“When your toolbox only has a hammer, everything looks like a nail”
Going to hammer your body
This was according to a leader in the natural health field, Dr. Michael Murray in his Seattle speech tonight south of downtown, as he added that the dangerous anti-inflammatory drugs, Celebrex and Vioxx, “should never have been approved.”
Even though healthcare can be frustrating at times, we each have a stake in our own health. More and more Americans are uninsured, future unknown, and in pain. Hip replacements mean big money for corporations, while the market for prescription drugs sees increases in profitability, especially in the United States.
A Common Scenario:
You wake up one morning, in pain. Soon, you call up the doctors office for an appointment — sometimes you wait over a week. Upon the doctor entering the patient room, you explain your symptoms to get treatment. And almost every treatment seems to include a prescription for a pharmaceutical drug.
“My throat hurts.” Prescription for antibiotics. “My ankle hurts.” Prescription for anti-inflammatory. “Your cholesterol is too high.” 10 year Prescription for Statin.
Each symptom is treated separately, even neglecting the person it belongs to. What if you’re experiencing emotional anxiety from your painful condition? Here, let me refer you to a head doctor.
Prescription drugs are directly linked to American culture. SHOCKING STATISTICS:
- On average, Americans over 55 years old will be prescribed 34 prescriptions per year.
- As a result, they will be on EIGHT Prescription Drugs at any one time.
- In 1975, Americans consumed less than 18% of the World’s pharmaceutical supply.
- By 2000, Half of the ENTIRE WORLD’s market of pharmaceuticals was here in the USA.
- Thanks to Drug Companies, doctors receive $20,000,000,000 worth of advertising directed towards them every year. Thats 20 BILLION dollars influencing docs to make decisions on your behalf.
- The drug Prozac was approved after conducting four studies supporting its use. In actuality, ELEVEN studies were performed, several of which did not make it through the publication process.
The marketing divisions of drug companies heavily utilize persuasion psychology to make its products more appealing. They make us THINK that drugs are the solution. Despite my incredible respect for established doctors, many doctors perpetuate the myth that drugs alone can heal.
Only your body, that which is of nature, will heal itself.
Whether you believe in God or Gaia, no amount of hamburgers and insulin pills can cure diabetes. Instead, the seeds of life, such as plants, fruit, and nuts play a greater role in disease prevention than any pharmaceutical. Prescription drugs work on an artificially chemical level, which usually inhibits other healthy processes in your body. Since our diet is the largest part of healing, we must take responsibility for ourselves by making smart choices one day at a time.
The ultimate in Healing technology
Diet pills alone will never get you lean and Prescription drugs alone will NEVER get you healthy.
To be healthy, each person must realize their value and purpose, while relating to the world in a beneficial way. For example, eating an apple is a positive way of relating to the planet. We can all help each other do this. I hope that my own journey inspires others, because I am in awe of the healing powers of living foods and natural herbs.
Where do we go from here?
For now, my friends, we must equip ourselves with greater assets than prescription tools alone. Understand that healing is a process on many levels. Moreover, it’s wise to understand just how penetrating direct-to-consumer advertising is. (The Power of Persuasion: How We’re Bought and Sold, google: Read page 19, second paragraph)
Aside from my vote, I hope to advance the dialogue by posing these observations…
- Is it ethical for drug companies, using top of the line persuasion technology, to advertise directly to consumer?
- What would the world be like in terms of advertising and health implications if the largest industry in America was the Broccoli & Cucumber Farmer’s Association instead of a company like Pfizer?
- Doctors are exposed to Rx drugs since their first year of training, but what if instead of a measly 2 hours of class, an entire YEAR of Nutrition studies were required? Perhaps then, doctors would be better able to promote your own healing powers.
- What if…drug companies actually had your best interests in mind?
I welcome you all to seek out the answers that matter most to YOU, in the comments below or at your leisure.
Hit it right on the head, bro, per usual.
My older brother was the picture of physical perfection – he worked out regularly and modeled for Abercrombie and Fossil. But despite looking like an Athenian god on the outside, on the inside, he was unhealthy and had to have heart surgery at the young age of 22.
Our approach to health care is to treat symptoms, not the disease. The disease is our lifestyles – shoving hundreds of things in a day, eating on the go, and never taking time to relax. It affects our mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.
I worked in fine dining. We had pharmaceuticals come in regularly to “woo” doctors with free dinners and presentations on why the doctors should prescribe THEIR drugs. It was sickening.
Keep posting, man, and I’ll keep pointing people your way.
I agree that Americans would be a lot healthier if we had simpler diets. We would, as a result, be less dependent on medications. I also agree that keeping people “sick” is a self-serving strategy for the pharmaceutical industry. More symptoms = more prescription meds.
Let me also state that prescription medications have extended the lives of many people and improved their quality of life. I think we have to be careful about fingering a single villian here. There is a place for prescription meds (produced by companies whose profits can fund expensive research). There is also a place for common sense eating and exercising. (I am currently reading “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall. It’s about the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons and how they can literally run forever. For more info go to http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/9780307266309.html.)
Not all ailments can be traced to lifestyle choices. Some people are genetically predisposed to have ravaging diseases, others of us have accidents. And think about how organ transplants, and hip and knee replacements have given many people second chances at life.
Innovation is risky, by definition. And risks are expensive. That is why pharmaceuticals must be allowed to make profits — even enormous profits — to benefit their shareholders and to fund expensive research.
Yes, let’s do all we can to promote fresh, unprocessed foods, so that we don’t end up at 52 (my chronological age) with a host of health issues.
Let’s also bear in mind that advances in gene therapy as well as conventional medicine have great potential to benefit millions of people.