This week in our STEAM course called 'Cure' we took a very different route and delved deep into the question: How do our OTC and prescription medications do what they do? First, we took a look at the inner workings of different compounds and chemical equations. At this point, we learned to balance chemical reactions, name ionic compounds, and identify organic and inorganic compounds. Next, we learned that many medications work by halting a certain chemical or process to provide results such as pain relief. We explored this idea by further researching the effects anti-inflammatories and antihistamines have on the body. We learned that both are inhibitors that block a reaction of a bodily process by either shutting it down completely or taking up room within it thus blocking anything else from doing the same. The most interesting part of this was an experiment we did to simulate the shutting down of a bodily process. We did this by trying ‘Miracle Berry’ which is a fruit that when eaten will bind the tongue's taste buds and made it so you can taste every flavor except sour things. Doing so was eye-opening because it allowed me to get an idea of what was going on within my body after taking any inhibiting drug; especially after eating a whole lemon and genuinely enjoying it for the first time. Lastly, we visited an apothecary to find medicines to treat a condition of our choice, mine being hypertension/high blood pressure. I noticed a lot of cool stuff in there but became somewhat disillusioned when during research I would later learn that most of the stuff in there was not entirely based on science and more or less involved sorcery, hope, and maybe even a touch of good ol' fashion placebo. This all taught me a great deal about various allopathic and alternative treatments. In the official clinical trials of one alternative medicine I found at the apothecary, Carditone, tests revealed “unremarkable findings” Which sounds to me like they are essentially saying it does basically nothing. In contrast, the clinical trials in one of my two allopathic medicines of choice, Norvasc, was able to prove the effectiveness of the drug. In the study, they talk about how it was proven against placebos to show that the effects were real. They even say this about the drug in the study: “Studies showed that the reduction in supine and standing blood pressures was dose-related” This proves a direct correlation between using this drug and a lowering in the patient's blood pressure. This says a lot to me personally about the difference in effectiveness between alternative medicine compared to allopathic drug treatments when being put under the scrutinizing lens of science. I think this finding is likely to be of interest not only to me, but also to any patient with this condition. This all culminates into the focus of this blog post; the actual AP. In this AP we took the condition of our choice and researched two forms of allopathic and two forms of alternative treatments for this condition and researched how they work including the processes behind them. We took all that we gleaned from that and put it together in an easy-to-read and understand box that a doctor might give a patient to inform them of effective ways to manage their conditions. I colloquially dubbed this box 'The Cardiac Cube' - A simple and easy way to learn about the condition putting stress on YOUR heart. I chose high blood pressure because my grandfather has it and it runs in the family. Knowing that was enough for me to feel like I need to be equipped with the knowledge of what high blood pressure is, how it develops, and how to live with it if I were to end up getting it.
Going into this I decided I wanted to research methods most different from one another to allow me to see the diverse ways medicines might treat the symptoms. I found that the main types used to treat hypertension were ACE inhibitors, Beta-blockers, Calcium channel blockers, ARBs, and more. In the end, I chose to focus on an ACE inhibitor which prevents the formation of the chemical angiotensin which narrows blood vessels. Here is a helpful diagram to show how the ACE inhibitor works. The other treatment I chose was a Calcium channel blocker which relaxes arteries by preventing calcium from entering the cells of the heart and arteries. Here is how calcium channel blockers work.
When a patient refers to the ‘Cardiac Cube’ a doctor might point out the graph on the top face of the cube. The graph represents the prevalence of high blood pressure in the US between 1999-2018. The doctor would explain the trend by noting how at the start of the graph you might recognize that the numbers were showing a slow and gradual down curve in high blood pressure cases. What would be concerning to the patient is the fact that towards the end up to where it cuts off the numbers were taking a steep uptick in cases in the US. This should be important if not alarming news to the patient because it means they are just one of many as cases are starting to seem more common in the United States. (I think this says something about obesity, cardiac health and its tie to heart-related illnesses and conditions like high blood pressure)
In conclusion, this was a very unique and in-depth project that I feel quite proud to have finished. One thing I learned is that if ever were to do any one of the alternative medicines I would likely do the DASH diet. Out of all of them, it was the most promising because it didn't boast about some magical miracle herb, it relied on a simple diet that cuts out certain foods that have been found to impact risk factors and raise blood sugar. Thank you for reading!
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