Natural Health Remedies - For Your Body and Mind

If you are one of the millions who frequently suffer from migraine headaches, there's hope! Topamax is a prevention medicine (drug) that could help reduce the frequency of your migraine headaches. It is taken daily to help keep a migraine from happening in the first place, instead of relieving pain after it starts.

Here are first hand account of the relief Topamax has brought to migraine sufferers.

"I have had migraines since I was a little girl. Even as an adult, it seemed like everything was a trigger -a new smell, different lighting, weather changes. Friends and family tried to understand my condition, but were concerned about the about of medication I was taking. After being prescribed Topamax my migraines have been significantly reduced."

For more than 10 years, I experienced debilitating migraines that prevented me fro participating in everyday activities with friends and family. I wasn't able to attend functions because I feared the spontaneous onset of a migraine. I was even forced to give up my exercise schedule! After I tried many over the counter and prescription treatments, (drugs) My doctor prescribed Topamax, a medication (drug) I take daily to help reduce the frequency of my migraine attacks.

These testimonials are based on individual experience while taking Topamax for migraine. Migraine is a highly individual condition and individual experiences may vary.

Topamax is approved for migraine prevention in adults ONLY. It is not for acute treatment of migraines.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION: Serious risks associated with Topamax include increased eye pressure, (glaucoma) decreased sweating, increased body temperature, kidney stones, sleepiness, dizziness, confusion and difficulty concentrating. Tell your doctor immediately if you have blurred vision or eye pain.

More common side effects are tingling in the arms and legs, loss of appetite, nausea, diarrhea, taste change and weight loss. Your doctor may do simple blood test to check for change in electrolytes. Tell you doctor about other medications you take. Please see brief summary of Full Prescribing information on previous pages.

Note: I did read the rest and it was 2 pages 8 x 11 of very, very tiny print I could barely read, but here is what I could.

Precautions… concomitant administration of topiramate and valproic acid has been associated with hyperammonemia with or without encephalopathy in patients who have tolerated either drug alone. Acute alterations in level of consciousness and/or cognitive function with lethargy or vomiting. In most cases symptoms and signs abated with discontinuation of the drug.

Adverse events most often associated with the use of Topamax were related to the central nervous system and were observed in both the epilepsy and migraine populations. Difficulty with memory, speech or language problems, particularly word finding difficulties. Mood problems and depression. Rapid titration rate and higher initial does were associated with higher incidence of these events. Many of these events contributed to withdrawal of the drug.

Increase in the risk of kidney stone formation and should be avoided. Increased fluid intake increases the urinary output, lowering the concentration of substances involved in stone formation.

In general it said that patients should be warned about the potential for somnolence. Dizziness, confusion, and difficulty concentrating.

An increase in urinary bladder tumors was observed in mice.

Pain, chest pain, allergic reaction. Headache, vertigo, sensory disturbance, migraine AGGRAVATED. Constipation, gastro esophageal reflux, tooth disorder. Inter menstrual bleeding, infection, genital monillasis, pneumonia, asthma, rash. Abnormal accommodation to vision and eye pain.

AND it went on and on.

I went online to see if I could find a source where I could read the information. I found on the Topamax website, the Full US Prescribing Information at: http://www.topamax.com/topamax/tools-resources--prescribing-information.html

Adverse Effects of Antibiotics

Between 40 and 50% of all antibiotics prescribed in the US are unnecessary.

Taken from "Principles and Practice of Infectious Disease New Your; Wiley,85:301-7

One of the greatest threats to your long term-immunity. Antibiotics…

When should you not get antibiotics? The most common misuse probably occurs when doctors prescribe them for the common cold, and the flue which known viral infections.

Antibiotics are only effective against bacteria.

There are no know way to speed up the healing process or stop viral infections.

You must simply rest and drink lots of water.

Antibiotics are to be questioned when prescribed for ear infections. Studies show that drugs are no more effective than placebos.

Even more shocking, using antibiotics increase the risk of recurrent ear infections as much as SIX FOLD! JAMA 91;266(230;3309-17

Our bodies were designed to deal with foreign bacteria. When your immune system overcomes an infection it emerges stronger. It produces more natural antibodies that are better able to deal with future inroads on your health.

Here is what happens when antibiotics are given at the first sign of infection. All very serious.

It suppressed your own immune system. Your body creates fewer natural antibiotics. This makes your white blood cells less active in attacking bacteria that have been treated with antibiotics.

This explains why many minor infections appear to happen over and over, thus requiring more and more treatment. A vicious cycle.

When bacteria are exposed over and over to antibiotics they begin to mutate. This causes them to become immune to the drug's effect. Since we cannot stop this mutation it is responsible for thousands of lives yearly.

It is known that a large number of people who go into the hospital for one condition, but during their stay, developed a near-fatal or fatal case of drug-resistant pneumonia.

We all have beneficial bacteria that lives in our intestinal tract. In a healthy intestinal tract, millions of beneficial organisms help form vitamins, and enzymes, they kill cancer-causing compounds, regulate cholesterol and hormone levels and keep in check the overgrowth of disease-producing bacteria and fungi.

Some of the most common are, eczema, decreased mental abilities, depression, recurrent vaginal or bladder infections, candida, hyperactivity, constipation, lupus, RA and even cancer. Also, parasitic infections, fatigue, food allergies.

So make sure you really need that antibiotic. Have your doctor take a cultures of the area involved.

All Drugs are Dangerous; Foods and Supplements are Safe

Jonathan B. Sevy, DC

Vancouver, Washington

"Drugs are approved by the FDA today, distributed, then found unsafe tomorrow and withdrawn, only to be replaced with new wonder drugs that are subsequently taken off the market as health hazards. If drugs were safe and effective, would we need the $1.5 billion of mindless, hard-sell advertising every month to goad us into taking them and giving them to our children?"

It does not get more blatant than this, yet millions continue to trust such governmental agencies. If one needs clear cut proof of brainwashing here it is again... Drugs, Not Foods, Are Toxic

"Steps are necessary to ensure that the existence of dietary supplements on the market does not act as a disincentive for drug development."

(FDA Task Force Report, June 15, 1993)

The Food and Drug Administration is again spending millions of tax dollars in its yearly attempt to increase drug sales by restricting the distribution of dietary supplements. These actions are contrary to the public interest.

FDA Commissioner David Kessler recently rationalized his efforts by alleging, "For every one of these products that has some value, there are thousands that are worthless." This is unsupportable. In fact, his charges are much more appropriate when applied to pharmaceutical drugs rather than to foods.

On 15 percent of the drugs on the market have been subjected to controlled testing, according to the United States Department of Technological Assessment. In fact, 85 percent of the drugs Americans take are unproven or have actually been proven ineffective!

Are these thousands of questionable drugs even safe? The prestigious Yale-New Haven hospital has published their conclusions that pharmaceuticals, properly prescribed and properly taken, account for 100,000 deaths each year in this country alone. Tens of millions more Americans are made sick or fail to seek appropriate health care every year because of chronic, ongoing drug use "taken as directed." One million are hospitalized annually solely as a result of reactions to prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines. The cost in dollars and human suffering staggers the imagination. But the FDA wants to limit peoples' access to food supplements.

These drug statistics are not acceptable. They represent an indictment of the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry. If an automobile driver had a safety record like this, responsible authorities would make certain that his license was revoked before sundown and would probably jail the culprit as well. But the FDA ignores the drug disaster and wants to restrict the distribution of food supplements.

So the cycle continues. Drugs are approved by the FDA today, distributed, then found unsafe tomorrow and withdrawn, only to be replaced with new wonder drugs that are subsequently taken off the market as health hazards. If drugs were safe and effective, would we need the $1.5 billion of mindless, hard-sell advertising every month to goad us into taking them and giving them to our children?

In contrast, with few exceptions and very little advertising, food supplements have enjoyed great safety and increasing demand for decades.

How safe are these food substances? Vitamin A is often pointed to as one of the more toxic dietary supplements. Yet according to the Merck manual, vitamin A has had no fatalities associated with its use of abuse. This includes accidental ingestion of millions at one sitting and weeks of megadosages given to infants.

The simple, incontrovertible fact is this: All drugs are dangerous; foods and supplements are safe. Anyone with a paper and pencil can quickly figure out for themselves that pharmaceuticals will sicken and kill more Americans in the next seven days than "health foods" have in the past 10 years. Drugs need to be controlled much more strictly and distributed more sparingly than they are now. Supplements should be regulated for sanitation like any other food.

Curtailing sales of dietary supplements will not protect the public. It will harm millions of intelligent, responsible people. However, pharmaceutical manufacturers and their distributors will enjoy windfall profits if these FDA propositions are allowed to become law. Whose interests are really being served by this legislation?

Every year the FDA and pharmaceutical industry misappropriate tax dollars to mount another offensive against America's health. Unchecked, eventually these unprincipled forces will prevail. The flood of drugs will continue to rise, destroying more of our parents and children. Congress must permanently stop this ongoing campaign which is subverting the enlightened efforts of Americans who want to improve their lives by reducing their dependence on medical drugs.

Alli - The Over The Counter Diet Pill

Alli is an over the counter form of the prescription weight loss drug Orlistat. As of October, 2009, Alli is the only FDA-approved over the counter weight loss drug. While the drug has marked benefits for some patients, it also has sided effects that must be taken into consideration prior to making the purchase.

Blocking healthy fats

This drug works by absorbing fat; that way, when people eat fats like those found in milk or cheese or even salad dressings, this drug binds with those fats and carries them on out of the system where they can't be digested. But at the same time, this drug also blocks all those essential fats that we need to be healthy.

Those acids include omega-3 fatty acids, which is why you're hearing about all the benefits of eating oily fish like salmon. But people who are taking this drug are inevitably blocking the absorption of these essential fatty acids as well as blocking the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins that go along with them. Some of those vitamins are extremely important to human health. The fat-soluble vitamins include vitamin E, vitamin A and vitamin D.

Rght now vitamin D deficiencies are widespread across Western populations, especially those in the United States. A deficiency in vitamin D directly promotes a numbers of serious diseases including diabetes, depression, osteoporosis, schizophrenia, breast cancer, prostate cancer and even gum disease. For people who are already overfed and undernourished, taking a fat-blocking pill that will reduce the absorption of vitamin D seems like dietary insanity to me. It makes me wonder about the priorities of the FDA, too. Are they sure the benefits of this drug outweigh the risks?

Are nutritional deficiencies an acceptable side effect?

You must question whether the FDA has seriously looked at the risks of further malnutrition of fat-soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids. Maybe this decision was based on the incorrect but widely held belief in conventional medicine that diet really has no relationship to health. As amazing as it seems, there are still those in conventional medicine who believe that what you eat has nothing to do with your health or the diseases that you might eventually express. I know it sounds crazy, but there are still doctors, decision-makers and bureaucrats who believe that utterly outdated philosophy. Some may think that blocking the absorption of nutrition has no effect on the human body.

