Drug & supplement interaction

Citronella Oil + Mesalamine

Mesalamine brand names: Pentasa, Asacol, Canasa, Rowasa, Lialda, and others.

No Known Interaction
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Citronella Oil and Mesalamine 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 label for Mesalamine states a food rule worth keeping to.

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Interaction report

Citronella Oil and Mesalamine

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 Mesalamine and Citronella Oil 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.

Worth understanding: our licensed dataset holds no drug-interaction record for Citronella Oil at all — not against Mesalamine, 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.

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.

Citronella Oil safety at a glance

Citronella Oil overall Use caution Generally safe for topical and aromatic use, but it can irritate skin and should never be swallowed.
Pregnancy Use caution Limited safety data; use only sparingly on skin or in the air and check with your doctor first.
Breastfeeding Use caution Not well studied; avoid applying near the breast and consult your doctor before use.

Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

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

What Citronella Oil Itself Has Been Linked To

This is not an interaction — nothing below involves Mesalamine. It is the side-effect record for Citronella Oil on its own, from the licensed Natural Medicines monograph. If something new turns up after you add Citronella Oil, this list is the first place to look.

  • A skin rash Additional detail

    “Topically, citronella oil is thought to be a skin sensitizer and can potentially cause contact dermatitis. Applying citronella oil 100% to the skin causes irritation or a burning sensation in about 12% of people.”

    Citronella Oil · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in dermatitis.

    2 sources cited
    1. 13084. Public Health Agency of Canada. Safety Tips on Using Personal Insect Repellents Available at: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/wn-no/repellents-insectifuge_e.html. (Accessed 24 May 2005)
    2. 97274. Sajo ME, Song SB, Bajgai J, et al. Applicability of citronella oil (Cymbopogon winteratus) for the prevention of mosquito-borne diseases in the rural area of Tikapur, far-western Nepal. Rural Remote Health 2015;15(4):3532. Epub 2015 Nov 12. DOI

Everything above comes from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record for Citronella Oil — expand a row for the licensed statement it rests on. We read the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of Mesalamine’s FDA label too, and the two lists don’t meaningfully overlap — which is why no Mesalamine column appears here.

How to take them

Some Mesalamine Products Have a Food Rule — Citronella Oil Should Not Break It

At least one FDA label for a product containing Mesalamine says to take it with food. If you take Citronella Oil on an empty stomach out of habit, keep them separate — and take Mesalamine with a meal where the label says to.

This may not be true of your version. Food instructions belong to the product, not the ingredient: two Mesalamine products can carry different directions, and extended-release forms often differ from immediate-release ones. The label we read is quoted below — check the directions on your own box or bottle, or ask your pharmacist, for how to take the exact product you were given.

( 2 ) Administer mesalamine delayed-release tablets with food.

From the Dosage and Administration section of the FDA label we read for Mesalamine — where that label names a specific product, the instruction is that product's. See the Mesalamine drug page ›

A food rule is not an interaction — it is about how much of the medicine you absorb. The directions that came with your own product, and your pharmacist, outrank anything on this page.

From our Q&A

Questions About Citronella Oil or Mesalamine

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

This page covers Citronella Oil only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Mesalamine page lists 17 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Coffee Charcoal (moderate), European Mandrake (moderate), Glucomannan (moderate) and Guar Gum (moderate).

By severity: 1 major · 7 moderate · 9 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Mesalamine page

“Activated charcoal is the one entry here I would treat as a genuine problem for anyone taking mesalamine (Asacol, Lialda, Pentasa, and others). It is the lone major-rated interaction among the 17 on file, because charcoal soaks up drugs in the gut and can pull mesalamine out of the picture before it does its job.”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Mesalamine interaction page

How much people look this up

Where Citronella Oil and Mesalamine 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 Citronella Oil
Steady interest

#1,420 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Mesalamine
Top 25%

#687 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 Citronella Oil reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 20, 2026. The Citronella Oil and Mesalamine 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 Citronella Oil

What is Citronella Oil?

  • Insect and mosquito repellent
  • Aromatherapy and relaxation
  • Topical antimicrobial
  • Fragrance in soaps and household products
  • Skin and hair care products

Citronella oil is an essential oil made from a tropical grass and is best known as a natural insect repellent. Some evidence supports short-term mosquito protection, but it usually does not last as long as conventional repellents like DEET. It is meant for skin or air use, not for swallowing, and can irritate sensitive skin.

Cymbopogon nardus · Poaceae · Leaves and grass (steam-distilled essential oil) · Essential oil, sprays, lotions, candles, diffuser oil

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

Citronella Oil: dosing

There is no official standardized dose for citronella oil. For skin use, it is usually diluted with a carrier oil (such as coconut or almond oil) in commercial repellent products. For aromatherapy, a few drops are added to a diffuser or warm water.Because product strengths vary widely, the best approach is to follow the directions on the label and reapply repellent products as instructed.

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

Read the full Citronella Oil monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Mesalamine

What Is Mesalamine Used For?

Brand names: Pentasa, Asacol, Canasa, Rowasa, Lialda, Delzicol

Mesalamine is used to treat mildly to moderately active ulcerative colitis — a condition where the lining of the large intestine becomes inflamed and ulcerated. Depending on the product and formulation, it can be used to bring the disease under control (induction of remission) and/or to keep it from coming back (maintenance of remission).

Different products target different parts of the lower digestive tract. Oral forms (tablets and capsules) treat the colon more broadly. Rectal forms — including enemas (ROWASA, sfROWASA, mesalamine rectal suspension) — are used for distal ulcerative colitis, proctosigmoiditis, or proctitis (inflammation limited to the lower end of the colon or rectum). Rectal suppositories (CANASA, mesalamine rectal suppositories) are specifically for ulcerative proctitis (inflammation of the rectum only).

See full Mesalamine drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Citronella Oil

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Citronella Oil — 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

Citronella Oil References

The 5 references that drive our Citronella Oil 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. Blumenthal M, ed. The Complete German Commission E Monographs: Therapeutic Guide to Herbal Medicines. Trans. S. Klein. Boston, MA: American Botanical Council, 1998.
  2. The Review of Natural Products by Facts and Comparisons. St. Louis, MO: Wolters Kluwer Co., 1999.
  3. Ellenhorn MJ, et al. Ellenhorn's Medical Toxicology: Diagnoses and Treatment of Human Poisoning. 2nd ed. Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins, 1997.
  4. Public Health Agency of Canada. Safety Tips on Using Personal Insect Repellents Available at: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/wn-no/repellents-insectifuge_e.html. (Accessed 24 May 2005)
  5. Sajo ME, Song SB, Bajgai J, et al. Applicability of citronella oil (Cymbopogon winteratus) for the prevention of mosquito-borne diseases in the rural area of Tikapur, far-western Nepal. Rural Remote Health 2015;15(4):3532. Epub 2015 Nov 12. DOI

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 Citronella Oil and Mesalamine Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Citronella Oil with Mesalamine?
We do not list a known interaction between Citronella Oil and Mesalamine. 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.
Should I take Citronella Oil and Mesalamine at the same time of day?
At least one FDA label for a product containing Mesalamine says to take it with food. If you take Citronella Oil on an empty stomach out of habit, keep them separate and take Mesalamine with a meal where the label says to. Food instructions belong to the product rather than the ingredient — two Mesalamine products can differ — so check the directions on your own box. This is about absorption, not an interaction.
Does Mesalamine interact with any supplements?
Yes. Mesalamine has documented interactions with 17 supplements in our database — Citronella Oil is not one of them. The Mesalamine 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 Mesalamine and Citronella Oil?

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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.