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Ten Reasons to Avoid Prescription Drugs
By The Fit Advocate, Craig Pepin-Donat, International Fitness
Expert and Author of "The Big Fat Health and Fitness Lie"
Although prescription drugs have helped many people live with diseases
and illnesses that in earlier times would have been a death sentence,
no industry has contributed more to our toxic lifestyle than the
pharmaceutical industry. Try to imagine an America where health
care was free to all citizens and the pharmaceutical industry was
a non-profit organization beholden only to those in need and protected
from those who stand to profit from our ill health. In this make-believe
America things would be very different. In addition to the standard
medical curriculum, physicians would be trained on alternative medicine
and nutrition. Exercise and healthy lifestyle choices would be rewarded.
Disease prevention and healthy living would be our primary focus
and synthetic chemical compounds would be the very last resort.
Alas, we live in the land of the fee and the home of the sick. If
you don’t want to count on toxic chemicals as the solution
to improved health, you need to be diligent in your efforts to protect
your health so that you don’t fall prey to the big, fat health
and fitness lie. Here are ten simple things you need to know before
you pop another pill.
1. Drug interactions and adverse side effects
— No matter how many clinical trials a drug goes through before
being approved, none can possibly test how a drug will interact
with the other thousands of prescription- and over-the-counter (OTC)
medications on the market. For example, those with high blood pressure
should not take nasal decongestants because they can increase blood
pressure and cause adverse cardiovascular reactions. Some medications
even reduce or halt the efficacy of others, as is the case with
some antibiotics such as amoxicillin that render oral contraceptives
ineffective. It is important to always research and discuss with
your physician all drugs and medications that you take, especially
those prescribed by other doctors and including OTC drugs, minerals,
dietary supplements, herbals and botanicals that you may use.
2. Side effects — When was the last time
that you read the insert that came with your prescription? If you
ever take the time to try and read through the little novel that
the manufacturers include as an information pamphlet, get out your
reading glasses or a magnifying glass. Then prepare to wade through
all of the information that is presented in technical jargon that
only a physician or medical researcher can understand. If you can
hang in there long enough, eventually you will get to the side effects
which on some medications can be as benign as nausea, upset stomach,
blurred vision, dizziness and headaches and as serious as heart
palpitations, heart attacks, increased blood pressure, seizures,
liver damage and even death. Most people don’t take the time
to read the side effects and don’t take the time to consider
how they can adversely impact their short and long-term health.
3. Drugs can create new symptoms — Some
of the more serious complications from prescription drug use include
the development of other ailments. For example, certain medications
for diabetes and high-blood pressure can lead to erectile dysfunction
(ED) in men, which leads to more prescriptions such as Viagra and
Cialis. Certain antidepressants also cause sexual dysfunction in
both men and women, and while manufacturers have been aware of this
side effect for years, only recently have they admitted that up
to 70 percent of patients are highly likely to experience the side
effect. Even more frightening, certain drugs for depression and
ADHD in children have led to suicidal thoughts and behavior. While
these are only a few examples, consider how many drugs are on the
market today, and how many additional ailments they may be causing.
4. Medications are synthetic, toxic chemicals
— The human body maintains a delicate chemistry by producing
trillions of natural chemical reactions, which create a balance
in an ever-changing environment. Introducing any chemical into the
human body is a risk and no one can provide you with a guarantee
of safety. Synthetic chemicals introduced into the human body are
delivered to the cellular level, and most negative reactions are
not known for years or are never recognized. Before you take your
next prescription drug, think about drug-disclaimers that state,
“this drug should not be taken by or handled by women who
are pregnant, nursing or may become pregnant.” This statement
gets to the heart of the matter. If a substance is so unsafe for
contact with an unborn or newly-born child, or the host for that
child’s development (the pregnant woman), that they suggest
“not taking or even coming into contact with it” shouldn’t
that tell you something about how it effects developing and newly
developed cells? Why would you want to ingest something that can
affect us on such a core level unless it was a last resort?
5. Clinical trials do not guarantee safety —
After initial testing is successful on laboratory animals, clinical
trials then proceed to human testing. Clinical trials are done in
four stages on volunteers — either people who are generally
healthy, but want to help or on people with specific illnesses to
test specific medications and treatments for those illnesses. Phase
1 studies 20 to 80 healthy volunteers. That is a small number of
people to test compared with how many people may be taking the drug
if it is approved. Phase 2 studies 100 to 300 volunteers who either
have the condition or a propensity to acquire the condition that
the tested drug may help. If the drug moves on to Phase 3, 1,000
to 3,000 people who actively have the disease or ailment are tested.
A Phase 4 study may be carried out after the drug is approved to
determine additional long-term effects, risks, benefits and other
issues. Unfortunately, a significant number of people would have
already been exposed to any significant side effects by the time
clinical trials reached Phase 4. A recent study also showed that
as many as 65 percent of Phase 4 studies had not been performed
by manufacturers. Once millions of dollars are spent to get a drug
approved, manufacturers are not eager to find clinical problems
that could lead to a recall and devastating financial implications
that would damage share holder value.
6. The FDA can only mitigate risk — Although
the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), monitors clinical trials,
they could never account for all of the possible reactions, side
effects and other factors that may make a drug unsafe. It is not
until enough people become gravely ill or die from taking such medications
and it is reported, that the truth is revealed about how harmful
these substances can be. Every year there are hundreds of contradictions,
precautions, adverse reactions and boxed safety warnings placed
on pharmacritical products as they are reported by health care practitioners
and the general public.
7. Long-term effects — Each year there are
over 2 million people that suffer adverse effects from prescription
and OTC that are not fatal, but instead eat away at our health and
quality of life. There are also 125,000 deaths in the U.S. each
year from prescription drugs, many of which can be attributed to
drug interactions as in the case with Anna Nicole Smith. Death from
prescription drug use is the fourth highest killer of Americans,
which tells us that the FDA, drug manufacturers and physicians do
not really know what is safe, and suggests that clinical trials
are not entirely reliable.
8. There are alternatives to prescription drugs
— Start with leading a healthier more active lifestyle and
avoiding toxic exposure in all forms including stress which is responsible
for as much as 80 percent of all disease. While there are instances
where taking prescription drugs may be necessary, many illnesses
can be prevented or at least mitigated by natural, safe alternatives—from
homeopathy and other alternative and complementary medicines, to
improving eating habits and fitness level and personal-care practices.
9. Prescription drugs feed the big, fat health and fitness
lie — According to IMS Health, in 2006, the global
pharmaceutical market grew 7 percent to $643 billion and prescription
drug sales increased 8.3 percent to $274.9 billion. According to
the journal Health Affairs, “Health Spending Projections Through
2013,” this figure is expected to increase significantly by
10.7 percent per year to 2013. And by 2014, $414 billion in expenditures
for U.S. prescriptions is estimated. We are lining the pockets of
Big Pharma executives and companies as they gamble with our health.
10. Common sense — For too long we have
been conditioned to believe that synthetic drugs are good for us.
They are not. Renowned physician and best selling author Isadore
Rosenfeld once wrote, “There is a little poison in every medication.”
Take control of your health and your life. Use this vital information
to make better-informed choices about what goes into your body in
the name of “good health.” Remember, when it comes to
profit, the fix is in and billions are spent to spin the message.
The only thing that money can’t spin is your common sense.
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