Spring in Maryland
Today, I wanted to share a paradoxical idea: medications causing diseases. Let's call it "the pill paradox" since we doctors think of pills as first-line treatments for diseases, not first-line creators of diseases!
Why and how do medications create disease? And how can we deal with this phenomenon when it occurs?
I've been reflecting on these and other questions this past week. Now that I am aware that the pill paradox is possible, I have looked for it more systematically in my practice and found it to be quite common.
I present some early theories about how this can happen and how I have been working to ameliorate the situation. My learning curve is still climbing, an optimistic way to say that I'm still learning how to approach the situation depending on the medication.
Read on for two brief patient scenarios, and a quick update on Jim, from last week’s article.
The Pill Paradox
When medications cause diseases
It is so obvious to me now, but because of my medical training, I wasn't fully able to appreciate all the signs and evidence pointing to the phenomenon.
These past few weeks, however, have convinced me that medications' side effects often are misunderstood and mislabeled as a disease that requires more medications to treat.
The idea is not new of course. I help patients taper off medications often because they can't tolerate side effects from their medications. I recognize withdrawal side effects when they happen and use integrative and natural supports to lessen and ameliorate their damaging effects.
What I'm referring to, however, is something different.
What if medications cause diseases through the same process that other underlying causes (like allergens and toxins) create diseases?
After all, aren't medications refined and synthesized foreign substances (xenobiotics)? By definition, don't xenobiotics stimulate an immune response (inflammation) the moment a patient takes them? With chronic use, wouldn't it create chronic inflammation? The longer the use, the worse the inflammatory effects? Also, we know that xenobiotics increase the burden on the liver's detoxification system. If a patient already struggles with detoxification, wouldn't a treatment using a xenobiotic be difficult if not impossible for a patient to tolerate? And what about the G. I. system? Don't xenobiotics create more inflammation there and change the pH balance in the gut, creating problems with dysbiosis?
The answer to all these questions is, "Yes." Because all of the above is possible, it is possible for medications to cause deterioration, dysfunction, disease, disorders, and even death. It doesn't matter what the medication is called: antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, antipsychotic, or anti-histamine. In this case, a toxin by any other name does not smell as sweet.
In Jim's situation, he had been taking Cymbalta for 15 years. When we stopped his 38 beads, a part of his body went into withdrawal. Another part of his body celebrated because the source of inflammation was removed. Jim's recovery was also affected by an acupuncture session (two days after stopping the Cymbalta) that created a bad problem with nocturia. After removing the acupuncturist's magnets in his ears, he slept better that very night. Over the past week, he had some days that were better (more energy, better sleep, and improved mood) and some days where he felt depressed and had low energy.
We haven't put him on any other antidepressant and hope not to have to do so. But I am okay with doing so if that is what needs to be done. I had to adjust his regimen: some of his supplements went down and others went up. It all made sense given the testing results before we stopped his medication. It's a little too early to give much of a report, but I feel that he is healing well and am hopeful that over the next two weeks things will continue to stabilize and improve for him.
With this same focus, when a patient shared that she was experiencing increasing anxiety, dry/tingling skin, and inflammation in her left hip, I immediately wondered if her symptoms could be caused by a medication. The woman had been prescribed Claritin for the past five years for her allergies. Until now, I had essentially ignored her use of Claritin, assuming that it was a harmless antihistamine--a nonpsychiatric medication that was none of my business. But this time I tested her for its actual effects on her energy state.
My energy testing showed that she indeed had a very bad reaction to her Claritin. So, I asked her to stop it and replaced it with a natural antihistamine that tested well for her and was a better fit. Four days later, I called her and asked how she was doing.
She chuckled and said, "I'm doing better!" She feels much less anxious and her other symptoms seem to be improving, though only by a small amount so far.
Recently, a tearful young woman in her 20's exclaimed in exasperation, "Why can't I digest my food?! Why doesn't my liver work properly?! Why do I feel so anxious?! Why do I have acne?!"
Suddenly, everything connected together for me. I thought of her medication in her G. I. system causing inflammation and interfering with her digestion, stressing her liver and making it harder for her to detoxify and regulate her hormones, challenging her skin's detoxification system and causing acne there, and finally, contributing to her anxiety because inflammation triggered the adrenals to release more adrenalin (a stress hormone).
Over the past four months, she has been lowering her Paxil and Lamictal. She is down to 25 mg of Lamictal and afraid to stop it. The dose is just large enough to cause the same inflammatory reaction but low enough to have little positive benefits. Energy testing showed that neither Paxil nor Lamictal were helpful to her. After I explained what I've been learning about medications, she remembered that her acne began after she started taking Lamictal three years ago.
It was a pivotal moment for her--a huge paradigm shift--to realize that her medication can perpetuate illness as well as prevent illness.
After this realization, she is now looking forward to getting off Lamictal in three days. Given her gradual taper, I anticipate that she will soon join the growing list of patients who improve after removing a powerful underlying cause of chronic illness: the medication.