What would you think if you learned that both serious health issues and deaths by ONE health problem almost tripled in seven years? And, if I told you the number serious injuries and deaths went from 35,000 to almost 90,000 people in those seven years?
This is THREE times more than deaths by car accidents!
Now if I added that if you take ANY kind of prescription drugs, you’re likely to be a victim of this health problem. And that the medications that are supposed to cure you are the ones causing those deaths.
I hope by now you’re paying attention because this is the issue of today’s feature article. And I think you have an idea of what we’re talking about.
This issue is no doubt going to raise some serious discussions. I bet many will agree with me while others might curse our opinion. One thing is for sure, it’s going to be lively. So please read on and make your comment below.
You guessed right, we’re talking about side effects of medications- medications prescribed by regular, well intended doctors like yours. Not the misuse of sleeping pills or illegally obtained doc-in-a-box prescriptions.
And just to hammer the nail in heavy… these numbers are from a study conducted from 1998 till 2005. If this continues to rise in the same fashion (and nothing indicates it won’t), we’re looking at 270,000 serious injuries and deaths due to prescription medications in the USA alone in 2012.
So what is going on?
Well first of all, Americans (and other nations) are using more medications than ever before. In 1990 Americans spent $45 billion on prescription medications. In 2007 that number had grown to $287 billion (yes $287,000,000,000.00) – the increase was exponential.
At the same time, pharmaceutical companies are spending more than ever on advertising and promotions. In 1996 they spent $9 billion and five years later it more than doubled to $19 billion per year. About 85% is spent on promoting to doctors (despite regulations prohibiting ink pens and extravagances) while 15% is in direct marketing to consumers (like TV advertising).
Oftentimes this budget is used to show doctors other uses for prescription medications outside of what the FDA has approved, called ‘off-label’ prescribing. This is, of course, not legal but the practice continues. You may remember Pfizer’s settlement of $430 million in 2004 for doing this on a big scale.
Sometimes this “marketing approach” has become so successful that it’s considered “common knowledge” among doctors. Statin drugs, for example, are only approved by the FDA as treatment for people who have ALLREADY suffered heart attack and have high cholesterol.
As you know these drugs are massively over-prescribed as “preventative” for people who have high cholesterol but never suffered a heart attack. This is despite the fact that there is no evidence that Statins have any preventative benefits. If you’re interested in lowering cholesterol naturally, you want to check out our all-natural cholesterol guide here…
It looks like the pharmaceutical industry has mastered the practice of the old snake oil salesmen promoting ONE magic medicine that’s supposed to treat EVERYTHING. Except, of course, the side effects this medicine creates frequently require another magic bullet.
One would think that with this kind of spending, Americans were the healthiest nation in the world. This is not true. Life expectancy is relatively low in USA compared to other developed countries and the nation is as unhealthy as ever. Obesity type-2-diabetes, cholesterol and high blood pressure are out of control, plus pretty much any other type of “lifestyle disease.”
However, I don’t think we should blame “Big-pharma.” Not even the FDA for lack of regulation or the government for allowing this to happen. Yes, of course these institutes are unethical, ineffective and incompetent. The point is that we have to take responsibility for ourselves.
As Westerners we have developed the mentality, I dare to say Love Addiction, with the medical system. We tend to think that everything should be treated with magical medications and science.
We sit in awe as the TV reporter reveals new genes that have been found to cause high cholesterol, type-2-diabetes, cancer and even obesity and the hope that science will soon develop a “cure” based on those findings.
As we listen, we disregard the common sense voice in our head that the frequency of these diseases has multiplied in the last 30 years while our genes haven’t really changed at all. But our lifestyles have changed drastically.
It’s often because we want the easy way out that the pharmaceutical companies can take advantage. Other times it’s because we’re scared and we don’t know any other way than the medical way.
Taking responsibility for your own health takes both courage and effort. If you want to tackle your type 2 diabetes using Jodi Knapp’s book on Beating Diabetes or if you want to tackle Arthritis using our 21 Days Arthritis Plan, you may experience a pretty tough month implementing some of the changes needed. It does require some sacrifices and determination. If that’s not worth good health and life without side-effects, then you shouldn’t even start.
