Detoxification therapy
***Disclaimer: This blog is not meant to be used as legal or medical advice. It is written as my person perspective on how medical professionals could blend western medicine with other modalities***
Greetings, listeners. Welcome to another episode of the Integrated Pharmacist Podcast. Today I'm talking about detoxification. This is a topic that involves subjects I've covered in previous episodes including #10 chelation therapy and #12 colonic therapy. This therapy revolves around the idea that toxic chemicals surround us. It's in our food, in the air, on the grass, and in our beds. Literally the paper receipt you're given at the store has harmful chemicals on it. Some people think these environmental toxins build up in our bodies and we need help getting rid of them.
Detoxification therapy can include fasting and special diets, chelation, colonics, hydrotherapy, and hyperthermia. The idea of needing to detoxify arose in the 1800's, but by the 1900's the science of human anatomy debunked the theory. We now understand the role of the liver better. We closely follow the liver enzymes of metabolism and excretion as a part of drug interactions in the body. The body is quite good at detoxifying itself, and there is little evidence that we need to help our bodies detoxify. Along that same vein, some proponents of detoxification are rather unclear about what they want you to detoxify from. Without that piece, how do you know how to support your body's detoxification? For example, it you're detoxing from heavy metals, we know to use chelation therapy. But if you don't know you're dealing with heavy metals, it might be an expensive track to go down empirically.
That being said, I did find an interesting meta-analysis dealing with hyperthermic therapy. This is the practice of using heat to treat. This meta-analysis targeted Finnish-style dry sauna and infrared sauna. A few of the studies even discussed detoxification in specifics. For example, they referenced a study that demonstrates some heavy metals are excreted through sweat, sometimes even to a greater extent than through the urine. Some evidence suggests the same is true for flame retardant, BPA found in some plastics, and phthalates. However, most studies involving sweat have reported stronger subjective results as opposed to objective. That is still an area to be tested, but the ground work has been laid to perform these trials.
Although it didn't quite qualify for detoxification therapy, this meta-analysis did have some striking results. The trials that were analyzed found that dry-type saunas had significant improvement on blood pressure, blood lipid levels, dementia, and all-cause mortality. Did you catch that? People are living longer by using Finnish or infrared saunas! There was moderate evidence that it might work for rheumatic diseases, chronic pain and fatigue, COPD, and allergic rhinitis. It also seemed to have a relationship with quality of life. Which makes sense to me - if I had access to a daily sauna, I think I'd feel better about myself, too! Although the reported side effects were minimal, there is a caution to people who struggle to breathe, or have a heart condition - these patients are advised to only use the sauna under the care and direction of a healthcare provider who understands this therapy. The benefits of sauna use are typically seen with patients who participated 5 to 20 minutes a day 4 to 7 days a week for at least a month. One caveat of this analysis is that even though it included several studies, the vast majority of patients were white, Scandinavian males. Caution should be used in
extrapolating results to other groups. This study looked at dry-type saunas, because they were looking at the body's natural ability to regulate temperature through sweating. Based on this, when participating in dry sauna, patients should remember to hydrate very well. In fact, many older people weigh themselves before and after their sauna visit to know how much water they should drink by weight.
To buy your own Finnish-style sauna, it may cost about $3000 or more. However, many gym memberships have a sauna included. There are also day spas that include sauna visits which charge as little as $20 a day. Although sauna treatment is not for everyone, I would definitely encourage people with a gym membership who are not at high cardiac or respiratory risks to take advantage of that sauna. If someone with low risk wanted to reduce their blood pressure or lipid medications, this might be a good alternative to medication therapy. However, I would recommend initiating sauna therapy before reducing or eliminating medications, and of course, it's always a good idea to talk to your physician before beginning a potentially therapeutic activity.
Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I have. If you like this show, you may like some of the other shows on The Pharmacy Podcast Network such as The Pharmacy Residency Podcast hosted by Tony Guerra. He takes a deep dive into what it takes to rise above the competition when applying for a pharmacy residency. You can find him on Apple Podcast under Pharmacy Residency Podcast. To reach me for questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, you can email me at integratedpharmacist@gmail.com, or find me on Facebook or Instagram as the Integrated Pharmacist. We'll see you next time on The Integrated Pharmacist Podcast!
Reference:
Hussain J, Cohen M. Clinical Effects of Regular Dry Sauna Bathing: A Systematic Review. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2018;2018:1857413. Published 2018 Apr 24. doi:10.1155/2018/1857413
Detoxification therapy can include fasting and special diets, chelation, colonics, hydrotherapy, and hyperthermia. The idea of needing to detoxify arose in the 1800's, but by the 1900's the science of human anatomy debunked the theory. We now understand the role of the liver better. We closely follow the liver enzymes of metabolism and excretion as a part of drug interactions in the body. The body is quite good at detoxifying itself, and there is little evidence that we need to help our bodies detoxify. Along that same vein, some proponents of detoxification are rather unclear about what they want you to detoxify from. Without that piece, how do you know how to support your body's detoxification? For example, it you're detoxing from heavy metals, we know to use chelation therapy. But if you don't know you're dealing with heavy metals, it might be an expensive track to go down empirically.
Although it didn't quite qualify for detoxification therapy, this meta-analysis did have some striking results. The trials that were analyzed found that dry-type saunas had significant improvement on blood pressure, blood lipid levels, dementia, and all-cause mortality. Did you catch that? People are living longer by using Finnish or infrared saunas! There was moderate evidence that it might work for rheumatic diseases, chronic pain and fatigue, COPD, and allergic rhinitis. It also seemed to have a relationship with quality of life. Which makes sense to me - if I had access to a daily sauna, I think I'd feel better about myself, too! Although the reported side effects were minimal, there is a caution to people who struggle to breathe, or have a heart condition - these patients are advised to only use the sauna under the care and direction of a healthcare provider who understands this therapy. The benefits of sauna use are typically seen with patients who participated 5 to 20 minutes a day 4 to 7 days a week for at least a month. One caveat of this analysis is that even though it included several studies, the vast majority of patients were white, Scandinavian males. Caution should be used in
To buy your own Finnish-style sauna, it may cost about $3000 or more. However, many gym memberships have a sauna included. There are also day spas that include sauna visits which charge as little as $20 a day. Although sauna treatment is not for everyone, I would definitely encourage people with a gym membership who are not at high cardiac or respiratory risks to take advantage of that sauna. If someone with low risk wanted to reduce their blood pressure or lipid medications, this might be a good alternative to medication therapy. However, I would recommend initiating sauna therapy before reducing or eliminating medications, and of course, it's always a good idea to talk to your physician before beginning a potentially therapeutic activity.
Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I have. If you like this show, you may like some of the other shows on The Pharmacy Podcast Network such as The Pharmacy Residency Podcast hosted by Tony Guerra. He takes a deep dive into what it takes to rise above the competition when applying for a pharmacy residency. You can find him on Apple Podcast under Pharmacy Residency Podcast. To reach me for questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, you can email me at integratedpharmacist@gmail.com, or find me on Facebook or Instagram as the Integrated Pharmacist. We'll see you next time on The Integrated Pharmacist Podcast!
Reference:
Hussain J, Cohen M. Clinical Effects of Regular Dry Sauna Bathing: A Systematic Review. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2018;2018:1857413. Published 2018 Apr 24. doi:10.1155/2018/1857413
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