Campfire Medicine

Let's navigate the world of drugs in a way that is unique and specific to a naturopathic physician. How do we judiciously use them? How do we safely and effectively take patients off drugs when they need to? What are the real benefits and real risks of our patients taking drugs? How can we use natural therapies to support the use or avoidance of drug therapies? This is an enormous topic and one that is very important to take seriously. We can't ignore drugs. Instead let's deep dive into their world.

Weaning Antidepressants.

You know that patient who is grain by grain removing Effexor granules monthly because there's no other way they can deal with coming off of it? And even then she's in pain? This webinar is about her and ALL the things we can do for her. Anti-depressants are useful and effective medications. They are also easy to produce side effects and people eventually want off them. How do we safely and effectively help patients wean off antidepressants?... especially those at greater risk of withdrawal?

Interview: Ying Wang - Clinical Pharmacist

Ying is a compounding pharmacist who also serves as the pharmacy manager at Pure Integrative Pharmacy in Vancouver.  As a compounding pharmacist, Ying believes deeply in the value of truly personalized medicine. Her practice focuses on preventive medicine by integrating the best of conventional pharmacy with lifestyle management and nutrition.

Ying Wang clinical pharmacist extraordinaire who is a treasure trove of all the things we need to hear and learn. "The true definition of tailored therapy is all options are on the table." Yes, Ying. Yes! Some of the things we dove into:

HRT
1. How can NDs improve our HRT prescribing habits?
2. What is the evidence for prescribing Biest creams? Why do conventional doctors and endocrinologists not prescribe estriol with estradiol? Is estriol really effective at symptom control and is it evidence based to say it's estradiol sparing?
3. Why aren't we prescribing Triest in Canada when it is used in America?
4. What are the most common HRT prescriptions from high volume prescribers?
5. How do we effectively convert Biest to straight Estradiol and vice versa?
THYROID
6. What are your patients experiences between desiccated thyroid and compounded T4/T3
7. Why do you feel uneasy as a pharmacist about prescribing desiccated thyroid? How can we get around concerns about desiccated?
8. Why Synthroid is a bio-identical hormone?
9. What are the differences between Cytomel and SRT3? What patients do better with one vs the other and what is the difference in the prescribing dosage of Cytomel vs SRT3?
10. How common is prescribing Cytomel monotherapy for thyroid hormone replacement?
IRON
11. Apparently you're the iron queen so teach us. What is the most absorbable form of iron?
12. What dosage are you finding the most effective? There is a lot about daily vs alternate day dosing? Who should be prescribed daily dosing vs alternate day dosing?
13. Why is Feramax so popular when it's considered a poorer source of bioavailable iron?
14. What is the real clinical difference between ferric, ferrous and polysaccharide forms of iron?
15. Does vitamin C added to iron help override the negative effect of tannin polyphenols?
16. What should we know about prescribing transdermal iron? What makes it unlikely that it would work?
17. What are you favourite iron supplements for children?
ACNE AND WRINKLES
18. What is the difference between a topical and transdermal prescription?
19. Why is the base we put prescriptions in as important as the drug?
20. How can we learn more about the different bases for different prescriptions? What's better for pain, HRT, acne? Clarifying base vs Versabase vs Lipoderm vs PracaSil vs Xematop?
21. How do you safely use retinoids for patients with acne to avoid the side effects that prevent people from using this most effective therapy with the worst side effects?

Interview Sponsored by Ferapro

Dr. Bobby Parmar

Dr. Parmar obtained a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Kinesiology, Psychology and the Humanities at Simon Fraser University. He proceeded to complete naturopathic medical training at the premiere institution the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto. Going on 13 years working in Vancouver he is practicing in a highly collaborative care wellness clinic called Mint Integrative. He was is also adjunct faculty at the Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine where he teaches and supervises interns at various stages of their program including Genetics, Geriatrics, and Naturopathic Clinical Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Parmar stays engaged with the community by working with multiple organizations giving workshops to members of the Canadian Mental Health Association, The Arthritis Society of BC and Yukon, and the Earthsave Society of Canada. He has also previously served on the Board of Directors for the British Columbia Naturopathic Association and the Friends For Life Society.

As a fervent educator, Dr. Parmar has tailored his academic career to best manage family medicine through naturopathy. His work as a general primary care ND practitioner means he stays up to date with the most current knowledge for most health conditions. He is driven by a passion to better understand the dynamics of health and above all the ever-growing field of mind-body medicine and to convey that understanding to anyone in need or with the desire to be educated. Currently Dr. Parmar is a Key Opinion Leader for Lifelabs/RMA and has lectured on various medical topics to diverse groups of health professionals including MDs and NDs. He has also presented at the Collaborative Education Conference in 2018.