Drug & supplement interaction

White Horehound + Raltegravir

Raltegravir brand name: Isentress.

No Known Interaction

Medically reviewed by Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS · Updated July 2026 · Pair last verified Sep 20, 2026

The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between White Horehound and Raltegravir 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

White Horehound and Raltegravir

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 Raltegravir and White Horehound 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.

White Horehound safety at a glance

White Horehound overall Use caution Likely fine in small amounts found in foods and lozenges, but high doses are not well studied.

Pregnancy Likely Unsafe When used orally; white horehound might have abortifacient effect, or stimulate menstrual flow and the uterus. There is insufficient reliable information availa... Read the full pregnancy detail

Breastfeeding Avoid Not enough safety information exists, so avoid use while breastfeeding.

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 Raltegravir and White Horehound? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›

How we checked

Why No Interaction Is Listed for Raltegravir

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes, not just single drug names. Raltegravir is filed under 4 classifications — including integrase inhibitors, glucuronidated drugs, oral drugs. White Horehound has documented interactions with 2 drug classes — the most serious being antidiabetes drugs (moderate) and antihypertensive drugs (moderate) — and none of Raltegravir’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

White Horehound Does Interact With Other Medications

White Horehound has 258 moderate known drug interactions in our database — Raltegravir isn’t one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 258 No known interaction 2,572 (incl. Raltegravir)

Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against White Horehound

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

What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests White Horehound and Raltegravir 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.

Reduced appetite / Nausea Additional detail
White Horehound
“Orally, white horehound may cause nausea, dry mouth, excessive salivation, loss of appetite, and dizziness in some patients. Large amounts of white horehound (exact dose is unclear) may cause purgative effects (4,12).

Topically, skin contact with the plant juice may cause contact dermatitis (4).”

White Horehound · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in dermatitis.
3 sources cited

86369. Herrera-Arellano, A., Aguilar-Santamaria, L., Garcia-Hernandez, B., Nicasio-Torres, P., and Tortoriello, J. Clinical trial of Cecropia obtusifolia and Marrubium vulgare leaf extracts on blood glucose and serum lipids in type 2 diabetics. Phytomedicine 200 PubMed

4. Newall CA, Anderson LA, Philpson JD. Herbal Medicine: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals. London, UK: The Pharmaceutical Press, 1996.

12. McGuffin M, Hobbs C, Upton R, Goldberg A, eds. American Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, LLC 1997.
“Orally, clinical research shows that drinking one cup of tea prepared with white horehound 1 gram three times daily for 3 weeks may cause nausea, dry mouth, excessive salivation, and loss of appetite in some patients. Intake of large amounts of white horehound (exact dose is unclear) may cause purgative effects (4,12).”

White Horehound · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in dry mouth.
3 sources cited

86369. Herrera-Arellano, A., Aguilar-Santamaria, L., Garcia-Hernandez, B., Nicasio-Torres, P., and Tortoriello, J. Clinical trial of Cecropia obtusifolia and Marrubium vulgare leaf extracts on blood glucose and serum lipids in type 2 diabetics. Phytomedicine 200 PubMed

4. Newall CA, Anderson LA, Philpson JD. Herbal Medicine: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals. London, UK: The Pharmaceutical Press, 1996.

12. McGuffin M, Hobbs C, Upton R, Goldberg A, eds. American Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, LLC 1997.
Raltegravir

Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Raltegravir. Read the label on DailyMed ›
Dizziness Additional detail
White Horehound
“Orally, clinical research shows that drinking one cup of tea prepared with white horehound 1 gram three times daily for 3 weeks may cause dizziness in some patients.”

White Horehound · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in vertigo.
1 source cited

86369. Herrera-Arellano, A., Aguilar-Santamaria, L., Garcia-Hernandez, B., Nicasio-Torres, P., and Tortoriello, J. Clinical trial of Cecropia obtusifolia and Marrubium vulgare leaf extracts on blood glucose and serum lipids in type 2 diabetics. Phytomedicine 200 PubMed
Raltegravir

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

Reported for White Horehound but not commonly for Raltegravir: a skin rash and dry mouth.

Effects for Raltegravir come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for White Horehound come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Where a percentage is shown, it is the share of 16,361 voluntary FDA FAERS reports for Raltegravir 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

White Horehound in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Pregnancy Likely Unsafe

When used orally; white horehound might have abortifacient effect, or stimulate menstrual flow and the uterus. There is insufficient reliable information available about the safety of topical use during pregnancy; 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 Raltegravir

This page covers White Horehound only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Raltegravir page lists 33 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Breadfruit (moderate), Brussels Sprout (moderate), Cabbage (moderate) and Calcium (moderate).

By severity: 1 major · 22 moderate · 10 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Raltegravir page

“For someone taking raltegravir (Isentress) to keep HIV suppressed, a steady drug level is what blocks rebound and resistance, and this list deserves genuine vigilance. The lone major-rated entry is activated charcoal, which can soak up the medicine in the gut and cut what reaches your blood.”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Raltegravir interaction page

How much people look this up

Where White Horehound and Raltegravir 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 White Horehound

Steady interest

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

29 days ago today

Medication Raltegravir

Steady interest

#2,208 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 White Horehound reference on this page ↓
Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 20, 2026. The White Horehound and Raltegravir 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 White Horehound

What is White Horehound?

