Just Ask Terry

Terry is happy to provide his opinion on diet and nutrition, supplements and lifestyle choices. This information is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to replace the advice of your physician and is not to be considered medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Should you have any concerns please contact your physician directly.

Q. Dear Terry, “I have been having a pain on my right side, traveling from my buttocks down my groin into my testicle and into my leg for the past 2 years. I have had many tests and seen many doctors, and all they come up with is nerve pain. First, do you have any idea what this could be and second, do you think curcumin might help with the pain? My pharmacist says curcumin interacts with all kinds of medicines, though, so he said I shouldn’t take it.” —Barry R., Chicago, IL A. Dear Barry, I am not a physician and it would be irresponsible for me to “diagnose” you based on the information you provide. However, I have learned from a number of integrative medical physicians that your symptoms may well be based on your prostate. The prostate does not have any nerve endings, so when it enlarges, you may feel the pressure on the closest major nerve, and this pressure on the nerve causes pain radiating to the back area and eventually down the back of the leg. I would encourage you to discuss checking your prostate with your physician before you try any new supplement. I am surprised that your pharmacist believes that curcumin has multiple drug interactions. All the research done around the world, including the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas and Baylor University in Dallas, Texas, has confirmed that curcumin can actually improve the effectiveness of most medications, including chemotherapeutic drugs, and reduce the side effects and toxicity of drugs. Your pharmacist can go to www.MDAnderson.org/curcumin to review the studies and information available from the cancer research center. Or he can go to www.pubmed.org, the electronic database of the National Institutes of Health, Institutes of Medicine and type in the key word “curcumin.” He will find over 3,600 studies published on curcumin. What your pharmacist might be concerned about is curcumin blended with piperine, which is an extract of black pepper. Piperine interacts with a huge number (up to 85%) of prescription medications. Some companies use piperine to help the curcumin to get into the blood stream, but the drug interactions make it not a very useful dietary supplement. In fact, it could be dangerous. I prefer a pure, micronized curcumin blended with essential oil from turmeric that has been shown to have up to 10 times the absorption of plain curcumin. This is all done WITHOUT black pepper! So this is a very safe supplement to use. Good luck, Barry, and please let me know how things turn out for you. Terry