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The side effects of drugs
This article on the side effects of drugs was originally titled Drugged senseless - The ill-logic of pharmaceutical drugs.
Most people are probably aware that drugs come with side effects, except that the majority probably do not realise how serious some of those side effects really are. But there is more to it. The bigger issue is that, sometimes, the side effects of drugs make them totally illogical. Drugged senseless - The ill-logic of pharmaceutical drugs Would you take a drug that is supposed to treat depression if one of the side effects that it causes is depressions? It doesn’t make much sense. But millions of people take such a drug regularly. It is one of the best selling drug in history – valium.
Valium is indicated for, among other things: depression, anxiety, acute agitation, fatigue, tremors, hallucinosis and skeletal muscle spasms. Its known side effects include: depressions, anxiety, acute hyper excited states, fatigue, tremors, hallucinations and increased muscle spasticity. The side effects of drugs like valium cause exactly the same symptoms that the drugs are supposed to treat. “What am I supposed to do if I prescribe the drug and the symptoms continue?” asks Robert Mendelsohn, MD. “Stop the drug or double the dose? What strategy lies behind using drugs like this is a mystery to me.” Side effects of drugs: Cough mixtures The strategy behind cough mixtures is equally puzzling. There are two main types of cough medication: expectorants that thin out mucus secretions so that they can be more easily expelled, and anti-ussives that suppress coughing. Many brands of cough mixtures contain both drugs. So you end up taking a drug to expel phlegm and another drug to suppress coughing so that the phlegm won’t be expelled. Side effects of drugs: Antihistimines When a person has both a cough and a cold – and many people do – the prescription gets even more irrational. That person will probably be given an antihistamine – even though antihistamines are for allergies and are not effective against colds. But antihistamine thickens the mucus secretions. So they act against expectorants (in cough mixtures) which are supposed to thin out mucus. Side effects of drugs: Long term effects When you take into account the side effects of drugs in the long term, their use becomes even more illogical. Consider...
All drugs produce side effects. All are poisons, as Andrew Weil, MD, points out in Health and Healing: “The only difference between drug and poison is dose. All drugs become poisons in high doses, and posions become useful drugs in low enough doses.” Yet poisons are routinely prescribed, and obediently swallowed, because we assume that the benefits outweigh the risks. We see drugs as “life-saving”. Risking the side effects of drugs Life-saving situations, however, are rare. Often, we take drugs that produce little or no benefit. We risk our health and out lives for nothing. Antibiotics are again a good example. They cause skin rash, swelling of the face and throat, fever, swollen joints, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue and, in a few cases, death. Such risks are considered “small”. But they add up. In Cured to Death, Arabelle Melville and Colin Johnson report that, in US hospitals alone, adverse reactions to antibiotics cause an estimated 30,000 deaths per year. The indirect side effects of drugs like antibiotics are far more dangerous. By weakening the immune system, antibiotics raise the risk of serious diseases like tuberculosis, cancer and Aids. Such risks may be worth taking when our lives are at stake due to serious infection – not when all we have is a cold, flu or sore throat.
Blood-pressure drugs can cause rash, hives, sensitivity to light, dizziness, weakness, muscle cramps, nausea, loss of sex drive and impotence. But do these drugs save, prolong or improve our lives? Dr Robert Mendelsohn writes: “Most doctors are aware of the controversy over whether these drugs do any good at all. Even if you assume that high blood pressure is dangerous, doctors are still guilty of being bit quick with the prescription. “Many people who receive blood pressure medication are really borderline cases – their blood pressure isn’t high enough to warrant a drug with the side effects of antihypertensives. Doctors evasive about side effects of drugs Cholesterol-lowering drugs (commonly known as statins) can cause liver damage. Most doctors don’t say this out right. They merely hint at it by asking patients to return for a liver check up. Liver damage is a very big risk. But again, the benefits are marginal. In Program for Reversing Heart Disease, Dr Dean Ornish cites two major studies which show that over a 5-year period, cholesterol-lowering drug reduce the risk of a heart attack by only about one percentage point. Side effects of drugs: Aspirin & Paracetamol Common painkillers like aspirin and paracetamol (Panadol) have their dangers too. Aspirin causes stomach ulcers and internal bleeding. Paracetamol harms the liver. Two years ago, one Singapore baby died from an overdose of paracetamol. Side effects of drugs: Butazolidin Alka With less common drugs, the side effects are worse. Dr Mendelsohn cites one anti-arthritis drug called Butazolidin Alka: “Just reading the information supplied but the manufacturer is enough to make you ill. This is a potent drug; its misuse can lead to serious results. Cases of leukaemia have been reported in patients with a history of short and long term therapy. “If you read further you will find that your doctor is setting you up for a possible 92 adverse reactions, including headaches, vertigo, coma, hypertensions, retinal hemorrhage, and hepatitis. The company goes on to admit: “Use lowest effective dosage. Weigh initially unpredictable benefits against risk of severe, even fatal reactions. The disease condition is itself unaltered by the drug.” Here is a drug which, the maker admits, offers unpredictable benefits against the possibility of death. And it does not cure the disease. “After reading that, you have to wonder why the drug company would bother to market the stuff. What doctor would give such poison to his patient?" Dr Medelsohn asks. "What person would willingly take this drug? You can stop wondering, because Butazolidin alka makes millions for its manufacturer”. Turning side effects of drugs into advantages Drug companies are among the most successful in the world – most successful at making money, that is. And one way they do this is by turning side- effects to their advantage. Aspirin is the classic example. A side effect of aspirin is that it thins the blood and so interferes with its clotting ability. For a long time, this was considered a “toxic effect” because when you blood fails to clot, you can die from internal bleeding. Drug companies saw, however, that by preventing internal blood clots, aspirin can reduce death from heart attacks. So now they are telling heart patients to take “an aspirin a day.” If aspirin prevent heart attacks, isn’t that good? Not quite. Drug companies and doctor play down the fact that aspirin doubles the risks of haemorrhagic stroke (bleeding in the brain), sudden cardiac death and ulcers. Overall, aspirin dos not reduce the rate of death from heart disease or from all other causes. Another case of using side effects involves a heart medication which made women grow beards. The drug was later marketed as a hair tonic! Drug companies keep finding new uses for their old drugs Recently, there were repots of “an unlikely hero” in the fight against Aids – thalidomide. Thalidomide was originally used as an anti-nausea drug for pregnant women, until it was discovered that it caused babies to be born without arms and legs. Now, researches are giving the drug to Aids patients. Never mind about deformed babies – just make sure the drug is not given to pregnant Aids patients. No choice but to endure the side effects of drugs? This brings us to the perfect excuse for using harmful drugs... Patients suffering from Aids, cancer and other “terminal” diseases are often given drugs that produce horrible side effects because doctors say they would die anyway. By condemning patients in this way, doctors make themselves blameless. If you feel lousy, lose your hair or ruin your liver, doctors will say that should be thankful to be alive. They will say you have no choice.
Or, you can choose safer, alternative forms of treatment that employ herbs, homoeopathic medicines, manipulations and massage, meditations, etc as well as diet and lifestyle changes. You can choose to leave your life in the hands of doctors. Or, you can choose to take personal responsibility for your own life. |
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