Let's face it: Essential fatty acids are named that because they are essential. Vitamin D and other fat-soluble nutrients are absolutely crucial for human health, especially the health of expectant mothers, newborns and senior citizens. These are nutrients that we cannot live healthfully without. So what could possibly be the FDA review panel's motivation in approving this drug that has almost no perceived benefit? It causes merely one pound of weight loss a month (and that's if you actually believe the clinical trials), yet it creates considerable health risks to those who take the drug. Again, those risks are widespread nutritional deficiencies that exacerbate existing deficiencies and can lead to serious degenerative disease.

The answer is the same answer that applies to most of the decisions made in conventional medicine today: A new over-the-counter weight loss drug would generate potentially billions of dollars of profit for Big Pharma. Even though this drug may not be very effective, and even though it may cause outrageous side effects like anal leakage, it will still be heavily promoted with heavy advertising. Its benefits will be exaggerated; its side effects and risks will be minimized or ignored altogether. Potentially, tens of millions of Americans will try this drug out of desperation to lose weight, and this drug won't be cheap, either. So this mad dash to a magic bullet pill could result in huge profits for the manufacturer of the drug. I believe that is the primary reason the FDA made this decision. The FDA has a long track record of defending Big Pharma at the expense of public health.

Now, perhaps the worst part of this is that consumers of this drug may feel that taking this drug gives them a license to continue to eat unhealthy foods. They will think that they no longer have to watch what they eat because this little pill absorbs all the bad stuff. They might continue to eat fried foods or unhealthy saturated animal fat products like hamburgers, cheese, milk and lots of fast food products. Their health may continue to suffer even as they think they are protecting themselves.

It seems this pill could give people the justification to make poor decisions about their nutrition, and that's another reason why I think this pill could pose a very real danger to the long-term health of consumers. That doesn't mean it won't be popular. Perhaps the blockbuster sales of this drug will spur a new industry: Diapers for adults. If you're in the diaper business, you might want to think about introducing a new line of diapers for adults who are on these fat absorbing prescriptions drugs. It might be more profitable than selling the drugs!

Common Side Effects

The most common side effects of Alli are gastrointestinal symptoms. These symptoms include frequent stools, loose stools that are difficult to control and diarrhea. Some people on Alli have gas that is accompanied by an oily discharge. The Mayo Clinic reports that many of these side effects can be minimized by eating a low fat, sensible diet because these effects are the body's way of coping with undigested fats.

Uncommon Side Effects

As is the case with any medication, there are some side effects that you should be aware of that may never affect you. The uncommon side effects for Alli include back pain, tendonitis, respiratory infections, menstrual irregularities, headaches, depression, fatigue, dizziness and anxiety. Any of these side effects should be reported to a physician immediately.

Allergic Reaction

Some patients may have an allergic reaction to Alli. Symptoms of an allergic reaction to Alli include facial swelling, swelling of the tongue and lips, severe abdominal pain, chest pain, difficulty breathing, itching, hives and a rash. These symptoms warrant an immediate trip to the emergency room.

Warning

People with underlying medical conditions, such as heart problems, liver problems and thyroid conditions should consult a doctor before using Alli. Patients taking warfarin or cyclosporine shouldn't take Alli because, according to RxList.com, Alli affects the manner in which blood clots. People with liver problems may not be able to fully digest Alli. For people with thyroid conditions, Alli may interact with medications used to manage the condition.

Are Drugs Necessary, Do Foods Heal?

How do Drugs Act?

There is only one way they can act. That is chemically. Chemical action is the only action of which drugs are capable; the therapeutic, pharmacological, physiological, toxicological actions are all appearances.

We are deceived because we persist in ascribing the actions to the body to the action of drugs.

The many actions such as vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, sedation, stimulation, palpitation, etc which occur after taking drugs are actions of the body. These are defensive, remedial and eliminative actions. The body is defending itself against the poison.

Do Foods Heal?

What happens when we take food? How does it act on the body? Nothing happens. No action follows the taking of food. It is acted upon to digest and utilized it, no sedation occurs, no vomiting occurs, no palpitation occurs.

But if symptoms do arise we say it is because we have been poisoned, we use the term "food poisoning". Food is not a poison. There is a distinction, not between the actions of food and the body in relation to food and the actions of the body in relation to poison.

The body is the actor and the food or drug is acted upon

Drugs Incapable of Construction Purposes.

Drugs represent substances that are inimical to life. They are not usable; they cannot supply materials for the building of tissue, for the manufacture of functional products or for use in the performance of the body's functions.

Their actions are an illusion. It is not the drug which vomits it is not the laxative which purges, it is not the diaphoretic which sweats, and it is not the stimulant which accelerates the heart action.

These are all processes of the living organism. Here the operative word is "living", for in direct proportion to the degree of vigor inherent in the organism is the action in relation to drugs.

The feeble and old do not display the vigorous action seen in the young and healthy when drugs are taken. No matter how "powerful" the drug, it is incapable of "acting" in the dead body.

It is of Vital importance to our understanding of health, disease and healing whether the drug acts to produce functions or is acted upon and expelled by functions. It is not denied that action follows the taking of a drug but action follows the taking of food or the breathing of air. The question we have to settle is which performs the action, the living organism or the passive, inert chemical?

DRUGS CAPABLE OF CHEMICAL ACTIONS ONLY

All poisons, drugs, medicines, have the tendency, because of their chemical nature, to combine with the constituents of the body. That is they tend to form a chemical union with the body's substances. This is chemical action. When a drug is taken this may occur and there is destruction of tissue with impairment of the organ or part.

The emetic may combine chemically with the constituents of the stomach and damage it; the purgative may combine chemically with the bowels and damage them. This is chemical action and the body seeks to prevent by its many defensive, expulsive actions.

Vomiting is produced to expel the poison before it combines chemically with the tissues of the stomach, purging is accomplished in order to prevent damage to the bowels as a result of chemical union with the drug and their constituents.

If the common drug aspirin is taken, certain effects may follow: the acceleration of the heart is the action of the body, the erosion of the stomach wall is the chemical action of the salicylic acid: the damage to the kidneys is chemical action. When digitalis is taken there is an alteration in heart action: this is the action of the body. The myocardial (heart muscle) damage which follows its use is the result of chemical action.

Chemical actions not body-controlled are dangerous.

Drugs act chemically and in this way they permanently damage the body. For when two substances unite chemically the resulting compound differs from the former substances.

When a drug "acts" chemically on the tissues of the body the resulting compound does not resemble the drug nor the tissue constituents. If drugs combine chemically with the constituents of the cells of the body the cell will die in the process.

The body's resistive, defensive, expulsive actions are employed to prevent this chemical union occurring.

If drugs are taken regularly over a long period of time, they gradually lose their effect. Large doses are often given as the drug no longer has the power to "act" as effectively as when it was first prescribed.

The truth of the matter is that it never had any power, but as a result of the continuous defensive and expulsive efforts made by the body it has lost its power to produce the same vigorous actions. The body has become exhausted and weaker.

"People cannot be poisoned into health"

Every action performed by the body in defense against drugs weakens it. We cannot poison people into health. Drugs do not remove the cause of disease; they do not supply the materials of health.

It is a hygienic principle that if substances are harmful to the body in health they are harmful in disease. It is indeed a strange "science" which teaches us that substances which make us sick when we are well should be taken when we are sick to make us well.

What does all this mean? It means that it is your job and your job alone to build up your immune system. It was meant to function perfectly.

How to do that is simple. Get the proper minerals and vitamins and in the proper order at the proper time and you can rebuild your immune system.

Aspirin - The Bitter Pill That Kills

Regarding the May 31st. 2005 Quirks and Quarks Science Program on Aspirin was interesting, however, statements such as quoted below sounded more like an ad for aspirin.

"Now, imagine taking this pill daily to prevent cancer and Alzheimer's disease. A growing number of studies suggest that regularly popping an aspirin or other similar anti-inflammatory drugs can reduce your risk of these diseases by 30 to 40 percent."

Wow! What they don't tell you is that some earlier studies tell us quite a different story. Some of these have indicated that you can get strokes and Colon cancer and aspirin may even cause Macular degeneration. While much safer anti-inflammatory foods such as Turmeric; and vitamin C to prevent Colon cancer already exist.

Aspirin The Bitter Pill That Kills Aspirin

An aspirin promotion group called the Aspirin Foundation boasts that the chemical "probably has been taken, at one time or another, by almost every human being on earth." Wishful thinking, no doubt, but pill-happy Americans scarf down 25 million aspirin tablets a day. The British take it in a powder, the Italians take an effervescent, champagne-like mix, the French take it rectally, and the Thailanders put it in their morning and evening tea.

Chemical companies produce 90 billion aspirin tablets a year. If all those tablets were placed end to end they would stretch to the planet Infinity and back. Did you ever think that you would see the day when Americans by the millions would be popping aspirin for their health*

Do all these people really have an aspirin deficiency? Did God forget to put aspirin in our food? Will an aspirin a day keep the doctor away? You'd probably say no to all of the above because it doesn't make any sense to take a chemical as if it were a vitamin. But it took the British to figure out how the aspirin industry and the AMA pulled off such a scam.

The Real Hero: Magnesium

The much-promoted Physician's Health Study proving that taking aspirin regularly will prevent heart attacks didn't use just aspirin but aspirin plus magnesium in the form of Bufferin.

Research done years ago proved that magnesium protects the heart. It dilates blood vessels, aids in absorption of potassium into cells (which will prevent heartbeat irregularities), acts as an anticoagulant (blood thinner) and keeps the blood cells from sticking together (thrombosis).

Autopsy of the heart muscle following death by heart attack almost always reveals that the heart muscle is deficient in magnesium. So the doctors (and their patients) have been conned again by the group that has been leading them around by the nose for 75 years - the pharmaceutical industry. A British study using only aspirin revealed that aspirin had absolutely nothing to do with lowering the incidence of heart attacks.

Robbing Peter to Pay Paul?

The American study was so flawed that you can't help but wonder if the aspirin industry financed it. The subjects were white, male, mostly non- smoking doctors who were not monitored, and who reported their condition by letter - post office research. The study used an extremely healthy group with only one eighth the death rate of the general population. Even with such a healthy group, the study results had some ominous overtones.

That's the part the aspirin companies don't want you to know about. Though heart attacks were relatively rare, strokes and sudden death from other causes were more common among the aspirin group than with the placebo group. This information is very significant. The claim for reduction in heart attacks among the aspirin group was 47 percent.

But the small print (very small print) in the report said that when death from all causes was considered, there was no difference in the mortality rates of the two groups.

