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Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Spring Into Action!

Spring is in the air saying "Hey little plants it's time to make some chlorophyll and get cooking with your pretty petaled reproductive parts!"  Everyone is enjoying the allergy nightmare caused by this regrowth and going gung-ho on their annual household deep cleaning but there seems to be a great disconnect with spring cleaning and your health.  I have a new spring cleaning routine for you, your family members, your friends, your healthcare providers, and just everyone everywhere who needs to deep clean their health and medication routine!

Clear off a table and let's get started.

1. Line up all of your prescriptions, vitamins, herbal supplements, and topical treatments.

2. Get something to write on and something to write with.

3.  Make a chart with a few columns labeled: item name, what is it for, and how often do I use this

4. Fill in the chart for each item.

Anything you couldn't fill in under "what is it for" you either don't really need to be on it or you need to Google it and reconsider if you really need it. There are huge issues with overprescribing things a patient doesn't really need because the patient demanded it.  Did you tell your doc you wanted to try a specific drug?  Did you get the result you were expecting from the direct to consumer advert or web forum you heard about it from? No? Then you don't need it.  Talk to your doc about getting off of it.  Some medications have a weaning period to prevent a slew of unpleasant ill effects when they are stopped.

How many medications are you using for the same problem?  If you are on more than Two medications for any One problem it is time for some serious reevaluation as to why you are on a slew of meds for diabetes or mood disorders or blood pressure and heart problems or anything else.  Are you getting these meds from multiple prescribers?  If so you need to talk to all of them about simplifying your regimen and swapping your current meds.  The more meds you take the more likely you will have an issue with taking the wrong drug at the wrong time, forgetting to take them, taking too much, taking the wrong drug because they are similar in shape/size/color, risk of interactions with over the counter drugs/other prescription drugs/herbal supplements/food, etc.  Everything you take ends up in the blood stream where your circulatory system mixes and pushes it to all areas of your body like some chemical soup through millions of multi size crazy straws.  The more components to this live action gumbo could stew up some horrifiying problems and you do not want to be hospitalized by an attack of those Killer Tomatoes!  Simplicity and maximum efficacy are your best friends in the prescription kingdom!

Vitamin supplements are another stickler where people take a lot of things they really don't need.  Anything beyond a once daily multi-vitamin that your doc didn't find a deficiency in your blood work for is a waste of money.  Stop taking expensive supplements and eat better foods.  It's that simple and you get the added benefit of weight loss and not feeling tired all the time.  A lot of people who go on the gluten free diets are like "Oh I was fat and tired because I'm allergic to gluten."  Wrong!  Unless you are in the less than 1% of the world population with a specific inflammatory marker that reacts to gluten you lost weight because you stopped eating carb dense, preservative, fat, and sugar laden foods.

This is not an all inclusive list but it is a great start to a better life. Take action! Your health and well being should always be priority 1!