Drug & supplement interaction

Thunder God Vine + Levodopa

Levodopa brand names: Larodopa, Inbrija.

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 Thunder God Vine and Levodopa 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

Thunder God Vine and Levodopa

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 Levodopa and Thunder God Vine 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.

Thunder God Vine safety at a glance

Thunder God Vine overall Use caution Can be toxic and cause serious harm if prepared or dosed incorrectly; use only under professional guidance.

Pregnancy Likely Unsafe When used orally. Thunder god vine is thought to be teratogenic; avoid using. Read the full pregnancy detail

Breastfeeding Avoid Avoid while breastfeeding due to lack of safety data and potential toxicity.

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 Levodopa and Thunder God Vine? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›

How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Levodopa

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Levodopa is filed under 5 classifications — including dopamine agonists, seizure threshold lowering drugs, oral drugs. Thunder God Vine has documented interactions with 4 drug classes — the most serious being cytochrome p450 1a2 (cyp1a2) substrates (moderate), cytochrome p450 3a4 (cyp3a4) inhibitors (moderate) and cytochrome p450 3a4 (cyp3a4) substrates (moderate) — and none of Levodopa’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

Thunder God Vine Does Interact With Other Medications

Thunder God Vine has 849 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Levodopa isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 849 No known interaction 1,981 (incl. Levodopa)

Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Thunder God Vine

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

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Thunder God Vine and Levodopa 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. 2 of them are worth acting on rather than waiting out — marked below.

Anemia Worth acting on Additional detail
Thunder God Vine
“Orally, hyperkalemia has occurred in patients with diabetes taking thunder god vine. However, it is unclear whether this was related to the thunder god vine, diabetes, or conventional medications. Deaths related to aplastic anemia associated with the use of non-standardized forms of thunder god vine have been reported.”

Thunder God Vine · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in anemia.
3 sources cited

97685. Ge Y, Xie H, Li S, et al. Treatment of diabetic nephropathy with Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F extract: a prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial. J Transl Med. 2013;11:134. PubMed

97684. Chen Y, Gong Z, Chen X, et al. Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (a traditional Chinese medicine) for primary nephrotic syndrome. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013;(8):CD008568.

112872. Zhang W, Liu X, Xia C, et al. Case report: A rare case of death due to end-stage renal disease caused by Tripterygium wilfordii-induced myelosuppression. Front Med (Lausanne) 2022;9:1036422. PubMed
Levodopa

Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Levodopa. Read the label on DailyMed ›
A higher chance of infection Worth acting on Additional detail

Thunder God Vine

Recorded for Thunder God Vine in the same Natural Medicines adverse-effect record shown under Anemia above.

Levodopa

Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Levodopa. Read the label on DailyMed ›
Vomiting Additional detail
Thunder God Vine
“Orally, thunder god vine can cause gastrointestinal upset, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. A meta-analysis of Chinese studies found that gastrointestinal upset was reported in around 14% of patients taking thunder god vine extract.”

Thunder God Vine · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in diarrhea.
6 sources cited

10675. Tao X, Younger J, Fan FZ, et al. Benefit of an extract of Tripterygium Wilfordii Hook F in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Arthritis Rheum 2002;46:1735-43..

10676. Tao X, Cush JJ, Garret M, Lipsky PE. A phase I study of ethyl acetate extract of the chinese antirheumatic herb Tripterygium wilfordii hook F in rheumatoid arthritis. J Rheumatol 2001;28:2160-7..

77869. Li, L. F. Treatment of pyoderma gangrenosum with oral Tripterygium wilfordii multiglycoside. J Dermatol. 2000;27(7):478-481.

97681. Liu S, Li X, Li H, Liang Q, Chen J, Chen J. Comparison of Tripterygium wilfordii multiglycosides and tacrolimus in the treatment of idiopathic membranous nephropathy: a prospective cohort study. BMC Nephrol. 2015;16:200. PubMed

97682. Lv QW, Zhang W, Shi Q, et al. Comparison of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F with methotrexate in the treatment of active rheumatoid arthritis (TRIFRA): a randomised, controlled clinical trial. Ann Rheum Dis. 2015;74(6):1078-86.

