Our Daily Meds

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice ...
-- White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane

Don't get me wrong, there is a role for medication. It has helped control many debilitating diseases and/or improved the quality of life for those with them.

I just listen to people talk about all the pills they take (and worse yet, watch it as we sit down to dinner together) and I cringe. Every symptom must be addressed with a pill, every cough (even one), every nose drip (even one), heaven forbid we get up and walk for 5 minutes to see if that takes care of a headache (or, maybe, drink a glass of water).

Shopping the other day, I say the shelf of "pain relievers". Many brands, formulations, and I suspect packaging differences, were available for each active ingredient. I wonder, "when do we exceed reason in giving ourselves too much choice?" and "when do we cause our own drug cost crisis?"

Hey!

Make money, and be happy.

Who cares how long one is to live, or when one dies.

Be Happy

I am wondering about OBECALP. It is a cherry flavored sugar pills for parents to give kids when "A kiss and a band-aid just aren't enough." I heard about in a commentary on NPR. The doctor talking about it said, "I have never met an adult band-aid addict, but I do treat a lot of people addicted to pills." This is terrifying to me, but the pharmaceutical companies must be loving it.

Carrie - do you know if OBECALP is available for adults? It might be an excellent gift for a friend of mine.

I spent more than a month in the hospital and I feel lucky I did not get a Staph infection!

I am now alergic to at least 2 antibiotics, as well as a few other medications, and therefore I refuse medications when possible.

I feel that if we all take pills for every little thing, nothing will work when it is TRULY NEEDED!
I try to follow the advice of my grandparents who lived through the Depression, and had to make due without a doctor's care in most cases.

It's amazing what a bath can do for you!

My grandpa (93 Years young) always says "good food is cheap medicine." And I try to keep to that!

-Tina Q.

I think Tina, and Toms guest are right. I think we should bannish drugs altogether. Maybe a hot bath will cure my type 1 diabetes. Perhaps my cancer will be arrested and fade away after I drink a glass of water. Heck, why not drink two glasses of water. The explosion in the number of medicines is mostly a result of the exponential growth in our understanding of cell biology. Recombinant DNA technology. Mathematical modeling of biologic molecules that will fit into receptors or modulate enzyme activity. We now have machines that can purify molecules or isolate genes, and the machine do this with a biologic sample that in the nano range of size. What took a protein chemist a lifetime to purify is now done by a machine in a few hours. You think there are a lot of medicines now, just wait. We are just now on the threshold of what the Human Genome project, antisense oligonucleotides, and nanotechnology will offer. Payola to Doctors, Hospitals, Pharmacists, Insurance executives, and others is not new. I submit that it is not as bad now as it was 4O years ago. Ask some one who took DES, or thalidomide. It is just that there are so many medicines now.

So if you do not want to take medicine, then don't. If don't trust your doctor, then get a new one. Whaddya think? My kids pediatrician brings home about 100K per year. She works like a dog. Is woken up at night by wife who calls about my new sons blue bowel movement (after eating grape flavored jello). Is our pediatrician on take from the generic antibiotic manufacturers? Is the American Academy of pediatricians annual meeting underwritten by Drug manufacters? Same for the American College of Physicians annual meeting etc.

Hey Tom. I think I just heard the most bias interview you you have ever conducted. I will listen with my jaundiced ear next time.

Can't thank you enough for this episode and thanks to Melody Petersen for writing a book about this. Someone had to do it, because we are taught to blindly trust our doctors, when in fact we need to learn how to start listening to our bodies and trust our instincts.

