Are you suffering side effects from your medication? Christchurch Pharmacist

Transcription:

Good morning, Jeff Ross, Healthspan Pharmacist, Sydenham Pharmacy. Now one of our roles as Pharmacists is to help people identify side effects people are suffering from with their medication. Now one of the things we have learned over the years is that many of the side effects that people develop are actually caused by nutritional deficiencies. Which in a lot of cases happen as a result of taking the medication themselves.

Proton Pump Inhibitors

Take for example proton pump inhibitors (e.g. omeprazole, pantoprazole, lansoprazole). The most common example is a preparation called omeprazole, there is another one pantoprazole, which is not as popular, but used regularly. And when these preparations are used over a period of time, so, for example, they are given to lower the amount of acid in your stomach to give it a chance to heal. They were originally developed for short-term use BUT we see them commonly used chronically long term.

Tingling in your fingers and toes? Bruising or Eczema?

Now after people have been on them for a long period of time, many start to notice that they are getting tingling in their fingers in toes. Some people also notice that they start to get bruising on their arms, and even start to get eczema. Now, these are all a sign of a vitamin b 12 deficiency, a b12 deficiency can be a side effect of taking the proton pump inhibitor. So if you have been on these types of medications for some time, and you are noticing any of those side effects, like tingling in the fingers, which is caused by damage to the nerve endings caused by a vitamin b deficiency, then you need to come in and talk to us and we can give you some strategies to help overcome this problem.

There are many side effects we can identify and help people with, by removing the associated nutritional deficiencies. The best way to deal with that is to come in and ask us.

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