On Several Medicines? A Memory Supplement Checklist: Interactions, Medicines Linked to Memory Problems, and What to Ask

If your weekly pill box is already full, adding a memory supplement deserves ten minutes with a pharmacist first. Here is exactly what to bring, and what to ask.

The kitchen drawer has become a small pharmacy: something for blood pressure, something for cholesterol, a tablet the specialist added last year, a vitamin a friend swears by. And now, because names have been slipping lately, you are thinking about one more bottle.

That instinct to check first is the right one. Supplements are not approved by the FDA before they are sold, and the more you already take, the more there is for a new product to meet. The good news is that the check is short, and it follows the same four steps every time.

Further down, we look at two formulas worth showing your pharmacist: Phytomem One and Brain C-13 — each with a money-back guarantee.

Step 1: What Goes On Your List?

Everything you take goes on it, from prescriptions to vitamins, and you are far from alone in needing this list. The CDC reports that 75.9% of adults aged 60 and older took at least one dietary supplement in 2021 to 2023, and 56.4% took two or more. In 2021 to 2022, 88.6% of adults aged 65 and older had taken a prescription medicine in the past year.

The National Institute on Aging suggests writing down every medicine you take, including over-the-counter drugs, vitamins and supplements, with the amount and the time you take each one, and showing that list to all of your health care providers. Mention everything, even what you use only now and then. The FDA gives the same advice for every visit to a health care professional: bring a list of all the supplements and medicines you take.

One more habit helps: filling all your prescriptions at the same pharmacy, so your records are in one place for the pharmacist who checks them.

Step 2: Could A Medicine You Take Be Affecting Your Memory?

It can, and this is the question most people skip, though it may matter more than the supplement. The National Institute on Aging lists medication side effects among the factors that can cause memory problems, and notes that finding the cause is what points to the right next step.

The American Geriatrics Society’s 2023 Beers Criteria — a reference list of medicines that may be inappropriate for many adults 65 and older — names several types for their effect on thinking:

• First-generation antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine and doxylamine. The criteria describe a risk of confusion.
• Benzodiazepines, a group of anti-anxiety medicines, which the criteria say increase the risk of cognitive impairment in older adults.
• “Z-drug” sleep medicines, such as zolpidem, with effects the criteria describe as similar to benzodiazepines.
• Bladder medicines of the antimuscarinic type, such as oxybutynin, where the criteria urge caution because of possible effects on thinking.

AARP’s consumer guide also lists some antiseizure drugs, tricyclic antidepressants and opioid painkillers. The Beers authors stress that the list is not meant to be used in a punitive way — many people take these medicines for good reasons. The point is to ask, not to stop. The National Institute on Aging advises not to stop a medicine before talking with a health care provider.

Step 3: How Could A Supplement Interact With Your Medicines?

The FDA notes that certain supplements can change how a medicine is absorbed, broken down or cleared — which can change how well that medicine works. The table below is a starting point for your conversation: common ingredients in memory formulas, and the medicine types reference sources flag them for.

Not a complete list, and not medical advice. Your pharmacist can check the full label against your full list.

If blood sugar is part of your picture, our guide to brain fog after meals covers the everyday steps that come before any formula.

Step 4: What Should You Look For On The Supplement Label?

Two things make a pharmacist’s check easier, because a pharmacist can only check what is written down:

• Every ingredient named, with an amount. Many formulas name their ingredients but not how much of each is inside; your pharmacist can still check the names, and can tell you when an amount would change the answer.
• A quality seal, if there is one. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements explains that seals from groups such as USP, NSF International and ConsumerLab.com show a product was properly made, contains what the label lists and has no harmful levels of contaminants — but they do not guarantee that a product is safe or effective.

What If You Manage A Parent’s Medicines?

The four steps above still apply if you help a mother or father with their medicines and are thinking about a memory supplement for them. A few things change when you are the one keeping track.

• Make one complete list, with them. The National Institute on Aging suggests bringing the names, doses and schedule of every medicine, vitamin, herbal remedy, over-the-counter drug and supplement the older adult takes — including those prescribed by other doctors. The FDA adds noting who prescribed each prescription and why.
• Take the supplement bottle itself. A photo of the label works too. As Step 4 explains, a pharmacist can only check what is written down.
• Get permission to speak with their doctor. The National Institute on Aging explains that to talk with a provider when the person is not there, you need their permission in writing; most offices have a consent form for this, sometimes called a HIPAA release.
• Ask about memory as well as interactions. The FDA notes that some medications cause side effects that look like other health problems, including memory difficulties, and advises asking whether a new problem could come from a medicine.
• A blood thinner changes the questions. The NIH’s complementary health center notes ginkgo may increase the risk of bleeding with anticoagulants such as warfarin. Our guide to memory supplements with Eliquis or warfarin goes through those questions one ingredient at a time.
• Blood pressure and heart-rate tablets count too. Memorial Sloan Kettering notes that huperzine A taken with beta blockers or calcium channel blockers may cause a severely slow heartbeat. Olive leaf and rhodiola are in the table above.

Questions to bring to their pharmacist

• Does anything on this label interact with anything on this list?
• Does it need to be spaced away from any of their medicines, and should it be taken with food?
• Could any medicine they already take be affecting their memory?
• What side effects should we watch for, and what should we do if one appears?

Keep your parent in the room and in the conversation. The National Institute on Aging advises letting the older adult answer the doctor’s questions unless you have been asked to, and always including them when you talk with the doctor.

Which Labels Could You Take To The Pharmacist?

If you want to bring a specific formula to that conversation, two on this site have labels a pharmacist can work through. Phytomem One names all ten of its ingredients, and we have already gone through them medicine by medicine on its comparison page. Brain C-13 comes from a named company and publishes a Supplement Facts panel with amounts. The full reviews explain each label.

Two formulas worth a closer look

Two formulas worth showing your pharmacist

Both labels are easy to bring along to the pharmacy — and each formula comes with a money-back guarantee.

Phytomem One

Tablets

One tablet a day with food, with all ten ingredients named — and a medicine-by-medicine page on this site to take along.

• Anyone who wants one tablet a day
• Readers who like a medicine-by-medicine page to take along

Covered by a 60-day money-back guarantee

Before you start · Berberine and cinnamon matter with diabetes medicine; fucoidan and saffron with a blood thinner.

See Phytomem One on the official siteRead our Phytomem One review

Brain C-13

Capsules

From Zenith Labs, a named company with a postal address and phone number, with a published Supplement Facts panel listing citicoline, bacopa and four more ingredients with amounts.

• Readers who want to see amounts on the label
• Anyone who prefers a company they can look up

Covered by a 180-day money-back guarantee

Before you start · Huperzine A, named on the sales page, matters with cholinesterase inhibitors and heart-rate medicines; turmeric with a blood thinner.

See Brain C-13 on the official siteRead our Brain C-13 review

Listed in no particular order. We publish no scores or rankings.

When Should You See A Doctor?

Ask for an appointment, rather than starting any supplement, if memory problems are getting worse, if they began around the time a medicine was started or changed, or if they come with confusion that is new to you. The National Institute on Aging notes that finding the cause of memory problems is what determines the best next step — and a medicine review is part of that.

If you have unwanted side effects from any medicine, keep taking it until you have spoken to the person who prescribed it.

Ready to compare? Go back to the two formulas above, or read the full reviews of Phytomem One and Brain C-13.