Same goes for Christian Goodman’s blood pressure exercises. Although they’re so easy anyone can do them and they work for almost everyone, they do at the same time require commitment and time. Popping pills admittedly is much easier (so what if the same pills cause deadly side effects).
The fact is, prescription medications have become a new health hazard and if deaths keep on rising at the rate they’ve been, we can expect the medications we intend cure to become the number 1 cause of death before the middle of the 21rst century.
Having said all that, you should, of course, never stop using or changing your medications without consulting a doctor. This surely can cause even more serious side effects. Your doctor can safely taper your dosage down until you are off completely. However, if your doctor is very inflexible regarding medications, I recommend you seek a second opinion. There are several very good doctors focused on natural health out there so don’t give up.
But first of all, of course leave your comment below. What’s your opinion on prescription medications and side effects?
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it looks like near impossible to break the stanglehold of allopathic medicenes. maybe it is worth following what ramdev baba in india is doing to promote ayurveda, yoga and nature cure, on a scale unheard of in history. perhaps such movements will ultimately break the back of allopathic medicene and force the allopathic doctors to see what has gone wrong. ultimately a science is a science, only if there is correction feedback loop, otherwise it is junk science.
I whole heartedly tha prescription drugs have gotten way out of control-yet the big pharma keep pushing their product and are strongly pushing for both organic foods and supplements to be banned to the public. depopulation of the planet is one of the reasons -greed is another
It has been known for many years that allopathic (conventional) medicine is a major cause of death in the US. In the 1990’s a JAMA article indicated that it was the 3rd biggest cause of death in this country. But that article only looked at deaths in hospital attributed to allopathy. It did not look at deaths attributed to other causes or deaths caused by treatments out of hospitals. At that time people who had the courage did some figuring and estimated 1 million deaths caused by allopathy–not the 100,000 deaths stated at that time. Since then, more numbers crunching and figures up to 2 million deaths/year in the USA are cited as caused by allopathic treatment. Drugs are a major part of those statistics along with mis-diagnosis and new diseases caused by the drugs and treatment.
I will disagree with this article on 1 point: our genes are changing. Our DNA is impacted by all the drugs and, now, GMOs. Vaccines are causing genetic changes. While information is somewhat sketchy in this new field, some of the changes have to do with how the genes are working, and some are due to epigenetic changes caused by traumas–emotional as well as material. For example, my understanding is that vaccines affect the genes and are causing mitochondrial changes which are being linked to autism syndrome. These mitochondrial cellular changes are real.
I started by blogging am articles. I am in support vs too much big pharma and med association prescriptions agenda.
I DO'NT USE CHEMICAL MEDICAMENTS AND I AM NOW 85 YEARS OLD.
I get the feeling that, in Australia at least, mainstream medicine is very drug and (to an extent) surgury orientated. If this pattern of treatment is followed and the patient dies the medical practitioners can’t be sued, but if they try some alternative approach which doesn’t work they are potentially exposed. Needless to say hundreds of people die each day from the “standard” treatment regimes. I have this other nagging thought that cure is not a financially rewarding objective for the industry.
yes I honestly believe that prescription drugs are causing deaths. people are depending on going to the doctor with very minor complaints and getting another batch of pills. I hate the thought of taking medication. theres so much more i can say but at another time. thanks for your info.
Most of this is true, but sad.
I always believe all Pharmaceutical Companies will never develop real medicines that will really arrest and cure the cause of a particular disease, so they will keep on producing drugs that falls on the category of “maintenance drugs” to keep the money flowing in. We are all aware that drugs is a very lucrative business that rake in billion of dollars for the Giant Pharmaceutical Companies, therefore they have less concern how their products will have any detrimental effects to their consumers as long as they have the full supports of traditional doctors who themselves care less how their prescribed medicines will affect their patient. I used to have high regards for doctors before, but after I learned some of their unethical practices, I suddenly began to doubt their sincerity and credibility. The unholy alliances exist between all food outlets, doctors, hospital, drug stores and surely the Pharmaceutical Companies because they compliment each others keeping the flow of money for them consistently at our expense. No particular doctor will be happy to discuss any adverse effect of a drug he prescribed, because it is not part of his priority as medical consultation became highly commercialized. Another sad thing are the confusing study reports by some authorities like the old myth about eggs and coffee. People should learn to get multiple medical opinion before proceeding with one doctor’s advice and perhaps also conduct their own research on the components of the prescribed drug for their own protection. A lot of people dies because of sheer ignorance and too much trust to a person in white gown and entrusting their lives in their hands. We should all remember it always pays to be sure than regret later.