Thus, death from other causes among the aspirin group increased substantially - an amount equal to 47 percent of all heart attacks in the non-aspirin group. Did you know that every time you take aspirin you bleed a little into your gut? A microscope will show that the bowel movement of someone on daily aspirin has blood in it every time. If it's happening in your intestinal tract, how do you know it's not happening in your brain? How many strokes are precipitated by chronic aspirin intake? How many fatal hemorrhages of the brain, spleen, liver, intestine, or lung occur after an automobile accident because the blood has been thinned with aspirin? Nobody knows and nobody is checking. Prevention That Works There are many natural ways to protect yourself from heart attack without enriching the Bayer Company:

Magnesium, as mentioned above, is absolutely essential for a healthy heart and should be given credit for the beneficial results obtained in the aspirin study.
Salmon oil contains a strong platelet antisticking agent called eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).
Garlic blocks the clotting mechanism.
Niacin is a well known anti-atherosclerotic agent.
Vitamin C is an important factor in prostaglandin production.
Vitamin E is also important in the production of prostaglandins.
Bromelin reduces platelet stickiness.
Zinc is a necessary catalyst, along with the enzyme d-6-d, in certain fatty acid metabolic processes essential to the health of your coronary arteries.
Vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine) converts the highly atherogenic homocysteine to cystathionine. This prevents meat protein from damaging your arteries. Also stops platelet aggregation.
Folic Acid neutralizes the enzyme XO in homogenized pasteurized milk. XO hardens your arteries.
Carnitine and Taurine, two of the amino ' acids considered nonessential by most nutritionists, are absolutely essential for a healthy heart. There are other nutrients for a healthy heart, but you get the picture. So who needs aspirin?

The Cancer Connection

But in addition to the reports showing aspirin has no preventive effect on heart attacks, new reports show that aspirin may cause cancer. And what's more, a study of California researchers reported in the British Medical Journal that older men and women who take aspirin every day almost double their chances of developing so-called ischemic heart disease.

Ischemic heart disease accounts for a wide range of illnesses involving blockage of the arteries carrying blood to the heart. Aspirin-users were also more likely to develop kidney and colon cancer, the study found. Lawrence Garfinkel, Vice President for Epidemiology at the American Cancer Society said, "It would give one pause about using aspirin routinely to prevent an initial heart attack. This is going to be very confusing to the public.

"The new study concluded: "Our study would not recommend that these people routinely consume aspirin." There are a few other reasons why you shouldn't take aspirin: indigestion, bleeding ulcers with possible hemorrhage and death from exsanguination (internal bleeding) and hemorrhagic stroke.

I'm Vain About My Brain

Leo Dropperman started taking aspirin to prevent a second heart attack, as advised by his doctor and the TV commercials. But when he read that daily doses could increase his chances of getting a hemorrhagic stroke, he quit. "I'd much rather have a heart attack than a stroke," said the Tennessee psychologist. "I'm very vain about my brain."

Of course, it may be even worse than that. The British report mentioned earlier found no beneficial effect on heart attack frequency from taking aspirin, but the California study goes even further in suggesting that daily aspirin use may actually increase the odds of having a heart attack, as well as give you kidney and colon cancer.

On hearing that news, drug companies quickly folded their medicine tents and split. Their commercials connecting aspirin with beneficial effects on heart disease were scrapped. Sterling Drug (Eastman Kodak) pulled its commercial depicting the Bayer aspirin logo over a pulsating heart monitor and substituted the old logo: "the wonder drug doctors themselves take more often for pain." Bristol-Myers dragged out Angela Lansbury to say: "A cup of tea and a couple of Bufferin allow me to do the things I want to do."

Sterling Drugs even went so far as to introduce a Bayer calendar pack to remind people to take their aspirin.

Consumers are beginning to question all these contradictory studies. They don't know who to believe anymore. So, when it comes to advice on drugs, who can you trust? The FDA?

Well, in December, 1984 the FDA recommended allowing drug companies to promote the use of aspirin to reduce the chances of a second heart attack.

Can you trust the medical journals? In January, 1988, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that an aspirin every other day reduced the risk of heart attacks. (Is it coincidental that the drug companies have been able to get their slimy fingers into the New England Journal of Medicine with multi-million-dollar advertising contracts?)

Can you trust the medical advice given by actors on TV commercials? Forget I asked. Can you trust the hospitals and their doctors?

Bad News About Statin Drugs

The following article form the "Center for Medical Consumers" summaries the real Cholesterol sham that is being imposed on the unsuspecting. I have highlighted the key points to assist all to get the gist of this issue and ramp up on these concerns. Naturally, pharma and their medical cronies will not discuss these openly due their funding dependencies.

Chris Gupta

..."Dr. Ravnskov managed to push the envelope further by making a case for high cholesterol as a protective against cancer. He showed slides listing published studies that found higher rates of infectious disease among hospitalized people with low cholesterol levels. Also, several studies found higher cancer rates in people with low cholesterol levels...

...hundreds of people wrote in to say they, too, had experienced severe memory loss while on Lipitor. "Patients are reluctant to report amnesia, or they attribute the symptoms to old age or early Alzheimer's," explained Dr. Graveline. "And doctors are reluctant to see that the drug they prescribed was the cause." Still, the official word on Lipitor is that memory loss is not a statin side effect. "Thousands of cases of memory dysfunction have been reported to the FDA's Medwatch program," he said, "but after two years, the agency still hasn't acted. And most practicing physicians are unaware of the problem." Lipitor is not the only statin linked to this side effect, observed Dr. Graveline...

..."In drug trials, the pharmaceutical companies often divide similar adverse effects into six or seven different categories to keep the scarier side effects under 1%."...

...statin drugs deplete the body of an important anti-oxidant (CQ10) with muscle wasting and heart failure as a result.

..."It has been pretty well documented from biopsies that the severity of heart failure correlates with the people who have the lowest levels of Q10."...

..."[People are eating] a diet high in grain and inappropriate fats, instead of the natural animal fats, such as lard, tallow, chicken fat, goose fat, and the natural vegetable fats, such as olive, palm, and coconut oils, that we used to have in our diets," and contrary to the current "propaganda," she explained that these fats and oils are essential components to a healthful diet. These so-called good fats provide the major fuel for the heart, kidneys, and skeletal muscles, said Dr. Enig, who said the inappropriate fats are the highly processed polyunsaturated fats, such as soybean, canola, and corn oils, which are promoted [ironically] as heart protective."...

CHOLESTEROL SKEPTICS AND THE BAD NEWS ABOUT STATIN DRUGS

By Maryann Napoli

The cholesterol skeptics were there. So were the physicians who challenge the safety and necessity of cholesterol-lowering drugs. And then there were the lipid researchers whose findings totally contradict the prevailing dietary advice to the public: Avoid saturated fats, limit cholesterol, and use more polyunsaturated oils. Their presentations were met with enthusiastic approval at a conference held last spring in Arlington, Virginia. But then again, the attendees were not the usual people who show up at a conference billed as "Heart Disease in the 21st Century: Beyond the Lipid Hypothesis." They were practicing physicians, biochemists, farmers, greenmarket activists, researchers, cooks, parents of young children, and people who have been told their cholesterol is too high. The general message was: Fats are extremely important to good health...the right kinds of fat, that is.

Cholesterol was the dominant topic of the two-day event, as well as the subject of the opening lecture provocatively entitled, "High Cholesterol Protects Against Disease." Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD, a Danish physician who has published many critical papers about the purported association between cholesterol and cardiovascular disease, led off with a slide showing the results of all the major clinical trials that attempted to prove that lowering cholesterol in healthy but high-risk people would reduce their death rate from heart disease. "The reduced rates of cardiovascular mortality were small for men and non-existent for women," said Dr. Ravnskov, who is the author of The Cholesterol Myths, a paperback that refutes the theory that cholesterol in our food and in our blood causes heart disease.

These cholesterol trials also looked at total mortality, that is, the deaths from all causes, and found little difference between the study participants who tried to lower their cholesterol and those who did not. In other words, some clinical trials showed that the heart disease death rates were, in fact, lower among men who had reduced their cholesterol levels. But this benefit was offset by a higher rate of deaths from other causes.

Given these unimpressive research results, why is high cholesterol so firmly imbedded in our consciousness as a sure-fire sign of a future heart attack? Dr. Ravnskov said that it all started with the landmark Framingham Heart Study, which began following healthy people in the early 1950s to see who had a heart attack and what distinguished them from the people who did not. High cholesterol was one risk factor--but it was only one of more than 240 others. "They [public health officials, cardiologists, etc.] have confused a statistical association with causation," he observed. "It's as if they saw a house burning and determined that the bigger the fire, the more fireman are present, and then concluded that firemen cause burning houses."

When studies failed to prove that lowering cholesterol made any lifesaving difference, researchers forged ahead with more multi-million dollar clinical trials. Not until the statin drugs (Lipitor, Mevacor, Zocor, Lescol, Crestor, Advicor) came along did cholesterol-lowering finally prove to be lifesaving to high-risk but healthy people. Whether this benefit might actually be due to the anti-inflammatory effects of statins has been the topic of controversy ever since.

As with several of the speakers who would follow him, Dr. Ravnskov is unimpressed with the reduction in heart disease mortality shown for the statin drugs "When you look at the CARE trial [Cholesterol And Recurrent Events], Pravachol did show a small benefit--after five years 5.7% had died from heart disease in the [untreated] control group, compared to only 4.6% in the treatment group, but [this benefit] was not dose related." he said, referring to the expectation that the more a person lowers his or her* cholesterol, the less likely a heart-related death. Also, the people taking Pravachol had a few more deaths from other causes. Dr. Ravnskov managed to push the envelope further by making a case for high cholesterol as a protective against cancer. He showed slides listing published studies that found higher rates of infectious disease among hospitalized people with low cholesterol levels. Also, several studies found higher cancer rates in people with low cholesterol levels.

Women told to take statin drugs should be aware of this risk found in the CARE trial: There were 12 cases of breast cancer in the women taking Pravachol, compared with only one case in the untreated (control) group. Statin drug proponents dismissed this worrisome finding as a fluke, said Dr. Ravnskov, because the control group would be expected to have had more than one case of breast cancer.

"Anyone who questions cholesterol usually finds his funding cut off," said Paul Rosch, MD, who started his talk with a reminder that half of all heart attacks occur in people with normal cholesterol levels. "Stress has more deleterious effects on the heart than cholesterol," said Dr. Rosch, who is a clinical professor of medicine and psychiatry at New York Medical College and president of the American Institute of Stress. He put a different spin on the oft-quoted studies of immigrants with low rates of heart disease that change for the worse years after they emigrated to the U.S. The shift to a Western diet is usually identified as the culprit, but Dr. Rosch suggests that the stress of adapting to a new culture is harder on the heart. For example, a study of Japanese male immigrants found a lower rate of heart attack among those who consumed a Western diet but retained a Japanese lifestyle, compared to those who continued to eat only traditional Japanese foods but lived a Western lifestyle.

Statin Drugs & Memory Loss

Duane Graveline, MD, MPH, a retired family doctor and former NASA scientist/astronaut, recounted his own hair-raising experience taking the popular statin drug Lipitor for only six weeks. Soon after he went for a walk, Dr. Graveline was found wandering, confused, and reluctant to enter his own home because he didn't recognize it or remember his wife's name. Six hours later--after being examined by a neurologist and undergoing an MRI--he came to his senses. Transient global amnesia (TGA) was diagnosed. Neither he nor his physician suspected Lipitor, so Dr. Graveline was restarted on one-half the previous dose. Again, at six weeks, the TGA returned. This time, he regressed to his teen-age years with no memory for his time in college, medical school, or the recent past. "Many decades of my life were obliterated," he said. "The diagnosis was TGA: cause unknown."