97683. Wu C, Jin HZ, Shu D, et al. Efficacy and safety of Tripterygium wilfordii hook F versus acitretin in moderate to severe psoriasis vulgaris: a randomized clinical trial. Chin Med J (Engl). 2015;128(4):443-9. PubMed
Levodopa

Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Levodopa. Read the label on DailyMed ›
Headache Additional detail
Thunder God Vine
“Orally, thunder god vine can cause dizziness and headache.”

Thunder God Vine · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in cluster headache.
2 sources cited

10675. Tao X, Younger J, Fan FZ, et al. Benefit of an extract of Tripterygium Wilfordii Hook F in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Arthritis Rheum 2002;46:1735-43..

106278. Guo YL, Gao F, Dong TW, et al. Meta-Analysis of clinical efficacy and safety of Tripterygium wilfordii polyglycosides tablets in the treatment of chronic kidney disease. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2021;2021:6640594. PubMed
Levodopa

Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Levodopa. Read the label on DailyMed ›
Nausea Additional detail

Thunder God Vine

Recorded for Thunder God Vine in the same Natural Medicines adverse-effect record shown under Anemia above.

Levodopa

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

Reported for Thunder God Vine but not commonly for Levodopa: changes to your period, stomach upset, kidney problems and erection problems.

Effects for Levodopa come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Thunder God Vine 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

Thunder God Vine in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Pregnancy Likely Unsafe

When used orally. Thunder god vine is thought to be teratogenic; avoid using.

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

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Levodopa

This page covers Thunder God Vine only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Levodopa page lists 41 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Branched-chain Amino Acids (bcaa) (major), Cowhage (major), Indian Snakeroot (major) and Magnesium (major).

By severity: 8 major · 22 moderate · 11 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Levodopa page

“Parkinson symptoms return fast when levodopa (Larodopa, Inbrija) stops reaching the brain, and most of the 41 supplements on this page can make that happen, so treat these combinations with genuine care. Protein and amino acid supplements compete with levodopa for transport into the brain, while everyday minerals like magnesium and iro…”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Levodopa interaction page

How much people look this up

Where Thunder God Vine and Levodopa 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 Thunder God Vine

Steady interest

#1,029 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Medication Levodopa

Top 25%

#317 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 Thunder God Vine reference on this page ↓
Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 13, 2026. The Thunder God Vine and Levodopa 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 Thunder God Vine

What is Thunder God Vine?

Rheumatoid arthritis
Lupus and autoimmune conditions
Inflammation
Skin conditions like psoriasis
Immune-related disorders

Thunder God Vine is a Chinese herb studied mainly for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune conditions, with some promising but limited evidence. It can be toxic if prepared or dosed improperly, and may cause serious side effects, so it should only be used under medical supervision. Avoid it during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Tripterygium wilfordii · Celastraceae · Root (the inner root and root bark), prepared to remove toxic outer layers · Capsules, tablets, extracts, and topical preparations (often standardized root extracts)

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

Thunder God Vine: dosing

There is no single agreed-upon safe dose for Thunder God Vine, and products differ a lot in how they are made and how strong they are. Because the herb can be toxic, the difference between a helpful amount and a harmful amount may be small.If a healthcare provider recommends it, follow the product label and your provider's directions exactly. Do not use homemade preparations or raw plant material.

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

Read the full Thunder God Vine monograph & all interactions

Medication

About Levodopa Oral Inhalation

What Is Levodopa Oral Inhalation Used For?

Brand names: Larodopa, Inbrija

Inbrija is used to treat OFF episodes in adults with Parkinson's disease. An OFF episode is when your regular oral carbidopa/levodopa medication temporarily stops working well enough, causing Parkinson's symptoms — such as stiffness, slowness, or tremor — to return.

Inbrija is used as needed when OFF symptoms start to come back. It is not a replacement for your regular oral carbidopa/levodopa; it works alongside it.

Most-Reported Side Effects for Levodopa

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (0 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Fall 5,276 reports

Hallucination 4,813 reports

Tremor 3,805 reports

Dyskinesia 3,626 reports

Parkinson^s disease 3,449 reports

See full Levodopa Oral Inhalation drug information

Keep checking

Other Drugs & Thunder God Vine

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

0Major

849Moderate

0Minor

1,980No known interaction

849 Moderate 1,980 No interaction

Moderate

849 interactions

Showing 60 of 849 moderate interactions — see all 849 on the Thunder God Vine page.

No interaction 1,980 drugs checked — show the list

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

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 1,980 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Thunder God Vine list.