I agree
You’re all nucking futs! Have a great day.
Hallelujah brother. Say no to drugs and yes to vegetables and yoga.
Statin drugs are one of the most dangerous drugs being prescribed like candy.
They mess with critical functions of our bodies causing things like amnesia and muscle deterioration plus they are suspected of increasing the incidence of diabetes that is already quite high.
Please, if your own doctor wants to prescribe a statin drug for you, check online and find out what the risks are BEFORE filling it.
Dr. Wayne Graveline is a former NASA physician who has personally experienced some serious side effects. Look him up on Google for more info.
Pharma Phil
Where is your so-called “SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE” to PROVE these respondents are what YOU perceive them to be? When you point the finger look at where the other 3 fingers are pointing.
I agree that the main cause of increasing death rate, is Medicines.
By my memory: Doctors went on strike in Isreal, New York, and California, in each instant the death rate decreased during the strike. Enter in the search bar: Death by Medicine, click enter, a report by two PHDs and three MDs, the medical system kills about >2000 people a day. Another report drug viox killed about 58000 people. Recent public statement by an MD, his estimate seven million people to die in next ten years by properly prescribed drugs.
Berny Madoff was a piker up side our cancer industry. The FDA spent eight million dollars of our tax payer’s money trying to put Dr Bryzinski in jail. His crime: curing cancer.
its getting better all the time.
create a problem and then propose to correct it with another problem causing solution, and so on and on!
fantastic population control and wealth creating system.
makes ne wonder who is behind all this evil planning?
want to take a guess?
Who are these very good doctors who focus on natural health.? Let us know. Or if not who, then how to find them. Please write an article about that. I will expect to see it soon. thank you.
Very interesting. My doctor practically forced me to accept a new diabetes med. that I did not want to take; then he also made me accept a statin I did not want to take either; even if it helped me. My cholesterol is high, but not disturbingly so; and I have never had a heart problem; though I do have high BP and diabetes. I have severe reactions to many drugs; and am sick and tired of being sick and tired for more than 3 days for each new med I am given. I believe patients have rights to turn down medications, if they choose not to take them. I will not take the statins; nor the immune suppressants my other dr wants me to take. A pill that can kill you easily, 5 ways, is not a solution to me. I catch everything that comes along already, without the immune suppresants. Maybe i am wrong; but I have the right to be wrong, too. I do a lot of medical research, and I am very careful what I take, and how much. I wish my doctor would understand this.
I agree. We need to keep our bodies in balance ourselves by taking control, and not completely delegating this important task to anyone else.
I am 81 and would not be alive today if not for the medical profession and some of these drugs.
Doctors are human and there are good ones and bad ones, but have you looked at your fellow fat citizens today? Indulgent and ignorant and don’t care for their health, smoking and drinking and then expecting the doctors to fix it.??
While you are blaming the Pharma Co. you need to also be honest about blaming the nutritional choices of the people, instead of GMO foods. How silly! You can’t point to any specific study about GMO foods having a harmful effect on anyone. Mostly just conspiracy theories and ignoramuses who are chain smoking as they write here??
I just attended a Reams Biological Theory of Ionization class with Challen Waychoff this weekend. He is the only one teaching RBTI in such a way that you have the knowledge to get results. The Medical profession is banned by their pharma bosses from even learning the causes of diseases, let alone correcting the causes. That is because those causes are always due to mineral deficiency. Correct the mineral deficiency through diet and lifestyle changes and the cause vanishes along with the resulting “disease”. Christian and company are getting closer and closer to what Dr. Reams taught 50 years ago.