I had chronic hives a couple of years ago that would not go away for a whole year. During that time I saw my primary care, he prescribed steroids which I refused to take since I knew those were not only just a temporary fix, but also cause a number of side effects, and the hives then come back twice as bad as they were before. I then saw an allergist who prescribed antihistamines and told me I would have hives for the rest of my life, that I should just keep taking antihistamines for the unforeseen future. I tried those for about a month, but quickly realized they were only masking my symptoms, not treating the underlying cause of the problem, so I stopped them. I had told my allergist that I noticed my hives got worse after I ate sugar, but his response was "no, that's not possible". So at this point I was really positive that my hives were caused by something I was eating. I searched for a new primary care, finally found one who would listen, didn't prescribe temporary fixes, and did a number of tests checking for food allergies. I already knew that sugar made my hives worse and I had been off it for a while, but the hives never completely went away. The results of the tests showed that I am highly sensitive to cow's dairy and my doctor prescribed a dairy free diet. A week later, off of all dairy products, and my hives were gone.

Now, had I listened to my previous doctors, I would still be taking either steroids or antihistamines, still have outbreaks of hives, still be miserable not only from the hives but also from the side effects from the drugs. It's probably hard for people to understand how important this is to me, especially if you haven't had hives, and I shutter to think of all the hundreds of people who are taking meds for hives when they could be searching for the actual root of the problem. I wasn't interested in treating symptoms since that is never a permanent cure. Instead I decided to listen to my body and figure this out with the help of an excellent doctor who I thank god for finding.

The two doctors that prescribed the steroids and the antihistamines weren't even interested in knowing what I ate, didn't even ask. In short they weren't listening to me, and flat out told me I was wrong about what I had noticed about the sugar! The one who prescribed the steroids (within 3 minutes I might add) didn't even tell me those meds were steroids, much less warn me about the side effects that can be severe. I had to find out for myself.

So to Howard and others I say, this message is soooooo important. We get bombarded with messages and ads from the pharmaceutical side, through our doctors and media. It's time that we listen to the lonely voice of Melody Petersen, who clearly has done the research.

It's unnecessary to sarcastically point out how we need meds to treat serious conditions like diabetes. But Howard I'm sure you know that diabetes is preventable with diet and exercise. I have a father in law who is living proof. He turned his diabetes around by taking care of his diet and exercising every day, and this allowed him to be stop taking his meds. If we only spent more time and money on researching how diet and movement can treat various illnesses, I'm sure we would not need all the meds that are unnecessarily prescribed. But we are lazy, we want quick fixes, and I wonder if that's the root of the problem.

First this is a first for me, so I hope I am doing it right. (?)

In reading the additional "post's" that have come up it looks like we are going away from the original topic . . . and I like it! It gives me license to go a little off subject myself.

Let's start with the original topic however;

Drug reps, like spandex, can be used for great good or great evil.

We love our reps. We see them as a resource. If a patient needs, (remember that word, needs, we will get back to it later.) but can not afford them for any reason, I get on the phone and call the rep of the required medication. Nine times out of ten, the drug in the amount and dose the patient needs is delivered. Does that drug get special consideration if a patient who can afford it needs it . . . well, probably, yes. Is it quid pro quo? Yeah a little. Is it worth it? You bet.

Now let's look at that word need. I am afraid my industry is very guilty of over prescribing medications, especially antibiotics. Patients often insist and clinicians cave in to the pressure. Both are wrong! As a patient you should not thing of your physician as a god. In this day and age you should be an educated patient and communicate effectively and intelligently. On the other hand . . . you should also have a good enough relationship with your Doc when he or she tells you, "No".

During the cold and flu season, we provide a symptom basket. That is, a basket with chicken soup, cough drops emergen-c (Did I spell that right?) and items of this sort. We also provide an education as to why we are NOT giving you an antibiotic and what to watch for if you need to come back. The main thrust being, the human body, if not imuno-compromised, will fight most infections all by itself. Antibiotics have zero effect on a virus.

If we do not change this habit Tina gets the gold star and when you need an antibiotic it will not work, or worse, will not kill off all of the disease and it will mutate and become bacteria resistant. (i.e. TB)

On the other hand; Despite Howard's sarcasm, a great deal of what he says is correct. I for one am alive today because of someone got rich for using his great brain. I do not begrudge this scientist or chemist his fat bank account. I have my left leg because someone came up with a substance I could ingest orally or have injected into my blood stream that killed what was killing me.

