by Dr. Hyla Cass
A little known but potentially life-saving fact is that common medications deplete vital nutrients essential to your health.
Here’s a practical guide to avoid drug-induced nutrient depletion.
We have been called a pill-popping society, and statistics bear this out. Nearly 50 percent of American adults take at least one prescription drug, and 20 percent take three or more.
More than half of those over 65 and 30 percent of people 45 to 65 used at least three prescription drugs in a one-month period.
Medications Deplete Nutrients
With our increasing reliance on medications comes nutrient depletion, a problem we can’t ignore.
Every medication, including over-the-counter drugs, will drain the body of specific nutrients.
On top of this, most Americans are already suffering from nutrient depletion. In fact, many of the conditions we see in everyday practice may actually be related to this deficiency.
Read Mixing Medications and Vitamins
The good news is that with the right supplements, you can avoid depletion side effects, and even better, you may be able to control and prevent chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.
A Case of Nutrient Depletion
I have seen case after case of patients who have experienced nutrient loss from taking prescribed medications. Too often, neither the patients nor their doctors were aware that the cause of symptoms was the medications themselves.
For example, a 57-year-old retired schoolteacher, Kathy, was being treated by her internist with three medications: the thiazide diuretic, Diuril, for high blood pressure; Fosamax for osteoporosis; and the beta-blocker, Tenormin, for heart palpitations.
She was referred to me, an integrative psychiatrist, because she suffered from fatigue, anxiety, depression and insomnia. I couldn’t find an obvious psychological explanation for these symptoms, except perhaps for the stress of her physical illnesses.
The likeliest cause of her symptoms was the drugs themselves. So, rather than adding an antidepressant, an anti-anxiety pill or sleeping agent, I checked the known nutrient depletions associated with these medications. Lab results confirmed that Kathy was deficient in three essential minerals: magnesium, potassium and zinc.
Learn more about magnesium in Magnesium Reduces High Blood Pressure
Any one of her three medications could deplete potassium and magnesium, causing arrhythmias, hypertension, fatigue and depression. The diuretic also could be depleting zinc. Her internist agreed that he would continue to oversee her medications while I supervised her nutritional regimen.
Daily doses of magnesium, zinc and potassium, in addition to a high-potency multivitamin, resolved Kathy’s "psychiatric" symptoms. Once her mineral levels were restored, her energy and mood were back to normal. She was not only spared the burden of an additional medication, but was able to lower the doses of the three she was taking.
I see cases similar to Kathy’s more frequently than I’d like. Physicians will often tell these patients that their symptoms are "part of the illness" or "just signs that they’re getting older." They then prescribe an additional drug or two for the side effects, further compounding the problem.
Learn more about how medications can deplete nutrients with the Pill Advised online health tool.
Hyla Cass M.D. is a physician practicing integrative medicine and psychiatry.
She combines the best of natural medicine with modern science in her clinical practice and appears regularly on TV, radio, and has been quoted in many national magazines.
A member of the Medical Advisory Board of the Health Sciences Institute and Taste for Life Magazine, she is also Associate Editor of Total Health Magazine, she has served on the boards of California Citizens for Health and the American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM).
She graduated from the University of Toronto School of Medicine, interned at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, and completed a psychiatric residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center/UCLA. She is the author of several popular books including: Natural Highs, 8 Weeks to Vibrant Health, and Supplement your Prescription: What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About Nutrition.
