Drug & supplement interaction

Job's Tears + Benzonatate

Benzonatate brand names: Tessalon, Tessalon Perles.

No Known Interaction

Medically reviewed by Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 13, 2026

The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Job's Tears and Benzonatate 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.

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Interaction report

Job's Tears and Benzonatate

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 Benzonatate and Job's Tears 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.

Job's Tears safety at a glance

Job's Tears overall Use caution Generally safe as a cooked food, but concentrated supplement evidence is limited.

Pregnancy Avoid Traditionally avoided in pregnancy and human safety data are lacking.

Breastfeeding Use caution Not enough reliable data; use only ordinary food amounts and check with a clinician.

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

Still wondering about combining Benzonatate and Job's Tears? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›

How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Benzonatate

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Benzonatate is filed under a single classification — oral drugs. Job's Tears has documented interactions with 5 drug classes — the most serious being antidiabetes drugs (moderate), chlorzoxazone (parafon forte, paraflex) (moderate) and dextromethorphan (robitussin dm, others) (moderate) — and none of Benzonatate’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

Job's Tears Does Interact With Other Medications

Job's Tears has 128 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Benzonatate isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 128 No known interaction 2,702 (incl. Benzonatate)

Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Job's Tears

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Job's Tears. Pick one to open its full report.

What to actually watch for

What Benzonatate’s Own FDA Label Lists

This is not an interaction — none of it involves Job's Tears. These are the most notable effects listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of Benzonatate’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 take both. 4 of them are worth acting on rather than waiting out — marked below.

Hallucinations Worth acting on
Wheezing Worth acting on
Confusion Worth acting on
An allergic reaction Worth acting on
A stuffy or runny nose
Numbness or tingling
Drowsiness
Stomach upset
Constipation
Itching

Showing the 10 most notable of 13 label-listed effects — ranked by how unusual each one is across medicines generally, with serious effects weighted up.

From the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Benzonatate. Read the label on DailyMed › Job's Tears’s licensed record lists no adverse effects our clinical vocabulary could match, so there is no Job's Tears side to compare — that is a limit of the record, not a statement that Job's Tears has no side effects.

From our Q&A

Questions About Job's Tears or Benzonatate

These are real questions from readers, answered by the pharmacists at HelloPharmacist — written by a person, not generated from a database. Each one covers Job's Tears or Benzonatate, 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 Benzonatate

This page covers Job's Tears only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Benzonatate 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 Benzonatate page

“If you take benzonatate (Tessalon) for cough, give this page real attention, starting with activated charcoal. It is the only major-rated entry of the 17 on file, and charcoal can soak up the drug in your gut before it ever reaches your bloodstream.”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Benzonatate interaction page

One more smart check

Taking Job's Tears as Part of a Dietary Supplement Product? Check It for Interactions

We hold 111 real supplement products containing Job's Tears, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Job's Tears. Even though Job's Tears itself has no known interaction with Benzonatate, 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 Job's Tears and Benzonatate 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 Job's Tears

Steady interest

#1,154 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Medication Benzonatate

Top half

#772 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 Job's Tears reference on this page ↓
Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 13, 2026. The Job's Tears and Benzonatate records this page draws on were last updated July 11, 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 Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS.

Supplement

About Job's Tears

What is Job's Tears?

Digestive support
Skin health and smoothness
Mild swelling or water retention
General nourishing food/tonic
Joint discomfort (traditional use)

Job's Tears is a grain-like seed long used as a food and in traditional medicine, especially in East Asia. While it is generally safe as a food and is being studied for possible effects on metabolism, inflammation, and immunity, strong human evidence for its health claims is limited. Talk with your pharmacist or doctor before using concentrated supplements, especially during pregnancy.

Coix lacryma-jobi · Poaceae · Seeds (grain/kernel), sometimes root · Whole grain, cooked food, tea, powder, capsules, flour

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

Job's Tears: dosing

There is no established standardized dose for Job's Tears as a supplement. As a food, it is simply cooked and eaten like other whole grains.For capsules, powders, or teas, follow the directions on the product label, since strengths vary widely between products.

From our Job's Tears monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Job's Tears monograph & all interactions

Medication

About Benzonatate

What Is Benzonatate Used For?

Brand names: Tessalon, Tessalon Perles

Benzonatate capsules are used for the symptomatic relief of cough. This applies to all benzonatate capsule products — including Benzonatate 100 mg and Benzonatate 200 mg formulations taken by mouth.

It is intended to reduce the urge to cough when coughing is disruptive or uncomfortable. It does not treat the underlying cause of the cough.

See full Benzonatate drug information

Keep checking

Other Drugs & Job's Tears

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

0Major

128Moderate

0Minor

2,701No known interaction

128 Moderate 2,701 No interaction

Moderate

128 interactions

Showing 60 of 128 moderate interactions — see all 128 on the Job's Tears page.

No interaction 2,701 drugs checked — show the list

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

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,701 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Job's Tears list.

See the full Job's Tears interactions page

See every supplement checked against Benzonatate, ranked by severity

Evidence & sources

Job's Tears References

The 3 references that drive our Job's Tears 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.

Chiang W, Cheng C, Chiang M, Chung KT. Effects of dehulled adlay on the culture count of some microbiota and their metabolism in the gastrointestinal tract of rats. J Agric Food Chem 2000;48:829-32. PubMed
Yu YM, Chang WC, Liu CS, Tsai CM. Effect of young barley leaf extract and adlay on plasma lipids and LDL oxidation in hyperlipidemic smokers. Biol Pharm Bull 2004;27:802-5. PubMed
Yao HT, Lin JH, Liu YT, Li ML, Chiang W. Food-Drug Interaction between the Adlay Bran Oil and Drugs in Rats. Nutrients 2019;11(10):2473. PubMed

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 Job's Tears and Benzonatate Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Job's Tears with Benzonatate?

We do not list a known interaction between Job's Tears and Benzonatate. 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.

How was the Job's Tears and Benzonatate combination checked?

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Benzonatate is filed under 1 classification, and Job's Tears has documented interactions with 5 drug classes — none of Benzonatate'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 Job's Tears interact with any other medications?

Yes. Job's Tears has 128 documented drug interactions in our database — Benzonatate 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 Benzonatate interact with any supplements?

Yes. Benzonatate has documented interactions with 17 supplements in our database — Job's Tears is not one of them. The Benzonatate 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

Job's Tears monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Benzonatate drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Benzonatate supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Benzonatate, 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 3 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Benzonatate and Job's Tears?

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.