Health Condition

Top Stories!

Visit our health library for many other educational articles beneficial to your health!

Top Stories By Month:

blog page image

Health Forum: Natural alternatives to Rx Drugs-Part II.

April 14th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

This week's Forum continues our discussion to natural alternatives to the top three prescription drugs. Just because a person is prescribed a medication does not make it the best therapeutic option. Doctors often recommend drugs soley because of savvy, sophisticated marketing efforts by giant pharmaceutical companies. Those companies are certainly not going to suggest, cheaper, more natural alternatives to drugs they have spent billions of dollars bringing to market.

#1 HRT-(Premarin, et al.) Wyeth Labs made over one BILLION dollars last year in estrogen replacement therapy for Premarin alone. Estrogen-replacement is widely prescribed for menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes. Naturopathic physicians, such as myself, are dismayed that this marketing has turned a natural process into a disease, requiring treatment.

About 75% of women taking estrogen replacement therapy quit within one year due to side effects. Especially significant are gastro-intestinal symptoms.

Natural alternatives: Soy Isoflavones such as: foods like tofu, soy nuts, soy cereals, or soy supplements. One I recommend is Soy Easy, available in my pharmacy. Black Cohosh is an herb with a long history for balancing hormones, in folk medicine. While soy isoflavones act as weak plant estrogens, Black Cohosh does not contain any estrogenic properties according to the most current research, so it considered safe for women with high estrogen levels such as endometriosis. I prefer MMS, and Vitanicas standardized extracts due to their long history, and excellent track record.

#2 Antibiotics: Amoxicillan is the number one antibiotic in the United States. It kills germs, certainly, but also breeds resistant bacteria, and destroys the good or beneficial flora in the body leading to problems with immunity, and leading to other infections.

Natural alternatives: Acupuncture can bolster the immune system and eliminate the need for antibiotics in many cases. I have used acupuncture successfully to treat all kinds of infection, and it has worked quickly and thoroughly.

Garlic is also a substance that will boost the immune system while simultaneously fighting microbial infection. High doses of garlic can be used without professional supervision.

Probiotics, can also boost the immune system by adding to the amount of "good guys" your immune system has. Beneficial products are scarce though. I have come up with four in 12 years of practice, that I feel are beneficial.

#3-Prozac, and other antidepressants. A few years ago, after four years in practice I took an informal count of my 335 patients and found that 70% were on anti-depressants or other mood alterning drugs...I was dumbfounded!

My top remedies for mood problems are: flower essences a form of emotional homeopathy, and again acupuncture to harmonize the emotions. In 94% of my patients, we were able to gradually wean off over time, and they remain medication free!!! I am not as satisfied with mainstream protocols such as St. Johns Wort, although they are extremely safe unless combined with medication. Please note: I never combine herbal and prescription medications!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next week we will discuss the use of "statin" drugs for cholesterol lowering. Is cholesterol really bad? Stay tuned.

Taryn DeCicco, ND, LAc

Apple-A-Day-Clinic.COM 4/14/2008

Best of Health!

Visit our Natural Product Pharmacy for great prices and FREE SHIPPING on hundreds of natural products from professional brands like: Metagenics, Douglas Laboratories, Pure Encapsulations, Integrative Therapeutics, Thorne Research, and Carlson Labs!

Taryn DeCicco, ND, LAc, LDN

Naturopath

Acupuncturist

Clinical Nutritionist

Professional Vitamins and Supplements

Chinese Herbs

Natural Skin Products

Arlington Heights, IL

www.apple-a-day-clinic.com

We specialize in Acne, Skin, and Digestive disorders! Please contact us for a free consultation! I do work long distance. Thank you from the bottom of our cart! We truly appreciate your product purchases, visits, and referrals! They enable us to give people the help they need and continue our valuable work.

**Share the HEALTH!**
FREE Shipping and Save 10-20% on over 500 TOP Professional Products	Like US? Join us on FB!	We LOVE to Tweet! Join us on Twitter!	Visit our Natural Health Library for many GREAT Articles!	Don't Miss a thing! Subscribe now to get our new articles via email.	Send this article to a friend!

Posted in

Archived Newsletters, Health Condition, Environment

by	Taryn DeCicco, ND

Views:

9185

Add Your Comment

Natural Alternatives to Drugs Part I.

April 7th, 2008 at 5:17 pm

I just learned today that Botox travels from its injection site to the brain where it affects neurotransmitter firing.....I'll be talking about cosmetic acupuncture and SAFE ways to improve your appearance, naturally in an upcoming article.

This week and next week I'd like to speak to you about some natural alternatives to drugs. The following are alternatives to the top 3 over the counter drugs.

1. Pain relievers such as: Tylenol and Advil are the best-selling OTC drugs in this country. Most pain relievers are used to lessen pain from arthritis, muscle strain or sports injury. Aspirin falls into this category.

In the natural medicine field, pain can be relieved by: herbs such as Devil's Claw and White Willow Bark, natural anti inflammatories. Enzymes such as: papain and bromelain can also work wonders for many people. One product I recommend is: Arth-Plus, which contains all the above and is available from the natural pharmacy. Another remedy is: capsaicin a substance isolated from Chili Peppers...I love the band, too. Applied topically, capsaicin can improve surgical healing, headache and arthritis. It can have a warm or even burning sensation which disappears with regular use.

2. Antacids, or "Heartburn" Drugs- Heartburn has become big business by drug companies in the last few years, with occasional indigestion suddenly becoming a "disease". Pepcid AC is a huge drug in the US, and Tagamet and Zantac are big sellers as well. Please note that chronic indigestion or heart burn IS a medical problem and can lead to esophageal erosion and even cancer. In Natural Medicine, its cause is usually food allergies, or intestinal dysbiosis. Please see my page on Candida, linked here. For occasional heartburn due to poor dietary choices, I love the Papaya Enzyme we have from ADL, because it does not contain fake sugars and sugar alcohols which all others do. Papaya enzyme helps to digest enzymatically proteins, and also neutralizes acid naturally. DGL, a form of licorice root that does NOT raise blood pressure is also available in lozenges and helps to soothe the esophasgus and neutralize acid. I like RX vitamins lozenges, and recommend them for anyone to have on hand in their natural medicine chest. Avoiding late eating and simply learning how to chew properly are very helpful in preventing this common disorder.

3. Cold Remedies: such as-Hall's, Robitussin, NyQuil, Theraflu etc., are the third popular OTC medication. Several antihistamines have been linked to dangerous rise in blood pressure. The others only relieve symptoms. Natural Medicines can reduce the recovery time, and sometimes even abort the illness altogether if taken at the first sign of symptoms. Zinc lozenges can be taken every hour or two for two days to help shorten recovery time. Research has demonstrated hastening recovery time by 50%. High dosages of vitamin C have a similar effect. 1,000 Mgs of Buffered C...again see my pharmacy for product details, can be taken every hour to bowel tolerance, whereupon stools become soft. NAC, can be very effective at reducing phlegm, and also bolster the immune system.

Taryn DeCicco, ND, LAc

Apple-A-Day-Clinic.COM 4/7/2008