As a pharmacist, I have learned that medications are both good and bad. It doesn’t seem there is a perfect pill that does a lot of wonderful stuff without the not so fun side effects. Side effects like feeling tired, dizzy, nausea, or the side effects that we commonly call diseases. Like high blood pressure, diabetes, migraines, Chronic long term untreated nutrient depletion’s sometimes lead to more diseases which in turn leads to patients needing more medications. This cycle will repeat itself until the underlying cause of the side effect is corrected or reversed.

Unfortunately in pharmacy school we did not learn about nutrient depletions, we learned which medications could cause which side effects, but we did not learn which medications when used chronically without proper nutrient support would cause more medications to be needed. Fortunately in pharmacy school we did learn how to learn, and as a pharmacist I needed to complete ongoing continuing education. So here are 3 things that I tell all of my patients.

• All medications have pluses and minuses. You can’t alter a process in the body without altering another process. That is just how the body works.
• All vitamins have pluses and minuses. There is a difference in quality of vitamins, the better the quality the better the absorption, the better the effects, the better the dose. Jut like medications when vitamins get absorbed in too high of quantities or if your body can’t metabolize them you should feel something and sometimes worse. Fortunately, most vitamins are water soluble so we pass them in our urine when our body gets to much. Some vitamins are fat soluble, so they need to be metabolized in the liver, this is when it can get a little complicated. Our liver chemistry is all unique based on our gene’s. How I metabolize one medication or vitamin is different then how my friend might metabolize it. This is the reason why some medications and vitamins work for some people and why some don’t. This is why some people get more side effects than others while not seeing any benefits.
• Antibiotics and even some other medications deplete good bacteria and if left untreated can lead to more side effects. Antibiotics are great, for destroying an infection, but they can deplete multiple kinds of bacteria, which are required for multiple processes in the gut. Without these bacteria, indigestion, diarrhea, certain vitamins can not be activated, or can not be absorbed.
• In summary, taking medications is not a bad thing, but if your taking a medication and experience a side effect, there is more to it than just a side effect. If your taking vitamins make sure they are of the best quality you can afford. Just like food you get what you pay for. Finally, if your taking an antibiotic or just finished taking an antibiotic, be kind to your stomach, take a high quality probiotic.