Many people don’t associate pharmacies with weight loss, but there are many ways that Peninsula Compounding Pharmacy can assist your patient’s with their weight loss goals.
Compounding Can Help with Weight Loss by Maintaining Thyroid Levels
Hypothyroidism is a very common condition, especially in older women. When a patient has low levels of thyroid hormone, they’ll experience fatigue, fluid retention, constipation, sore joints and muscles, depression, slowed metabolism, and weight gain.
Peninsula Compounding can help with these issues by supplying a patient’s body with a series of natural thyroid hormones to balance energy and heighten metabolism. General prescriptions for synthetic thyroid hormones make an effort to combat the symptoms of hypothyroidism that lead to weight gain. However, compounding pharmacies are able to pinpoint the thyroid’s needs more precisely.
Did you know the body has a natural set point for its weight?
The “set point” is the brain’s target weight for a patient’s body. Just as the body works to maintain a fairly standard temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, it also works to maintain a body weight that is physiologically comfortable.
The set point is maintained by the hypothalamus, and is often genetically influenced. However, a number of things can cause the set point to change, moving a normal weight to a higher number on the scale, and thus sabotaging the patient’s weight loss efforts
Causes of Set Point Malfunction
One of the more common causes of set point malfunction is aggressive or yo-yo dieting. Calorie restrictive diets can actually slow thyroid function, resulting in a slower metabolism. Illnesses such as chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia can also cause the set point to malfunction. Some medications can cause the set point to increase, including common antidepressants such as Paxil, Celexa, Zoloft and Lexapro, anti-convulsant medications, blood pressure medications, anti-seizure or pain medications such as Neurontin or Lyrica, birth control pills, synthetic hormone replacement, and diabetic medications that stimulate insulin secretion, such as glyburide and Amaryll.
The set point can also increase as a natural effect of aging. However, this cause is typically related to hormone decline, which can be successfully treated.
Correcting an Elevated Set Point
Fortunately, there are solutions that can help to lower the body’s set point to a more acceptable number, and Peninsula Compounding Pharmacy can help with many of these solutions. These include thyroid hormone optimization, consistency in diet and exercise levels, and aggressive management of conditions such as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, chronic infections, and chronic inflammation
Compounded Medications Can Help
In addition, there are now compounded medications to lower the set point and increase weight loss success. The success of low dose naltrexone (only available at compounding pharmacies like Peninsula Compounding) for weight loss is greatly enhanced when combined with the common antidepressant, Wellbutrin. Patients may lose an average of a half pound per week, and experience reduced appetite and cravings.