Drug & supplement interaction

Greater Celandine + Azithromycin

Azithromycin brand names: Zithromax, Zmax, Azasite.

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 Greater Celandine and Azithromycin 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.

Know someone taking this? Share
Facebook Post Reddit Email
On this page
Interaction report

Greater Celandine and Azithromycin

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 Azithromycin and Greater Celandine 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.

Greater Celandine safety at a glance

Greater Celandine overall Avoid Oral use has been linked to serious, sometimes severe liver damage.
Pregnancy Avoid Not enough safety data and known toxicity make it unsafe during pregnancy.
Breastfeeding Avoid No reliable safety information, so it is best avoided while breastfeeding.

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

Still wondering about combining Azithromycin and Greater Celandine? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Azithromycin

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Azithromycin is filed under 7 classifications — including macrolide antibiotics, qt interval-prolonging drugs, antibiotic drugs. Greater Celandine has documented interactions with 4 drug classes — the most serious being cytochrome p450 2d6 (cyp2d6) substrates (moderate), hepatotoxic drugs (moderate) and immunosuppressants (moderate) — and none of Azithromycin’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

Greater Celandine Does Interact With Other Medications

Greater Celandine has 625 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Azithromycin isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 625 No known interaction 2,205 (incl. Azithromycin)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Greater Celandine

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

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Greater Celandine and Azithromycin 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. 5 of them are worth acting on rather than waiting out — marked below.

  • Yellowing of the skin or eyes Worth acting on Additional detail

    Greater Celandine

    “Orally, greater celandine has been implicated in dozens of cases of liver damage. The cause is unknown, but appears to be idiopathic. It seems to be independent of dose, and the amount of time before development of liver disease is generally long and variable. The main symptom is usually jaundice. Liver enzymes are elevated at least two-fold in all cases where measurements were completed.”

    Greater Celandine · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in cirrhosis.

    3 sources cited
    1. 363. Benninger J, Schneider HT, Schuppan D, et al. Acute hepatitis induced by greater celandine (Chelidonium majus). Gastroenterology 1999;117:1234-7. PubMed
    2. 53506. Teschke, R., Glass, X., and Schulze, J. Herbal hepatotoxicity by Greater Celandine (Chelidonium majus): causality assessment of 22 spontaneous reports. Regul.Toxicol.Pharmacol. 2011;61(3):282-291. PubMed
    3. 94282. Pantano F, Mannocchi G, Marinelli E, Gentili S, Graziano S, Busardò FP, di Luca NM. Hepatotoxicity induced by greater celandine (Chelidonium majus L.): a review of the literature. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2017 Mar;21(1 Suppl):46-52.

    Azithromycin

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

  • A low platelet count / Kidney problems Worth acting on Additional detail

    Greater Celandine

    “Orally, greater celandine extract has caused a single case of hemolytic anemia. This resulted in thrombocytopenia, destruction of liver cells, and kidney failure, requiring treatment.

    Intravenously, a derivative of the greater celandine constituent chelidonine (Ukrain) can cause bleeding.”

    Greater Celandine · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in anemia.

    3 sources cited
    1. 53508. Pinto, Garcia, V, Vicente, P. R., Barez, A., Soto, I., Candas, M. A., and Coma, A. [Hemolytic anemia induced by Chelidonium majus. Clinical case]. Sangre (Barc.) 1990;35(5):401-403.
    2. 13409. Ernst E, Schmidt K. Ukrain - a new cancer cure? A systematic review of randomised clinical trials. BMC Cancer 2005;5:69. PubMed
    3. 53460. Gansauge, F., Ramadani, M., Pressmar, J., Gansauge, S., Muehling, B., Stecker, K., Cammerer, G., Leder, G., and Beger, H. G. NSC-631570 (Ukrain) in the palliative treatment of pancreatic cancer. Results of a phase II trial. Langenbecks Arch.Surg. 2002;38 PubMed

    Azithromycin

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

  • Anemia Worth acting on Additional detail

    Greater Celandine

    “Orally, greater celandine has been implicated in dozens of cases of liver damage. Greater celandine can also cause rash. Greater celandine extract has caused a single case of hemolytic anemia.

