On The Alleged Horrors of Natural Substances

I've been hearing much of late about the evils of natural substances, you know the ones provided by Mother Nature, not Big Pharma. I tend to wonder just what motivates these writers; given the most recent "anti-natural" rant was on some financial page I was directed to by my AOL welcome screen. Doctors usually get a nice trip to a "conference" somewhere tropical or where the skiing is nice and where little if any time at all is actually spent in conference related activities...and by gosh the WHOLE FAMILY gets to come, too! I wonder what a financial writer gets...and just what experience, expertise or authority he or she perceives to be speaking from. (Sorry about the preposition at the end of the phrase, Mrs. Wagler, but I just can't seem to break that habit.)

Most alternative meds/remedies/substances, whatever you wish to call them, are time tested, and I'm talking hundreds to even thousands of years of positive outcomes here, and come with a clear warning stating they should not be used unless under the direction of a naturopath or physician well versed in homeopathic medicine. Increasingly main stream doctors are becoming quite adept at prescribing these valuable and natural substances in a safe and effective manner. For those with little or no insurance they can be a relatively inexpensive alternative (and thereby very threatening to the pharmaceutical industry, which is racing to create their own "brands" of the very substances they are damning in the press.) Doctors who have added natural/holistic aspects to their practice have come to realize that while they may not be receiving as many trips to the Riviera Maya or whatever thinly veiled kickback the pharmaceutical companies are offering for pushing their drugs, their patients are benefiting...and believe it or not SOME doctors actually still care about patient outcomes. Shocking, I know, but as old fashioned as that may sound I have seen it now and then in my own practice as a BSN and as a consumer as well.

Many naturally occurring substances work as well if not better and certainly with less deadly side effects than some virtually unregulated "generic equivalent" medications from third world nations (or even here) with questionable practices, inconsistent product strength, cheap and even unhealthy "carrier" substances to add bulk to the medication, and mold, feces, and other undesirable filth everywhere. Your pharmacist will tell you which ones to avoid if you have an honest, educated and current pharmacist. Anyone who knows anything about medicine and health care would never allow their dog to take medications from many of these "generic manufacturers", much less anyone in their own family. So scaring would-be consumers with bogey man imagery and vastly exaggerating the HORRIBLE side effects of simple, natural, time honored remedies may please America's corporate masters, but the fact of the matter is that natural substances are every bit as safe and effective and far less likely to kill people when taken under proper supervision than many if not most DRUGS. Case in point-antidepressants, specifically SSRIs like Paxil, Lexapro, Zoloft, Luvox, Prozak and Celexa and their generic equivalents have carried strongly and clearly stated warning labels in Europe for many years, and rightly so. The same warnings are appearing here in the states at a snail's pace. In fact we are only beginning to include "young" adults (how's that for nonspecific?) in the "at risk" group, when study after study indicates substantially increased suicidal ideology and suicide risk for all ages. And let me be very clear here. Each of these studies allows for the fact that depressed people have a higher rate of suicide than the population at large, and the increase when these drugs are added is over and above the "norm" for ALL AGES.

Of course this is exacerbated by the fact that anyone with prescribing privileges can prescribe these meds, and they do, excessively, and then fail utterly in the follow-up and counseling of at risk individuals. Unsupervised or under supervised usage is not a factor only in natural products, but in drugs as well. Doctors have so little time per patient that they throw pills at everyone they see and promptly forget them until the next crisis arises-depending upon someone already under extreme psychological duress to self regulate and report back to them-when and IF they can get through the gauntlet of automated phone messaging and ignorant if not downright abusive nurses (yes I'm a nurse, but some office nurses do NOT deserve their licenses) which stand between patient and doctor! I have some experience with the subject and I have lost a brother to suicide under these exact circumstances.

These drugs are so often a double edged sword. The medications that make many depressed people feel better can wreak havoc with someone who is bipolar, and precious few family practice doctors, internists or even psychologists (who do not prescribe, but report and recommend to a nurse-prescriber or psychiatrist who sees the patient very briefly if at all) are equipped to pick up on the nuances separating bipolar hypo mania from depression. I won't go into the neuro-chemistry here, but inhibitions are also lowered in many people on these mind altering drugs, so not only do you have the suicidal ideology, but you are also tampering with the very mechanisms that prevent non-medicated individuals from acting on impulse, with disastrous results.

Another major group of medications that can cause more harm than good are those used to treat gastric reflux. They dangerously raise LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) in many people, people for whom diet and life style changes would be perfectly effective, along with something natural to decrease the flow of acid into the esophagus. Unfortunately this class of drugs are prescribed like candy. Moreover, many of those who survive them also end up on statin drugs (because of the artificially high LDL cholesterol caused by the anti reflux drug of choice) which irritates the stomach, thus creating and keeping in motion a vicious cycle in which one drug is used to cancel out the side effects of another. Meanwhile the money keeps rolling in for big pharma. so they can keep pumping out ads telling people how sick they are and give step by step directions on how to get doctors to prescribe their products.

The drugs I've mentioned are just three of the most common examples, and there are many, many more. So when life style and diet won't work, I'll at least try natural substances every time over a pharmaceutical drug if I can. They often don't give the immediate fix so important to society today, but given time they do work when used properly with supervision. Knowing that, I will continue to use them as a first choice and rest easy knowing I'm doing what's best for my body and my mind.