It means you shouldn't take that drug if you have that condition (pregnancy is a common 1) you have to be careful incase you counter the effects with another medicine. if you're in doubt ask your pharmacist. A contraindication is a condition or factor that increases the risks involved in using a particular drug, carrying out a medical procedure or engaging in a particular activity.

Your doctor should look up whether medicines you are taking are contraindicated and make an informed decision on whether its worth the risk or not to take them.

Pharmacists also have a book with a list of contraindications in it, which is why you need to tell them what medications you are already taking when buying over the counter medicines. I think your question is dealing with the prefix contra, not the word contraindication. The medical prefix of 'contra' means against or prevent.

Examples:

contraception - prevention of conception

contraindicated- not indicated It means that you have certain circumstances that would make the use of the product inadvisable to use due to concerns for your health /safety.

For example, licorice root is an excellent natural tea for tummy trouble, but is contraindicated in individuals with high blood pressure as it can raise their blood pressure even higher.

Penicillin is contraindicated in people who are allergic to it, and so on.

A good thing to take seriously. A Contraindication is a reason why you should avoid a certain medicine. For example, certain painkillers are contra indicated for persons with liver problems. Or perhaps you are already on one kind of medication which could interact with another to give bad side effects. contraindications of a medicine means that special cases which under any circumstances cannot take that medicine. See medicines are made up of chemicals & poisons which have some force in them and while they are given to cure the disease they also have some side effects / adverse effects like some act on kidneys and therefore they cannot be given to people who are having weak kidneys because it would spoil them completely and hence these medicines are contra indicated for kidney trouble patients. Similarly certain medicines are contraindicated to heart patients, blood pressure patients , pregnant ladies etc etc. There is another contra indication type also this is if one medicine is given to a patient then another medicine which if given at the same time would result in dangerous consequences then both these medicines are contraindicated against one another. In short contraindication simply means that on a certain condition that particular medicine should not be given since it might cause more harm than the good. A contra-indication is something that will prevent you from taking the medicine. For example: as a holistic therapist, I am legally required to carry out consultations in order to give me a background history of any medical problems. Certain illnesses