How I became the Green Pharmacist

I've decided to start blogging because facebook is so limited and annoying and because I have a lot to say (if anyone will listen :).

I often get asked: "What are you up to?" by people I have not seen in a long time. I wish I could tell them the truth, that I am going to school in Maryland, that I am studying Herbal Medicine. But, I have chosen to keep that privy to only some people.

I also often get asked "Why did you decide to leave pharmacy?" or "So, you got sick of pharmacy?" and "why don't you just tell people?"

Well, here it goes:

As a pharmacist, you are deluded (in pharmacy school) to believe you can change people's lives and that YOU have the ability to help people. They teach you all about patient care and counseling, the different techniques in talking, how to properly counsel, etc. THEN, you graduate and enter the real world and you find out that it's all a lie. In a retail (e.g. CVS, walgreens) pharmacy setting, you're lucky if you have time to eat your lunch, let alone counsel patients on their medications. AND, if someone does actually ask for counseling, it's basically just telling them how to properly take their medications, what side effects to watch out for, etc.

This is the reason I decided to work at a hospital. At first I did like it, until I realized I was the same robotic pharmacist as I would be in a retail setting, but was making far less and wasn't on my feet all day. I was verifying (that means making sure the physician's order is ok and clicking on it so the nurses on the floor can get it and give it to their patients) without any patient interaction, any advice or counseling. And I was feeding the overmedication of America. You have a symptom, you take a drug, and that's the end of your problems. Why haven't you been able to sleep for 3 years? Who cares, just keep taking the Ambien. Have high blood pressure? Just continue to take your 4-6 Blood pessure meds and you'll be ok? Cholesterol is high? Take lipitor and you won't have to worry about diet and exercise (a friend was actually told this by their doctor!).

America LOVES its drugs. TV is full of happy people who are free of their diseases because they are on the new wonder drug. Celebrate with Celebrex! Viva Viagra!

How could I continue to do this when I didn't agree with this? The answer was I couldn't, at least not without continuing to feel unfulfilled.

So I started looking into something that I could do that'd help me truly counsel patients about not only their medications but their lifestyle as well. I wanted to help someone be as med-free as possible and start taking their health into their own hands. Meds, I believe, have their place for short term and emergency situations. But for long term, I don't believe drugs are the answer or solution (except for rare diseases and severe cases).

As a pharmacist, I knew the only way to be more clinically oriented was to do a residency or a fellowship. I wanted something in complementary and alternative therapy, since that was what I believed would help people along side drugs. I googled things like "integratve alternative therapy pharmacists" and come up with some names of pharmacists who I e-mailed and asked whether such things existed. I looked into the National center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, but it was more reseacrh oriented and more specific (you have a mentor and do a research on the topic they are researching).

Eventully I got advice from a Pharmacist (who happened to be working at a place I considered a dream: a complementary pharmacy that has a conventional pharmacy counter and an herbal pharmacy dispensary!) who suggested an Herbal school that I had heard of and peeked at before but disregarded because a) it was $$$ and b) it was in Maryland and I knew there was no way i could go.

But, the more I looked into the school, the more I found it had what I was looking for: the clinical training, the well-rounded curriculum, the professionalism (it's a Master's Program). I couldn't let money and distance be the reason I fail to follow my dreams. so, I prayed and prayed and prayed more and more to be guided to the right decision and to make the journey to it easy, and to make me happy with whatever happens.

Thank God, I was able to follow my heart and go where I believed I was being guided to. It is still not fully accepted by everyone and I choose not to tell most/certain people because I do not wish to defend myself or my decisions, especially when I myself struggle with it and struggle to explain it to some who do already know. I do not wish to add more fuel to an already blazing fire.

God willing I hope to finish my program and come out of it with the knowledge and ability to teach people to take care of themselves. Only God knows what the future holds and whether my dreams of being a (successful) Pharmacy/Herbal Consultant will come to fruition, but if those who know are as interested as they say they are, God willing I will be. :)