Published January 1, 2005
in the North Island Weekender
One day in practice during
my early years, a patient came in with blood colored urine. It was very
alarming. I ran my usual tests and could come up with nothing. The urine tested
clear and the EAV machine readings tested normal kidney function. The patient
had assured me that she had no symptoms of a urinary tract infection and that
this symptom was temporary and brand new! It wasn’t until she asked me about
the blood colored stool that I asked her if she had ingested beets the day
before. In fact she had! She was not accustomed to eating beets but had a feast
of fresh pickled beets. Other physicians, I found out later, had also been
stumped with this one at some point in their career. So this blood-colored
urine and stool is a totally normal excretion of the phytochemicals in beets!
There is a saying that we
only find what we are looking for.
I have a book on my shelf
that I pull down many times during the day while I am with patients who are
taking prescription medications. It is entitled Drug-Induced Nutrient
Depletion Handbook by Lexi Comp a medical information resource company. It is
such a shame that when an MD prescribes a drug that at the same time he doesn’t
pull this same book from his or her shelves and tell the patient of any
deficiencies created by the drug.
Naturopathic medicine does
not purport to offer cures for all diseases. What we do purport is to optimize
the health of the body of anyone with any disease. So ND’s realize the
importance of drugs and surgery but not to the exclusion of natural therapies.
Our medicine is complementary to orthodox medicine which means that if a
patient is on prescriptions drugs they don’t have to stop them to use our
medicines or visa versa (although they should be monitored) and just because
they have surgery slated doesn’t mean there isn’t a natural therapy that
prepares them nicely for surgery so they can heal much quicker.
I offer remedies to take
along with prescription medications to
lower blood pressure, to help patients get off anti-depressants, to lower blood
fats and to get off the statin drugs for instance. I will also make sure that
if their blood pressure medication is called Altace that they take extra zinc,
or if they are taking a hydrochlorathiazide that they also supplement CoQ10,
Magnesium, zinc and potassium. The very deficiencies these drugs create may
aggravate the function of the organ involved. The statin drugs are a case in
point. These deplete CoQ10, the very anti-oxidant that the heart muscle needs
for its optimal function and the patient thinks by taking the statins they are
nothing but good for their cardiovascular system. Now there are the odd folks
who need the statin drugs because nothing I do or recommend works to lower the
cholesterol to a normal level, but I will not rely on the statin drug alone to
protect them!
Jane, a 45-year-old woman
with depression, elevated blood pressure and blood fats, diabetes and gastric
intestinal reflux (GERD) was taking many medications at once and not feeling
well at all. I pointed out to her that the Prevacid for GERD was causing B12
deficiency increasing her homocysteine to 11 putting her at further risk of
heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD)
not to mention contributing to her insomnia, fatigue and depression! Metaprolol
she was taking for her blood pressure lowers CoQ10 as well as the Crestor, the statin drug she was on. She was
taking Metformin for her diabetes which lowers CoQ10, B12 and folic acid
further contributing to her elevated homocysteine level of 11 and putting her
heart health at significant risk due to CoQ10 deficiency. According to the neurologist, Dr. Perlmutter
MD, a level of 14 doubles the risk of developing AD. Even before I recommended
any further naturopathic treatment for Jane, I emphasized the importance of
treating these deficiencies created by her prescription medications.
The most common drug nutrient interaction that people know about is that taking
antibiotics kills a lot of the healthy bacteria in the intestinal tract and so
they know to take acidophilus (probiotic) to recolonize the gut. The best time
to start the probiotics is while taking the antibiotic not afterwards. They
don’t interfere with the action of the antibiotic and research shows that the
recolonization time is much shorter when started immediately. Many folks think
that yogurt will recolonize the gut but it doesn’t. The bacteria used to grow
yogurt grows yogurt, not human flora. I use HMF Forte for this. Yogurt will
give you symptom improvement but will not recolonize.
Another serious drug-nutrient interaction that is mostly missed by MD’s is the
depletion of folic acid and B complex created by oral contraception (OCP). What
I see in my practice are abnormal PAP smears as a result and cervical cancer in
some cases and an increased risk of birth defects in a woman who gets pregnant
shortly after stopping OCP and who has not been taking folic acid
supplementation.
Next time you are in to see your MD ask him if he knows what nutrients your
medications deplete. If he doesn’t know, get him to check out www.lexi.com
He can try it out for free
for one month and maybe he will find what he is looking for!
Dr. Pincott has been practicing naturopathic medicine since 1985 and is currently practicing in Campbell River. She can be reached at (250) 286-3655 or www.DrPincott.com