Are there problems with the current system? You bet. Would I like to see a better method? Absolutely. Will I accept the system the way it is for the "greater good"? Unfortunately yes. I am not ready for the plague to come back. I do not want to have to tell my grand children, (the ones who live) the stories my elderly relatives have told me, about surviving the pandemic flu.

As with all things there is a balance.

Ultimately it is the responsibility of the physician/patient relationship to make the right choice for care. If we were all not such sheep the pharmaceutical companies could spend themselves into bankruptcy and not sell us a single aspirin. We must educate and take responsibility for ourselves.

Again, balance.

Many years ago a patient presented with a "skin condition" on her left breast. Her holistic naturopath had given her an, "all natural" emulsion to rub on a rather painful lump on her breast. She had been using it for nearly and year with a myriad of "natural" oral remedies and vitamins.

The rather rancid smell when she disrobed was rather disconcerting in itself. The necrotic black skin and rock hard tissue that she reviled was heart wrenching. Yes the lump had gone, but only because the entire breast was infiltrated with the tumor.

While this was a fairly fast growing tumor it is normally very treatable and survivability is well over 50%. When most of your body is infiltrated with metastatic lesions, there is a zero chance.

I have nothing against a holistic approach. In fact I am an advocate. I can not prove scientifically that these methods work, but if they improve your mental state then your chances are all that much better. (I am a firm believer that stress is a huge contributing factor to cancer and other human disease.) I can prove through appropriate scientific method that conventional medicine has proven results. Balance.

Please remember also, cyanide is "all natural". (apple seeds)

Who is really guilty?

Fen-Phen was not a bad drug. The problem was with clinicians not doing the appropriate labs prior to administering the drug. The positive side of removing it from the market is that we have now been forced to come up with better methods to help people that are dying from the innumerable side effects to morbid obesity.

Anti-depressants:

I am a firm believer that these drugs are over prescribed. Worse yet, I don't recommend them without talk therapy. Sadness is a coping method. If you don't find why you are sad and take away the coping method . . . Danger Will Robinson! Again this does not make me apposed to the drug. I am apposed to the helter skelter way they are prescribed.

There is a wonderful and very professional and appropriately managed study showing, (in short) that antidepressants alone were of very little long term help. Talk therapy and antidepressants were very helpful. "The best method to treat depression", you ask? A lifestyle change to include a regular exercise regiment, talk therapy and if necessary, short term (up to two years) use of an appropriate antidepressants.

I would also like to note that "lifestyle change" is the key to loosing weight as well. Not fad diet and not pills. There is no quick fix. It took you years to become this unhappy in a day and we did not become overweight overnight!

To me, one of the most dangerous "health" items on the market . . . Antibacterial hand sanitizer. "No way", you say. What can be wrong with killing germs? The biggest problem is the vast majority of them are good and necessary. More over, small amounts of the "bad" organisms make you healthier. Yes, that is correct, it is like having a flu shot or a polio vaccine your natural immune system is introduced to the bad guy and now knows the enemy and will no longer let him in the door. U ever wonder why healthcare workers are so sick the first year in the industry and then rarely ever sick again? Daily immunotherapy.

On the other hand . . . (tired of that phrase yet?) This same sanitizer is very useful in helping me prevent transferring disease from one patient to the next, especially the immunocompromised patients. Yep, spandex again.

In conclusion, (yes I am about to shut up.) I will tell you this:

Choose your clinician with greater care then you do your priest or even your friends. You need to feel so safe you will tell them anything, and I do mean ANYTHING. Your "darkest secret" (it is different for all of us.) may have some significance in your healthcare. (I believe this backs up your point Ima.) Your Doc needs to listen and learn.