See the full Thunder God Vine interactions page

See every supplement checked against Levodopa, ranked by severity

Evidence & sources

Thunder God Vine References

The 33 references that drive our Thunder God Vine 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.

Tao XL, Sun Y, Dong Y, et al. A prospective, controlled, double-blind, cross-over study of tripterygium wilfodii hook F in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Chin Med J 1989;102:327-32.
Takei A, Nagashima G, Suzuki R, et al. Meningoencephalocele associated with Tripterygium wilfordii treatment. Pediatr Neurosurg 1997;27:45-8. PubMed
Zhen QS, Ye X, Wei ZJ. Recent progress in research on Tripterygium: a male antifertility plant. Contraception 1995;51:121-9.. PubMed
Tao X, Younger J, Fan FZ, et al. Benefit of an extract of Tripterygium Wilfordii Hook F in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Arthritis Rheum 2002;46:1735-43..
Tao X, Cush JJ, Garret M, Lipsky PE. A phase I study of ethyl acetate extract of the chinese antirheumatic herb Tripterygium wilfordii hook F in rheumatoid arthritis. J Rheumatol 2001;28:2160-7..
Jiang L, Zhao N, Ni L. Retrospective study of adverse events in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with second-line drugs. Zhonghua Liu Xing Bing Xue Za Zhi 2002;23:213-7..
Qian SZ, Hu YZ, Wang SM, et al. Effects of Tripterygium hypoglaucum (Levl.) Hutch on male fertility. Adv Contracept 1988;4:307-10..
Li, L. F. Treatment of pyoderma gangrenosum with oral Tripterygium wilfordii multiglycoside. J Dermatol. 2000;27(7):478-481.
Huang, H. H., Yen, D. H., Wu, M. L., Deng, J. F., Huang, C. I., and Lee, C. H. Acute Erycibe henryi Prain ("Ting Kung Teng") poisoning. Clin.Toxicol.(Phila) 2006;44(1):71-75. PubMed
Tao, X., Sun, Y., and Zhang, N. [Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with low doses of multi-glycosides of Tripterygium wilfordii]. Zhong.Xi.Yi.Jie.He.Za Zhi. 1990;10(5):289-2.
Wang, B. X. and Yuan, Z. Z. [A tablet of Tripterygium wilfordii in treating lupus erythematosus]. Zhong.Xi.Yi.Jie.He.Za Zhi. 1989;9(7):407-8, 389.
Jia, T. H., Sun, H. C., Wang, X. X., Xiu, H. M., Ding, W. D., Hao, X. D., Wu, L., Wang, G. X., and Lei, J. Z. Ultrastructural observation on macrophage-lymphocyte interactions in semen from Tripterygium wilfordii Hook.f. takers. Chin Med J (Engl.) 1994;1
Wang Z, Yu C, Zhou LN, Chen X. Effects of Tripterygium wilfordii induction therapy to IgA nephropathy patients with heavy proteinuria. Biol Pharm Bull. 2017;40(11):1833-1838.
Zhang Q, Chen X, Chen S, Liu Z, Wan R, Li J. Fatal honey poisoning caused by Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F in southwest China: A case series. Wilderness Environ Med. 2016;27(2):271-3.
Liu S, Li X, Li H, Liang Q, Chen J, Chen J. Comparison of Tripterygium wilfordii multiglycosides and tacrolimus in the treatment of idiopathic membranous nephropathy: a prospective cohort study. BMC Nephrol. 2015;16:200. PubMed
Lv QW, Zhang W, Shi Q, et al. Comparison of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F with methotrexate in the treatment of active rheumatoid arthritis (TRIFRA): a randomised, controlled clinical trial. Ann Rheum Dis. 2015;74(6):1078-86.
Wu C, Jin HZ, Shu D, et al. Efficacy and safety of Tripterygium wilfordii hook F versus acitretin in moderate to severe psoriasis vulgaris: a randomized clinical trial. Chin Med J (Engl). 2015;128(4):443-9. PubMed
Chen Y, Gong Z, Chen X, et al. Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (a traditional Chinese medicine) for primary nephrotic syndrome. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013;(8):CD008568.
Ge Y, Xie H, Li S, et al. Treatment of diabetic nephropathy with Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F extract: a prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial. J Transl Med. 2013;11:134. PubMed
Ren J, Wu X, Liao N, et al. Prevention of postoperative recurrence of Crohn's disease: Tripterygium wilfordii polyglycoside versus mesalazine. J Int Med Res. 2013;41(1):176-87.
Chen YZ, Gao Q, Zhao XZ, et al. Meta-analysis of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F in the immunosuppressive treatment of IgA nephropathy. Intern Med. 2010;49(19):2049-55. PubMed
Sun J, Shen X, Dong J, et al. Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F as maintenance treatment for Crohn's disease. Am J Med Sci. 2015;350(5):345-51. PubMed
Zhu W, Li Y, Gong J, et al. Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f. versus azathioprine for prevention of postoperative recurrence in patients with Crohn's disease: a randomized clinical trial. Dig Liver Dis. 2015;47(1):14-9. PubMed
Feng X, Fang SN, Liang N, Liu JP, Chen W. Nephrotoxicity of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f Preparations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. J Altern Complement Med. 2019;25(1):16-31.
Song W, Liu M, Wu J, Zhai H, Chen Y, Peng Z. Preclinical Pharmacokinetics of Triptolide: A Potential Antitumor Drug. Curr Drug Metab. 2019;20(2):147-154. PubMed
Xu Y, Zhang YF, Chen XY, Zhong DF. CYP3A4 inducer and inhibitor strongly affect the pharmacokinetics of triptolide and its derivative in rats. Acta Pharmacol Sin. 2018;39(8):1386-1392. PubMed
Ru Y, Luo Y, Zhou Y, et al. Adverse events associated with treatment of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F: a quantitative evidence synthesis. Front Pharmacol 2019;10:1250. PubMed
Guo YL, Gao F, Dong TW, et al. Meta-Analysis of clinical efficacy and safety of Tripterygium wilfordii polyglycosides tablets in the treatment of chronic kidney disease. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2021;2021:6640594. PubMed
Wang L, Gong L, Zhang X, et al. Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F. in the treatment of synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, and osteitis syndrome: a clinical trial. Clin Rheumatol. 2021;40(6):2427-2438. PubMed
Zhang W, Liu X, Xia C, et al. Case report: A rare case of death due to end-stage renal disease caused by Tripterygium wilfordii-induced myelosuppression. Front Med (Lausanne) 2022;9:1036422. PubMed
Luo Y, Hou X, Xi A, Luo M, Wang K, Xu Z. Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F combination therapy with methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis: An updated meta-analysis. J Ethnopharmacol 2023;307:116211. PubMed
Chen Y, Lu M, Feng Y, Gao Q. The effect and safety of low-dose Tripterygium wilfordii in patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy: A meta-analysis. Medicine (Baltimore) 2022;101(52):e32504. PubMed
Wang H, Liu H, Xue X, Wang Q, Yuan J. Efficacy and safety of Tripterygium wilfordii multiglucoside for idiopathic membranous nephropathy: a systematic review with bayesian meta-analysis. Front Pharmacol 2023;14:1183499. 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.

