Does Medicine Actually Make Us Sick?
Pills, Pills, and More Pills
Advertised Drugs
Daily--several times daily--we are bombarded by assorted advertisments for drugs to treat every condition from dandruff to heart disease. Why is this information put before us? Most of us are not doctors, we don't have the training and understanding of how these chemical agents work in our systems: we are simply not qualified to make judgements of what to take, or go ask our doctors to prescribe.
When you listen to the side effects they rattle off in such a nonchalant voice, you'd be justified in thinking, "Never mind--I'll just keep the original problem!" These possible effects run the gamut from the embarrassing, such as bladder control issues, to the very calmly stated, "...or death," spoken as if it's merely an inconvenience.
Interestingly, only two countries worldwide even allow television advertising for prescription drugs: the U.S.A. and New Zeland. Here in the states, it was not always permitted. When I was growing up, we were not presented with these sorts of ads in both print and broadcast media. It wasn't allowed.
Drug "Cocktails"
Even more dangerous than any single drug is the possible ill effects from mixing various types together. Even though your doctor is trained in the proper doses and safe combinations of various drugs, he or she is only human, not a computer.
There are many thousands of drugs available in today's pharmacopoeia. It would be the extraordinarily unusual and gifted person who could recall any and all of that information at any given moment.
What am I saying? That your doctor is fallible and can make errors? You bet!
Even though we may not, ourselves be doctors, we are the only ones living inside our bodies, and able to recognize when something has changed or does not feel right.
If you have been prescribed multiple drugs, do not hesitate to tell your doctor immediately if you suddenly feel worse. This also holds true even if you have been prescribed only a single drug.
If you give drugs to a healthy person, they will become ill, so why do we give drugs to sick people?"
— Sign Seen In a Chiroprator's OfficeThen vs. Now
Back in the days of our grandparents or great-grandparents, medicine was not as sophisticated as it has become today. The doctors were all general practitioners; there were no specialists. Whether you needed major surgery or an ingrown toenail fixed, it was all the same doctor.
People developed personal relationships with their doctors; they knew the family. Often, the next generation was cared for by the same doctor. The patients' and doctors' kids probably went to school together.
The doctor's child perhaps grew up to be the next generation's doctor in the town. It was a very close-knit society, in which everyone looked out for everyone else. Insurance was unheard of--if you couldn't afford to pay the doctor, he'd let you pay over time, or not charge at all. Or maybe accept a laying hen or an apple pie as payment. Things were simpler.
Simpler is ≠ to Safer
That said, things were not necessarily safer. People died of conditions that can now be treated. Diagnoses requiring x-rays were impossible, as that technology had not been invented.
Prescriptions for remedies were often very unsafe, including such things laudanum--which is a form of opium, and even small doses of arsenic! People got very seriously addicted to these pain killers, or were sometimes killed by them.
Diagnoses were largely guesswork, and were often wrong. There was a strong public feeling that if you were sent to the hospital, it was a death sentence. "You go to the hospital to die," was the popular opinion. (A belief I find very strange--since we are not immortal, we'll all die, regardless of hospital admission or not; plenty of people died at home as well.)
What has not changed much, is that there is still a lot of guesswork in the medical field. (Is this why we call what doctors do, 'practicing medicine?')
That is why we are responsible for our own health, and for demanding full explanations of all drugs and their effects from our doctors.
It is up to us to weigh the relative advantages and we are free to tell the doctor, "No, I don't like those risks; is there a different medication available?" We can ask for a second opinion. We can change doctors if we don't "click" with the "bedside manner" of the first one. We have the right to expect our doctor to listen to us, and respect our assessment of how we are feeling.
Patient's bodies have not read the medical textbooks; their symptoms may not match the textbook descriptions for a given illness."
— Alex Lickerman, MD, quoting in his article, a medical school professor he once had.Information At Our Fingertips
With the advent of the Internet, much has changed as far as patients being 'in the dark,' and forced to take their doctor's word without question, like an obedient child.
No longer are doctors the percieved infallible authority figure they were in the past. Each of us has virtually unlimited access to information on each and every drug a doctor might prescribe.
Additionally, despite the so-called "paper reduction act," mountains of paper are still generated, and you are usually given a 2 or 3 page informational handout on each drug your doctor prescribes.