To verify his growing suspicion that Lipitor might be the cause, Dr. Graveline wrote to Joe and Teresa Graedon, the husband and wife team that writes the syndicated column called The People's Pharmacy, which specializes in warning the public about drug side effects. The Graedons asked for permission to print his letter in their column, and once it appeared, hundreds of people wrote in to say they, too, had experienced severe memory loss while on Lipitor. "Patients are reluctant to report amnesia, or they attribute the symptoms to old age or early Alzheimer's," explained Dr. Graveline. "And doctors are reluctant to see that the drug they prescribed was the cause." Still, the official word on Lipitor is that memory loss is not a statin side effect. "Thousands of cases of memory dysfunction have been reported to the FDA's Medwatch program," he said, "but after two years, the agency still hasn't acted. And most practicing physicians are unaware of the problem." Lipitor is not the only statin linked to this side effect, observed Dr. Graveline.

A reporter pointed out to that FDA-required trials do not report memory loss in people taking statins. An explanation was offered by Joel M. Kauffman, PhD, research professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. "In drug trials, the pharmaceutical companies often divide similar adverse effects into six or seven different categories to keep the scarier side effects under 1%." To illustrate his point, Dr. Kauffman said that amnesia could be divided into confusion, memory loss, senility, and cognitive impairment. There is general acknowledgment, however, that muscle pain, weakness, fatigue, peripheral neuropathy, and rhabdomyolysis, a potentially fatal muscle disease, are statin side effects, though they are thought to be rare.

With a little distance from his harrowing TGA experience, Dr. Graveline said that he began to question why he took Lipitor in the first place. "I had come to think of cholesterol as my personal enemy--my cholesterol levels had climbed [over the years] despite a fat-restricted diet, but no one mentions the proper function of cholesterol in the body," he continued. "We doctors march to the low-fat, low-cholesterol band." He soon learned that cholesterol plays a critical role in the maintenance and healthy functioning of cell activity in the body.

Coenzyme Q10

Several speakers expressed the opinion that the statin drugs' ability to reduce cardiovascular mortality has nothing to do with cholesterol reduction, but instead can be attributed to their anti-inflammatory effects. (A viewpoint that has been appearing in medical journals over the last few years.) Furthermore, the physicians who addressed the conference were united in their concern that the statin drugs deplete the body of an important anti-oxidant with muscle wasting and heart failure as a result. Peter Langsjoen, MD, of Tyler, Texas, said that he left his invasive cardiology practice at the University of Texas Health Center to specialize in "congestive heart failure, primary and statin-induced diastolic dysfunction and other diseases of the heart muscle." For over 20 years, he has been using coenzyme Q10 to treat a broad range of cardiovascular diseases. Q10, as he called it, can be purchased over the counter as a dietary supplement in health food stores and pharmacies.

Dr. Langsjoen said that the research on the importance of Q10 ties in nicely with the underlying philosophy of this conference because increased levels of this "vitaminlike" substance can be found in traditional foods with high fat content like organ meats, seafood, and red meat. "I call Q10 vitaminlike because it has properties of a vitamin," explained Dr. Langsjoen, "but since we synthesize it, as well as get it in our diet, it's not truly a vitamin." All statin drugs decrease both the blood levels and cellular concentrations of Q10, observed Dr. Langsjoen, the higher the dose, the greater the decrease in Q10. "As we get older, our Q10 levels fall, but we really don't know why--could be the diet," he said. "People who make it to 90 tend to have high Q10 levels, though. Most of the Q10 research has been focused on heart failure, said Dr. Langsjoen because the heart uses a huge amount of Q10. "It has been pretty well documented from biopsies that the severity of heart failure correlates with the people who have the lowest levels of Q10."

What's more, there is a serious gap in information regarding the role of statins in treating heart failure. "All the major statin trials excluded patients with class III and IV [advanced] heart failure, so we have no safety data in these patients with heart failure, though statins are prescribed to them with reckless abandon." Dr. Langsjoen is not alone in this concern which was expressed over a year ago by Australian physicians who asked, "Statins and Chronic Heart Failure: do we need a large-scale outcome trial?" in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Most medications destined to cause an adverse effect will do so early on, according to Dr. Langsjoen, who found this not to be the case with statins. "You don't realize you're in trouble until two or three years later, and it's hard to relate it to a drug you started a few years ago.

Dietary Fats and Oils

The story of how statin drugs became a multi-billion-dollar industry may have started with the identification of cholesterol as the chief culprit in heart disease, but in time the public learned that the low-fat diet would prevent heart attacks in people without symptoms of heart disease--an idea that the sponsors of this conference believe has produced numerous health problems. Mary Enig, PhD, an expert in lipid chemistry, spoke of the misinformation perpetuated upon the public by the government-sponsored "pyramid diet," which was introduced over 20 years ago and marked the beginning of the promotion of the low-fat diet. Along with the "use sparingly" advice, fats, oils, and sugar are at the very tip of the Food Guide Pyramid symbol that appears on food labels.

Dr. Enig believes that the rise of obesity is related to type of foods Americans have been encouraged to eat by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the food industry, and consumer groups. "[People are eating] a diet high in grain and inappropriate fats, instead of the natural animal fats, such as lard, tallow, chicken fat, goose fat, and the natural vegetable fats, such as olive, palm, and coconut oils, that we used to have in our diets," and contrary to the current "propaganda," she explained that these fats and oils are essential components to a healthful diet. These so-called good fats provide the major fuel for the heart, kidneys, and skeletal muscles, said Dr. Enig, who said the inappropriate fats are the highly processed polyunsaturated fats, such as soybean, canola, and corn oils, which are promoted [ironically] as heart protective.

"Before the advent of modern vegetable oils, mankind consumed small accounts of fresh, undamaged polyunsaturated fatty acids found naturally as a component of his food," according to Dr. Enig. "Consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids is much higher today because vegetable oils are used widely as cooking oils and in salad dressings, baked goods, and snack foods. Polyunsaturated oils should never be heated--yet during the extraction process these oils are subjected to very high temperatures that encourage rancidity and the formation of many harmful breakdown products." An example of the harmful breakdown product, she explained, is something called trans fatty acids, which are now generally recognized by mainstream medicine as harmful to the heart. Dr. Enig said that trans fatty acids do not appear on the nutrition labeling of food products, but they should. Trans fatty acids are abundant in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which are usually listed in the ingredients section of the food label, and are found in only small amounts in animal fats.

Dr. Enig is a leading spokesperson for the Weston A. Price Foundation, which sponsored this conference. The foundation is named for a dentist who, beginning in the 1930s, studied the dentition of healthy isolated people untouched by Western civilization. He found that they inevitably had great bone structure and beautiful straight teeth.

Primitive diets were nutrient dense, with four times the calcium and mineral and ten times the level of fat-soluble vitamins, compared to the modern American diet. Dr. Price continued to study these isolated people as Western foods were introduced. The white flour, sugar, devitalized oils, etc., gradually displaced the traditional foods, such as organ meats, fish eggs, and butter from pasture-fed cows. Changes in diet led to rampant tooth decay; narrowing of the face that brought on a susceptibility to sinus infections; narrowing of the pelvis that led to childbirth difficulties; and behavioral problems. Sally Fallon, president of the tax-exempt foundation, told the conference that its goal is to disseminate the research of this "nutrition pioneer. According to the information packet supplied to the conference attendees, the Weston A. Price Foundation takes no food industry funding.

Cholesterol Medications and Statin Drugs - Their Benefits and Side Effects

You can hardly make it through a news program without being bombarded by an advertisement for prescription cholesterol drugs. Does this sound familiar? "When diet and exercise are not enough to lower your cholesterol, ask your doctor if (brand name statin) is right for you."

All Prescription Cholesterol Medications are based on one of two approaches.

Cholesterol Drugs Fall Into Two Categories:

1. The first category of cholesterol drugs includes cholesterol binders-medications that block the absorption of cholesterol in your stomach.

These cholesterol medications absorb cholesterol which is either produced in your liver or is the result of cholesterol from the foods that you eat. This class of cholesterol drugs attaches itself to cholesterol and moves it through your system until it is excreted with a bowel movement. The idea here is, if the cholesterol is eliminated from the body by excretion, it cannot get into the bloodstream. Two commonly used cholesterol drugs are Questran and Welchol.

2. The second category of cholesterol drugs includes the large group of highly advertised "statin" cholesterol medications that block cholesterol synthesis in your liver. These statin drugs include recognized medications such as Lipitor, Pravachol, Zocor and Lescol.

When statins were first introduced, they were prescribed primarily to people with heart disease. In time, advertising to the public and heavy marketing to medical professionals have led us to believe that statins are appropriate for all people.

All together, statin drugs drive a $20 billion a year world-wide market, with Lipitor No. 1, far ahead of any other prescription statin drug sold in the U.S. No head-to-head comparison or testing has ever been conducted to determine whether one is superior to the others.

Although statins are commonly used interchangeably to reduce LDL cholesterol, studies have shown differences in the degree of effectiveness and the possible side effects associated with various statins.

Statin Drugs Work, but for Many Users Statin Drug Side Effects are Intolerable and Dangerous

When certain side effects are experienced you must stop taking these drugs and contact a physician immediately.

The acknowledged side effects of statins include muscle pain and weakness, which most people think is arthritis, the suppression of the body's formation of Co-enzyme Q10 and a potentially fatal muscle-wasting disorder called rhabdomyolysis. One statin, Baycol, has been withdrawn from the market because it was linked to 31 deaths from rhabdomyolysis.

Rhabdomyolysis a serious side effect which involves distruction of the sketal muscle. Large amounts of musle protein into the blood stream.

The T.V. ads say "liver problems can be detected by a simple liver test." Simple for whom? Do you really want to take a liver enzyme test every six months? And what about the cost and time that it takes to visit a lab? Does that sound simple to you?

While these side effects are reported to affect only about 2% of all statin users, many physicians report a much higher incidence. Some practitioners are seeing so many problems they are beginning to question the long-term effects of continued use.

Here are Common Side Effects Associated with Statin Drugs:

Allergic reaction (new onset of wheezing, respiratory congestion, itching or skin rashes)
Muscle pain and aches
Decreased sexual interest or ability
Muscle weakness
Difficulty sleeping
Constipation
Diarrhea
Dizziness or lightheadedness
Excessive gas or belching
Headache
Heartburn or indigestion
Abdominal pain
Nausea or vomiting
Skin rash

Because of these side effects and adverse reactions, the FDA recommends prescribing cholesterol medications and statins only when cholesterol levels are markedly elevated or to those who have significant other risks of developing or already have coronary heart disease.

