Posted on 10/11/2011 12:27:08 PM PDT by decimon
Funny you should say that. My pharmacist is an Indian Sikh, and is both reliable and current with not just with western pharmaceuticals and herbal medicine, but Ayurvedic herbal medicine as well. I haven’t asked, but I suspect he is also quite familiar with Chinese herbal medicine, too.
But then again, he works for Walgreens.
This article is not a new revelation. When you go in for major orthopedic surgery they want to know exactly what you are taking, herbs, vitamins, prescrition meds, the works.
Your list is studied by a pharmacist to make sure there is no reaction to the blood thinner they will prescribe. The blood thinner prevents you from getting a brain killing clot.
They want to you to stop taking supplements that would cause too much thinning which would cause a brain killing hemmorage.
Your blood is tested weekly and they tell you not to alter you diet substantially of certain foods.
Six or so weeks later you can go back to your normal intakes.
After the six weeks or so you go
I can never get an Indian pharmacist to do anything but refuse to give me my prescriptions, lol! Could it be a woman thing?
One of my most potent memories is an Indian pharmacist in Piccidilly Circus who refused to sell me a codeine-laced cough syrup. I was dying! But, somehow, he thought I was a typical drug addict looking for my fix. The Piccidilly Boots turned out to be notorious for drug addicts. My husband had to eventually go into the store and demand it. (Codeine medications are legal and over-the-counter in England but you have to ASK for it.) The guy quickly handed it over.
People don’t hear about the dangers of herbs from people like Gary Null.
I once called a pharmacist about finding a nasal saline spray that didn’t irritate me. (I noticed a lot of stuff - like preservatives - in the ones I tried; they all burned.) The guy said they are all the same. Noooo. Simply Saline is well, simply saline. No junk in it and it doesn’t irritate. Oh yes, they were even selling it OTC. If pharmacists don’t know about such a simple thing, you have to wonder how they can know about prescription drugs and supplement interactions. Scary.
And it's so interesting that you mentioned the Brits...the digitalis that I spoke of came from an 18th century English "witch" who treated people afflicted with "dropsy" (heart failure) with foxglove (the correct therapy). True scientists always keep an open mind...science has no room for dogma.
I am a pharmacy student. Everything you said is absolutely correct.
And Orange Juice, or worse grapegruit seems to affect almost everything.
Peppermint has now been shown to be an effective therapy for Irritable Bowel Syndrome in many people.
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news44321.html
“Our research shows that peppermint acts through a specific anti-pain channel called TRPM8 to reduce pain sensing fibres, particularly those activated by mustard and chilli. This is potentially the first step in determining a new type of mainstream clinical treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS),” he says.
IBS is a gastrointestinal disorder, causing abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhoea and/or constipation. It affects about 20% of Australians and costs millions of dollars each year in lost productivity, work absenteeism and health care.
I knew several elderly people that long suffered with IBS, and they began just mixing a half teaspoon of grocery store peppermint extract in a glass of water, once or twice a day at first, then a maintenance dose once every few days. Worked wonders. So while it may not help all IBS cases, my guess is that it would help many of them.
It’s absolutely an amazing herb. IBS also effects many, many women and yet it was a woman doctor who told me it had no effect whatsoever. Luckily, I try not to listen to doctors when they bloviate about things they know nothing about.
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