Don’t Trust Me? Just Google It!

The last stop on the horrendous trip I had voluntarily taken with Dr. M and his medical assistant, Linda, was to go through my bloodwork.  Honestly, this was the part that I was most looking forward to, as it was real data based on facts.  As soon as I sat down with Dr. M for my consult, he told me it would be a quick meeting, as my results were fantastic! Yay!

He quickly whipped through my labs, only to slow down long enough to push his supplements on me.   When I asked questions about the supplements, (Are there any side-effects? Will I feel different?  How will this help me?) he would talk fast and draw lots of pictures on the back of scrap sheets of paper to help explain.  He also suggested to me on several occasions to “Google it” if I wanted to verify what he was saying and/or to read more about it.  Seriously?  Google it?  I thought doctors frowned upon patients using the web for medical advice.

But, to make sure I wasn’t missing anything, I decided to do the doctor prescribed online research and here is what I learned:

Niacin (B3): My total cholesterol level was 212, which usually means “high,” but my good cholesterol was better than average and my bad cholesterol was in range.  I took this as a good thing, but Dr. M saw it differently.  He was encouraging me to take a niacin supplement to lower my bad cholesterol (that was in range!).  There was no discussion on other ways to get niacin in my system, nor did he get too deep on possible side-effects (short-term or long-term).  After a quick search online, there is no conclusive evidence that it actually works as Dr. M is claiming, only that long-term it can cause liver damage.  If I wanted that, wouldn’t I just drink more?  It also turns out there are plenty of dietary sources including fish, sunflower seeds and fortified cereals that contain niacin.  And if that wasn’t enough, foods like poultry, red meat, eggs and dairy products contain tryptophan, which is an amino acid that the body converts into niacin.  I don’t remember seeing any chickens or cows in Dr. M’s comic book of medical doodles.  I also didn’t hear him warn me about any of the common side-effects such as excessive sweating, nausea, leg cramps, fast-pounding heartbeat, insomnia and/or yellowing of the skin.  My guess is that if I had those symptoms I would lay wide-awake in bed worrying that I was having a heart-attack, which I would then confirm with WebMD.  I would never have thought it was the side-effects of the supplement that I was taking that is supposed to prevent that very outcome.  No thanks, I have enough anxiety already.  On the bright side though, I may have solved the mystery as to why several women in my office now have the same skin tone as Marge Simpson.

DHEA: Dr. M explained that DHEA is a hormone produced by the body’s adrenal glands, and serves as a precursor to male and female sex hormones (androgens and estrogens).  Our DHEA levels peak in our 20’s, and then as we age, these levels naturally decline.  While mine were not unusually low for my age, he said that he recommends that all his patients take it to help with the natural aging process.  “So is this like taking estrogen, or hormone replacement therapy?” I ask, very concerned.  With a family history of breast cancer (which is in my chart) the last thing I want to take is HRT.  He assured me that taking DHEA was very different, as there was very little if any risk.  He validated his claims with 3 of his comic strips and a “Google it!”

What I found online was alarming.  Let’s start with the fact that it is banned from the NFL, MLB, NCAA and the Olympic Committee, as it used as a performance enhancing drug.  I won’t lie, I would like it if my muscles were a little more cut, and I looked a little more athletic and a little less accountant.  But I know that I couldn’t handle, nor could my family take, the increased irritation or aggression that comes with the “roid rage.”

Some professionals have also claimed that taking DHEA can increase sexual functioning.  Dr. M never mentioned a sedative prescription for my kids, or a free hotel voucher for my husband and me so that we could actually take advantage of this new found sex drive.  So I am not sure this would help me at all.  And when you read a little further down in the same article, potential side-effects for women include thickening of the skin, acne, facial hair, hair loss and a deeper voice.  Great, so I now have this newly charged libido, but who would want to sleep with me?

And then you start reading about some of the Special Precautions & Warnings (source: WebMD):

• High Cholesterol: DHEA might lower “good cholesterol.”  If high levels of good cholesterol reduce my risk of heart disease, wouldn’t that mean that lowering it would increase my risk of heart disease?  This doesn’t feel like sound medical advice to me.

• Liver Problems: DHEA might make liver problems worse.  Well, if I take the niacin that Dr. M had prescribed, I may develop liver problems.  But I don’t have any liver problems today, why would I want to start one and then accelerate it?

• Hormone-sensitive Conditions such as breast cancer, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, endometriosis, or uterine fibroids: DHEA is a hormone that can affect how estrogen works in the body.  If you have any conditions that might be made worse by exposure to estrogen, don’t use DHEA.  I know that Dr. M read my check before he cashed it, but I wonder if he ever read my family medical history.

At this point I feel that I have done enough research to make a sound decision.  I had two choices…I could take Dr. M’s supplement advice, which would mean that I run the risk of lying in bed, wide-awake, full beard, only to be left alone with my thoughts bouncing between me wondering if anyone will find me pretty again and worrying if a heart-attack or if cancer will take me first.  Or I could cut my losses with Dr. M, see him for the snake oil salesman that he is, and be grateful that the only thing I lost was money.  While health doesn’t always help me zip my tight pants in the morning, I am in good health, which not everyone can claim.  So where do I go from here? Not sure yet.  But you can be sure when I figure it out, you’ll be able to Google it.

 

To catch up on how I got from my breaking point to this point, follow these links:

My Breaking Point

Detox This – Week 1

Detox You…Cheers! – Week 2