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Downstream Drug Dysfunction: NSAIDs

October 3, 2022 | 3 Comments | SAFM Team

Some of the most potentially damaging or debilitating medications are not taken via prescription.  They are “over the counter” drugs, a category that many intelligent people assume is necessarily safe to use regularly.  Perhaps even in a daily preventive mode.  Which is, of course, not true!  If you’re going to use functional medicine know-how competently, it’s key that you understand some of the typical, downstream, unintended consequences of common drugs.  They can stand in the way of the healing of – or even directly cause – the dysfunction your clients are seeking to resolve.  And NSAIDs are a powerful example of this dynamic.

Here are some article references I mention in the video plus a few others:

Check out this video to ensure you’re confident in supporting individuals with mild to moderate pain challenges (ideally, while you are helping them to resolve root causes and exacerbating factors using your functinoal medicine know-how). You may also want to search for other clinical tips on our site about natural anti-inflammatory agents for pain e.g. curcumin, boswellia, bromelain.

I hope this serves you!

Warmly,

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Bonnie Berke
Bonnie Berke

Thanks for this clarification Tracy! Do you consider white willow bark extract standardized to 15% salicin to have the same downstream effects as a NSAID? Is it considered a NSAID for the purposes of your discussion?
Thanking you for your brilliance in uncovering the root causes of diseas.

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SAFM Team
SAFM Team
Reply to  Bonnie Berke

Yes, white willow bark is a source of salicin. However, the concentration of its metabolites in the body is an order of magnitude or more less than that of aspirin. The effect of white willow bark is achieved by synergistic effects of many phytonutrients. You can, however, still take too much. These may be of interest: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21226125/ and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3011108/.

White willow bark effects are also likely multifactorial in the body in affecting inflammation. You may appreciate a pilot study that looked at white willow bark extract effects on the human gut bacteria:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5733343/

Last edited 1 year ago by SAFM Team
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Jodi Edwards
Jodi Edwards

You are so brilliant. Right down to the last sentence of helping us to help clients with more confidence and competence! Thank you! Recently my son,22 and very fit and athletic, had a full Achilles rupture. After much research and due diligence we found a very knowledgeable and supportive ortho surgeon that agreed with our decision to forgive surgury and trust the body to heal. I got to work nutritionally and emotionally in providing him support. Because his leg had to be immobilized, the doctor told him to take a baby aspirin twice a day to prevent a blood clot and DVT. He was put in a splint and off we went. I tried to be compliant, I went to the store, read every label, reluctantly bought a bottle. Unfortunately I also read studies that specifically said that rat Achilles’ tendons when given aspirin healed far worse than those that didn’t. I also did not want to suppress the very acute inflammatory response that I knew his body needed to heal the injury. For that reason I didn’t even want him to take circumin initially. I gave him supportive nutrition, MSM , Lglutamine, zinc etc. At the three week visit,… Read more »

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