Hydrocortisone and Meperidine Interaction
Drug interaction information between Hydrocortisone and Meperidine.
Hydrocortisone and Meperidine have a documented minor interaction in FDA labeling.
FDA drug labeling documents a minor-severity interaction between Hydrocortisone and Meperidine. Major interactions are generally avoided, moderate ones may need monitoring or a dose adjustment, and minor ones are usually low-risk. This page shows the documented mechanism and guidance. Label-documented interactions are not a complete safety review, so always confirm your own medications with a pharmacist or doctor. Educational information, not medical advice.
How They Interact
Hydrocortisone is a steroid used to treat life-threatening reactions that can occur when meperidine is used with certain other medications.
What To Do
This combination is typically managed by healthcare providers during a medical emergency.
FDA Label Information
Intravenous hydrocortisone or prednisolone have been used to treat severe reactions, with the addition of intravenous chlorpromazine in those cases exhibiting hypertension and hyperpyrexia.
Hydrocortisone Also Interacts With
- Theophylline major
- Colestipol minor
- Dexamethasone minor
- Methylprednisolone minor
Meperidine Also Interacts With
- Safinamide major
- Rasagiline moderate
- Tranylcypromine moderate
- Gabapentin minor
- Trazodone minor
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take Hydrocortisone and Meperidine together?
This is a minor interaction. This combination is typically managed by healthcare providers during a medical emergency.
How serious is the interaction between Hydrocortisone and Meperidine?
This interaction is classified as "minor" severity by the FDA. Minor interactions are unlikely to cause significant problems but should still be mentioned to your healthcare provider.
Why do Hydrocortisone and Meperidine interact?
Hydrocortisone is a steroid used to treat life-threatening reactions that can occur when meperidine is used with certain other medications.
Understanding the Hydrocortisone and Meperidine Interaction
FDA-approved prescribing information for these two drugs flags their combination as a minor-severity interaction. Hydrocortisone belongs to the Corticosteroid class and Meperidine belongs to the Opioid Analgesic class - two categories that can collide when co-prescribed. The mechanism described in FDA labeling is: Hydrocortisone is a steroid used to treat life-threatening reactions that can occur when meperidine is used with certain other medications. Severity tiers matter: major flags generally advise avoidance, moderate flags often require monitoring or dose adjustment, and minor flags may only call for awareness.
Context around a specific patient determines real-world impact. Hydrocortisone has 5 total documented interactions on file in this dataset, and Meperidine has 31. Each additional medication compounds the interaction surface, which is why pharmacists run full-profile checks rather than evaluating one pair at a time. FDA-derived guidance for this pair is: This combination is typically managed by healthcare providers during a medical emergency. Timing of doses, renal and hepatic function, age, and other concurrent prescriptions all shape whether a labeled interaction matters clinically.
An interaction flag is not a verdict. A large share of labeled interactions are managed routinely in clinical practice, the fix may be as simple as spacing doses or adding a monitoring test. Others require the prescriber to choose a different medication entirely. This page surfaces FDA-sourced labeling and openFDA data for educational purposes only; it is not medical advice and cannot account for your full clinical picture. Never start, stop, or adjust either Hydrocortisone or Meperidine based on a web page, speak with your prescriber or pharmacist before making any change.
Sources: FDA Drug Labels (SPL) via openFDA (2026). This is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider about drug interactions.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.