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Dear Pharmacist,While I enjoy your columns and the wealth of information you give the public, I detect a bit of an anti-drug attitude. I find that ironic, since it is drugs that support your business of pharmacy. As a retired physician, I know we need our medications and I don’t understand why a pharmacist is so averse to them.
L.S., Long Island, N.Y.
Answer: I’m not averse. I just want to be sure they’re taken correctly, in proper dosages, for adequate indications, when nothing else works, in combination with other therapeutic modalities, for a reasonable length of time — assuming no intolerable side effects develop.
There, I feel better for having clarified myself…
Many people take prescription medicine they don’t even need and sometimes it makes them feel sicker. For instance, some people are on antidepressants for years when they are simply deficient in nutrients like B12 or folic acid, or have low thyroid or adrenal hormone. Some people are given drugs to mask the side effects of other drugs, and this builds like a staircase — for example, they take acid reducers to relieve heartburn caused by arthritis med. And so on.
Prescription usage is on the rise, according to the advocacy group Families USA. In 1992, Americans took, on average, 19 different medications during the year. That number is projected to nearly double by 2010. Do you see anything wrong with this picture? With all our drugs, surgeries and procedures, and our state-of-the- art health-care system, we are sicker and fatter than ever.
Most consumers are still under the impression that the medications they take are relatively safe. Relative to what? Why should the public be alarmed when there are thousands of drugs on the market and only a few get recalled? Doesn’t the FDA protect consumers and don’t they approve medication only after years of intensive clinical studies? Nope.
Some drugs are fast-track approved after only a few months of human clinical trials. People buy these “new and improved” drugs, then more clinical studies take place — on the public itself. Published data and clever TV advertising may paint a new product as a dream drug, when in reality it could become your worst nightmare. Feeling like a lab rat yet?
I’m a consumer advocate, working to keep the public safe on their medications and teach them about natural options. Pharmacists are not licensed to push pills for some pharmacy retailer. We’re licensed — and trusted — to give people truthful, accurate drug information. As I see it, people want more information about their medication, and I’m not afraid to give it to them.
Did you know? Attention, cold sufferers: A little zinc and some vitamin C will go a long way to shorten the duration of your misery.
The primary reason I signed up for your newsletters was “more trust in a pharmacist than Doctors & their drugs”.
After all the damages from prescription drugs that I took earlier in life,I went cold turkey and stopped taking prescription drugs,changed my diet and feel more like I did in my teen years.
You are most fair in describing the differences between drugs and alternatives,AND…the only pro health pharmacist I know.
Dear Suzy,
Thank you for the great info on your website. It has helped me in taking care of myself, my father and patients I come in contact with.
I am a nurse and a Certified Holistic Health Provider.
My Mom passed away four years ago. She had a tumor of her liver. She was on a lot of meds, which I didn’t even know about until she died. My Dad told me she was taking 6-7 Tylenol a day. I just feel awful. I wished I had known and could have helped her with her problems instead of her taking so many pills. Your right about people thinking that all the drugs they take are safe and that they will cure what ever ails them. I have helped my father and convinced him that he needs to be his own advocate. He is eating well, exercises and the only med he takes is coumadin because he has a pacemaker. He also takes some supplements.
Again, thank you for the vital info that you share.
Sincerely,
Kathie McGonagle
Dr. Cohen’s done an excellent job of clarifying herself and I for one applaud her. It’s doctor’s like the one who posed this question that scare me, for I fear they can’t think outside of the box.
Thank you Dr. Suzy and the many others like you that tell the truth about how to take care of oneself.
Thank you Suzy,
I am so pleased that I found you and I appreciate and trust the advice that you give and find it most helpful,
I have had type two diabeties for about 16 years, was given the whole drug package deal and eventually realized that I wasn’t even “sick” until I took the drugs. I took myself off everything and have never felt better,I still go to the doctor to have everything monitored and I am fine although the Doctor always insists that I should be still on everything just in case, maybe one day I might need something but until then I am doing ok. Thank you again for your newsletters….Fran from Australia.
Like you I am not adverse to drugs when needed! But prefer to take the natural path as and when it is possible.Side effects from drugs can soon lead to a pill treadmil. One covering up the side effects of the other. Avandia nearly killed me anfd that started me off looking at natural ways to go. let thy food be thine medicine.
Dear Suzy
Not all medical issues require chemical medications. It’s this type of thinking that has made many people sicker, made a lot of money for the pharma companies, and encouraged doctors to prescribe inappropriate or unnecessary drugs because the drug company rep stopped by, left samples, and bought lunch for everyone in the doctor’s office.
If natural remedies are available, that should be the first line of treatment. If it doesn’t work, then try the chemicals. Of course, if a person’s medical issue is serious or life-threatening, listen to the doctor.
I can tell you from personal experience by reading your column, my mother and I have found BETTER relief from our pollen allergies by taking the herb butterbur than from taking any OTC or prescription drug. If that testimonial alone isn’t enough to open medical professionals’ minds to alternatives, then they are most certainly brainwashed.
Thank you for providing information on alternative natural solutions to simple medical issues. Keep that information coming – we need a sane voice in this insane world called medicine.
Regards,
Louise Fadness
Thank you for your help and good advice!!!!…I trust you more than any doctor I have ever been to….all they ever did was to write a prescription, many of which caused me worse suffering….I am still dealing with drug side effects even though I have been drug free for years….Thank you again for your honest and informed information, and your willingness to speak out!!!!
i like to know that someone is for the patient. you have my utmost respect for what you do. you don’t position yourself to get kickbacks for recommending drugs and getting other pharmacists to get in on a “good deal”. pfeizer anyone??
we try to teach the young folks to supposedly say no to drugs. dope we call it. what are the drug companies trying to do to the younger generation? true, some drugs are needed at times, but to push studies to justify putting EVERYONE on legal dope from the drug industry is selling our kids out, selling our elder population out, and selling ourselves short.
i take a blood pressure pill, but it does have side effects. i need to watch that i don’t end on the pfeizer/merk wagon train. don’t try to get me on “the drug of the week” for cholesterol, for example. will my doctor tell me that it can deplete me of a probable low level of nutrients?
supplements? it wasn’t long ago some doctors were saying that it was expensive pee and we just should eat a balanced diet.
mcdonald’s, burger king, red lobster, kfc. that is our true diet. we are not taught that these do not provide the nutrition we need. but, we can take pills for it after the fact.
antibiotics are not “candy” but i see people getting prescriptions for them all the time. it’s a quick temporary solution for a virus-to do something to make everyone think that’s the fix.
that is what is wrong with our health care system.
I am leary of all the pill pushing going on also. I like to take natural remedies when possible. I would like to lower my cholesterol naturally, have tried several things but need more help but do not want to take a statin? What would you suggest?