More on Drug Interactions

In my practice, as a functional medicine clinician, I prescribe quite a bit of CBD for a myriad of pathologies. I do not, however, allow any of my clients to begin using CBD until I have reviewed their medication profiles for drug interactions. The importance of doing this can’t be over stated as the potential for severe side effects is quite high. The liver has 2 detox phases. Phase I (cytochrome p450 enzymes system) is where basically the majority of all drugs (60% or more) are metabolized via the cyp450 system, including CBD (specifically, cyp3a4, 3a5, ea7, cyp 2c9, 2c19 and cyp2d6. And phase II where the metabolites from Phase I are further metabolized and eliminated. The balance is critical between the 2 but a discussion for another time. So how does CBD via the cyp450 system interact with drugs to create a drug interaction? Quite simply, CBD competitively inhibits the cyp450 enzymes thus decreasing the metabolism of the drug resulting in increased blood levels with the potential to enhance associated side effects. A perfect example would be Prozac (see website for a blog addressing this interaction with a client) and other psychotropics all of which have the potential for serious side effects.

I have a number of clients come to me to either to help them get off the drugs they are on, or to minimize the number. I have a lot of ways addressing this, but CBD is on the top of my list. An obvious example would be pain management. CBD, in conjunction with palmotylethanolamine (PEA) works on a totally different pain receptor (different blog). The list is extensive in terms of what I have had success with, in replacing or minimizing the use of allopathic medicine. It includes, cancer, inflammation, depression/anxiety, BP medications, diabetes, dermatology, etc. I need to point out however, removing or minimizing the use of drugs can be a lengthy process (weeks to months in some cases) that involves balancing the dosing of CBD with the lowering of a particular drug especially the psychotropics, drugs used for autoimmunity, blood pressure meds etc. to avoid an exacerbation of symptoms. In terms of blood pressure meds, I use the drug interaction. The initial increase in the effectiveness of the BP med when combined with CBD frequently begins to lower the blood pressure allowing us to decrease the dose, or in the case of multiple BP meds, begin to eliminate one.

ANTIAGING

I get asked alot about aging. Aging is inevitable. How quickly we age is based on a number of factors. Genetics (all about triggers), stress, diet, gut health, toxin exposure (detox), free radicals (antioxidants), sleep (sleep deprivation in this country is epidemic) and lack of social interaction. All of these can be addressed given the right supplements and lifestyle changes (never easy). There is a way to determine how quickly we are aging by taking a test that looks at telomere length. Telomeres are found at the ends of our chromosomes and many clinicians feel that telomere shortening is the best marker of your true biological age and are negatively impacted (shortened) by the above mentioned factors. Obviously, addressing as many of the above mentioned factors, can slow down shortening and in some cases actually increase the length of your telomeres. I recently ran across a supplement that has been shown to stop and possibly increase the length of telomeres. If you have any questions re: the test or anti-aging intervention including the aforementioned supplement give me a call 940-435-9655 or Amy 940-372-4596.

WEIGHT LOSS

Excessive weight loss is epidemic in this country. Once estrogen dominance, adrenal stress (cortisol) and hypothyroidism have been ruled out what is left is life style which is major reason for weight gain (poor eating habits and no exercise to name a few). I have used a few with my clients (HCG in particular) and familiar with others (Atkins, ketone, pharmacology/phentermine low calorie). All of them encourage weight loss to some extent but are not usually sustainable with up to 85% failure rate due to complexity, expense, time etc. The ideal scenario is to initially eat a healthy balanced diet (45% healthy carbs, 25% healthy fats, 30% protein) at or below their BMR (basal metabolic rate-what it takes to keep things going at a resting state), which for most women is around 1,500 kcal daily in conjunction with exercise. The down side to this approach is that it takes time and in the meantime you are hungry because despite the fact that you have plenty of fat to utilize for energy (why you are dieting in the first place) your body does not efficiently utilize the fat for energy and will attempt to address that need by using what fat it can to produce ketones (basis behind the ketone diet which works however over time may become a detriment by lowering our bodies Ph (metabolic acidosis and lead to dehydration) but again not enough to meet your energy needs on a low calorie diet. However, if you were able to directly utilize your fat more efficiently (avoiding ketosis) and providing enough energy to avoid hunger and fatigue while eating BMR or less and exercising, you would be able to achieve desired healthy weight loss. I was recently introduced to a supplement that, in fact, claimed to do just that. It uses high doses of pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) that maximizes the utilization of your fat while eating a balanced low calorie diet (below BMR) without feeling hungry and tired (allows for exercise) and achieving a healthy weight loss. Being a bit curious and traditionally dubious I had a few folks that I knew were struggling with HCG, ketone diets etc., try it. After about a week with no hunger/fatigue and exercising I measured their body composition. Both of them had an increase in muscle mass % and a decrease in fat%.

Pretty simple. While taking the supplement, eat a balanced diet below BMR until the desired weight is achieved then continue eating the same balanced healthy diet (not unlike Atkins) meeting daily energy needs. For more information, contact Amy to order 940-372-4596.