell E. The safety of low-dose Larrea tridentata (DC) Coville (creosote bush or chaparral): a retrospective clinical study. J Altern Complement Med 2001;7:175-85..
  8. Chaparral-induced toxic hepatitis-California and Texas, 1992. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 1992;41:812-4.. DOI
  9. Estes JD, Stolpman D, Olyaei A, et al. High prevalence of potentially hepatotoxic herbal supplement use in patients with fulminant hepatic failure. Arch Surg 2003;138:852-8.. PubMed
  10. Lambert JD, Zhao D, Meyers RO, et al. Nordihydroguaiaretic acid: hepatotoxicity and detoxification in the mouse. Toxicon 2002;40:1701-8.. PubMed
  11. Shasky DR. Contact dermatitis from Larrea tridentata (creosote bush). J Am Acad Dermatol 1986;15:302.. PubMed
  12. Smith AY, Feddersen RM, Gardner KD Jr, Davis CJ Jr. Cystic renal cell carcinoma and acquired renal cystic disease associated with consumption of chaparral tea: a case report. J Urol 1994;152:2089-91.. PubMed
  13. Kauma, H., Koskela, R., Makisalo, H., Autio-Harmainen, H., Lehtola, J., and Hockerstedt, K. Toxic acute hepatitis and hepatic fibrosis after consumption of chaparral tablets. Scand.J Gastroenterol. 2004;39(11):1168-1171. PubMed
  14. Leonforte, J. F. Contact dermatitis from Larrea (creosote bush). J Am Acad.Dermatol. 1986;14(2 Pt 1):202-207. PubMed
  15. Alderman, S., Kailas, S., Goldfarb, S., Singaram, C., and Malone, D. G. Cholestatic hepatitis after ingestion of chaparral leaf: confirmation by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and liver biopsy. J Clin.Gastroenterol. 1994;19(3):242-247.

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 Chaparral and Citalopram Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Chaparral with Citalopram?
We do not list a known interaction between Chaparral and Citalopram. 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 Chaparral and Citalopram have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to one 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.
How was the Chaparral and Citalopram combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Citalopram is filed under 11 classifications, and Chaparral has documented interactions with 1 drug class — none of Citalopram'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 Chaparral interact with any other medications?
Yes. Chaparral has 372 documented drug interactions in our database — Citalopram 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 Citalopram interact with any supplements?
Yes. Citalopram has documented interactions with 191 supplements in our database — Chaparral is not one of them. The Citalopram 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

Chaparral monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Citalopram drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Citalopram supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Citalopram, 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 16 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Citalopram and Chaparral?

Our pharmacists answer your medication & supplement questions — free.

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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.