VIDEO: Pain Medications and Nutrient Depletion

Host: All right, now we're going to talk about pain medications and what nutrients they deplete. Ibuprofen, acetaminophen — people take those all the time for aches, pains, and arthritis. What nutrients are they depleting?

Dr. Stengler: The main nutrient they deplete is glutathione. Glutathione is an antioxidant in the body — very important. It really supercharges your immune system and is involved in detoxification, so when you have low levels of glutathione, you're not going to be too healthy. We want to make sure we get people's levels up while they're on these medications. Of course, we treat their pain with other ways — chiropractic, acupuncture, MSM, natural anti-inflammatories — but while they're on the medications, they need to boost up their glutathione levels.

Host: And how do you boost up your glutathione levels?

Dr. Stengler: There are a few different ways. N-acetylcysteine is a supplement shown to increase glutathione levels, a very safe antioxidant. Vitamin C increases your glutathione levels as well. The herb milk thistle, which people commonly use to protect the liver or help with liver function, is a good idea to be on anyhow, because your liver could be stressed from taking the medications for long periods. Those are natural ways you can increase your glutathione level, besides lots of fresh green vegetables in the diet. You've got to get that glutathione level up, or else you get other problems happening in the body.

Host: So most of your patients taking pain medication are also taking anti-inflammatory drugs to decrease inflammation. Do those also deplete your body of some nutrients?

Dr. Stengler: They do. Some of your general anti-inflammatory medications can deplete your folic acid and potassium. Folic acid is important for brain function and memory — you're more apt to have depression if you're low on folic acid, and you can get anemia. Potassium is important for good nerve conduction and keeping blood pressure down. The goal is, when patients come in on these medications, to get those nutrients in their system, because they're probably very deficient — when we do lab tests, we find they're very low. But ultimately, we get them on more holistic treatments: exercise, weight loss, natural anti-inflammatories, chiropractic, and bodywork, so we get them off these medications.

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