Are your medications making you sick?

A patient of mine brought his girlfriend to see me this morning. She was suffering from severe bouts of depression which included headaches, chronic tiredness and more worryingly suicidal thoughts. She was 16 and had began feeling depressed since the 9th grade. These feelings had been triggered by an unhappy home life as her family were constantly arguing. Up until January this year her symptoms had been relatively mild but at that point in time her symptoms began to worsen. In July she decided to consult her family doctor who prescribed her an anti-depressant. For a short while her symptoms decreased but then returned. Her doctor increased her medication and again the symptoms decreased but again returned. As well as taking Prozac she was also taking a blood pressure medication (since July) and a birth control pill (interestingly since January). Medications, in my professional opinion, can be very useful but also can have a multitude of side-effects. I duly looked up the side-effects of her birth control pill (Alesse) which included:

"signs of depression (e.g., poor concentration, changes in weight, changes in sleep, decreased interest in activities, thoughts of suicide)" 

One of the main reasons for medication side effects are that they cause nutritional deficiencies. Estrogen  medications cause deficiencies in Vitamins B12, Folate and B2 which all cause fatigue and depression.

I explained all this to her and her mother and advised that she should make an appointment with her family doctor. Ironically a month previously the doctor had recommended she take B12 as it had shown as being low on a recent blood test.

Other testing also highlighted that my client was intolerant to casein and fluoride both of which have associations with depression.

Unfortunately this is not the first time I have identified that prescribed medication had been aggravating someones symptoms and will not be the last. Medication can play a vital role in your health but if you do take any be aware of the possible side effects.