    Topically, greater celandine can cause contact dermatitis.

    Intravenously, a derivative of the greater celandine constituent chelidonine (Ukrain) can cause gastrointestinal symptoms, increased body temperature, general burning s…”

    Greater Celandine · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in anemia.

    6 sources cited
    1. 363. Benninger J, Schneider HT, Schuppan D, et al. Acute hepatitis induced by greater celandine (Chelidonium majus). Gastroenterology 1999;117:1234-7. PubMed
    2. 13410. Stickel F, Poschl G, Seitz HK, et al. Acute hepatitis induced by Greater Celandine (Chelidonium majus). Scand J Gastroenterol 2003;38:565-8.
    3. 16839. Moro PA, Cassetti F, Giugliano G, et al. Hepatitis from greater celandine (Chelidonium majus L.): Review of literature and report of a new case. J Ethnopharmacol 2009;124:328-32. PubMed
    4. 41412. Stickel, F., Seitz, H. K., Hahn, E. G., and Schuppan, D. [Liver toxicity of drugs of plant origin]. Z.Gastroenterol. 2001;39(3):225-227.
    5. 53502. Hardeman, E., Van, Overbeke L., Ilegems, S., and Ferrante, M. Acute hepatitis induced by greater celandine (Chelidonium majus). Acta Gastroenterol.Belg. 2008;71(2):281-282.
    6. 53504. Gilca, M., Gaman, L., Panait, E., Stoian, I., and Atanasiu, V. Chelidonium majus--an integrative review: traditional knowledge versus modern findings. Forsch.Komplementmed. 2010;17(5):241-248. PubMed

    Azithromycin

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

  • Liver problems Worth acting on Additional detail

    Greater Celandine

    Recorded for Greater Celandine in the same Natural Medicines adverse-effect record shown under Anemia above.

    Azithromycin

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

  • Diarrhea / Nausea reported in 5.8% of FDA reports for Azithromycin Additional detail

    Greater Celandine

    “Intravenously, a derivative of the greater celandine constituent chelidonine (Ukrain) can cause gastrointestinal symptoms, including obstipation, nausea, and diarrhea.”

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

    2 sources cited
    1. 13409. Ernst E, Schmidt K. Ukrain - a new cancer cure? A systematic review of randomised clinical trials. BMC Cancer 2005;5:69. PubMed
    2. 53460. Gansauge, F., Ramadani, M., Pressmar, J., Gansauge, S., Muehling, B., Stecker, K., Cammerer, G., Leder, G., and Beger, H. G. NSC-631570 (Ukrain) in the palliative treatment of pancreatic cancer. Results of a phase II trial. Langenbecks Arch.Surg. 2002;38 PubMed

    Azithromycin

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

  • A skin rash Additional detail

    Greater Celandine

    “Orally, greater celandine can cause rash. Topically, greater celandine can cause contact dermatitis.”

    Greater Celandine · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in dermatitis.

    2 sources cited
    1. 13410. Stickel F, Poschl G, Seitz HK, et al. Acute hepatitis induced by Greater Celandine (Chelidonium majus). Scand J Gastroenterol 2003;38:565-8.
    2. 13411. Etxenagusia MA, Anda M, Gonzalez-Mahave I, et al. Contact dermatitis from Chelidonium majus (greater celandine). Contact Dermatitis 2000;43:47.

    Azithromycin

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

Reported for Greater Celandine but not commonly for Azithromycin: bleeding or bruising.

Effects for Azithromycin come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Greater Celandine come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Where a percentage is shown, it is the share of 59,712 voluntary FDA FAERS reports for Azithromycin 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.

