“You cannot poison a crucial enzyme, block an important receptor, or interfere with a metabolic function for the long term and expect a good result.”
– David Brownstein, M.D. Drugs That Don’t Work and Natural Therapies That Do
The issue that we need to consider is not whether alternative or complementary therapies work better than prescription medications. Instead, we need to look at how our medications work in our bodies and their effect on various essential pathways.
If you look at the mechanism of action for many of our drugs, you will see terms like “inhibitor,” “modifier,” “agonist,” and other similar terms. These descriptions would indicate a change in a metabolic pathway created by the presence of a drug. When inserted into our essential metabolic pathways, drugs can affect nutrient absorption, synthesis, transport, storage, metabolism, and excretion. This is the basis of Dr. Brownstein’s statement. What are the ultimate nutritional and metabolic deficiencies that can occur in the body from long-term usage of drugs?
Is it possible that drugs, when taken over time, have the potential to create more significant problems than the disease state for which they were prescribed?
Physicians and pharmacists need to take into consideration the potential nutrient depletions which accompany long-term medication administration. These nutrient depletions can undermine the patient’s health and well-being. Nutrients are critical to normal body function. The various vitamins, minerals, and other micronutrients provided in our diet fuel the thousands of metabolic processes that occur in our bodies. They are essential for life as we know it.
We know that drug-induced nutrient depletions can be multifactorial.
We can identify the nutrient depletions accompanying a particular drug. But what happens when multiple drugs are inserted into the various metabolic pathways in the body? What is the total cost of our nutrient uptake? We also know that problems from drug-induced nutrient depletions can arise several months after beginning a drug. When these problems arise, they may not be connected to the introduction of a medication months earlier. Instead, the problems may be viewed by the physician as a new complaint, creating the addition of yet another drug to the patient’s regimen.
Drug-induced nutrient depletions are present in most of our popular drugs. For this reason, we recommend that all patients review their medication profile with a pharmacist, and utilize appropriate nutritional supplementation when necessary.
We Can Help!
Our pharmacists are here to review your medications (both prescription and over-the-counter) and can advise of any risk for potential drug-induced nutrient depletions. Call during business hours to speak with a member of our Doctor of Pharmacy Clinical Team.
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If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact Innovation Compounding at 1-800-547-1399, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, excluding all major holidays.
Medical Disclaimer This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or take the place of such information or treatment from a personal physician. All readers/viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. Neither Innovation Compounding, Inc. nor the publisher of this content takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any medication, nutritional supplement, diet, or health regimen. Innovation Compounding does not make or intend to make any claims to efficacy or safety of compounded products for specific conditions or disease states, as compounded products are not FDA-approved for these conditions.