Read it! Read it all the way through! It will tell you about many of the known possible side effects, and, it may even state that the list is incomplete!
If that is the case, hasten to your computer and look it up online.
Drugs and Foods
As if all this were not bad enough, there are entire classes of drugs that caution you not to take them with certain foods. This list of food/drug incompatibility can include (but is not limited to):
- grapefruit or its juice
- cranberry juice
- milk or other dairy products
- dark green leafy vegetables
Still Much Danger
There are still some extremely dangerous drugs out there, and it dismays me that safer alternatives have not been found. One of these is known as Coumadin. It is prescribed for people with heart problems, to prevent clots from forming, and belongs to the class of drugs collectively known as 'blood thinners.'
You may know someone taking this drug. You may also know it by its original use: rat poison. That's right.
The generic name of Coumadin is Warfarin!
You'll see "Warfarin" on boxes of rat poison, giving the antidote for accidental ingestion as, "blood transfusion and Vitamin K infusion." That's because the way it kills rats is to thin the blood to such an extent that it is able to pass through the walls of the blood vessels, causing the rodents to hemmorhage internally, leading to death.
Vitamin K is an antidote to the Warfarin because it acts to "thicken" the blood, or encourage coagulation.
For this reason, people on this therapy are denied many healthy foods that are high in this vitamin. It's a long list, but it contains most of the dark green leafy vegetables that we are encouraged to eat for good health. How ironic is that?
Coumadin = Rat Poison
Misapplied Drugs
More often than we'd like to belive, people are harmed by being prescribed a drug they do not need, for a condition they do not have. This is scary stuff, but it does happen.
Doctors today don't have the time to spend with each patient as did the old country doctor who made house calls. Rather, they are continually distracted by telephone conferences with other doctors, filling out government-mandated paperwork, and, espeically in larger metropolitan areas, pressured to see the maximum number of patients that can be crammed into the day's schedule. This often means fifteen minutes or fewer per patient. Not exactly the right brew for a full and proper diagnostic workup.
Don't Be Afraid to Ask Your Doctor Questions
Speak Up!
The solution is to speak up. Advocate for yourself. Ask the doctor to slow down and explain further, if you are feeling rushed.
Ask questions about the medication(s). Find out if there are alternatives if the potential side effects seem too dire.
In short, you live inside your body; the doctor does not. You have the right, now guaranteed by law, to receive appropriate and helpful treatment.
References
Works Cited Fischer, Mary A. “Medical Misdiagnoses Of Health Symptoms By Doctors.” AARP, AARP, www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-06-2011/what-to-do-when-your-doctor-doesnt-know.html.
Kam, Katherine. “Rx Drug Abuse: Common and Dangerous.” WebMD, WebMD, 2005, www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/features/rx-drug-abuse-common-dangerous.
Lickerman,, Alex. “What Doctors Do When They Don't Know the Answer.” MedPage Today's Kevin MD, Everyday Health, Inc., 22 Feb. 2010, www.kevinmd.com/blog/2010/02/doctors-answer.html.
Lickerman, Alex. “When Doctors Can't Figure Out What's Wrong With a Patient.” Med Page Today's Kevin MD, 13 Mar. 2018, www.kevinmd.com/blog/2010/02/doctors-figure-wrong-patient.html.
Miller, Emily. “Drugs, Vaccines, & Biologics.” DrugWatch, Drugwatch.com, 17 Oct. 2017, www.drugwatch.com/drugs-vaccines-biologics/.
© 2012 Liz Elias
Comments
AUTHORHello, justmesuzanne,
Oh, I believe I saw that documentary. It does sound familiar. Too bad there are not more doctors willing to divorce themselves from the pill pushers of Big Pharma!
Just the other day, I saw a "meme" on Face Book featuring a 'death mask' person holding a banner that read, "Big Pharma doesn't create cures, they create customers!" So sadly true.
I watched a marvelous documentary recently called Alive Inside. It's about miraculous music therapy for seniors with Alzheimer's. The documentary itself is simply wonderful, and if you watch it on DVD be sure to watch the special features. There's an interview with a doctor who runs an Alzheimer's facility. He recounts a situation in which he admitted a patient who was on hospice and was expected to die within a few days. The patient was on 40 medications, and the doctor decided to simply take him off the medications so that he could die in peace. Lo and behold, after three days with no medications the patient woke up from his coma. Within a week he was discharged.
