Drugs can deplete your body of the nutrients it needs for health

These days medications are hard to avoid

It is harder and harder these days to avoid getting yourself on some long term medication. This is the way that doctors are trained to treat illness. You may be taking hormone replacement or birth control pills, managing high cholesterol or high blood pressure, controlling pain or fighting infection. The drugs in these treatments do things that deplete the natural supply of nutrients, more unintended consequences that your doctor may not tell you about or think important.

Be aware of how they can deplete your body of nutrients

I have so far been able to avoid these drugs through what I hope is healthy living but I know that there are times when these drugs are necessary. What I didn’t know and what you may not know as well is the other effects of these drugs in your body. They can deplete essential nutrients and over a long period of use cause serious damage.

Learn what nutrients these drugs deplete

One of the risks we take with our health these days is that modern medicine treats symptoms rather than creating healthy body functions. High blood pressure is an example. People with high blood pressure begin a commitment to drugs to manage high blood pressure rather than creating the conditions for good blood pressure from diet and exercise. Often they are on these damaging medications for life. The blood pressure gets controlled but the unintended consequences of the drugs cause other symptoms which are treated with another drug and so on.

Statins deplete CoQ10

Statin drugs used to control cholesterol levels deplete the body of coenzyme Q10. Without enough CoQ10 you may experience body aches caused when cells are not getting enough energy since CoQ10 is essential for making the fuel that cells need to function. Virtually all medications will have some effect on your nutrition even over the counter drugs.

Ask your doctor to advise you about supplementation

I am not a doctor and I am not recommending that you don’t take drugs prescribed by your doctor. I do suggest that knowing what kinds of nutrient depletion your drugs cause can help you maintain good health even under a drug regimen. Start with your doctor and ask what essential nutrients are depleted by your medications. Make sure that he advises you about proper supplementation to compensate for the effects of the drugs. You can also check this online information about nutrient depletion for many drugs on the web. Even over the counter drugs can cause nutrient depletion. This article from the Life Extension Foundation describes the nutritional effects of some of these over the counter remedies and what supplementation can restore the balance.

But make sure that you know what your drugs are doing

Maintaining your health is your job. You can’t depend on your doctor to be committed to your overall health when he treats your symptoms. If you need long term medication then be sure that you understand the effect of the drugs on your nutrition and take the right supplements to keep your body supplied with the nutrition that it needs.