Cough and chest congestion
Sore throat
Bronchitis
Digestive upset and poor appetite
Bloating and gas

White horehound is a traditional bitter herb used mainly for coughs, sore throats, and mild digestive complaints, and it is a common flavoring in old-fashioned cough drops. Solid human evidence supporting these uses is limited, so view it as a folk remedy rather than a proven treatment. Talk to your pharmacist or doctor before using it, and avoid it during pregnancy.

Marrubium vulgare · Lamiaceae · Leaves and flowering tops (aerial parts) · Tea, lozenges, cough syrups, tinctures, capsules, hard candies

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

White Horehound: dosing

There is no well-established standardized dose for white horehound. The right amount depends on the form, such as tea, tincture, lozenge, or capsule, and the strength of the specific product.The safest approach is to follow the directions on the product label and not exceed the recommended amount.

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

Read the full White Horehound monograph & all interactions

Medication

About Raltegravir

What Is Raltegravir Used For?

Brand name: Isentress

Raltegravir — available as Isentress and as the generic raltegravir tablet — is used to treat HIV-1 (human immunodeficiency virus) infection. It is always used together with other antiretroviral (anti-HIV) medicines, never on its own.

Isentress is approved for adults and for children weighing at least 2 kg. Raltegravir tablets are approved for adults and for children weighing at least 25 kg who can swallow a tablet whole.

Most-Reported Side Effects for Raltegravir

From FAERS, the FDA’s public side-effect reporting system (16,418 reports, all brands). Reports are voluntary and are not proof the drug caused the effect.

Foetal exposure during pregnancy 1,078 reports

Depression 1,017 reports

Anxiety 966 reports

Emotional distress 789 reports

Anhedonia 708 reports

See full Raltegravir drug information

Keep checking

Other Drugs & White Horehound

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

0Major

258Moderate

0Minor

2,571No known interaction

258 Moderate 2,571 No interaction

Moderate

258 interactions

Showing 60 of 258 moderate interactions — see all 258 on the White Horehound page.

No interaction 2,571 drugs checked — show the list

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

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,571 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full White Horehound list.

See the full White Horehound interactions page

See every supplement checked against Raltegravir, ranked by severity

Evidence & sources

White Horehound References

The 8 references that drive our White Horehound 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.

Newall CA, Anderson LA, Philpson JD. Herbal Medicine: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals. London, UK: The Pharmaceutical Press, 1996.
McGuffin M, Hobbs C, Upton R, Goldberg A, eds. American Herbal Products Association's Botanical Safety Handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, LLC 1997.
Brinker F. Herb Contraindications and Drug Interactions. 2nd ed. Sandy, OR: Eclectic Medical Publications, 1998.
Roman, Ramos R., Alarcon-Aguilar, F., Lara-Lemus, A., and Flores-Saenz, J. L. Hypoglycemic effect of plants used in Mexico as antidiabetics. Arch.Med.Res 1992;23:59-64.
Novaes AP, Rossi C, Poffo C, et al. Preliminary evaluation of the hypoglycemic effect of some Brazilian medicinal plants. Therapie. 2001;56(4):427-30.
El Bardai, S., Lyoussi, B., Wibo, M., and Morel, N. Pharmacological evidence of hypotensive activity of Marrubium vulgare and Foeniculum vulgare in spontaneously hypertensive rat. Clin Exp Hypertens. 2001;23(4):329-343.
El Bardai, S., Lyoussi, B., Wibo, M., and Morel, N. Comparative study of the antihypertensive activity of Marrubium vulgare and of the dihydropyridine calcium antagonist amlodipine in spontaneously hypertensive rat. Clin Exp Hypertens. 2004;26(6):465-474 PubMed
Herrera-Arellano, A., Aguilar-Santamaria, L., Garcia-Hernandez, B., Nicasio-Torres, P., and Tortoriello, J. Clinical trial of Cecropia obtusifolia and Marrubium vulgare leaf extracts on blood glucose and serum lipids in type 2 diabetics. Phytomedicine 200 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 White Horehound and Raltegravir Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take White Horehound with Raltegravir?

We do not list a known interaction between White Horehound and Raltegravir. 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 White Horehound and Raltegravir have any of the same side effects?

Yes — our sources link each of them separately to 3 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 White Horehound and Raltegravir combination checked?

Interactions in our licensed database are recorded against drug classes. Raltegravir is filed under 4 classifications, and White Horehound has documented interactions with 2 drug classes — none of Raltegravir'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 White Horehound interact with any other medications?

Yes. White Horehound has 258 documented drug interactions in our database — Raltegravir 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 Raltegravir interact with any supplements?

Yes. Raltegravir has documented interactions with 33 supplements in our database — White Horehound is not one of them. The Raltegravir 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

White Horehound monograph Uses, safety profile, and every drug interaction in one place Raltegravir drug information The full plain-English guide to this medication Raltegravir supplement interactions Every supplement checked against Raltegravir, 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 8 citations behind this page Ask a pharmacist Free, personal answer from our licensed team

Still Have a Question About Raltegravir and White Horehound?

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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.