Medicine by men for men. This can be dangerous for women.
Drugs are tested on men, guidelines are geared towards men. This can be dangerous for women. Especially as their symptoms are often very different: When a man comes to the emergency room complaining of stabbing chest pains, it is immediately clear that his life is in danger. Women, however, often speak of “unspecific complaints” in this context. Only when asked do many patients confirm a feeling of pressure or tightness in the chest. A heart attack is therefore a particularly impressive and well-known example of the different nature of symptoms.
“Studies on women are far too complicated”
However, the genetic differences between men and women also have an effect when it comes to medication. For example, a tablet takes twice as long to pass through a woman’s body – from the mouth through the oesophagus, stomach and intestines – as it does through a man’s body. In the liver, where the absorbed active ingredient is processed, different metabolic enzymes are produced to different degrees. This often plays an important role: some active ingredients must first be activated or broken down by a certain enzyme. The fact that men and women are differently equipped with enzymes therefore has a direct effect on how long and how much more active the active ingredient of a drug can be found in the blood. The package inserts of medicines rarely or never contain any information about the different administration in men and women. This is also because the pharmaceutical industry fears that including women in studies will make their work more complicated. Hormone fluctuations due to the female cycle, contraceptives or menopause would have to be taken into account. Comparisons with older studies would be difficult, as these were only tested on men. The costs would be significantly higher.
Individual medicine makes the difference
Until there is a noticeable change in this scientific and economic approach, individual medicine, as we practice it in our practice, offers valuable approaches to do justice to everyone. After all, our medicine is not consumer medicine. This means that we do not primarily aim to combat symptoms by prescribing medication. We are much more concerned with finding the causes and tackling them at the root. “What really triggers your complaints and symptoms?” This is the central question that needs to be clarified – sometimes with medical detective flair. Only if medication is then necessary do we prescribe it. The dosage is carefully and individually adjusted.
Regulation instead of manipulation
Once again, we do not manipulate symptoms with drugs – sometimes with considerable side effects. Instead, we focus on activating the body’s complex regulatory mechanisms. This is more difficult and takes more time – especially in the medical history. It is a completely different medical way of thinking and approach. Therefore, the solution is often not medication, but the targeted, individual use of vitamins, trace elements, amino acids, bioidentical hormones, support for the immune system and intestinal health – and therefore everything the body needs to be able to “function” optimally.
We are guided by your well-being
We are guided by precise laboratory findings as well as the individual condition of our patients. Because here, too, it is clear that there are no standard values at which everyone feels well and performs well. What do exist are standard blood values with their upper and lower limits, which reflect the “average misery” of all patients. They are by no means our all-determining benchmark. We want to achieve happy values! Blood values that make you feel strong, efficient and ready for the challenges of your everyday life. That is why our “functional” medicine is geared towards the individual – and therefore towards the respective woman or man. We doctors should be aware of the difference. Because standard medicine with standard solutions for “standard patients” is increasingly reaching its limits. All the chronic illnesses and diffuse symptoms that many of our patients often suffer from for years before we start looking for and treating the cause.
It is high time for individualized medicine – also in the context of diversity! And one more thing:
Not every symptom in a woman that cannot be immediately identified is psychological!