Drug Muggers

Kasey Cox


*
*
When I was 19 (I am now 41), I began taking prescription medications that I would continue taking for the rest of my life. At the time, I hated the idea of being “dependent” on medication for my health. Sure, I’d taken prescription medications before – mostly penicillin-type drugs to treat bronchitis and the like – but somehow, this felt different. Strep throat is just an infection that kids get. You take the prescription, and it goes away. Occasionally, the penicillin I’d take would be a little harsh on my stomach, but it was only a week or so, and I’d feel normal again. These new meds, however, were to ‘regulate’ my symptoms, long-term. I was diagnosed with a chronic disease: I would learn to live with it, by moderating it with medication, therapy, and lifestyle changes. The need for the medication felt like weakness. It felt like failure.

Now, I thank God all the time that I was born in an era where my combination of medications is readily available to me, and that researchers figured out how they help me. If I had been born even twenty years earlier, none of the meds I take would have been available to me. So many people suffered in silence; self-medicated with all kinds of other substances; lived a shortened life in an institution; or walked into a river with stones in their pockets, to escape the illness that I have daily relief from. So am I grateful for prescription medications? You bet I am! I’m thankful for the anti-seizure medications, the anti-depressants, anxiety meds, blood pressure prescriptions, insulin, synthetic thyroid hormone, blood-thinners, epi-pens, nitrates, and all the other medications which help people with chronic, life-threatening illnesses live fuller, healthier, more comfortable lives.

Nevertheless, none of these medications comes without a cost – and I’m not talking about the monetary figures or amount of time behind the development of these drugs, although they are obviously significant. For this article, I’m focusing on the side effects of medications. Like most people who need prescriptions, choosing which meds I ultimately stay on is a decision based on weighing the side effects against the benefits. For me, coming up with the right “cocktail” combination of medications has been, for the large part, about figuring out which medications give me the results I need to stay healthy with either no noticeable side effects or side effects that I can learn to live with. Often, for mental health meds, it’s difficult to achieve a balance like this: so many people go off their prescriptions because the meds that help can also cause sleepiness, weight gain, acne, hand tremors, excessive thirst, thyroid or liver damage, constipation, and more. Once I found a balance of meds that help my symptoms but bring me few of these side effects I’d experienced before, I felt like my life, and my illness, were finally manageable. I’m really satisfied with my drug regimen, and believe me, that means for me, “You’ve come a long way, baby!”

So, I found myself completely surprised to learn that I still might be missing a large piece of the puzzle. A well-informed friend recently recommended I read Drug Muggers, by respected pharmacist Suzy Cohen, RPh. Cohen is the author of five books, and is known as “America’s Most Trusted Pharmacist”, with her syndicated column, “Dear Pharmacist.” With Drug Muggers, Cohen turns her impressive twenty plus years of experience and research to the problem of how medications, over time, can deplete the body’s ability to make or use certain important nutrients. I’ve kept up with how my meds might affect my thyroid, my kidneys, my liver – the doctor has me monitor this with lab work – but for some reason, I never thought about their interaction with basic vitamin messengers in my body.

For Cohen, it’s just chemistry. Citing extensive studies, Cohen helps the reader understand that, too often in modern society, we feel ill and doctors throw another pill at us. As a pharmacist, Cohen passionately believes in the power of prescriptions to help people. Her focus in Drug Muggers is not to convince people to stop taking medication! Instead, she reminds us that people who regularly take medication need to keep in mind that a new symptom doesn’t necessarily mean a new illness or an untolerable side effect. Many symptoms or “side effects” can be mitigated or even banished by taking a vitamin B supplement, magnesium, vitamin D, or by augmenting certain vitamins through simple diet changes. It’s important to note that “regular medication” doesn’t just mean prescriptions: Cohen explains that constant use of over-the-counters like antacids, Aleve, Ibuprofen, and laxatives can also deplete the body of important nutrients.

Satisfied with your medication regimen? Great, but learn more about your body chemistry with “America’s Most Respected Pharmacist”. Most doctors don’t have to take many credits dealing specifically with nutrition. Unhappy with your medications, because you’re suffering a lot of side effects? Run to your local bookstore or library and check out Drug Muggers. No, it’s not a substitute for a doctor, but it’s a great resource, which ultimately – like the supplements Cohen recommends – can advance your health and well-being.

If you'd like to buy this book, why not buy it where you tried it? Simply click on the photo below, or the title, highlighted throughout this post, to purchase the book at From My Shelf Books & Gifts, and to support the writers of this fine blog ;) We thank you!