There’s nothing inferior about being an integrative mental health practitioner who focuses on identifying symptom clusters and patterns, and then proceeding with a nutraceutical treatment plan thereafter.
While identifying root causes is more at the root of functional medicine and integrative psychiatry, they both lead to treatment and to happy patients.
Learn more about Advanced Nutraceuticals with Dr. Lawrence Cormier by watching this video.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
There’s nothing inferior about being an integrative mental health practitioner who focuses on identifying symptom clusters and patterns, and then proceeding with a nutraceutical treatment plan thereafter.
While identifying root causes is more at the root of functional medicine and integrative psychiatry, they both lead to treatment and to happy patients.
Often, your initial nutraceutical interventions can get you on first base and can produce some benefits during the first month of a treatment while you’re pursuing the more time-consuming, expensive diagnostic tests in the functional medicine realm while you’re doing gut work, dietary and other interventions that take more time to take root.
Nutraceuticals Overview – Safety
Since matters of safety, informed consent…efficacy is really fundamental to integrative practice, to feeling comfortable treating patients with nutraceuticals. Individuals who are ill, they might have suicidal ideation. How comfortable are you treating someone you know, with someone who is depressed with suicidal ideation, for instance, someone who is in an active bipolar state? Some general considerations regarding safety as quality control.
Even some of the high-end products that are manufactured in the US are using base products that are manufactured in China and India, as are most pharmaceuticals nowadays as well, different formulations even for the same biotherapy, particularly if we’re talking about botanicals. There could be interactions, even though there are nutraceuticals, these are real therapies. And then there’s ethical considerations including selling products in your office. And then you don’t want to promote too much the mentality that the only way to help someone is a pill, you know, and then for the patient, there will often be greater out of pocket costs, the pill burden, multiple dosages per day. And then you know, they buy different products they think are the same.
It’s really important to be a bit compulsive about monitoring the products the patient is taking at your follow up appointments. Don’t fall into a complacent state. The patient will come in and they’re in a different state of symptom relapse or new side effects. They say they’re taking the same product; it was on sale at the end cap at the supermarket and you find out it’s actually something different.
Magnesium
Magnesium is an essential nutrient, a giant in terms of micronutrients, often overlooked, it doesn’t, you know, hold the same potency perhaps that SAM-e and many other bio therapies do. They can be interactions, very well tolerated. In terms of serious safety concerns, although GI side effects are common, if someone has chronic kidney disease, you need to be mindful of that since you can get a greater retention.
More Nutraceuticals – Essential Nutrient for Depression
B vitamins can be used as monotherapies, but most of the evidence bases as adjuncts. We have B6, B9 and B12 that really stand out for the CNS. But really, it’s you know, there’s value in all of the B vitamins. The use of methyl folate is to some degree in my mind determined by a person’s MTHFR status, it’s a test that you can get down with Quest and LabCorp. Most insurance plans will cover it. Medicare does not so you don’t get your patient stuck with a $400 list price bill. Vitamin C. I don’t really think of it. But I mean this is actually a substantial evidence base, mostly from last century.