Can medications poison you? Yes indeed!
- AUTHOR
Hello, nextstopjupiter (neat name!)
Thanks for sharing your scary story! I believe you 100%! A similar thing happened to my mother-in-law a couple of years ago--she was in the hospital, and they gave her sulfa drugs--despite the fact that it was listed in her records that she was allergic and could not take these types of drugs. It made her very, very sick, and could have had a disastrous outcome!
Some months ago I spent two weeks in hospital after an operation. The operation was not the problem but the drugs they gave me. It took about six months to recover from the poisoning of these drugs.
- AUTHOR
Hi, cloverleaffarm--
Thank you very much. I'm not sure I recall about statins causing heart attacks, but I can't say I'm surprised. I'm sure if I went back to my file of the "drug scare sheets" that they hand you with your 'scrip, I'd find it--or find it on the web at least.
You are right, about the docs just throwing pills at everything..and there seems to be no cross-checking between drug stores and doctors. My husband's sister died at only 40-something, because of dependence on pain killers from a surgery that was not healing. She ended up going to several different doctors, getting prescriptions from each, and having them filled at different pharmacies. In the end, she was having trouble sleeping as well, and started "cutting" NyQuil with vodka! She basically died of an overdose of assorted pain and sleeping meds. A very sad state of affairs, indeed.
We need many, many more people such as yourself, and we need to have insurance and government at ALL levels recognize herbalists as valid and educated treatment professional, so their services would be covered.
In our situation--hubby on Medicare/Medi-Cal, and myself on free county medical "care," only traditional western medicine is covered, and herbals and drugs don't mix well. Besides, sadly, herbal concoctions are usually very expensive--probably a factor of small-scale production. It sucks being denied better care and medicines based on the size of your budget.
I appreciate your valuable input and information, and I applaud you on your new path.
Great hub. Did you know that statins can also cause a heart attack? Most doctors don't weigh the options between the high cholesterol and the drug, and they just toss a pill at you. Scary.
You are right, big pharma has taken control, and we have to take it back. There are ways to lower cholesterol without any drugs. I wrote a hub about it, if you care to read it.
It infuriates me that doctors have become more of an assembly line, than actually caring for their patients. Doctors are why I became an herbalist.
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Hello there, cclitgirl--
Thank you so very much for the high praise! You are so right. All things have their place--but the boundaries need to be respected, and alternatives need to be trusted.
The biggest trust gap is actually between doctors and their patients, with the doctors thinking they are practically infallible, and not trusting the patient to know his or her own body. Just because the patient hasn't gone to medical school does not mean that they are unfamiliar with what is normal for them.
You make excellent points, and I agree--nature is the first pharmacy--and there is one very helpful herb that needs to be made fully legal at the federal level......
Thanks much for sharing in the conversation.
FABULOUS hub. Couldn't agree more. Yes, I think Western medicine has it place - like when you are in a car accident and need emergency care - but, I'm such a proponent of simple and herbal first. THEN maybe I'll check with a doctor, but even then I just can't trust them that much. I MUCH prefer to take charge of my own health, researching, trying herbs, eating right, exercising, and meditating. I still get sick sometimes, but at least I know how to not take drugs - I try to never take them.
- AUTHOR
Hi there, kittythedreamer--
Ooops--you are right. What I meant to say was that Vitamin K is an antidote to the Warfarin. (Hey--I had the "anti" part right! :-D ) I'll fix that right now! That's what I get for writing with too many things on my mind. LOL
Wow--what a scary ride for your Grandmother! I'm glad it got sorted out. Vertigo is areal bi***--it makes you nauseated. I've had bouts of vertigo before, but I wasn't on any meds--my neck was out of whack, and a visit to my chiropractor fixed me right up!
The first time it happened, I went to my regular doctor, and he told me to go get Bonine or Dramamine from the drugstore--right--that doesn't fix the problem--it only knocks you out for a good sleep, so you don't notice you are feeling dizzy...when you awaken, the problem is still there!