Related: nutrient depletion

Levodopa Is Linked to Lower Levels of 2 Nutrients

Natural Medicines records Levodopa as a medicine that can lower these. This is not an interaction with Thunder God Vine — it is a separate effect of the medicine, and it is a reason some people are advised to supplement rather than to avoid one:

Read the full Levodopa nutrient depletion report ›

Depletion records come from the licensed Natural Medicines database. Do not start a supplement on the strength of this page — ask your pharmacist or doctor whether it applies to you.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Taking Thunder God Vine and Levodopa Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Thunder God Vine with Levodopa?

We do not list a known interaction between Thunder God Vine and Levodopa. 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 Thunder God Vine and Levodopa have any of the same side effects?

Yes — our sources link each of them separately to 5 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 Thunder God Vine and Levodopa combination checked?

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Levodopa is filed under 5 classifications, and Thunder God Vine has documented interactions with 4 drug classes — none of Levodopa'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 Thunder God Vine interact with any other medications?

Yes. Thunder God Vine has 849 documented drug interactions in our database — Levodopa 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 Levodopa interact with any supplements?

Yes. Levodopa has documented interactions with 41 supplements in our database — Thunder God Vine is not one of them. The Levodopa 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

Thunder God Vine monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Levodopa Oral Inhalation drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Levodopa supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Levodopa, 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 33 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Levodopa and Thunder God Vine?

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.