“Lives today are out of line and need order; realignment is needed through proper nutrition, natural medicine, and a caring hand with lots of love, and without judgment. The cure can’t be prescribed or found on the street, it runs so much deeper than that.”
What is the number one concern with taking Prescription drugs? If you answered side effects, you are right. They are not isolated; in fact, side effects are associated with each and every drug, where the severity of the case is the deciding factor. “Around half of those who die have taken their drugs correctly; the other half die because of errors, such as too high a dose or use of a drug despite contraindications.”[1] Prescription drugs are the 3rd leading cause of death in the US and EU after heart disease and cancer.
According to Peter C. Gøtzsche, the Danish physician and medical researcher “major reasons for the many drug deaths are impotent drug regulation, widespread crime that includes corruption of the scientific evidence about drugs and bribery of doctors, and lies in drug marketing […] We should take far fewer drugs, and patients should carefully study the package inserts of the drugs”[2]
It has been recently reported that Canadian soldiers were forced to take a military-issued anti-malarial drug while deployed overseas and now they are prepared to sue the federal government in a class action lawsuit over concerns that the drug may have caused harmful mental health side effects. Canadian veterans state these include depression, insomnia, aggressive behaviour and suicide.[3]
Medication induced suicides are not tabulated or reported as a side effect of the drugs. If they were, the numbers would be much higher than reported. A study published in JAMA finds that more than a third of American adults are using medications that have the potential to increase their risk of depression, and nearly a quarter use medications that have suicidal symptoms as side effects.[4]
And then there is the opioid crisis that began by properly prescribed medication. Fardous Hosseiny, national director of research and public policy at the Canadian Mental Health Association, said one in five Canadians deal with a mental illness every year and the same numbers apply to those in the USA.[5]
When mental health issues affect 20 percent of the population, it becomes a very serious problem. Nothing is stopping the progression, as the drugs that cause the mental illness keep flooding the market, while additional drugs are prescribed for treating the depression caused by the initial drug. Selling sickness is a great business but also disgraceful. Is it alright then that the perpetrators are honored by society?
It’s like the infinite loop: the medically induced addiction causes the victim to feel stigmatized and looked upon negatively. Because they feel embarrassed, they seek counseling from a psychiatrist who knows that the drugs are the reasons for the depression. To help the patient cope, he prescribes additional medication. It is a long way from where the responsibility starts to where it ends, and those who are responsible, should be held accountable. So who would you fault for the following? “I go through periods of depression. There are times when I can’t even get out of bed to face the day.” or “I was so stressed that I would cry and cry and cry before I got to the office. I would have to sit in my car for 15 minutes before I got the courage to walk to the elevator.” Certainly fault can’t be applied to the patient who came for help, can it? Then why is it?
If you talk to health professionals, these stories are not uncommon. They are stories that are not told by some stranger but in confidence by your spouse, siblings, friends, co-workers and neighbors. People, who realize that something in their life is just not right and that they need to reach out and ask for help—help to put their life back into balance before it’s too late.
For some, they are able to get the necessary help and escape the treadmill of the drugs causing the side effects and pain. Most continue the slow downward spiral, where noticeable changes in behavior (i.e. withdrawal, isolationism and deterioration in hygiene) are acknowledged by those closest to them. While in society, those that can’t cope end their life by suicide in an attempt to mask the pain and suffering from not having hope.
In our society, no group is immune from these deadly phenomena. From preteens to the elderly, from low income earners to high income earners, from blue collar workers to white collar workers, we are all susceptible.
It is unfortunate, but as a society with a fixation on “quickness” (and this includes medical solutions, too), the masking of the problems continue while dealing with the core is overlooked. For many, the solution to their problem lies in an increase in alcohol consumption, the use of illegal drugs, the abuse of prescription painkillers—substances that are all very addictive, and which can only add to the problem as opposed to providing the solution that have been sought.
Addictions are increasing at an alarming rate, marijuana use is up and so is alcohol. More females are drinking now and there is a 7% increase in smoking as well. Though overall cigarette smoking is reported to be lower, the truth is that the number of cigarette smokers worldwide has increased due to population growth, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the UW. It is my belief that the cigarette smokers are still smoking just as they were before but perhaps in a different method. The use of electronic cigarettes—which still carry the nicotine—is on the increase, so is legal marijuana smoking in Canada.
We have a crisis on our hands in all sectors of society.
The underlying issue still remains; the people are not happy and are looking at external means in order to compensate for something missing deep within. Drugs will never satisfy the emptiness they only work to temporarily forget the despair.
Lives today are out of line and need order; realignment is needed through proper nutrition, natural medicine, and a caring hand with lots of love, and without judgment. The cure can’t be prescribed or found on the street, it runs so much deeper than that. As the rates continue to increase and as the media coverage shows the despair, it would seem that society is just as lost or unwilling to provide a collective remedy. If it were ever to be really tackled, it would mean a complete overhaul to what we are now doing, and I don’t think they are willing to write that sort of a prescription.
Products that help with mental illness and depression and without the side effects of addiction:
References:
- Bains, Camille. (2018) More than half of fatal overdoses involved people who were mentally ill: coroner.
- Belluz, Julia. (2018) Depression and suicide risk are side effects of more than 200 common drugs.
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/6/14/17458726/depression-drugs-suicide-side-effect
- Favaro, Avis, St. Philip, Elizabeth. (2018) ‘It stole my life’: Veterans to sue gov’t over military-issued drug.
- Gøtzsche, Peter C. (2014) Our prescription drugs kill us in large numbers. Pol Arch Med Wewn. 124(11):628-34.
- Qato, Dima Mazen, PharmD, MPH, PhD; Ozenberger, Katharine, MS;Olfson, Mark, MD, MPH. (2018) Prevalence of Prescription Medications With Depression as a Potential Adverse Effect Among Adults in the United States.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2684607
[1] Gøtzsche, Peter C. 2014, 628.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Favaro, Avis, St. Philip, Elizabeth. 2018.
[4] Belluz, Julia. 2018.
[5] Bains, Camille. 2018