Good for you for having the good sense to do your own research. This garbage about just throwing pills at everything is irresponsible and dangerous. And we wonder why kids are getting into drugs? It's the example they see around them!
Thanks very much for stopping by and sharing--and for catching that boo-boo!
Hey, AWESOME article and I agree fully! I did want to point out a little mistake (you can always erase my comment if need be). Vitamin K is not an anti-coagulant, it is a coagulant. ;) Coagulation is what makes your blood clots form...thereby "thickening" the blood as most people say. My grandmother was on BP medication to help in lowering her hypertension; however, when looking at the side effects of her medication (in the nurse's guide to drug book), the first side effect is Vertigo. She'd been experiencing vertigo for the past year and none of the doctors could figure out why. She even went to the Mayo clinic and they ran tests on her to find out why she was having vertigo. Scary that no one noticed that her BP meds had a side effect of Vertigo, until me! Crazy. Anyway, they switched her medication and she is having less severe vertigo now.
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Hello, brake12,
Thank you very much for sharing your experience; I'm so sorry that happened to you. We do, indeed, need to be aware of what the pharmacists and doctors are doing "for" us, and take firm charge of our own health.
Yes, I agree--a campaign to get drug ads off TV would be good--it is NOT impossible--despite industry lobbies, we successfully got ads for booze and cigarettes banned from the airwaves: it's time for drug ads to go away, too.
Thanks much for the props and praise!
I just love this article, as it is close to my heart. Also, I found some info I did not know. My husband is a part of a class action law suit against a drug company. I was given the wrong medicine by a pharmacist for one month. He has since been fired. I check with my current pharmacy about anything I take for interaction. Your article is thorough, well researched and full of awesome information. I especially abhor the drug commercials on TV. We need a campaign to get them off the air. You are to be commended for such a good job. Everyone needs to see this to wake up to the problems.
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Codeine used to keep me awake too. Anything that says will make you drowsy does the exact opposite to me. My step-mother always said I was backwards LOL, glad to know I'm not the only that this happens to.
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Hi, Susan!
You are smart to do your own research. We are currently fighting a battle about my husband's medications, and the docs all want to either pooh-pooh the idea that those could be the cause of his odd symptoms, or else play pass-the-buck.
Interesting you should mention codeine--I have to take codeine-laced cough meds when I get bronchitis--which is about every couple of years if I catch a cold. The problem is, my body reacts opposite of everyone else's: the label cautions against drowsiness, and most people, it does tend to knock out, whereas I cannot take it at bedtime, or I'll lie awake tossing and turning all night! Driving? No problem! I'll be as wide awake as if I'd OD'ed on caffeine!
Thank you for sharing your experience--it adds to the body of evidence that medicines affect everyone differently, and should not be handed out willy-nilly instead of delving into the underlying cause.
Great information! I don't trust my doctor ... when it comes to much. I'd get a new one if I could and I usually will go to a walk in clinic or emergency before I go see him. Anyways whenever I get a new medication I always look it up online and research it before I take it or talk to the pharmacist about it. I have had a bad reaction to codeine. Really strange because before my gallbladder surgery I never had a problem taking codeine. Then after the surgery they prescribed it for pain. After taking the first one I ended up back in emergency as it doubled me over in pain.
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Hi there, Rebecca E.--Thanks very much for the praise! You're right--we each need to earn our own medical degrees. I just LOVE the ads that say, "...tell your doctor about all your medical conditions..." Say what??? It's your DOCTOR--isn't he/she supposed to have that information ?????!!!
You've got some great info here, I find that these days you'd best be a doctor to have all your information and then tell them.... that being said, I am in no way suggesting that you shouldn't take a doctor advice, but to actually think... awesome hub!
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@ barbergirl28-
Hello there--always good to see you. I'm glad you're feeing better, but sorry you had to go through all that. I know exactly what you mean--I've been at my husband's side while the doctors have "practiced" on him. I truly believe many of his current problems are a direct result of medications. That's all Western medicine wants to do--throw pills at a problem to mask the symptoms. That way, they can keep you coming back in, collect more money, (whether directly from you, or by billing Medicare), and Big Pharma gets to sell more pills. Pardon me if I sound a bit jaundiced here, but we've been through so much of this run-around in the last 4 or 5 years that is beyond ridiculous.
