Prescription Medications VS Natural Therapies

"What is the difference between prescription pain medications and natural therapies?"

I get this question A LOT from our Cur-OST customers as well as from clients of ours in our veterinary practice. Prescription medications are available to treat almost every known malady affecting human and animal kind. Seems like there is a drug to treat everything on TV from restless leg syndrome to decreased sex drive. It can be overwhelming and a concern that I have is that these types of approaches breed hypochondriacs, stating that they have that disease that was shown in a commercial. I think that pharmaceuticals have a big place in the practice of veterinary medicine as well as human medicine, but there are limitations.

The first thing to keep in mind is that it has been estimated that up to 75% of all prescription medications are derivatives of plant or herbal substances. Seems that mother nature provides a possible answer, but that mankind feels pressed to improve the results. Natural therapies (plant/herbal) have been used for centuries in various cultures to treat anything from intestinal upset to skin conditions to cancer. Everyone has used a natural therapy in some shape or form in their life, just look at sunburns and the use of Aloe in various forms. Or how about those that consume various teas and note results such as relaxation or a soothing effect?

Prescription pain medications are a huge area of interest and usage in both the veterinary and human medical field. The medications come in different classes ranging from NSAIDs (tylenol)to narcotics (morphine). The overall function and mode of action varies between the groups, but overall, they do reduce pain and inflammation but from a limited standpoint. Sometimes, when humans try to enhance the ability of plants/herbs through the creation of a new drug, we tend to overdo it slightly. This can result in negative side effects such as gastric ulcers, bleeding and even kidney problems. On the other side of the coin, plant or herbal extracts that have anti-inflammatory and pain reducing capabilities tend to be more gentler in their actions and not an "all or nothing" type of effect. In the category of pain, plant extracts tend to reduce inflammatory mediators more down to a "normal or basal" level, versus prescription medications that can tend to reduce the mediators well below normal, which then can lead to side effects.

I am not against prescription pain medications or any prescription drug, but actually use them a lot in our veterinary practice. There is a time and place for these medications, but we have to be careful. We also use a tremendous amount of natural therapies such as plant/herbal extracts in our patients. In cases of painful conditions, I try to actually combine the two categories which allows us to reduce the dosage of the prescription medication. This then allows us to reduce potential side effects as well as lower the overall cost to the owner. I also believe that the plant/herbal extracts actually have a more broader reaching effect in terms of inflammation reduction versus prescription medications, resulting in better long term results.

Just my thoughts,

Tom Schell, D.V.M.