When the Cure is Worse Than the Disease

Call Toll Free: 877-985-2695

SEARCH:

FREE Subscription

The World’s Most Popular Natural Health Newsletter

ARTICLE TOOLS:

Current Newsletter

Share Your Comment

Print this Page

Podcasts

Save as Favorites

Submit My Story

Newsletter Feed

Health Blog Feed

TRANSLATE THIS PAGE:

Aging Allergies Alzheimers Arthritis Artificial Sweeteners Asthma Autism Back Pain Book Reviews Brain/Memory Health Cancer Cardiovascular Health Children’s Health Cholesterol Chronic Fatigue Conflict of Interest Conventional Medicine Corporate Greed Death And Dying Diabetes Digestive Disorders Digestive Health Drug Companies Drugs EFT EMF Emotional Health Energy Support Entertainment Environmental Exercise and Fitness Fats Fibromyalgia Finances Food GMO Government Abuses Health Concerns Health Support Healthy Aging Healthy Recipes Heart Diseases Hormones Immune Support Infectious Disease Internal Special Report Iron Excess/Hemochromatosis Joint Support Looking and Feeling Younger Men’s Health Mental Health Obesity Online Tests Osteoporosis Pain Management Personal Development Personal Improvement Pet Health Pets Raw Food Seizure Disorders Senior Health Sexual Health Sleep/Insomnia Smoking Soy Spiritual Health Substance Abuse Sugar Sunlight Supplements Swine Flu Technology Television Thyroid Disease Toxicity/Detoxification Toxins/Pollution Vaccines Vision Health Water Weight Management Women’s Health

Share this article

When the Cure is Worse Than the Disease

Posted by: Dr. Mercola
October 04 2008 | 63,774 views

doctor, medicine, pills, prescription drugs

One way to build an income in private medical practice is to hook patients on drugs that continually require re-examination, testing and prescription renewal. Blood thinners, for example, require prothrombin tests to determine how long it takes the blood to clot. Blood pressure pills require monitoring of blood pressure. And once patients start taking acid-blocking medications, they will find it is nearly impossible to stop taking them -- withdrawal will provoke rebound acidity with throat-gripping pain.

Critical examination of the effectiveness of prescription drugs reveals convincing data that most prescription drugs are not only ineffective but may worsen the condition being treated. Some of these medications appear to be designed to create life-long dependency upon the drug, since drug withdrawal exacerbates symptoms. Even some long-standing drugs that are the hallmarks of modern medicine have begun to lose their biological punch.

The major classes of prescription drugs are failures. Most drugs are never designed to address the underlying biochemical causes of disease -- and they may intentionally be designed to create life-long dependency.

Sources:

LewRockwell.com August 25, 2008

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

When people come to my Natural Health Center, it is very common for them to lug in a shopping bag full of drugs, but it almost always starts with just one. One drug that’s supposed to make you feel better, but actually makes you feel worse. Hence the second drug to treat the first drug’s side effects, and on and on until people are turned into walking medicine cabinets.

The number of prescriptions taken per capita in the United States has grown exponentially in the past 75 years. In 1929, the average American received less than two prescriptions per year. By 2007, the average annual prescription rate per capita in the United States was:

• 4 prescriptions per child (age 0-18)
• Over 11 prescriptions per adult (age 19-64)
• Nearly 29 prescriptions per senior, aged 65 and over!

Yet, adverse drug reactions -- from "properly" prescribed drugs -- are actually the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Only heart disease, cancer, and stroke kill more Americans than drugs prescribed by medical doctors.

Reactions to prescription drugs kill more than twice as many Americans as HIV/AIDS or suicide. Fewer die from accidents or diabetes than adverse drug reactions. And this does NOT include the negative drug reactions in outpatients, cases of malpractice, or instances where the drugs were not taken as directed.

Yet, whenever you feel sick, you probably still think that you need to go to your doctor and get some medicine to make you better. Well, this mindset is deeply engrained in us from the time we’re infants and taken to the doctor for a minor cold, or given a pill to bring down a fever (which is actually there to help you get better) or watch a television commercial or read a magazine (at least in the US).

We’re taught that we need doctors and drugs to heal our bodies, when in reality your body can, and will, heal itself if you give it the right tools (like good food, exercise and a positive outlook).

If you take only one thing from this article, make it this point: Drugs often cause more problems than the disease you’re trying to treat.

And the more you attempt to “cure” one problem after another with multiple drugs, the farther down the rabbit hole you’ll go.

The Countless Ways Prescription Drugs Assault Your Body

The article has an eye-opening list of what can happen if you rely on drugs to treat disease:

• Nearly all anti-diabetic drugs cause a person to become overweight and totally dependent upon insulin.
• Asthma drugs sensitize your body to triggers that worsen this condition.
• There is no evidence that cholesterol-lowering drugs reduce mortality rates.
• All cancer chemotherapy drugs result in tumor resistance.

• None of the many drugs prescribed to control high blood pressure address the cause of hypertension.
• Antacid “heartburn” drugs induce greater problems when withdrawing from them, locking patients into lifetime use.
• Of the many drugs used to treat age-related senility, none stop the progression of mental decline and some hasten it.
• To an increasing degree, man-made antibiotics produce germ-resistance and mortality rates are rising from infections once conquered by these drugs.

Are the drug companies creating these drugs with the sole purpose of keeping you sicker, and reaching for more of their dangerous elixirs? I certainly hope not, but I cannot rule out the thought completely. Their track-record is too spot-on: if you take prescription drugs, you’ll almost always wind up with side effects, many of which are worse than the original disease. Here are some other major offenders to add to the list:

• Cholesterol-lowering drugs actually CAUSE heart disease
• Migraine drugs cause severe rebound headaches
• Asthma inhalers may lead to heart attack and stroke
• Arthritis drugs can cause fatal fungal infections and cancer

Sadly, this list could go on and on, but one of the most glaring examples was Vioxx, the anti-inflammatory drug prescribed to millions of people that later was revealed to double the risk of heart attack. Well, 60,000 people were killed before that drug was pulled from the market, and do not think for one minute that there aren’t other similarly harmful drugs being handed out like candy (expensive candy) right now.

Breaking Free From the Prescription Drug Paradigm

I want everyone reading this to remember that, ultimately, it’s your body, and your decision what to put in it. If your doctor suggests you take a drug, do some research before you take it, because once you do, it could be too late.

Make sure you are aware of the potential side effects of the drug, read the package insert, and remember that even if it lists a side effect as rare, it can still happen to you.

And remember that many, many drugs are vastly over-prescribed and unnecessary. So make sure that you make drugs a last option, not a first choice. For example, all of the following conditions can be treated or prevented with LIFESTYLE CHANGES, yet if you go to a typical doctor, you will likely be prescribed a potentially dangerous drug instead:

• Diabetes
• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Insomnia
• Depression

I realize that it takes a massive shift in thinking to realize that your body can heal itself, and that often drugs only hinder the process. But I believe that you, and society as a whole, are ready for it.