If statin drug side effects are a concern, you may want to consider alternatives to prescription cholesterol drugs such as natural supplements. Natural supplements are free from side effects and work to lower cholesterol levels naturally.

New studies are being undertaken by researchers that are not on the payroll of the drug companies. Many researchers question statin drug safety and feel that further study is warranted. Here is one example:

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe News wire) -- Those "miracle" pills that lower your cholesterol may, in fact, do more harm than good. At least one researcher is out to determine if statins pose more risks than benefits.

Beatrice Golomb, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of California, San Diego, is involved in an NIH-funded study of 1,000 subjects who have been randomized to receive statins or placebos.

"From the reports that come into us, people are experiencing severe muscle weakness, which is also linked to cognitive problems. Those cognitive problems include everything from the inability to recall names or balance a checkbook, to forgetting entire episodes."

The concern, says Dr. Golomb, is that statins haven't been adequately studied for their harmful effects. She tells Ivanhoe: "We're really interested in the balance of risks and benefits of these drugs. There are lots and lots of people looking at the benefit side. There are so few people evaluating the risk side."

Are Prescription Cholesterol Drugs Really Right for You?

Every day thousands of patients are placed on prescription drugs of some sort by their physicians who believe this is the correct action or are among the many who are simply following the recommended protocol. Whose protocol? Well first, the amazing answer is the pharmaceutical company's protocol. The same companies who promote their products by paying for the golf outings and Caribbean trips for physicians and sponsoring seminars held on cruise ships or luxurious hotels located in places like Maui and Acapulco.

While most physicians have their patients' interests in mind, the fact is they are overloaded with cases and have little time to learn about nutrition, herbs or alternatives to prescription drugs. Another concern is medical liability, and doctors have little interest in anything that is not 100% approved by the FDA and their insurance carriers. So do not look to physicians for impartial answers to your prescription drug questions.

Become well Informed and involved of your health and treatment options.

Dangers of the Drug Femara

Taken from their ad in a popular magazine

Doctors removed my lump, not my Spirit.

Femara is indicated for the adjuvant treatment of post menopausal women with hormone receptor early breast cancer. The effectiveness of Femara in early breast cancer is based on an analysis of disease-free survival in patients treated for a median of 24 months and followed for a median of 26 months.. Follow-up analyses will determine long-term outcomes to both safety and

efficacy.

Ask your oncologist if Femara is right for you.

Side effects; bone fractures, vaginal bleeding, headache, vaginal irritation, vomiting, dizziness/light headedness, osteoporosis, constipation, endometrial Proliferation Disorders, Endometrial Cancer, other Endometrial Disorders, myocardial infarction, Cerebrovascular/TA, Angina, Thromboemboic Event, other Cardiovascular, Second Malignancies.

**** Margie's comments **** The side effects did not affect every one who took the drug. But if it happens to you then, that is what you must adjust to.

I write post these article to make you aware of the need to read ALL the small print. Then discuss them with your doctor. Be part of the process not just a follower.

Dangers of the Medication (drug) Vytorin

Prescribed for lowering bad cholesterol

(As always I take it word for word from an ad in a large health magazine.)

"Vytorin treats the bad cholesterol.

Studies show it lowers bad cholesterol more than Lipitor alone.

Important information. Vytorin is a prescription tablet and is not for everyone, including women who are nursing or pregnant or who may become pregnant, and anyone with liver problems.

Unexplained muscle pain or weakness could be a sign of a rare but serious side effect and should be reported to your doctor right away.

This is because on rare occasions, muscle problems can be serious, including muscle breakdown resulting in kidney damage.

Tell your doctor if you drink alcohol or ever had liver problems. You can also be subjected to headaches.

Also you may get allergic reactions including swelling of the face, lips, tongue, and/or throat that may cause difficulty in breathing or swallowing (which may require treatment right away. Rash, hives, joint pain, alterations in some laboratory blood tests, liver problems, inflammation of the pancreas, nausea, gallstones, inflammation of the gall bladder.

This is NOT a complete list of side effects. To get more contact your pharmacist.

Diabetes Drug Danger: Diabetes Drug Avandia Linked to Heart Trauma

By Consumer Health Advocate, Frank Mangano

If you are a person suffering from Diabetes, there has been a recent study done by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto providing statistics regarding the side effects of Thiazolidinediones. This class of Diabetes drug has been linked to congestive heart failure and even the possibility of heart attacks.

A team of doctors from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto analyzed cause and effect on over 159,000 older adults who have been and are currently taking this class of Diabetes drugs. These adults were analyzed from 2002 through to 2005 and entered in an Ontario Health Care Database to record their findings. The statistics of this study included a period of 3.8 year follow-up cycle with each adult and their findings were astonishing. During this follow-up period, 7.9% were hospitalized for congestive heart failure, 7.9% were hospitalized for heart attack and an overwhelming 19% died.

This study has proved that taking Thiazolidinediones increases the risk of congestive heart failure, heart attack and death by 60%, 40% and 29%. These statistics are not acceptable for any person living with Diabetes. With further research it was revealed that risks were segregated to patients using Avandia, also known as Rosiglitazone. Although it is important more studies continue to analyze these drugs and their deadly effects on Diabetes patients, this report is alarming in itself.

When you are faced to deal with a disease such as Diabetes, it is important to remember that prescription drugs and Western Medicine are not the only options you have to control and live with Diabetes. Millions of people today are turning to the natural side of healing when it comes to their Diabetes and they are finding the natural results not only work but provide zero side effects. No matter what type of Diabetes you are currently battling there is a natural herb or supplement to help maintain and control it.

Ginseng is one of the most common forms of natural treatments used for Diabetes patients today. Of course there are many different types of Ginseng available today; however studies have shown that North American Ginseng provides the best results. It can improve your blood sugar control and glycosylated hemoglobin levels, which any Diabetes patient knows are two very important components.

Chromium is another effective natural treatment for Diabetes patients that is rapidly becoming many people’s first choice. This essential trace mineral plays not only an important role when it comes to fat metabolism but it more importantly helps the body respond properly to insulin. There have been several studies that have shown low chromium levels in people with Diabetes which makes this mineral an important inclusion to any Diabetes routine.

*** Although these natural alternatives are 100% safe taken alone, if you are planning to take them with other prescribed medications it is important to notify a qualified healthcare practitioner to ensure the combination is safe. Natural alternatives such as the two listed above provide a different type of control for Diabetes patients, but a type of control that is just as effective but without the deadly side effects. When the time comes to choose the right control path for you, take the time to consider what natural alternatives have to offer.

Drug Dangers vs. Supplements

The marketing budget alone of the drug companies is 50% greater than the total retail sales for every vitamin, mineral, or herbal product sold in the United States. and:

If we put these statistics into monetary figures it is estimated that the cost of drug-related illness and mortality is likely now over $200 billion annually. To put this dollar amount into perspective this amount is more than the total cost of treating diabetes or heart disease in the United States...

It amazes me that adverse reactions (ADRs) to prescription drugs are estimated to kill over 106,000 Americans every year (These sobering statistics do not include the number of ADRs that occur outside the hospital or the estimated 350,000 ADRs that occur in U.S. nursing homes each year, yet all it seems that the media is interested in is inaccurately portraying the dietary supplement industry as dangerous and "unregulated." I think a little perspective is in order.......

First, more people are being placed on drugs than ever before. For example, roughly 4 billion prescriptions were filled last year. That is about 12 prescriptions for every person in the United States.

Second, more and more people are being placed on a combination of drugs - many times to deal with side effects caused by some of the other drugs. The rate of ADRs increases exponentially after a patient is on 4 or more medications.

Third, many of the newer drugs are more dangerous than older drugs. The FDA has approved many of these drugs without complete safety data. Drug companies can now pay a fee to speed up approval. Of the 548 new drugs approved by the FDA from 1975-1999, 56 of these (10%) were given a new black box warning because of severe ADRs or were withdrawn from the market because of reports of deaths.

Lastly, the majority of health complaints patients see doctors for owe their origin to dietary and lifestyle factors.

Trying to treat the symptoms with a drug (a biochemical band-aid) fails to address the underlying cause and leads to side effects as a result..... the marketing budget alone of the drug companies is 50% greater than the total retail sales for every vitamin, mineral, or herbal product sold in the United States through any channel of trade.

Direct to consumer advertising is estimated to have increased the number of prescriptions last year by nearly 30 million.

As an example of the power of direct to consumer advertising, the sexual potency drug, Viagra, can probably serve as the poster child. Within a few months of its introduction, several million men began taking Viagra, and many serious side effects, including fatalities, suddenly appeared."

A range of commonly prescribed drugs including antibiotics may be responsible for around 15,000 sudden deaths each year in Europe and the United States, researchers claim.

The drugs interfere with electrical activity controlling the heartbeat. A study in the Netherlands found they were associated with a three-fold increased risk of sudden death due to cardiac arrest. Medical system is leading cause of death and injury in the United States.

This is why I have been on a passionate crusade for 25 years to help you understand that you must take the state of your health into your own hands.

I am NOT saying... do not go to doctors when needed.

I am saying to take charge of what you put into your body so your immune system will take care of you.

I spent 43 years dreading every day. Taking untold amounts of drugs and then fearing the dangerous side effects they would cause.

Please do your due diligence and research each and every drug you are taking or about to take.

Our bodies are lacking nutrition, minerals and vitamins, not drugs.

Dr. Linus Pauling stated, “Every ailment, every sickness and every disease can be traced to a mineral deficiency... and can be reversed by using the proper mineral and vitamin supplements.”

Drugs, Not Foods, Are Toxic

"The simple, incontrovertible fact is this: All drugs are dangerous; foods and supplements are safe. Anyone with a paper and pencil can quickly figure out for themselves that pharmaceuticals will sicken and kill more Americans in the next seven days than "health foods" have in the past 10 years."

It does not get more blatant than this, yet millions continue to trust such governmental agencies. If one needs clear cut proof of brainwashing here it is again...

Chris Gupta

-----------------------------

"Steps are necessary to ensure that the existence of dietary supplements on the market does not act as a disincentive for drug development." (FDA Task Force Report, June 15, 1993)

In contrast, with few exceptions and very little advertising, food supplements have enjoyed great safety and increasing demand for decades.

How safe are these food substances? Vitamin A is often pointed to as one of the more toxic dietary supplements. Yet according to the Merck manual, vitamin A has had no fatalities associated with its use of abuse. This includes accidental ingestion of millions of IUs at one sitting and weeks of megadosages given to infants.

Jonathan B. Sevy

Harmful Drug used to Stop Smoking

Millions of people today are smokers and for those of you trying to find the right resources to help you quit smoking, may already be aware that many of the drugs available can be quite dangerous to your health. Recently the FDA issued a Public Health Advisory to alert not only the consumers but health care professionals as well regarding the new safety warnings in relation to Chantix, a new prescription drug to help people stop smoking.

