No single patient is more important than the other, but there are some factors that mean certain populations require more attention. Pregnant women, for example, should receive extra care since you’re not just seeing one patient, but two. Children, younger children especially, also require more care. Your youngest patients are growing still into their bodies and adjusting to new environments. Elderly patients are another group requiring your careful attention as they may be on many medications or have/be vulnerable to having various health conditions.
Can you confidently say you pay extra careful attention to these vulnerable patients? Yes? Maybe? Now if your answer is yes, how much thought are you giving to the OTC medications you recommend or prescribe to these groups? We want to share with you that there is a chance for you to go above and beyond to help your patients. If you really want to go the extra mile, consider informing your patients about what ingredients are used in the brand name medicines they are used to taking. Here are some reasons why you can be putting your patients at risk if you don’t inform them about some of these popular OTC medications:
All About the Fillers
As you may know, the average OTC medicines contain only 3-10% of the active ingredient and the remaining percent (the majority of the dose) is made up of what we call fillers that include binders, dyes, parabens and artificial colors.
Fillers are used to bulk the dose of the active ingredient in the medicine. The tiny percentage of the active ingredient is tough to control because it’s in such small measurements. The fillers that are used are what makes the medicine consumable.
Some of the fillers are used to make the medicine pleasant or others can be used to color the medicine, or simply make it more appealing. Some of them can impact the rate of disintegration and some of the coatings on the medication can suspend absorption.
Here’s some quick facts about the ingredients that are used as inactive fillers.
A recent study found that 75% of inactive fillers contain ingredients that cause tons of allergic reactions today and create uncomfortable side effects. These ingredients include talc, lactose and gluten.
Researchers have also found that 55% or more of drugs are made up of fillers that are difficult to digest. Have your patients ever reported diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain or bloating after taking an OTC medication? That’s probably because it was filled with these ingredients that are difficult to digest.
Is There A Solution?
Who wants to recommend to their patients medications that can make them uncomfortable? Until recently, these side effects were simply an unfortunate reality that came with most OTC medicines.
That’s why Genexa has decided to make a change. We decided to do away with those harmful fillers and fill OTC medicines with healthy and wholesome ingredients. These clean ingredients include tapioca, rice bran and maltodextrin.
The Genexa Story
It all started when Genexa founder Max Speilberg’s pregnant wife was taking a popular brand name pain medication. If you are wondering if this medication was approved by her doctor, it was. Spielberg began reading into the ingredients and caught something alarming. He noticed that one of the inactive ingredients was sorbitol, a laxative. Concerned for his pregnant wife, he wondered why this was in the OTC medication that the doctor had approved. This incident is what led him to look further into the situation. He then searched through the other OTC medications in their cabinet and discovered all kinds of nasty chemicals, including parabens, petroleum, artificial dyes, artificial preservatives and talc (a substance that is banned in the EU.)
This search also led him to a product targeted for infants that misleadingly stated the product only used safe and necessary ingredients. Intrigued, Spielburg looked to the back of the package and discovered that the product actually had edetate disodium in it, which was in fact an ingredient that had been recalled due to its association with the death of children.
It wasn’t long until Spielberg met with our other founder, David Johnson, where they decided they needed to make a difference by creating healthier, cleaner OTC medicine. Since this meeting, the two have built an extraordinary team of experienced chemists, pharmacists, formulators and medical doctors. You can read the full story, featured by Forbes, here.
What is so unfortunate, is that like Max Spielberg and his wife once were, many people are unaware of what they are consuming. Doctors do recommend these OTC medications and people don’t think twice about it because they trust their doctor’s approval.
Make the Change
This is not only a concern for pregnant women, but all vulnerable patients. Can you imagine giving your son or daughter a medication that includes an ingredient that was recalled because it was associated with the death of children? Most parents could not sleep at night knowing this information.
Moreover, how would you feel if you recommended an OTC medication that had gluten in it and a young child had a severe gluten allergy? Its very unlikely parents would connect the dots and discover that it was the medicine their doctor gave them that is making them upset. Or maybe they do and assume it’s no big deal because this is just normal “side effects.”
The clean OTC medicine industry is projected to be a multi-billion dollar market and it’s no surprise given the huge benefits patients stand to gain. Once patients are informed about the unhealthy and sometimes dangerous medications they are used to taking, they will make the switch over to cleaner, healthier and wholesome medicine like Genexa.
Our vulnerable patients desperately need your care and attention. At the very minimum, we ask that you inform your patients about the medications they have been taking and the harmful ingredients that are in them. Keep in mind that there are healthier options out there that your patients need to discover, and you can help them to do so.
The first step to helping these patients is by providing them with healthier, OTC medications. Contact a team member to get the process started so you can offer your patients healthier, wholesome OTC medications!