Drug & supplement interaction

Kousso + Phenylephrine

Phenylephrine brand names: Gilchew, AH Chew D, Gilchew IR, Sudafed PE, Biorphen.

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 Kousso and Phenylephrine 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

Kousso and Phenylephrine

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 Phenylephrine and Kousso 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.

Kousso safety at a glance

Kousso overall Use caution Traditionally used as a worm treatment but can cause nausea, vomiting, and other side effects; modern safety data are limited.
Pregnancy Unsafe When used orally due to abortifacient activity. Read the full pregnancy detail
Breastfeeding Unsafe When used orally due to its potential for toxicity. 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 Phenylephrine and Kousso? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Phenylephrine

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Phenylephrine is filed under 5 classifications — including alpha-adrenergic agonists, stimulant drugs, serotonergic drugs. Kousso has documented interactions with 1 drug class — the most serious being antidiabetes drugs (moderate) — and none of Phenylephrine’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

Kousso Does Interact With Other Medications

Kousso has 86 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Phenylephrine isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 86 No known interaction 2,744 (incl. Phenylephrine)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Kousso

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

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Kousso and Phenylephrine 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.

  • Headache reported in 7.8% of FDA reports for Phenylephrine Additional detail

    Kousso

    “Orally, kousso can cause gastrointestinal irritation, resulting in salivation, nausea, and diarrhea. It can also cause headache and general weakness (18). At high doses, vision disorders, spasms, and syncope can occur, progressing to acidosis, and shock (18).”

    Kousso · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in cluster headache.

    1 source cited
    1. 18. Gruenwald J, Brendler T, Jaenicke C. PDR for Herbal Medicines. 1st ed. Montvale, NJ: Medical Economics Company, Inc., 1998.

    “Orally, kousso can cause headache and general weakness (18). At high doses, kousso can cause spasms (18).”

    Kousso · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in cluster headache.

    1 source cited
    1. 18. Gruenwald J, Brendler T, Jaenicke C. PDR for Herbal Medicines. 1st ed. Montvale, NJ: Medical Economics Company, Inc., 1998.

    Phenylephrine

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

  • Nausea reported in 7.6% of FDA reports for Phenylephrine Additional detail

    Kousso

    “Orally, kousso can cause gastrointestinal irritation, resulting in salivation, nausea, and diarrhea (18).”

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

    1 source cited
    1. 18. Gruenwald J, Brendler T, Jaenicke C. PDR for Herbal Medicines. 1st ed. Montvale, NJ: Medical Economics Company, Inc., 1998.

    Phenylephrine

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

Reported for Kousso but not commonly for Phenylephrine: diarrhea and fainting.

Effects for Phenylephrine come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Kousso come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Where a percentage is shown, it is the share of 221,388 voluntary FDA FAERS reports for Phenylephrine 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

Kousso in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Pregnancy Unsafe

When used orally due to abortifacient activity.

Lactation Unsafe

When used orally due to its potential for toxicity.

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 Kousso or Phenylephrine

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

This page covers Kousso only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Phenylephrine page lists 81 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Ephedra (major), Lithium (major), Peyote (major) and Rauvolfia Vomitoria (major).

By severity: 6 major · 60 moderate · 15 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Phenylephrine page

“If you take phenylephrine (Sudafed PE, Biorphen) for congestion, treat this list as one that needs real attention, since six of its 81 entries carry a major rating. Phenylephrine tightens blood vessels to clear your nose, and more than half of the interactions here come from stimulant ingredients, ephedra above all, that can push blood…”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Phenylephrine interaction page

How much people look this up

Where Kousso and Phenylephrine 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 Kousso
Steady interest

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

29 days ago today
Medication Phenylephrine
Top 25%

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

About Kousso

What is Kousso?

  • Tapeworm infection (traditional anthelmintic)
  • Other intestinal worms
  • Traditional digestive remedies

Kousso is the dried flower of the African tree Hagenia abyssinica, used traditionally—especially in Ethiopia—to expel tapeworms. It was once listed in older pharmacopeias as a worm treatment, but it has largely been replaced by safer, more reliable modern medicines and can cause significant side effects. There is no good modern evidence supporting its use, so talk to a pharmacist or doctor before considering it.

Hagenia abyssinica · Rosaceae · Dried female flowers · Dried flower powder, infusion (tea), and traditional liquid preparations

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

Kousso: dosing

There is no well-established, standardized modern dose for kousso. Traditional preparations varied widely and were not measured in the careful way modern medicines are.Because of the lack of standardization and the risk of side effects, we cannot recommend a specific amount.

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

Read the full Kousso monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Phenylephrine

What Is Phenylephrine Used For?

Brand names: Gilchew, AH Chew D, Gilchew IR, Sudafed PE, Biorphen

Phenylephrine is used in several different products, and each one has its own use.

Injection (IV): raises blood pressure in adults with clinically important hypotension (low blood pressure) caused mainly by widened blood vessels. Some injections are labeled for anesthesia only. Others are labeled for anesthesia and septic shock.

Eye drops: Phenylephrine Hydrochloride Ophthalmic Solution is used to dilate the pupil.

Nasal products: temporarily relieve nasal and sinus congestion from the common cold, hay fever or other upper respiratory allergies.

Rectal suppositories: relieve itching, burning and discomfort from hemorrhoids and temporarily shrink hemorrhoidal tissue.

Most-Reported Side Effects for Phenylephrine

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (221,388 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Fatigue 20,609 reports
Headache 17,301 reports
Nausea 16,925 reports
Diarrhea 14,221 reports
Dyspnea 13,719 reports
See full Phenylephrine drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Kousso

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

0Major
86Moderate
0Minor
2,743No known interaction
86 Moderate 2,743 No interaction
Moderate

86 interactions

Showing 60 of 86 moderate interactions — see all 86 on the Kousso page.

No interaction 2,743 drugs checked — show the list

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

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,743 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Kousso list.

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

Kousso References

The 4 references that drive our Kousso 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. Gruenwald J, Brendler T, Jaenicke C. PDR for Herbal Medicines. 1st ed. Montvale, NJ: Medical Economics Company, Inc., 1998.
  2. Brinker F. Herb Contraindications and Drug Interactions. 2nd ed. Sandy, OR: Eclectic Medical Publications, 1998.
  3. Thomsen H, Reider K, Franke K, et al. Characterization of constituents and anthelmintic properties of Hagenia abyssinica. Sci Pharm 2012;80(2):433-46. PubMed
  4. Kifle ZD, Yesuf JS, Atnafie SA. Evaluation of in vitro and in vivo Anti-Diabetic, Anti-Hyperlipidemic and Anti-Oxidant Activity of Flower Crude Extract and Solvent Fractions of Hagenia Abyssinica (Rosaceae). J Exp Pharmacol. 2020 Jun 9;12:151-167.

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 Kousso and Phenylephrine Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Kousso with Phenylephrine?
We do not list a known interaction between Kousso and Phenylephrine. 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 Kousso and Phenylephrine have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to 2 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 Kousso and Phenylephrine combination checked?
Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Phenylephrine is filed under 5 classifications, and Kousso has documented interactions with 1 drug class — none of Phenylephrine'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 Kousso interact with any other medications?
Yes. Kousso has 86 documented drug interactions in our database — Phenylephrine 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 Phenylephrine interact with any supplements?
Yes. Phenylephrine has documented interactions with 81 supplements in our database — Kousso is not one of them. The Phenylephrine 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

Kousso monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Phenylephrine drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Phenylephrine supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Phenylephrine, 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 4 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Phenylephrine and Kousso?

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.