Why You Must Tell Your Doctor About Every Supplement and Herbal Remedy You Take

I used to think fish oil was just harmless heart stuff until my mom had a weird bleed after surgery and they found out she’d been taking it with her blood thinner. I now bring my supplement bottles to every appointment-no shame. My doctor actually appreciates it. It’s not about trust, it’s about safety.

Also, turmeric? I took it for years thinking it was a magic anti-inflammatory. Turns out it was messing with my blood pressure med. My cardiologist didn’t even ask-I had to bring it up. Don’t wait for them to notice. Bring the damn bottles.

I literally cried reading this. My aunt died from liver failure after taking some "natural" weight-loss tea she bought online. No one ever asked her what she was taking. She thought it was "just herbs."

Now I tell every doctor I meet-no matter how busy they look. I even have a little list in my phone. If you’re not doing this, you’re playing Russian roulette with your organs.

While the emotional appeal of this piece is undeniable, it suffers from a fundamental epistemological flaw: conflating anecdotal evidence with systemic risk. The FDA’s post-market surveillance mechanism is not inherently defective-it reflects a regulatory philosophy rooted in liberty over paternalism. The real issue is not disclosure, but the absence of mandatory pharmacovigilance protocols for nutraceuticals.

Furthermore, the claim that 78% of patients received "useful advice" is statistically meaningless without a control group. Is "useful" defined as cessation? Dose adjustment? Or merely a nod of acknowledgment? The paper cited lacks operational definitions. This is not medicine-it’s moral theater dressed in clinical language.

Bring the bottles. Just do it. Your life is worth it.

I’ve been a nurse for 22 years and I can tell you this: the most dangerous patients aren’t the ones who take too many pills-they’re the ones who take pills they won’t talk about.

I had a guy come in with acute liver failure. He swore he didn’t take anything but his blood pressure meds. Turned out he was swallowing 4 different herbal blends a day-"for energy," he said. One had pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Deadly. He didn’t even know what those were. He thought "natural" meant "safe."

And here’s the kicker-he didn’t even feel guilty. He just said, "Well, I didn’t think it counted."

So yes. Bring the bottles. Write it down. Say it out loud. Your doctor isn’t judging you. They’re trying to keep you from becoming a statistic in a journal article no one reads.

OMG YES. 🙌 I took ashwagandha for anxiety and didn’t tell my endo because I thought she’d laugh. She didn’t laugh-she went pale. Turns out it was boosting my TSH and making my hypothyroid meds useless. I was basically walking around with a thyroid that was on vacation.

Now I have a little sticky note on my fridge: "BOTTLES TO THE DOCTOR." I even brought my probiotic jar once and she said, "Wow, this brand has a high CFU count-good choice." I felt like a genius.

Also, if your doc rolls their eyes? Find a new one. You deserve someone who treats your health like a team sport, not a solo mission.

And yes, even vitamin D. Especially vitamin D. It’s not just a vitamin-it’s a hormone modulator. 🌞

It’s not just about disclosure-it’s about epistemic humility. The pharmaceutical industry is not the only entity guilty of commodifying health. The supplement industry has weaponized the language of wellness to mask regulatory arbitrage. You are not a consumer of "natural remedies." You are a participant in a market where profit precedes safety, and branding replaces biology.

Bringing bottles to your appointment is a performative act of resistance-but it’s not enough. We must demand that supplements be classified as drugs if they contain bioactive compounds. Otherwise, we are all complicit in the illusion of safety.

And please, stop calling garlic pills "harmless." That’s not wisdom. That’s ignorance dressed in hemp.

People who take supplements are just looking for shortcuts. You don’t need turmeric. You need to eat real food. You don’t need ashwagandha. You need therapy. You don’t need fish oil. You need to stop eating fried chicken.

And yet, here we are-people spending hundreds on magic powders while ignoring the actual causes of their problems.

Bring the bottles? Nah. Bring your willpower. Bring your discipline. Bring your damn vegetables.

PS: If your doctor doesn’t tell you to stop taking that junk, they’re not your doctor-they’re a vending machine for your delusions. 💀

I’ve sat with people in the ER who didn’t know they were taking something that could kill them. Not because they were careless-because they were never taught to think about their body as a system. We’ve been trained to treat symptoms, not interactions.

My grandma took St. John’s wort for depression after her husband died. She didn’t tell her cardiologist. Three months later, her blood thinner stopped working. She had a stroke.

It wasn’t her fault. No one ever explained that herbs aren’t like tea. They’re chemistry. And chemistry doesn’t care if you call it "natural."

I don’t judge people for taking supplements. I just wish we all grew up learning how to read a label like we learn to read a bus schedule.

bro i was takin magnesium for sleep n never told my doc… then i got dizzy n thought i was gonna pass out. turns out it was interactin with my bp med. i was like "oh sh*t"

now i just show them the bottle. they dont judge, they just nod n say "ok, reduce dose"

also pls stop callin everything "natural" like its magic. poison ivy is natural too. 🤦‍♂️

Oh, so now we’re treating doctors like pharmacists? Next they’ll want us to hand over our DNA and credit scores. The idea that a 12-minute visit can safely manage every interaction between 17 different substances you’ve ingested is not medicine-it’s sci-fi fanfiction.

And let’s be real: the real problem isn’t supplements. It’s that we’ve outsourced our health to institutions that don’t care if you live or die, as long as the billing codes are correct.

Bring the bottles? Sure. But don’t expect the system to fix itself. You’re not a patient. You’re a revenue stream with a pulse.

Oh sweetie, you brought your supplement bottles? How… quaint. I assume you also hand-wrote your grocery list in cursive and water your plants with moonlight?

My doctor doesn’t care if I take elderberry or glitter. She just says, "Does it make you feel better?" If yes, keep going. If no, stop. The rest is just marketing noise wrapped in a lab coat.

Also, "natural" doesn’t mean safe. But "prescribed" doesn’t mean safe either. I’ve seen more ER visits from statins than from turmeric. Just saying. 💅