We want the best for our health. We can seek out professional opinions, read online resources, talk to friends and family, and see various advertisements.
We may have been prescribed one or several medications and want to ensure the efficacy and safety of supplementation.
Lifestyle Naturopathy delves into collecting your medication and supplement history, including over-the-counter medications such as ASA and ibuprofen, antacids, fibres, herbal tisanes, anti-histamines and sleep aids.
Clients are encouraged to keep their doctors, pharmacists and other health care professionals fully informed to create a comprehensive team.
Medications, supplements, herbs, and foods can have an effect when taken together. At times, these reactions can be either beneficial or detrimental to the person.
A synergistic approach would be when supplements are taken to meet the deficiencies created as a side-effect of a medicine. The classic example of statins lowering the antioxidant production of ubiquinol while increasing the body’s need for this specific substance. Supplementation of CoQ10 (or bioactive ubiquinol / ubiquonone) can help prevent problems related to deficiencies.
Other supplements can enhance or limit the activity of a drug in the system. St. John’s Wort has been researched extensively and is often contraindicated due to its effects with many medications. To ensure that you get results best aligned with clinical studies, it is important to respect the guidelines given with medications.
Even foods, such as grapefruits, can affect how a medication gets metabolized. Cytochrome P450 drives many of the enzymatic processes in the body and grapefruit expedites the metabolism of certain drugs, increasing their activity and in turn, increasing the risk of adverse effects.
Fibre, lovely for bowel motility, poses the risk of absorbing nutrients and medications, lowering their potential activity.
Clear, open, honest communication serves as your best ally in creating a healthy regime. Careful consideration of information is what makes Lifestyle Naturopathy a vibrant resource to help guide you in making excellent choices.