The FDA is discovering the more they investigate this prescription drug, the more they are finding different and serious health problems such as a distinct relationship between the drug and serious neuropsychiatric symptoms. With light of these findings the FDA is working hard with Pfizer, the manufacturing pharmaceutical giant to make sure all these health risks are clearly included on the prescription pamphlet as well as the label itself. Warnings that include:

Patients should tell their health care professionals about previous psychiatric illnesses or symptoms of the past because Chantix can bring back these symptoms.

Health care professionals, family and friends should monitor the patient using Chantix very carefully as mood and behavioral change can bring out suicidal thinking and actions.

Patients need to immediately report any changes in mood or behaviour to their doctor.

Vivid and unusual dreams can occur while taking Chantix.

Patients taking Chantix may experience impairment for driving or operating heavy machinery.

These are the warnings the FDA are putting on Chantix and they can be very dangerous for anyone’s health. There is no need to continue on this vicious drug cycle and risk your health when there are so many different and natural therapies that have been proven effective to help you quit smoking.

Acupuncture is one of the most common natural therapies and perhaps the most successful in helping people quit smoking. The needles used are about hair thin and they are inserted into key points of your ear for about 20 minutes. By doing this on a regular basis you will find a great deal of relief from your addiction and the strength to quit without adding more drugs to your life such as Chantix.

Ginseng and Lobelia are herbs that help fight the addiction and withdrawal of nicotine. By taking both of these herbs as a supplement by the guidance of a naturopathic professional you will feel less symptoms of withdrawal and therefore a more natural will to quit without the health risks and dangers prescription drugs can give you.

Quit smoking the natural way with herbal remedies such as this and therapies like acupuncture and avoid yet another risk of addiction.

Herbs and Prescription Drug Conflicts

Many people seem to first learn about herbs from a friend or family member. Or they read something online or in a magazine, and they seem to think herbs are secret miracle medicines. So they proceed to start taking as many as they can, for anything they can think of.

The problem, though, is that while many herbs can help with multiple problems at the same time, they are not a cure-all. You can't take one herb for just anything, and there are certain herbs you shouldn't take unless they're needed. There are also many situations in which the actions of the herbs can be in conflict, or cause complications with, prescription medications your doctor may put you on.

That's why it's important to let you doctor know if you're taking herbal medicines for any reason. And if you doctor does not understand the effects of the herbs you're taking, you may need to explain it to him or her so they'll better understand the potential interactions of your herbs and the medicines they want to give you prescriptions for.

(By the way, if your doctor scoffs at your herb use, threatens you, or otherwise makes you feel low or stupid, it's time to fire him or her and get a better doctor!)

An excellent example of two things that shouldn't be mixed are ginseng and caffeine. Now, this might seem like a simple case of limiting your coffee or soda intake if you're taking a ginseng herbal supplement, and you're right. But it also comes into play if your doctor prescribes you certain allergy or diet medications too. These can interact badly with the ginseng because of the components and capabilities of each medicine.

Another example is taking goldenseal herbs while also taking insulin. Goldenseal is a natural source of insulin, so if you take it while also taking insulin injections, you could potentially overdose yourself without realizing it.

Yet another example is kelp mixed with a prescription diuretic or water pill. A diuretic is a medication that causes your body to release more urine, and kelp is a natural diuretic on its own. So taking kelp while also taking a prescription diuretic could cause you to become dehydrated, or have other related dangerous side effects and complications.

Some herbal and prescription medication combinations taken at the same time can be dangerous, while others end up just working against each other. When you have a chest cough, for instance, your doctor will often prescribe coughing medications that are designed to suppress your coughing. Some herbs used for chest colds however, work as expectorants -- which means they purposely try to help your body cough up the phlegm and mucus that's in your lungs so that you can heal faster.

So before you start using herbs for medicating yourself, be sure to learn as much as you can about what the herbs actually do, and how that might conflict with anything else you're taking -- prescription or over-the-counter.

Limited Benefits and Serious Risks of the Statin Crestor

by Jay S. Cohen, M.D

If you read a newspaper or watched television news on December 10, 2008, you would have thought that Crestor, a cholesterol-lowering statin medication, was a wonder drug.

Of course, a few years ago you would have thought the same thing after the heavy news coverage for another powerful statin, Lipitor. Yet, my analyses at MedicationSense (2005, 2006) revealed that the Lipitor studies demonstrated limited benefits and worrisome adverse effects.

The new Crestor study, which involved more than 17,000 subjects, examined the drug's effectiveness in reducing elevated blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker for cardiovascular inflammation. 1 It is currently believed that increased levels of inflammation are associated with a higher incidence of heart attacks and strokes (more on CRP below).

Crestor Study Results -- and What They Really Mean

The authors of the Crestor-CRP study reported that over the 1.9 years of the study, there was a 44% reduction in cardiac events (defined as heart attack, stroke, severe angina, or cardiac death) among the subjects taking Crestor versus those taking a placebo. A 44% reduction sounds very impressive, but it is misleading.

Here on the actual numbers from the study. Over 2 years, 1.36% of subjects in the placebo group experienced a cardiac event; 0.77% of subjects in the Crestor group experienced an event. The difference was 0.59%. That is, less than 1%, a tiny difference.

The difference was so tiny that it will require 120 individuals with elevated CRP to take Crestor every day for two years for just one person to obtain benefit. 2 Meanwhile, the other 119 individuals taking and paying for Crestor for two years will obtain no protection from a cardiovascular event.

Why would the results of the Crestor-CRP study be proclaimed so loudly nationwide despite being so tiny? The Crestor-CRP study was underwritten by AstraZeneca, the manufacturer of Crestor. We have seen previously that the marketing departments of drug companies are masters at obtaining maximum media coverage for their studies even if the results are unimpressive. Wide exposure means increased sales and big profits.

One media outlet took a critical stance. ABCNEWS.com boldly offered a dissenting opinion. In "Doctor Urges Caution in Interpreting New Findings on Cholesterol Drug," Dr. Nortin Hadler wrote, "The benefit shown in this study is tiny, and if [the Crestor-CRP study] were repeated, there might be no benefit at all. I never leap to act on the basis of such small effects."3

Serious Side Effects Downplayed

In Crestor-CRP, the drug displayed many of the common adverse effects of other statin medications (Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, Mevacor, Lescol). Typical side effects include abdominal pain, muscle pain, serious muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis), renal disorders, and liver disorders. More subjects in the Crestor group experienced these side effects than subjects in the placebo group.

A far more serious adverse effect occurred with Crestor: 270 cases of newly diagnosed diabetes were reported among Crestor users, and 216 cases were reported among placebo users. The 54 more cases of diabetes in the Crestor group was a significant and worrisome finding. Diabetes is one of the most destructive, life-shortening disorders of our time. It also is a leading cause of heart attacks and strokes. Imagine, taking Crestor to prevent a heart attack and getting diabetes instead.

When the FDA decides whether to approve a new drug, it makes it decision based on whether the drug will produce significantly more benefit than risk. If Crestor were being evaluated today for approval by the FDA, I believe Crestor would not be approved because its use in the Crestor-CRP study was associated with many new cases of diabetes.

Should I Be Tested for Elevated CRP?

Half of all cardiac deaths occur in people with normal cholesterol levels, so other factors clearly are involved in the development of cardiovascular disease. New studies suggest that an elevated level of CRP may be as important an indicator of cardiac risk as cholesterol levels.4.5

"Forward-thinking cardiologists suspect that internal inflammation is the root cause of many diseases including those of the heart and blood vessels," states cardiologist Stephen Sinatra. "Studies have shown that people with elevated CRP run two times the risk of dying from a cardiovascular-related problem compared with those who have high cholesterol levels. Combine a cholesterol burden with a markedly elevated CRP and your risk of heart attack and stroke increases by a factor of nine."6

Despite this, experts still disagree on whether the entire population should be tested for elevated CRP. I believe that anyone who has cardiovascular disease or is at risk for it should be tested for elevated CRP. Furthermore, I also encourage anyone interested in prevention to have a CRP test.

A CRP level below 1 is low-risk; 1-3 moderate-risk; above 3 high-risk.

Should My Elevated CRP Be Treated?

If your CRP level is elevated, it should not be ignored. Yet this does not mean that your doctor should immediately prescribe you a statin. As Dr. James Ehrlich, a pioneer in cardiovascular disease screening, said, an elevated CRP "is a call for more information, not an invitation to take an automation-like approach to prescribing life-long statins."7

An elevated CRP indicates a higher than normal level of inflammation in the body. Many medical conditions can produce inflammation. Your doctor should examine you for signs of infection: teeth, sinuses, bladder, ovaries or prostate. A recent cold or bout of the flu can also elevate CRP. Inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis may cause an elevated CRP.

If no other causes of infection are found, the elevated CRP likely reflects cardiovascular inflammation. Should it be treated? Experts differ on this, but in general I recommend treatment.

Is Crestor the Only Treatment for Elevated CRP?

No. There are many choices, pharmaceutical and natural. This section will discuss statin therapy.

We have known for a decade that the effects of all statins are similar. This means that all statins can reduce elevated CRP.

In the Crestor-CRP study, 20 mg of Crestor was used. This is a powerful dose, and because Crestor is only available as a brand-need drug, it is expensive. At a nationwide discount pharmacy, 100 pills of 20-mg Crestor costs $340. The cost over one year is approximately $1360. Over 20 years, the cost of Crestor 20 mg per day is approximately $27,000.8 An equally powerful dose, 80 mg, of Zocor is available as a generic (simvastatin), and it costs about 90% less.

Just because the Crestor-CRP study used a powerful dose of Crestor does not mean that only a powerful dose will reduce elevated CRP. Some experts believe that it is not necessary to use the same strong statin doses that doctors frequently prescribe to reduce cholesterol levels. Elevated levels of CRP may not require such strong treatment. According to Dr. Uve Ravnskov, "It may be wiser to search for the lowest effective dose instead of the dose with maximal effect on LDL-cholesterol."9

If you are prone to getting side effects with medications, or if you simply want to reduce your risk of side effects, ask your doctor about starting with the lowest dose of simvastatin. If this does not adequately reduce your elevated CRP level, ask your doctor to increase the dose gradually until you arrive at the amount that works. With Zocor (simvastatin), the lowest dose is 10 mg.

Natural Approaches

Integrative doctors recommend a variety of natural approaches to reduce elevated CRP. Because smoking increases CRP, the first step for any smoker is to stop smoking. Being overweight increases CRP, so weight loss is also important. Healthy eating and exercise can also reduce CRP levels.

Women taking hormone replacement therapy should be aware that the therapy can increase CRP levels.10 Check with your doctor.

There are several natural supplements that have anti-inflammatory qualities. Alternative doctors often include one, such as curcumin or ginger, in their combination treatment for elevated CRP. Some alternative doctors include aspirin because of its proven anti-inflammatory effect.

Vitamin C might also be included in the treatment of elevated CRP. A study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition demonstrated that 515 mg/day of vitamin C reduced CRP 24%.11 In comparison, in the Crestor-CRP study, Crestor reduced CRP levels by an average up 37%. Vitamin C plus other therapies mentioned in this section might rival or exceed this result.

