Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Everyone deals with stressors on some level, but if you deal with chronic stress, this can have serious impacts on your overall health. This is why it is so important to take the necessary steps to help your body adapt to these stressors.
If you’re experiencing pain or cramps in your legs, there’s a chance you are having issues with circulation to your legs. The good news is that there are nutrients that can help.
steroid drugs
InViteⓇ Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey, Ph.
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Welcome to Part 2 of my episode looking at how steroid drugs, also known as corticosteroids, that are used for inflammation can deplete important nutrients. The steroid drugs have many, many toxicities and side effects that may even be caused or at least aggravated by these depletions. In the first part of this episode, I discussed how steroid drugs like hydrocortisone, Medrol and prednisone can deplete your Vitamin B6 and microbiome and the effects this has on your health.†
Today, I’m going to go a lot further in the nutrients that are depleted by these drugs and use that also as a platform to teach you about these nutrients.†
In the last episode, we discussed Vitamin A, probiotic bacteria and Vitamin B6. Now we’re going to discuss Vitamin B9, which is more commonly known as folate. Most multivitamins use a synthetic form of folate called folic acid. The problem is that many people have trouble converting that into the active form. If you’re on a drug like prednisone at a high dose for a long time, you really want to make sure that you’re getting the active form of folate called methyltetrahydrofolate, which is why we use this form in our multivitamins. This can help you avoid a lot of the problems with the drug.†
ACTIVE FOLATE FOR BRAIN AND HEART HEALTH – INVITE HEALTH PODCAST, EPISODE 397. Listen Now>>
When you intake adequate amounts of folate, there is a reduced risk of dying from a stroke or heart disease and of developing heart failure. Both folate and B6 are depleted by the drugs, so you want to make sure that you’re taking some of these. Folate also reduces homocysteine, which is a byproduct of protein production. Elevated homocysteine chips away at your joint health and that might be one of the reason why steroid drugs are bad for your hip joint. Homocysteine can also contribute to depression and eye disease.†
Vitamin B12 is another nutrient commonly depleted by steroid drugs. I tell people if they’re on these drugs, they need to get methylcobalamin. This is fully activated B12 that is really important for the brain. You need it to make your red blood cells. If you don’t have it, your red blood cells can get really big and they can’t carry oxygen anymore. This is called megaloblastic anemia and can lead to symptoms such as fatigue. You also need B12 to make your nerve cells.†
All of these nutrients are commonly low in older people to begin with and the steroid drugs will only compound this and make it worse. Older people really have to pay attention to this.†
Steroid drugs commonly deplete Vitamin C. Vitamin C is really important for protecting your brain. You also need Vitamin C and Vitamin E to protect your lungs. Vitamin C is also needed to make your hair, skin, nails, bones, joints and brain because you need it to make connective tissue and collagen. Literally, without Vitamin C, you melt. Your hair falls out, your nails fall off and your skin peels off. This is called scurvy. Vitamin C is also needed by the immune system and levels of this nutrient drop in the winter, just when we need it to fight off infections.†
THE WONDERS OF VITAMIN C – INVITE HEALTH PODCAST, EPISODE 200. Listen Now>>
Vitamin D is depleted by steroid drugs, but that’s compounded because Vitamin A also doesn’t work. You need Vitamin D to absorb calcium and help your muscles, nerves and brain function properly. You need Vitamin D to prevent acute respiratory distress syndrome, otherwise you can destroy your lungs.†
In this episode, Jerry Hickey, Ph. concludes his discussion on steroid drugs. He details more nutrients that are depleted by these medications and explains why this interferes with the body’s ability to function properly.†
Key Topics:
Thank you for tuning in to the InViteⓇ Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at InViteⓇ Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the InViteⓇ Health Podcast.
Steroid drugs such as prednisone are very popular, but many people do not know about the side effects that accompany them. Learn about the problems associated with these medications from Jerry Hickey, Ph.
Have you heard of trigger finger? This is a type of tendonitis that impacts your fingers and can cause them to lock up. Many times, patients use NSAID drugs to help with this discomfort, but the good news is that there are powerful nutrients that can act as safe, effective alternatives.
arthritis
InViteⓇ Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey, Ph.
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NSAIDs are very commonly used drugs. They’re used for arthritic pain, inflammation, autoimmune diseases, fevers and more. The problem is that they’re not without real issues for your health. An example would be ibuprofen or naproxen. Millions of people casually take these almost on a daily basis. They can increase your risk of having a heart attack, developing a blood clot and having heart failure. They even affect your hearing and vision. They can damage your kidneys and trigger asthma attacks in certain people. I’d like to discuss this today so people know what they’re up against. I think the toxicities and side effects of these drugs are shrugged off by most people. The good news is that there are really good substitutes and alternatives for these arthritis drugs.†
All NSAIDs come with a black box warning. The next time you get a prescription for celecoxib or other NSAID or the next time you buy ibuprofen or naproxen, look at the paper inside. Right on top is the highest level of warnings from the FDA. If it gets any worse than this, they recall the drug from the market. It’s called a black box warning and it warns about how these drugs can impact cardiovascular health, digestive health, vision health, hearing and more.†
HOW NAC SUPPORTS HEALTHY HEARING – INVITE HEALTH PODCAST, EPISODE 211. Listen Now>>
There are new guidelines for cardiovascular health that came out a week or two ago. Experts are now saying that NSAIDs such as aspirin should not be used for primary prevention of a heart attack since the harm caused by the drug outweighs the good.†
If you have severe arthritis pain in your back or your knee, you can take the NSAID drugs for three to five days, but using it for longer than that is dangerous. Yet somewhere along the road, somebody decided it’s okay to use these dangerous medications every day.†
If you have a mildly irritated, painful knee, there are natural things that will help that pain that are not dangerous for you. There are true supplements that really work for your knee that actually seem to slow down the loss of joint tissue and protect the cartilage. One of them would be undenatured type II collagen, which is called UC-IIⓇ. This helps pull the immune system away from the joint and seems to help prevent the joint from getting worse. For people with mild to moderate pain, the pain is usually gone within the first month. For people with really severe knee pain, the pain is generally gone by the second month. I’ve even had some people who were diagnosed with bone-on-bone arthritis by their orthopedic doctor tell me that their bone-on-bone pain went away using the UC-IIⓇ.†
MY MORNING HEALTH CONCOCTION – INVITE HEALTH PODCAST, EPISODE 452. Listen Now>>
Another supplement that can really help you is well-absorbed turmeric. Don’t just buy curcumin. You want the complete plant. The research shows that the complete plant is much better for helping a knee with arthritis than just using the curcumin alone because the whole plant contains other ingredients that are great for inflammation. Another plant ingredient that really helps with discomfort from arthritis is frankincense. The frankincense is called boswellia serrata and it contains ingredients that are great for the pain that you see with arthritis. When you mix the turmeric with the boswellia, it’s very effective for stiffness, joint pain, protecting the knee, range of motion, walking and quality of life.†
In this episode, Jerry Hickey, Ph. explains why the use of NSAID drugs for arthritis can be dangerous for the body. He details how these drugs are toxic to the body and offers alternative suggestions for nutrients that can help with arthritis symptoms.†
Key Topics:
Thank you for tuning in to the InViteⓇ Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at InViteⓇ Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the InViteⓇ Health Podcast.