“The Biggest Cause of Diseases and Deaths” without doubt is the discrepancy between *Reality* and the Fake Reality that humanity is living. This is the root cause, even though hardly any body knows about it, as the so strongly established mindset, as the result of interpretation, misinterpretation and manipulation since beginning of humankind, is holding every body in a straitjacket. There are very few individuals who are starting to question themselves and their surrounding…
BeiYin
You mention a study but do not give the information for someone to followup on. So while I believe that some meds are prescribed unesarily – cannot follow up on the stats and significance without being able to examine the study this is based on.
I hate taking medicines because i have side effects from most and bad allergies.However saying that I have diabetes type 2 and take Metformin daily.I have also been taking Avalide 125mgms daily for and Tiazac Hypertension.It has been fairly well controlled ,usually around 140/68 Three weeks ago my BP was 210/80 and the Doc increased the Avalide to 350mgmsa;most 3times the dosage.I feel like a zombie am lightheaded off balance and dizzy at times,also very weak and tired and cannot walk too far.I am 76years old.I would love to get off these meds but dont know what to do instead to bring my Blood Pressure down to normal.The things advertised in the health letters all require you to send moneyand subscribe to something.Why cant they just give us a list of natural things to do without the red tape.Thanks for listening.
The problem with medicine is that it is based on profit and it is a sort of business. That means that the moore there are sick people the more profit it brigs for the business. So, pharmaceutical medicines are created with some toxic poison to destroy or demage some other function in the very delicate human mechanism. So, the more you take allopathic medicaments the more you become sick and the sooner you die. I know it is murderous and criminal to do this deliberately to destroy human beings who seek help and have trust in their doctors. But profit prevails: Doctors are extremely well paid and Big Pharma gets its billions and a country’s economy goes into recession and deficit.
So, what could be done? Well, first: Re-educate doctors in naturopathic medicine, and second, doctors should be more scrutinised and not tollerated when they cause harm to the patient no matter how small. They must be made to obey the Hippocratic Oath. If they don’t, they should be dismissed, put to jail or deported or given some other very hard punishment similar to “causing grives bodily harm” .
Wladek of London
I agree that medications causes death because of side effects and other reasons but unfortunately we have to take medicines to cure our illnesses, so I think proper information and right use of medicines will lessen deaths caused by medicines.
Conventional medicine – a curse on mankind!
I opened this story with great expectations. I know that drugs have side effects and I know from personal experience that doctors don’t necessarily even have this information in front of them when they prescribe. My latest personal example of this is with statins. I’m type 2 diabetic and my “bad cholesterol” levels are a bit over the normal. So I was given a simvastatin, which I dutifully took until one time the doc forgot to add it to my script for the chemist. I didn’t notice until I got home, opened the parcel, and found the statins weren’t there. “I must give the surgery a ring,” I thought, but then didn’t get around to it. Then about a fortnight later, I found my memory was returning and my ability to organise a story in my head (I’m a writer) had improved. So I did nothing. By the time I went to the doctor, things were working even better. I asked him if problems with memory and reasoning were a known side effect of statins. He researched the question on his computer (obviously being in a state of prescribing in blissful unawareness of the side effects of what he was prescribing). “It looks like it is,” he says, sounding surprised. He didn’t have an answer as to what he should do next on that visit. His answer the next visit was to quote another doctor at the same practice that the improved memory and reasoning from not taking statins wouldn’t help me much if I had a stroke. Now I know that there’s a higher heart attack statistic for people with type 2 diabetes. So I asked my doctor if there were any studies specifically showing statins lowered the heart attack and stroke risk of people with type 2 diabetes. He said there were. “Any by how much was the risk reduced?” I asked. He did not (or could not) answer that particular question. Interesting. I then asked if he could tell me the names of the studies. Again, he didn't answer the question.
I am, therefore, very keen on the area traversed in this article.
But I have the same questions about this article as my question for the doctor.
The article did not name the study conducted from 1998 till 2005. What is the name of this study and where can information about it be found?
Also, I've been reading people's comments and I have to say I'm not sure it's a good idea to simplisitically say "no drugs". I wouldn't say "no insulin" to a type 1 diabetic, or "no thyroxin" to a person whose body was producing no (or too little) thyroxin, for example. Even our food is comprised of chemical matter. We know that some food (like veges for example) is very good for you. It's frequently a better souce of such things as Vitamin C than supplementation (and I'm all in favour of supplementation, especially of some much needed chemicals).