From our Q&A

Questions About Greater Celandine or Azithromycin

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

This page covers Greater Celandine only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Azithromycin page lists 92 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), American Hellebore (major), Arsenic (major), Cesium (major) and Ephedra (major).

By severity: 8 major · 71 moderate · 13 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Azithromycin page

“A five-day Z-Pak for a sinus or chest infection seems too brief to fuss over, but azithromycin (Zithromax, Zmax) deserves genuine caution around supplements, and the eight major-rated entries on this list are the ones to understand first. Most of those involve the heart.”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Azithromycin interaction page

One more smart check

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

We hold 11 real supplement products containing Greater Celandine, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Greater Celandine. Even though Greater Celandine itself has no known interaction with Azithromycin, 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 Greater Celandine and Azithromycin 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 Greater Celandine
Steady interest

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

29 days ago today
Medication Azithromycin
Top 5%

#60 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 Greater Celandine reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 13, 2026. The Greater Celandine and Azithromycin 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 Greater Celandine

What is Greater Celandine?

Greater Celandine
  • Digestive and gallbladder complaints
  • Stomach cramps and bloating
  • Topical use for warts and skin growths
  • Liver and gallbladder 'cleansing'
  • Mild pain relief

Greater celandine is a traditional herb most often promoted for digestive and gallbladder complaints, but solid human evidence for any use is lacking. More importantly, it has been linked to serious and sometimes severe liver injury, so most experts advise against taking it by mouth. If you are considering it, talk with your pharmacist or doctor first.

Chelidonium majus · Papaveraceae · Aerial parts (leaves, stems, flowers), root, and the yellow-orange latex (sap) · Capsules, tinctures, dried herb for tea, liquid extracts, and topical preparations

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

Greater Celandine: dosing

There is no well-established, standardized safe dose for greater celandine. Products vary widely in how they are made and how much alkaloid they contain, which makes consistent dosing difficult.Given the documented risk of liver injury, we do not recommend a specific dose. If you choose to use a product despite these concerns, follow the directions on the label and do not exceed them.

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

Read the full Greater Celandine monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Azithromycin

What Is Azithromycin Used For?

Brand names: Zithromax, Zmax, Azasite

  • Azithromycin is used to treat certain bacterial infections, such as bronchitis; pneumonia; sexually transmitted diseases (STD); and infections of the ears, lungs, sinuses, skin, throat, and reproductive organs. Azithromycin also is used to treat or prevent disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection [a type of lung infection that often affects people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)]. Azithromycin is in a class of medications called macrolide antibiotics. It works by stopping the growth of bacteria.

  • Antibiotics such as azithromycin will not work for colds, flu, or other viral infections. Using antibiotics when they are not needed increases your risk of getting an infection later that resists antibiotic treatment.

Most-Reported Side Effects for Azithromycin

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (59,712 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Dyspnea 4,651 reports
Nausea 3,461 reports
Pneumonia 3,225 reports
Cough 3,120 reports
Drug hypersensitivity 2,991 reports
See full Azithromycin drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Greater Celandine

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

0Major
625Moderate
0Minor
2,204No known interaction
625 Moderate 2,204 No interaction
Moderate

625 interactions

Showing 60 of 625 moderate interactions — see all 625 on the Greater Celandine page.

No interaction 2,204 drugs checked — show the list

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

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,204 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Greater Celandine list.

See the full Greater Celandine interactions page
See every supplement checked against Azithromycin, ranked by severity
Evidence & sources