Despite our seemingly huge advanced in technology, and supposed diagnostic tools, much of medicine remains as it was back in the 19th century--a lot of guesswork. It is disheartening. Thanks very much for sharing your experience, and for the votes and the share!
@ Pamela N Red--
Thanks very much for your contribution to the discussion. You are so right--and yet so many people are on long-term regimens of drugs--even multiple drugs. It is not good, and the fact that they know this very well is given away in the ads--"you'll need blood tests to check for kidney/liver damage..." Right. That can't be a good thing, now, can it? But they barge right on ahead without regard to the consequences.
I am so very sorry to learn of your mother-in-law's fate at the hands of these modern, legalized drug peddlers. It is shameful, and a very sorry commentary on our medical "profession."
I couldn't agree more. It is high time--past time--for Western medicine to accept what they now term as "alternative" medicine, and some of the Eastern practices, such as accupuncture/accupressue. Why, I even read an article many, many years ago about a woman who was deathly allergic to the drugs used for anaesthesia--and yet she underwent a C-section with an accupuncturist as the anaesthesiologist--and never felt a thing.
Thanks very much for your input--it is appreciated and valued.
Long term use of most prescription drugs are unsafe. If you get enough of a medication in your system it will cause you damage later on.
So many people are on serotonin drugs today that do not need them. They cause weight gain and low sex drive.
My mother in law was allergic to insaids so she used steroids for her arthritis pain. She died of pancreatitis because of this.
Most ailments can be cured by diet and exercise. Arthritis has no cure but exercising and stretching keeps the joints lubricated and working with less pain.
There are alternatives in many cases to taking pills.
What a great and interesting hub. I guess I already knew the dangers of medicine and have always chuckled at the ads on TV and how sometimes the side effects seem worse than the actual ailment, but now that you laid it right out you got me thinking....
I have been pretty sick the last few months - actually since the end of February. Since then I have been a walking pharmacist and during my last trip to the Urgent Care I was told this was it. If these didn't help I would have to see a specialist. The entire time I was going through this... the thought of these doctors "practicing" medicince kept coming to mind. After all, why couldn't they fix me. It started out as strep and progressed to walking pneumonia. While I am finally feeling better - 3 months later - it took a lot of practicing to get there. In fact, at one point - I actually got a kidney infection and ended up in the emergency room with fevers in the 103 to 104 range. Very dangerous for an adult. When I went back to my primary doctor for a follow up, I still had the kidney infection. However, instead of addressing the kidney infection, she suggested that I had issues with my blood pressure. Knowing my medical history (and that I have never had an issue with blood pressure) and knowing she still had yet to have a relationship with me - I took my health into my own hands and refused the meds and refused to go back to her. So when I got walking pneumonia, I had to go Urgent Care once again. The meds given to me to stop the coughing actually listed a side effect as causing coughing (odd) and then when they switched my meds again... they caused some insane mood swings. Let's just say I wasn't a pleasant person to be around.
Great hub and great information. Voted up, interested and sharing!
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ASchwartz--Hello again.
You are lucky to have a doctor willing to work with you that way. There are still good doctors out there. You just have to find them, and if you are not satisfied, or feel that a doctor is getting kickbacks from prescribing certain drugs, it is time to as for a second opinon or change doctors.
Thanks for stopping back and adding that bit of info. I did not mean to imply that all doctors are idiots--only that they are human, and that we each are ultimately responsible for our own health.
Cheers!
Thanks DzyMsLizzy for the response
I don't want to discredit MDs for all the wonderful work that they do, but more and more I think we need to be as responsible for our treatment as our doctor.
After I'd finally had enough on the prescription merry go round, I asked my doctor about OTC treatments that might help. He was honest and said he wasn't up to date the the particular methods I mentioned, but would get back to me.
I was extremely surprised when he called me back three days later. I had thought he'd simply given me a song and dance, but he really read up on the supplement I'd researched. He advised me on the appropriate dosing and side affects I might encounter.
After the bad experience I had, it gave me hope that working with my family physician was the right path.
- AUTHOR
Hi there, Denise-
I'm pleased you enjoyed the article, and thanks much for the vote! See you around the hubs!
