Before taking nifedipine,
tell your doctor and pharmacist if you are allergic to nifedipine, any other medications, or any of the ingredients in nifedipine. Ask your pharmacist for a list of the ingredients.
tell your doctor and pharmacist what other prescription and nonprescription medications, vitamins, nutritional supplements, you are taking or plan to take. Be sure to mention any of the following: acarbose (Precose); anticoagulants ('blood thinners') such as warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven); antifungals such as fluconazole (Diflucan), itraconazole (Onmel, Sporanox), and ketoconazole (Nizoral); beta blockers such as atenolol (Tenormin), labetalol (Trandate), metoprolol (Lopressor, Toprol XL, in Dutoprol), nadolol (Corgard, in Corzide), propranolol (Inderal, Innopran, in Inderide), and timolol ); carbamazepine (Carbatrol, Epitol, Tegretol); cimetidine (Tagamet); digoxin (Lanoxin); diltiazem (Cardizem); doxazosin (Cardura); erythromycin (E.E.S., E-Mycin, Erythrocin); fentanyl (Actiq, Duragesic, Fentora); flecainide (Tambocor); HIV protease inhibitors including amprenavir (Agenerase), atazanavir (Reyataz), delavirdine (Rescriptor), fosamprenavir (Lexiva), indinavir (Crixivan), nelfinavir (Viracept), and ritonavir (Norvir, in Kaletra); metformin (Glucophage); nefazodone; phenobarbital; phenytoin (Dilantin, Phenytek); quinidine (in Nuedexta); quinupristin and dalfopristin (Synercid); rifampin (Rifadin, in Rifamate, in Rifater, Rimactane); rifapentine (Priftin); tacrolimus (Astagraf SL,Prograf); valproic acid (Depakene); and verapamil (Calan, Covera, Verelan, in Tarka). Your doctor may need to change the doses of your medications or monitor you carefully for side effects.
tell your doctor what herbal products you are taking, especially St. John's wort.
tell your doctor if you have or have ever had a narrowing or blockage of your digestive system or any other condition that causes food to move through your digestive system more slowly; or heart, liver, or kidney disease. Also tell your doctor if you have had a myocardial infarction (MI) within the last 2 weeks.
tell your doctor if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breast-feeding. If you become pregnant while taking nifedipine, call your doctor.
talk to your doctor about the safe use of nifedipine capsules if you are 65 years of age or older. Older adults should not usually take nifedipine capsules because they are not as safe as other medications that can be used to treat the same condition.
if you are having surgery, including dental surgery, tell your doctor or dentist that you are taking nifedipine.
ask your doctor about the safe use of alcoholic beverages while you are taking nifedipine. Alcohol can make the side effects from nifedipine worse.