This week, my safety message derives from my former career (before cycling) as a doctor.  I have noticed that most of our members are 50+ and most of us are on one or more medications.  When I wrote prescriptions for my patients, I made it a habit to discuss the potential adverse reactions and side effects of the medications I prescribed.  Invariably, if I forgot to do this, the patient would experience a bad reaction for which they were unprepared and surprised.  This scenario is especially relevant for cyclists because medication side effects can impact safety on the road, often in sudden and unexpected ways. One example that comes to mind is blood thinners, often prescribed to prevent blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks.  While blood thinners can be lifesaving, anyone on any blood thinner, including aspirin, is at risk for bleeding in the event of a crash.  This is a particular problem for those with head trauma or blunt abdominal trauma.  Another example is that some anti-hypertensive drugs might cause light-headedness that could put a cyclist at risk of losing their balance and going down.  I don’t mean to be the arbiter of whether anyone should ride or not ride depending on the pharmaceuticals that they take.  Rather, I suggest that each person on any med, including OTC meds should familiarize themselves with potential adverse side effects vis a vis cycling.  Most importantly, I suggest that every person taking any medication or non-prescription supplement should discuss with their physician the potential risk that each medication might impose as well as how to mitigate such risk.  I also recommend that every cyclist keep a list of their medications on them and accessible, in the event of an accident.

There is not much written out there on this subject.  I include 3 links, the first from an article in Road Bike Rider; the second, a PDF from a medical article that addresses this topic, and the 3^rd from an AI query that I vetted for accuracy.  

Stephen Levinson