Natural Confusion

So, just what is natural medicine?  We hear these words along with herbs, vitamins, minerals, essential oils, and homeopathy.  The word natural implies a medicine found in nature.  This would include medicines made from plant, mineral, animal, and could possibly include microorganisms such as a bacteria.  It would also imply that the basic chemistry of the medicine is not altered to something chemically different such as a patented pharmaceutical drug.  Pharmaceuticals and other chemicals that are created by man are known as xenobiotics.  These are substances that are foreign to nature and the human body.  

An herbalist primarily uses herbs in the form of teas, capsules, and tinctures.  Homeopaths primarily use homeopathics that are made from plant, mineral, and animal in diluted form.  A Naturopath may use approaches that include diet, exercise, herbs, minerals, vitamins, essential oils, and homeopathics.  Other recommendations may include water therapies, sauna, massage, and colonics. 

Some drug therapies were touted as being natural.  Premarinâ for hormone replacement was made from PREgnant MARes urINe.  I guess horse urine hormones are natural but not for us humans.  Wild yam as an herb is suppose to be effective for birth control but who ever said this was lucky or did not try it.  Poison ivy is natural but I don’t want any, however, homeopathic poison ivy Rhus toxicodendron is an excellent treatment for poison ivy.

Traditional herbal medicine is the use of plants made into teas or poultices for application to the skin.  Herbal teas also provide a nutrient effect supplying vitamins and minerals.  Plants with deep roots may provide more minerals than a shallow rooted plant.  Spices are herbs used in cooking for a more nutritious and tasteful meal.

Vitamins provided by our foods are natural.  Vitamin products may be considered natural if they contain only substances found in nature; however, they are obviously not the same as fresh produce from the garden.  This does not mean these products are not helpful, as many of us need supplements.  Getting your protein from powdered supplements is not the same as wild meat or fish, but may be helpful for those requiring increased protein.  It is a good idea to add a good source of fats such as flax oil to those protein shakes.

Common minerals such as our highly process table salt is detrimental.  Natural salt includes sea salt or Himalayan salt, which is a true salt, found in nature.  Himalayan salt is reported to provide 84 elemental minerals and is a better choice.

Natural medicine can use other wellness tools such as water therapy, sauna, massage, chiropractic manipulations, and exercise.  It may surprise you that I am not an advocate for intense workouts that leave the body sore.  This type of exercise creates toxins the body must process.  Consider moderate exercise that includes good basic outdoor physical labor.  That said, if exercise or particular supplements works for you then keep it up!  We are individuals.

So in a world that advertises “natural” consider the source.


Stay well!

New Beginning

                      
                    All Heal
              Prunella vulgaris

            Found in NC Mountains

I learned more about compounding medication and hormone replacement thru the Professional Compounding Centers of America.  I also learned more about natural medicine through a now defunct educational company known as Lifespan Wellness Centers.  It provided seminars and education for pharmacist that wanted to learn about natural medicine and sell more products.  Of course, some of the motivation was sales but most of the pharmacists were sincerely interested in this information. 

Just so you know, a pharmacist is in a unique position in that they can recommend product that they sell.  This could be a position of power for an individual’s financial gain.  In school we are taught not to abuse this relationship even to the point of refusing a sale if it is not in the best interest or need of the customer.  Professional conduct is important and I believe most pharmacist follow this philosophy which is why they have been at the top of the “most trusted professionals” list.

I attended every seminar that I could possibly make.  At the time I never imagined I would go so far with this new venue.  I mostly justified the time and expense with the notion that if nothing else, I could help individuals in my family.  But I also really enjoyed learning.  One of the speakers that I found the most interesting was Dr. Jack Hinze.  He was a captivating lecturer that seemed to have the understanding and ability to integrate many disciplines into one topic.  In school we learn in compartments.  An example is anatomy.  We learn about the cardiovascular system, the respiratory system, etc.  Other larger compartments may include biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, and psychology.  Then you have the pharmacology of drug therapy, herbal medicine and nutrition.  There is also energy oriented medicine such as homeopathy.  Dr. Hinze masterfully brought it all together in a manner that was understandable.  He is also the founder and product originator of the Natural Creations product line. 

One of the downfalls of modern medicine is this notion of compartments.  Can you really separate them from the whole person?  Can you extract one component of a plant and say this is what really works?  Everyone uses the “holistic” word which is a great concept.  Without trying to sound mysterious, over the years, I have learned there are many layers to the concept and many layer to an individual.  This is also compartmentalizing but the point is that as Dr. Hinze integrated the educational piece, so is the individual integrated in the complexity of the human body and their existence.

Who is Fred Lowry, Jr.?

 This is my inaugural blog that I never imagined would happen.  While computers are very much a part of my life, social media is not. 

I grew up in my father’s drug store.  I can actually remember sweeping the floors with some type of sweeping compound that was thrown on the floor before sweeping.  This should not have made sense to a 7 year old boy in 1962.  I was on the city swim team and was active in Boy Scouts achieving Eagle at 14 years old.  I was taught how to work and as an early teen would ride my bike to housing construction sites and work as common labor clearing lots, cleaning sites, and carrying lumber and shingles.  They rarely let me swing a hammer.  At 16, I drove dump trucks at construction sites.  At 18, the summer before college, I worked on a mill loading dock first shift and in the mill the second shift.  All this was intermingled with working at Lowry Drug and my outdoor love of Quail hunting with our bird dogs.

I graduated from the University of South Carolina and became a pharmacist in 1980 moving back to Statesville to work with my father.  We developed a large medical equipment business.   We also started a home infusion company in 1984 where we prepared sterile IV fluids for home use.  This service included antibiotics, pain management, fluid replacement, biologicals, and total parental nutrition.  We also provided nursing care for these individuals.  At the same time we became more active in regular prescription compounding which is a foundational part of pharmacy.

I became involved in providing “bio-identical” or natural hormone replacement compounds.  At the time, I completely supported allopathic medicine (patented drugs) as the best medicine.  In pharmacy school natural medicine is either implied as weak or a joke.  I personally remember making jokes about homeopathy.  While studying about hormone replacement, I discovered that what I had been taught was “misrepresented.”  I discovered how studies are deceptively presented to sell products at the cost of an individual’s health.  This shook my world!  If this was wrong then what else is wrong?

As you can see my head opened up and I began studying other types of medicine.  I cautiously learned about homeopathy.  I learned more about nutrition and naturopathic medicine.  I have traveled to 3 other countries to learn other systems of medicine and attended numerous seminars.  This led me to becoming a Doctor of Naturopathy.  I have integrated my knowledge of pharmaceuticals and natural medicine to provide individual pharmacy based wellness consultations for all types of health issues.

The future of this blog is to educate you in what I have learned.

Be well!

Fred Lowry, Jr.