Vitamin E, with its natural anti-inflammatory effects, might also help reduce elevated CRP.

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oils) have proven anti-inflammatory effects. Studies have shown that daily intake of omega-3 fatty acids reduce the risk of cardiac death and also reduce the pain of rheumatoid arthritis.12,13 Fish oils should be a standard part of the treatment of elevated CRP. Because fish oils and aspirin taken together can increase the body's tendency for bleeding, check with your doctor before taking these therapies together.

A natural supplement with properties similar to prescription statins is red yeast rice. This fermentation product contains small amounts of several statin-like compounds. It works like a mild statin and, like prescription statins, reduces vascular inflammation and elevated CRP. Red yeast rice can also reduce cholesterol levels. Like prescription statins, red yeast rice can cause adverse effects, but the risk is low and, if side effects occur, they are usually milder than with prescription statins.

References

1. Ridker PM, Danielson E, Fonseca FAH, et al (for the JUPITER Study Group). Rosuvastatin to prevent vascular events in men and women with elevated C?reactive protein. The New England Journal of Medicine, Nov. 20, 2008;359(21):2195?2207.

2. Hlatky MA. Expanding the Orbit of Primary Prevention ?? Moving beyond JUPITER. New England Journal of Medicine, Nov. 20, 2008;359 (21):2280?82.

3. Hadler NM. Crestor, by Jove... or Not. Doctor urges caution in interpreting new findings on cholesterol drug. ABC News, Nov. 10, 2008:http://abcnews.go.com.

4. Ridker, PM, Rifai, N, Rose, L, et al. R. Comparison of C-reactive protein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the prediction of first cardiovascular events. New England Journal of Medicine 2002;347:1557-1565.

5. Albert, MA, Glynn, RJ, Ridker, PM. Plasma concentration of C-reactive protein and the calculated. Framingham Coronary Heart Disease Risk Score. Circulation 2003;108(2):161?5.

6. Sinatra, S. Statins: grossly over prescribed for cholesterol and under prescribed for internal inflammation. The Sinatra Health Report, Sept. 2002;8:1.

7. West A. JUPITER: separating the solid clinical matter from the hot gas. Holistic Primary Care, Winter 2008;9(4):1-2.

8. Crestor costs. Costco pharmacy, Dec. 20, 2008:www.costco.com.

9. Ravnskov, U. Is atherosclerosis caused by high cholesterol? QJM (Quarterly Journal of Medicine) 2002;95:397-403.

10. Walsh, BW, Paul, S, Wild RA, et al. The Effects of Hormone Replacement Therapy and Raloxifene on C?Reactive Protein and Homocysteine in Healthy Postmenopausal Women: A Randomized, Controlled Trial. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2004;85:214?218.

11. Block, G, Jensen, C, Dietrich, M, et al. Plasma C-reactive protein concentrations in active and passive smokers: influence of antioxidant supplementation. Journal of the American College of Nutrition 2004;23:141-147.

12. Simopoulos, AP. Essential Fatty Acids in Health and Chronic Disease. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1999;70(suppl):560S-569S.

13. Simopoulos, AP. The Mediterranean diets: What is so special about the diet of Greece? Journal of Nutrition 2001;131:3065S-3073S.

LIPITOR,® Thief of Memory

"Statin Drugs and the Misguided War On Cholesterol" is an incredible book. A must read for anyone who is even remotely interested in how our sickness care, billed as health care, system works. Dr. Graveline, like many, obviously a very conscientious doctor, was suddenly faced with a number of dilemmas when he experienced transient global amnesia (memory loss) induced by Lipitor (one of the statin cholesterol lowering drugs). Interestingly the manufacture even proclaims that there is no connection with its use to prevent health disease or heart attacks, the manufacturer even proclaims that there is no connection with its use to prevent heart disease or heart attacks, yet the use of this useless drug continuers through slick marketing

This short eminently readable work discusses, among other issues, what Transient Global Amnesia (TGA) is, how the statin drugs work, the myth of the Cholesterol Modified Low Fat diet Cholesterol/Modified Low Fat Diet etc. of special interest is the role of cholesterol particularly in the brain. It is shown how statins can transverse the blood brain barrier and interferes with the normal functioning of the brain. This is most important in those who have a dramatic reduction when using statins…"abrupt, major decreases of serum cholesterol from statin drug therapy should be taken more as a warning than as an indication of success, for cognitive side effects seemed more likely to occur in these cases."...

Mention is made of a "recent Prosper trial published in Lancet, that statin therapy increased the incidence of cancer deaths, cancer deaths, completely offsetting the SLIGHT decrease in deaths from cardiovascular disease and further complicating interpretation of reported benefits from statin therapy." Not to mention other significant side effects of liver/kidney damage, muscle pain/injury, Coenzyme 10 (CQ10) see end of article on getting the best CQ10. Depletion essential for heart health and continued deficiency of heat essential vitamin B's and other nutrients.

There is a cogent discussion between correlation of good diet and diseases. no one, but no one, has ever had a drug deficiency yet our medical system continues to discourage the use of nutrients in lieu of generally toxic drugs! They never even look at the underlying causes, which these drugs sadly mask - much to the detriment of the patient.

Given the benefits of cholesterol lowering borders more on speculation then in fact (mostly from manipulated statistics) mostly from manipulated statistic) it is surprising that there is a need to reduce cholesterol at all. Yet both Drs. Graveline and Cohen (in the forward) still seem to feel the need to do so indicates how ingrained the cholesterol lowering mantra has taken hold in the medical community.

Lipitor: Side Effects And Natural Remedy

Serious side effects have been reported for Lipitor and other cholesterol-lowering drugs - the so-called statins - prescribed to millions for preventive purposes. The prescription of these drugs is based on the discredited hypothesis is discredited that high cholesterol levels cause heart attacks. The cholesterol myth cholesterol myth has been one of the most long lived falsehoods around - probably because it has been excellent business, both for large pharma producers as well as for the food multinationals, who introduced margarine telling us how much healthier it is than butter.

There is an easy, widely available nutritional solution to heart attacks: Vitamin C. Needless to say, taking more vitamin C has been opposed by big pharma and its mainstream medicine followers for decades.

Of course you have to have it in a liquid form. Powered or capsules are about 10% usable to the human body but the calcium in "The Drink" is liquid and 95% usable to your body.

When a "preventive" medicine causes severe muscular degeneration as a "common" side effect, something must be awfully wrong. Jonathan Campbell examines the side effects and postulates a mechanism - proposing an astonishingly simple remedy.

Lipitor - Reports of Neuromuscular Degeneration

by Jonathan Campbell, March 16, 2004

Numerous adverse side effect reports have implicated Lipitor as a possible cause for severe neuromuscular degeneration. Some people who have been using Lipitor for two years or more report symptoms similar to multiple sclerosis or ALS - Lou Gehrig's Disease - in which they are losing neuromuscular control of their bodies.

For instance, in an article entitled "Life After Lipitor" that appeared in the newspaper Tahoe World on January 27, 2004, Tahoe City (California) resident Doug Peterson began having serious neuromuscular problems after taking Lipitor for two years. He began losing muscular coordination and slurring words when he spoke. Then he lost balance, followed by loss of fine motor skills - he had difficulty writing. He went from doctor to doctor, trying to figure out what could be happening. Finally one doctor suggested that he stop taking Lipitor, and the downward health spiral stopped and his health is now slowly improving.

These adverse effects have begun appearing in peer-reviewed medical journals, and numerous people have reported similar symptoms at public adverse effects. People have reported "trouble swallowing, trouble talking and enunciating words, feeling fatigued all the time, neck aches," "motor neuropathy which mimics ALS," "Blinding headaches, nausea, vertigo, disorientation, memory loss, extremely dry eyes, pain and stiffness in my neck and calf muscles, abdominal pain," and "Muscle pain, weakness, spasms, buzzing in right leg. Can't hold arms or head up in vertical position for 2 minutes without extreme pain and weakness."

How could Lipitor potentially cause this kind of harm to so many different parts of the body? Lipitor is a "statin" drug, which inhibits the production of cholesterol in order to lower LDL cholesterol counts. By limiting the production of cholesterol, Lipitor may be indirectly causing membrane degeneration in neural and muscle tissue.

The problem is this: cholesterol is essential in your body for many functions. It forms part of what is called the cell membrane - the outer layer of every cell in your body. It helps transport and pack the major components of the cell membrane, called "phospholipids," that are made from essential fatty acids (EFAs). Without sufficient cholesterol we would die, because our tissues are constantly being repaired and replaced with new cells.

Our body produces several thousand milligrams of cholesterol per day to carry out these essential functions, and each day the excess of cholesterol is supposed to be naturally recycled. If your body doesn't have enough new cholesterol each day, you cannot repair and replace your cell membranes and they will eventually degenerate.

The continual recycling of cholesterol happens naturally when you have sufficient ascorbate, another name for vitamin C. Excess cholesterol is naturally converted to bile acid and then excreted. But if you don't consume enough vitamin C (about 2000-3000 milligrams per day for an adult), and it must be liquid, cholesterol builds up in your bloodstream. It is here that doctors make a critical error: instead of telling you to take more vitamin C, they prescribe Lipitor.

If Lipitor and other similar statin drugs are in fact indirectly causing neural and muscular degeneration, this is a very serious matter indeed.

There are twenty million people in the U.S. on Lipitor alone, and probably millions more on other statin drugs (Zocor, Pravachol, Mevacor, Altocor, Lescol, Crestor, etc.). Are they all going to become victims of cell membrane degeneration and nervous system problems? There are few long-term studies that bear out the safety of these drugs, and side effects such as "muscle pain or weakness" are just classified as a reason for some to stop the medication rather than an indication of something very wrong with the drug.

More Drug Marketing Tricks

We now know that physicians, who see pharmaceutical drug reps more often, tend to prescribe, for example, antibiotics more frequently for common respiratory infections that don't really need an antibiotic...

...The drug companies spend a great deal on marketing and they don't do it without knowing why they're spending that money and they know exactly what they're doing. And they're very good at it....

Why should patients care?

Patients, when they sit with the doctor, want their doctor to be unbiased, to be completely objective, to base their decision based on their knowledge and their skill and their understanding of the science of drugs and when all of that is influenced in the background by this pharmaceutical drug information that the pharmaceutical drug reps have, and that the doctors don't have, that's of great concern."...

This most informative interview on the CBC Disclosure: Targeting Doctors Program is yet again another behind the scenes pharma ploy to extract money from the medical system. Health concern of their customer is surely not a concern but only a pretense to get our confidence in the system.

Next time you go to a pharmacy - demand that they not sell or hand out your prescription information to anyone.

Also if you are ever asked by your doctor to participate in trial, ask him what the drug company conducting the trial is paying him for you to participate in the trial. This conflict interest is often not disclosed to the trusting patients.