Wonderful points made here Lizzy. Rated it up!
- AUTHOR
@ MikeNV--
LOL--I love that comeback!! I'll have to remember that. You are right, that so many things can be fixed by lifestyle changes and exercises, including the exericise of using common sense.
The problem is, too many people have bought into the concept of the doctor as the ultimate, unquesitionable authority figure.
And, to add to the problem most are too lazy to make the necessary changes. This is the era of instant gratification; we want quick fixes. But at what cost? Keep eating junk food, and expect to pop a miracle diet pill to keep from packing on the pounds? Ridiculous.
Thank you so much for your well-thought-out comment. I appreciate your contribution to the discussion.
@ MarleneB--
I agree with you. Doctors cannot be expected to keep up with all the changes in procedures and medicines; filter out the good from the bad, and remember what they are doing with each and every one of their patients.
Turning off the TV during dinner sounds like a great idea to me...now to convince my husband....
Thank you so much for stopping by and providing additional input. I'm glad you liked the article.
I'm just going to say it out loud. I don't trust doctors without asking them a question or two about what they are prescribing. I think they are competent in what they know. But, no one person can know everything. As patients, we know our bodies better than anyone else. I think doctors should do more listening and less prescribing. Like you said, we are bombarded with advertisements all day long. I just have to turn off the television during dinner because I just can't stand it anymore. Your hub is so enlightening.
The question you should be asking your Doctor is:
Do I have a ___________________ (Insert Drug Name) Deficiency?
They love that question.
Doctors are very quick to offer a Drug Solution to treat a problem when the should be looking deeper into the issue to find the CAUSE and CURE the CAUSE with a non-drug treatment.
Of course this depends on the Physician. But most have succumbed to the belief that it's just easier to write a Prescription than to try and get people to change their lifestyle and eating habits.
Nearly all disease can be cured with proper lifestyle and nutrition.
However there still remain illnesses - Genetic, Trauma, Nerve Damage that will require life long pharmaceutical management in order to help alleviate the suffering.
I think the point of your message is to not just take things blindly, but to consider what one puts into their body.
Statins block the production of Cholesterol in the liver. You have to ask yourself WHY you would want to block Cholesterol... because it's a reaction in your body to an illness. The SOLUTION is not to block the Cholesterol, but to figure out why your body is creating the additional Cholesterol and then treat the CAUSE.
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Hello, ASchwartz
Thank you so much for your input and for sharing your experience. What you say is to true. One medication causes symptoms that must them be treated with another to counteract the new symptoms, and so on, until they have you taking 10 or more pills a day.
Do the drug companies think this is just 'job security?' It is a terrible toll on our health, not to mention our pocketbooks; no wonder insurance costs are skyrocketing!
I'm glad you were able to escape this merry-go-round!
Thank you so much for this informative and eye opening hub. I've personally experienced this same thing when I went to the doctor to treat my moderate depression. The medicine he gave me caused additional symptoms including high blood pressure and insomnia. He didn't think the initial medicine was the cause. Within six months I was on about 5 prescription medications, most of which were treating symptoms from the first medicine he game me!
I'm happy to say I'm not on any prescription meds today. Many of the secondary ailments I experienced seemed to disappear when I stopped taking the first medication I was prescribed. Funny how that work :)
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Hi, rebeccamealey
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your experience. Drugs are a double-edged sword, that's for sure. You are so right about the drug industry not wanting us to have safer options--they don't truly care about our health--only their own bottom line.
Thanks for this view point on the side effects of drugs. The bad thing is, some of us have them, some don't. I almost died from a double allergic reaction to penicillin when I was a toddler. Consequently I have always not allowed it to be prescribed to my kids. I think the drug industry may be a bit intimidated by alternative medicines. I suppose though, like anything else, there are good drugs...and bad drugs.Great Hub!
- AUTHOR
Hello, Simone--
Thank you very much! We've had a fair amount of experience with both issues, and I've done quite a bit of research. The pull of "Big Pharma" is quite scary.
You've made some really good points here. I've never, in one thought, considered how medicines can make one sick... I'm just so used to thinking of "medicine" as "the thing that makes sickness go away."
But side effects and other complications... they're a big deal! Thanks for writing this Hub.
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