Greater Celandine References

The 25 references that drive our Greater Celandine 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. Benninger J, Schneider HT, Schuppan D, et al. Acute hepatitis induced by greater celandine (Chelidonium majus). Gastroenterology 1999;117:1234-7. PubMed
  2. Holtmann G, Madisch A, Juergen H, et al. A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial on the effects of an herbal preparation in patients with functional dyspepsia [Abstract]. Ann Mtg Digestive Disease Week 1999 May.
  3. Madisch A, Holtmann G, Mayr G, et al. Treatment of functional dyspepsia with a herbal preparation. A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial. Digestion 2004;69:45-52. PubMed
  4. Melzer J, Rosch W, Reichling J, et al. Meta-analysis: phytotherapy of functional dyspepsia with the herbal drug preparation STW 5 (Iberogast). Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2004;20:1279-87. PubMed
  5. Ernst E, Schmidt K. Ukrain - a new cancer cure? A systematic review of randomised clinical trials. BMC Cancer 2005;5:69. PubMed
  6. Stickel F, Poschl G, Seitz HK, et al. Acute hepatitis induced by Greater Celandine (Chelidonium majus). Scand J Gastroenterol 2003;38:565-8.
  7. Etxenagusia MA, Anda M, Gonzalez-Mahave I, et al. Contact dermatitis from Chelidonium majus (greater celandine). Contact Dermatitis 2000;43:47.
  8. Panzer A, Joubert AM, Bianchi PC, Seegers JC. The antimitotic effects of Ukrain, a Chelidonium majus alkaloid derivative, are reversible in vitro. Cancer Lett 2000;150:85-92. PubMed
  9. Moro PA, Cassetti F, Giugliano G, et al. Hepatitis from greater celandine (Chelidonium majus L.): Review of literature and report of a new case. J Ethnopharmacol 2009;124:328-32. PubMed
  10. Stickel, F., Seitz, H. K., Hahn, E. G., and Schuppan, D. [Liver toxicity of drugs of plant origin]. Z.Gastroenterol. 2001;39(3):225-227.
  11. Gansauge, F., Ramadani, M., Pressmar, J., Gansauge, S., Muehling, B., Stecker, K., Cammerer, G., Leder, G., and Beger, H. G. NSC-631570 (Ukrain) in the palliative treatment of pancreatic cancer. Results of a phase II trial. Langenbecks Arch.Surg. 2002;38 PubMed
  12. Nowicky, J. W., Manolakis, G., Meijer, D., Vatanasapt, V., and Brzosko, W. J. Ukrain both as an anti cancer and immunoregulatory agent. Drugs Exp.Clin Res 1992;18 Suppl:51-54.
  13. Staniszewski, A., Slesak, B., Kolodziej, J., Harlozinska-Szmyrka, A., and Nowicky, J. W. Lymphocyte subsets in patients with lung cancer treated with thiophosphoric acid alkaloid derivatives from Chelidonium majus L. (Ukrain). Drugs Exp.Clin Res 1992;18
  14. Nowicky, J. W., Staniszewski, A., Zbroja-Sontag, W., Slesak, B., Nowicky, W., and Hiesmayr, W. Evaluation of thiophosphoric acid alkaloid derivatives from Chelidonium majus L. ("Ukrain") as an immunostimulant in patients with various carcinomas. Drugs Ex
  15. Gansauge, F., Ramadani, M., Schwarz, M., Beger, H. G., Lotspeich, E., and Poch, B. The clinical efficacy of adjuvant systemic chemotherapy with gemcitabine and NSC-631570 in advanced pancreatic cancer. Hepatogastroenterology 2007;54(75):917-920.

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 Greater Celandine and Azithromycin Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Greater Celandine with Azithromycin?
We do not list a known interaction between Greater Celandine and Azithromycin. 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 Greater Celandine and Azithromycin have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to 8 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 Greater Celandine and Azithromycin combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Azithromycin is filed under 7 classifications, and Greater Celandine has documented interactions with 4 drug classes — none of Azithromycin'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 Greater Celandine interact with any other medications?
Yes. Greater Celandine has 625 documented drug interactions in our database — Azithromycin 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 Azithromycin interact with any supplements?
Yes. Azithromycin has documented interactions with 92 supplements in our database — Greater Celandine is not one of them. The Azithromycin 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

Greater Celandine monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Azithromycin drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Azithromycin supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Azithromycin, 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 25 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Azithromycin and Greater Celandine?

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.