Top 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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