Your physician is like a Sherlock Holmes and Watson all wrapped into one. (There is an interesting story to this too but enough is enough.) By knowing what you do for a living, lifestyle choices and diet, he is more likely to make a correct diagnosis.

Please remember too, if the airlines were right 99.9% of the time, they would still loose on average, 263 pieces of luggage per day. We are just humans as well and are fallible. Yes that is why we call it a practice.

Brevity being the soul of wit, I have once again played the fool. If you made it all the way through you probably now need drugs.

I'm a medical student. I enjoyed the episode, though I thought some important issues were overlooked.

Physicians are arrogant, in the sense that they don't believe they will succumb to the psychological foibles that affect everyone else, including their colleagues. (This is inevitable and perhaps desirable if your daily job involves saving lives.) I think most docs are not explicitly corrupt so much as they honestly think they can get information and free samples from the reps without being influenced. They see a young (attractive) rep and think, "no way can he/she manipulate me." They also seem to believe that they can save patients money by hooking them on free samples of expensive drugs for chronic conditions...

Medical students and residents are poor and very indebted. We used to be allowed to push back the loan repayment until after residency, but President Bush just changed that rule. When you're still poor at 30 and all your college friends have been making six figures for years, it's really hard to pass up free textbooks or free food from a drug rep, even if you were an idealistic pharma-free AMSA member. Effective rules have to protect docs when they are at their most vulnerable, during training, before bad habits form.

Finally, though, it's important to keep in mind that we are *assuming* that what is good for pharma's bottom line is bad for patient health. That has not been proven, and it may not always be true. One could argue that increased advertising to patients and physicians helps get drugs to people who need them, and that this benefit is worth the downside of some over-prescribing. I am not necessarily making that argument, but note that it has not been refuted with evidence.

Ohhhhh OOOOOO...Have you hit a raw nerve here. Don't get me started on this deal. And I mean deal...as in a drug deal...
It has been my experience in this Give Us This Day Our Daily Meds" America that if you say one word edgewise about this pill popping, eatin' 'em up like jellybeans lovin America and it's prescriptions drugs you are liable to get your head ripped off and disemboweled. And I sincerely mean this. You could be condemned a witch and burned at the stake for being a naturalist and herbal remedies person vs. this pill popping........ a script solves everything America..

Oh...I cannot not go e- nough about this deal.

.......and if you even try to inform other Americans: "Ya know in other countries...prescription drugs advertisments and commericals are NOT permitted or allowed on other countries T.V. sets 24/7." They look at you like you are the visitor from the other planet /country and do not want to hear it and accuse you of being anti-establishment anti corporate America and to shut your mouth.

This has been my personal experience in this prescription drug D.A.R.E. program.
What a joke.
What an outright D.A.R.E. travesty.

After seeing the author of this book on Bill Moyers Journal......I said finally!.....and another book that will not be getting any press coverage on MSM anytime soon is OVERDOSED in America. Written by a doctor, about his experience in this prescription drugland. The American Flag is on the front cover of the book is made out of red, white and blue capsules.

I haven't read the others comments, so if this is redundant and somebody has already said these things......We should be making our own club by NOT joining in this prescription drug brainwashing program, and the status quo, that's been carefully mapped out for us by the big giant drug companies....... Everybody in America just seems to be going along with as if it's like this all over the world. It's not!

Yeah we're number 1.

Number 1 in wrong areas.

Don't get me started.

Hey On Point Webmaster......
As we continue the conversation online......
Has anyone noticed or did their Homework - Checkup work on Howard L's comment?

He/She/It joined gather on June 12 just to comment on your website about his/her/its love of the American Scripts. Even has the gall and audcity to name his site ADDICTED.........Betcha any money he's a lobbyist for the drug cartel getting a shot in for his freedom of American speech and his/her/its American Way.

The trolls are trawling.......even on Gather.

I noticed!

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