We need information on this, especially when things are going wrong for us. And it can be that to deprive ourselves of certain chemicals when things are going wrong is actually a form of abuse. But we need to know about side effects. We need to know the lessons from research (and to have this research named). Things aren't okay, just because they're food (eg, trans fat and corn syrup) or necessarily bad because they're drugs (eg, insulin). But it is about making the healthiest choices in our particular situation. For that we need a quality of information lacking from our medical profession.
I also think we need more research. I think my doctor should be able to tell me as a matter of course when they are prescribing, how much longer (statistically) I can expect to live if I take chemical A. This is particularly relevant when they are prescribing medication for such matters as blood lipid profiles, hypertension, etc. (The chances are, of course, that research would show the average life expectancy of people with a particular condition may well be worse if they take drugs than people with the same health problems that don't. Maybe that's known to the drug companies, so they keep well away from such research. After all, wouldn't it be a great "selling point" for them if they could say: "research shows you will live, on average, 9.4 years longer if you take XXX?") And back to doctors, who should be able to tell you that, on average, this chemical will cut your life expectancy by 4.97%, but it will stop the pain. That way, and only that way in my view, can I make an informed choice.
I love this article & wholly agree…people are too lazy or too stupid today to invest a little time & effort into buying, cooking & eating the correct & appropriate food cominations available to them. The body should be able to heal all naturally. Unfortunately we live in a society with no coping skills & a sense of entitlement…”Take the easy road” & expect everything…shame on some of us!
It sounds very true but to follow this one need to be trained from chidhood to care of his/her lifestyle. On later stage it does help but not that much as starting from early age. For example i am diabetic and i try to follow the healthy lifestyle but wasn’t it much better if i have followed it in my early age so now i wouldn’t have beensuffering from diabetes.
I have been reading a lot about natural cures, vitamins and herbs because I hate being a statistic with medications and I really hate swallowing a pill or having my kids 'take' something that I have no idea what is in it or where it was made and so on and so forth. I have bowed down and gave my kids antibiotics and vaccines but this was way before I read all the bad things. I started researching more and more when they came out with Gardisil. I will not ever give this to my daughter or myself. It is bad. Funny how I had many conversations about it with my daughter's doctor and was shocked to find out he had gotten both his daughters that shot. I was going to tell him everything that I had learned from the research but I figured he should really look it up himself…considering he is a doctor. Anyways, one of my kids developed a cold. I refused to give him any kind of medication so I simply gave him honey. VIOLA cough gone and never had a fever or any side effects. Thank goodness I started researching things and on my way to a better healthier life for me and my family.
For 17 years I’ve suffered with high blood pressure. Every drug I tried (5) had massive side effects which made me very ill; I couldnt work. Last taken by my Doctor it was 175/98 & now 150/85. Ive found great relief by cutting out sugar from my diet, as much as I can. It is difficult as there is sugar in so many products, even tomato sauce.
So called healthy cereals have mountains of sugar in them: muesli 26.7 per 100g, a Gluten Free cereal has 34.7 per 100g, cereal bars 19.8 in 100g, I no longer eat them-I have fresh fruit, nuts, dried fruit & raw vegetables. Only the ‘Lite’ yoghurt has lower levels of sugar, 5.3 grams per 100g instead of 18.4 grams per 100g in standard yoghurt.
I have osteo-arthritis in 3 joints,the pain being excruciating. Cutting down sugar’s
meant my losing weight, with the pain in my joints reduced by 3/4. I also take Fish Oil, Flaxseed oil, chondroiton & glucosamine, Vitamin C and herbs which keep my blood pressure on an even keel.
Alternative medicines are not easy to find,expensive,harder to get especially
measured formulas, compared to conventional medicines.
I’ve been on blood press. meds.,irregular heart, andtype 2 diabetes meds. for about ten yrs.I also take a statin and have wondered about side affects for a couple ofd years. When I questioned the docs. I was assured there was no problem. RJC.