4 Things You Should Know When Taking Prescription Drugs.
- Marcia Howard
- Mar 31, 2022
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 3, 2022
As a natural health practitioner and wellness coach, my aim is always to work with the client to help them create homeostasis and reduce inflammatory conditions before there is a need for medication. First, let me be clear, I am not against prescription drugs as they have a very important role in managing diseases, but what I am against is their overuse or worse, their improper administration and use.
Lifestyle diseases have grown in prevalence over the last 20 years and have overtaken malnutrition and are attributed to a growing middle-class, with some 43 risk factors. With a growing middle-class came a sedentary lifestyle giving rise to higher incidences of obesity, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus (Type 2 Diabetes), just to name a few. This also meant an expedient opportunity for pharmaceutical companies to produce medication, which in part, only manages symptoms as patients are often told there is no cure. However, Functional Medicine is turning the latter statement on its head and I will write more about that at a later date.
In my initial statement, I mentioned there is usefulness in the use of prescribed medication for some individuals but not in a blanket approach. Lifestyle and dietary changes should be the initial approach when trying to correct lifestyle diseases but it does require patient buy-in for this approach to work, as it may take months to see and feel the effects of any changes made. This is why medical interventions are necessary, especially when symptoms have been ignored, over time, until they needed to be addressed.
Chronic diseases are not to be trifled with as they can often spiral out of control and contribute to the loss of life and limb. Poorly managed high blood pressure and diabetes have contributed to kidney damage, heart disease and damage, amputations and other cardiovascular events like stroke. Taking prescribed medication is not without its risks and I suggest you pay close attention to the 4 points outlined below. There are things you should know and questions you need to ask once your medical practitioner has written the prescription which are often overlooked either out of ignorance or understanding of the relevance.
Rule #1 - What, Why, How?
Ask your GP to tell you what the prescription is for, why you need it and how you should take it and write the information down. Have you ever been given a prescription you have been able to read? I haven't. It all looks like Latin on the script and in some cases it is. I have heard of too many incidents with my own family members and friends who made a visit to the doctor, got a prescription and did not have a clue as to why or how to take it properly. Even if your doctor becomes agitated by your questions, you should persist!
Rule #2 - When you get to your pharmacist
When your prescription has been processed and the handover is occurring, ask your friendly pharmacist once again the name of the drug prescribed to you, what it is for and how you should take them. This should be the same information you have received from your doctor so you should compare notes. It is at this point you ask whether there are any foods that should or should not be eaten with the prescribed drug and the specifics concerning the time of day. In fact, this is where you express any concerns you may have about the product you have been given.
"According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 20 to 30 percent of medication prescriptions are never filled and in 50 percent of cases, patients don’t continue medication as prescribed. Unfortunately, non-adherence causes 30 to 50 percent of chronic disease treatment failures and 125,000 deaths per year."– Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Rule #3 - Know the possible side effects and contraindications
What is a contraindication? - "Anything (including a symptom or medical condition) that is a reason for a person to not receive a particular treatment or procedure because it may be harmful. For example, having a bleeding disorder is a contraindication for taking aspirin because treatment with aspirin may cause excess bleeding." - National Cancer Institute.
What is a side effect? - "A problem that occurs when treatment affects healthy tissues or organs." - National Cancer Institute
It is important to understand those two definitions whenever you are being prescribed or taking any kind of medication. Sometimes side effects are not known until after the fact and Penicillin (an antibiotic commonly used in the treatment of infections) is one such example. It doesn't stop there as there are other drugs like high blood pressure meds that often come with side effects as symptoms that overlap. For example, there are blood pressure medications on the market that can cause an irritating cough that, despite your best efforts, persists.
If this is happening to you, speak to your GP (medical doctor) as soon as you can! Do not ignore any symptoms or reactions you may have in the days or weeks of you taking any new medication. Take nothing for granted if you've noticed something out of the ordinary, your body can change with age and may reject something you probably took for years!
Rule #4 - Take as prescribed
This may be the most important one of all! I have worked with clients needing to manage their chronic diseases and several were not taking their medication as prescribed. While some of those who did, maintaining the lifestyle that got them where they were. For instance, the kidneys play a major role in managing our blood pressure and if you don't take your meds the way you were instructed, you are damaging not only your kidneys but your entire arterial system.
I had an ophthalmologist, at one time, refer a patient to me, who was poorly managing their blood sugar levels and it began affecting the blood vessels at the back of the eye. Poor dietary choices and high HbA1C numbers put him at risk for blindness. After weeks of working with him around his food choices and encouraging him to move mere, he was able to reduce some of the medication he was taking. His doctor was sceptical but numbers don't lie.
He was one of many. Another comes to mind, who was able to cut his blood pressure meds and manage it through diet, exercise and nutraceuticals. Before you go off having grand ideas, you have to know he did the work to reap the rewards and he worked hard to achieve his goal.
The Take-Away
Taking charge of your health is important, and necessary, to avoid life-changing events and examining what you eat is the primary place to start. It requires some self-analysis to decide whether our lifestyle habits will get us to where we want to be. In making decisions about our health we need to keep in mind that whatever we do will not only impact our lives but the those around us. If you want to have better management of your blood sugar, are you exercising and managing your intake of processed food?
I often think about what ageing would look like for me and the role my children would play and I have made a conscious decision to invest in my health now to reap the benefits further down the road. It became very clear to me in the early days of my practice of natural health, that if I didn't make the necessary changes I would not be where I am today. I watched my father die of kidney disease at 76 years of age and his mother from old age at 99 years of age. I chose to be like my grandmother. She is my inspiration to live my best life possible with the help of God Almighty and His word (The Bible).
If you have found yourself on the other side of wellness there are things you can do to better manage your disease. If you are hoping to get off your medication, there are several things you must consider -
Are you actively making health changes?
Do you understand what got you where you are today?
Are you working with a health coach, alongside your medical doctor?
Are your actions in line with your expectations?
I suggest you seek out the help of a certified health coach or wellness practitioner and work with them alongside your doctor. Please note, I said alongside and not instead of, especially if life-threatening illnesses are involved. Despite what medical science says, it is possible to reverse some lifestyle diseases. Get a grasp on your numbers (weight, blood sugar, blood pressure), understand what they mean, and ask questions if you don't. I would be happy to chat with you about how I can support you. You do not have to do this alone.
My offer for a chat is still open to you to take advantage of.
Prefer a full consultation? See the link below.
If you would like to have a low-cost option of working with me, this is for you. This masterclass will help you to understand the role your digestive system plays in managing some lifestyle diseases and may help prevent them.
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