Chris Gupta

Dr. Dick Zoutman is an infectious disease specialist at Kingston General Hospital. His biggest worry is the impact prescription profiles have on peoples' health. "Doctors don't realize that they're being influenced," he says. "We think we're immune. We think we're very powerful and we're immune but we're not."

Dr. Zoutman is about to publish his latest research. It shows how doctors influenced by drug reps are more likely to prescribe inappropriate drugs.

What was it that you saw that prompted you to look into this?

It was the fact that physicians' data was being compiled about individual practitioners in great detail that worried us.

Why?

I have been in practice now for some fifteen years and I was not aware it was happening. So it surprised me and we started asking some questions of the various companies who are collecting this data. We found this is a common practice, it's widespread, it's multinational in countries around the world - and that was a surprise to me. Most of my colleagues were unaware that it was happening either.

Then we did some research and realized that the Canadian Medical Association was aware of this practice and in 1997 issued a policy statement about the issue of physician profiling and data prescription mining.

How does it work? A doctor writes a prescription, the patient goes to the pharmacy. Then what happens?

There are several layers here. It appears that the information is entered into the computer by a pharmacist or a pharmacy technician. From there the information is removed and taken off either by another piece of software... It ends up in the hands of large data corporations who make it their job to profile the physicians by drug class and by geographical location, etc., to determine in great detail my prescribing behavior around all aspects of every prescription that I write. This isn't happening in hospitals, it's in the community retail pharmacy area where we're seeing this.

Who is the biggest seller of this information?

There are at least two companies that we know of. We believe the largest company in Canada is an organization called IMS Health. That they are one of the biggest players in this. But we also know there are others.

What do they sell, IMS?

These companies are selling information about the physician's prescribing behavior in great detail back to drug companies.

Why do the drug companies want the information?

One particular use of the information that concerns us is that it's used to profile physician prescribing exactly. That information is provided to pharmaceutical drug representatives who visit doctors. That information allows the pharmaceutical drug representatives to have detailed information about the prescribing behavior of the physician.

Why do they want it?

They want it so that they can determine whether you are a high prescriber or a low prescriber for a particular targeted drug and then they ... talk to you about your prescribing habits, why you're using one drug versus another drug and so forth.

The difficulty with this is that the vast majority of physicians don't know what's going on and are unaware that the pharmaceutical drug rep sitting in their office has a detailed profile. That information is hugely powerful to influence. If you're sitting there with the pharmaceutical drug rep in your office and you don't realize that they've got this information ... and not being able to see the information to critique it for its accuracy and its validity - you're at a severe disadvantage.

We know that this prescriber information is very powerful as a way to, in a form, coerce physicians in a passive kind of way into changing their prescribing behavior. There's no doubt that physicians who are seeing pharmaceutical drug representatives are being influenced by what they're learning from the pharmaceutical drug representatives.

Why does it have an impact?

I'm not able to look at my own prescribing dispassionately and say: 'Well, maybe I'm prescribing too much of this and not enough of the other. Maybe I'm too old fashioned or I'm picking up the new drugs too soon.' Because of that, my not having that [information], but the pharmaceutical drug rep is having it; I'm at a severe disadvantage.

Why?

Because I'm not able to be on the same footing. They're sitting in the room having a great deal of information about me that I don't have. And that's able to influence me. They're able to do a direct strike, a very targeted intervention to try and convince me to use one drug or the other, provide you with information about their drug. That may not be information about other drugs and about the whole therapeutic issue that's being addressed.

We've shown that in our local community here, that physician who see pharmaceutical drug reps more often, tend to prescribe, for example, antibiotics more frequently for common respiratory infections that don't really need an antibiotic.

And they also prescribe antibiotics that tend to be the newer more expensive varieties that we're all concerned about developing resistant bacteria too - we've shown locally here in Kingston area that that's an issue. And that's been shown over and over in other therapeutic areas. You know, cardiovascular drugs, cancer drugs; the impact of the pharmaceutical drug representatives is very powerful.

The drug companies spend a great deal on marketing and they don't do it without knowing why they're spending that money and they know exactly what they're doing. And they're very good at it.

The problem is, doctors don't realize that they're being influenced. We think we're immune. We think we're very powerful and we're immune but we're not. And that's something physicians have to realize, that we are influenced by it.

Why should patients care?

Don't doctors like visits from drug reps?

Some do, some don't. I don't have much time in my schedule to meet with pharmaceutical drug reps. We have formal committees in the hospital. I can't speak for my colleagues who are in community practice however. But we do know that the average number of doctors, the average number of visits is four pharmaceutical drug rep visits per month in the office. That's about one a week, on average. Some more, some less.

Overall, I do not believe that physicians are being informed adequately and sufficiently that this practice is going on, as I wrote in our article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

We think that's an important issue: that physicians really are not aware and physicians need to be made aware so that they can give informed consent. I believe physicians should consent to this data being profiled about their prescribing habits. I believe it's confidential information, and many other people believe it is as well.

A lot of doctors will say that they need the information that comes from the sales reps.

That's true. The sales reps can keep physicians up to date about new drugs, new drugs that are being released, new issues around adverse effects and proper use of drugs.

Pharmaceutical drug representatives have a code of ethics and they are people who are trying to do a good job for their company to sell their drug.

The concern that we have is the fact that physicians' data is being profiled without the physicians' consent up front - despite some mail outs that have gone on from several of these data collection companies, there's no opportunity for direct, positive informed consent. We believe that needs to be part of the process. Physicians need to be asked: Do you want to be profiled, yes or no? And if yes, fine. If not, then you have the option to have your name taken off the list.

Why do you think that doctors are so easily influenced this way?

I think all human beings are influenced. Why are there billboards along the highway? Why is television full of advertising? In many ways it pays the freight and we accept that in our society.

There's something unique though about the physician-patient relationship, there's something sacred and special about the level of trust. It has to be at the highest possible level for patients to feel they can really trust what their physicians are doing, their physicians are uninfluenced and biased, and unbiased, in their decision-making.

I think this prescription data is very important and very valuable information. It is not only influential to physicians, but can be used to inform and educate physicians to optimize drug use. But in order for that to happen, the information has to be provided back to physicians.

Has your research shown that it makes a difference in the way doctors prescribe - whether they've been visited or not?

We found that physicians who were visited by pharmaceutical drug reps were more likely to prescribe antibiotics for things where antibiotics weren't indicated and also to prescribe antibiotics that were more expensive and very broad spectrum.

What would be the difference in prescribing practice according to whether you had a visit from a drug rep?

The drugs that are prescribed tend to be the broader spectrum, newer antibiotics. We've also found that there's more likelihood, if you've been visited by pharmaceutical drug representatives, to be prescribing antibiotics when they're not even indicated - for things like coughs and colds and upper respiratory ailments that we see every winter.

The link to a visit by a sales rep - why do you think that happens?

The visit from the sales rep presumably has an impact on the physician's thinking about the merits of a new drug that may have a broader spectrum, therefore kills more bacteria, might be more effective and the concern that the patients may find the drug more acceptable. The drug may also be able to be taken less frequently. Once a day, twice a day dosing is easier, there's no question.

But those are all kinds of the issues and the physician is influenced because they've been told about the one drug - but not about all the others that are part of their choices. The marketing is aimed at the broader spectrum drugs.

Why?

Because that's where the money is.

So the doctors that get all these visits aren't prescribing the cheaper, older drugs?

We want doctors to be prescribing the most appropriate drugs for the condition. We do know from the literature - not from our own research but from the literature - that physicians who have contact with pharmaceutical drug reps are more likely to be prescribing the newer drugs.

Which are more expensive?

Which are invariably more expensive and that's been shown.

When Dr. Schumacher complained to the Privacy Commissioner, the Commissioner said that ultimately there is no invasion of privacy.

What did you think of that?

Well, I respected the review that the Privacy Commissioner did of the issue. I thought it was very thorough and had the same findings that we had. However, I don't agree with his conclusions. When the Privacy Commissioner described the value of a prescription to society, he described it as a product of our work. And therefore it's not confidential.

He compared us, the medical profession, in his report, to chefs and to roofers and to mechanics. And all deference to the important value of chefs, roofers and mechanics and the important work they do in our society, it's a very different relationship between me and a chef when I'm in a restaurant. If the chef cooks a meal that I don't like, I may not come back or I may not leave a tip.

But the relationship between a physician and a patient is very different. I'm able, when I'm dealing in a restaurant or with a roofer or a mechanic, to say what I want to do. I'm in a situation of fairly equal power. The physician-patient relationship is very lopsided towards the physician who has a great deal of power over the patient and that has to be acknowledged.

I'm most concerned, not so much entirely about just the confidentiality; I'm most concerned about how the data is used to influence physicians to prescribe one way or the other. That to me, I think, is the big issue around this prescription data mining issue.

We've talked to IMS and they say that the information they sell to drug companies does not have individual doctors' names on it - that it's aggregate information.

That's right. The information is aggregated by the amounts of drugs that are being prescribed. So it's aggregated by the drug classes and by the amount of drug. But within that aggregated database are physician identifying numbers so that it's not very difficult then to link it back to another database which they have of all the physicians names, addresses and the identification numbers. You link up by the identification numbers and you've got the physician-identified database that allows you to profile physicians precisely.

It starts off being aggregated by the amount of drug being prescribed. But if it can be de-aggregated directly to the physician, then the aggregation is more apparent than real.

How?

Because their data has a physician identifier number. You have a separate data set that has that identifying number linked directly to my name, for example.

How many pharmacists are involved?

I believe it's a fairly widespread practice. I certainly know that it's international across many countries… The information we have is that approximately 4,000 pharmacies across the country, which will include some of the chains, are participating in this program to supply information to the data miner, the prescription data mining companies.

Our research shows that the information is acquired at the pharmacy level. The Privacy Commission's report corroborates that information, that it is acquired at the pharmacy level. And from there it is used to produce reports.

IMS says they do this doctor profiling, but primarily the drug companies want this because it's a moral responsibility to know the prescribing trends of doctors. In other words, they're suggesting this is not about money; it's about health.

It's about money too. It's about influencing physicians. It's about affecting drug prescribing behavior. It's about using this information to subtly coerce physicians in an indirect kind of way by this information. It's been well studied that this information is very powerful information to convince physicians about prescribing one way or the other. So on that, I agree that the data is very powerful. But it's also about sales. It has to be.

How valuable do you think it would be to drug companies?

I think this information is of immense value. It allows them to direct their marketing activities. It also would be of immense value to physicians to be able to look at their prescribing activities, to optimize them. It has great value. Of that there's no doubt.

You're obviously concerned about this. But why aren't governments concerned about this?

I think the governments should be concerned. It's the health of patients is affected by the prescriptions that the doctors hand out. If the physicians are being influenced by this information unwittingly, then I think we should all be concerned.

More Tylenol Turmoil

Pill Recall Expands as Complaints Pour into FDA

With the Tylenol recall in full swing, now is the time to jump aboard the all-natural bandwagon.

If you’ve ever thought, hinted at, or seriously considered adopting the all-natural way to live and treat conditions, no time is as good as now. I know that sounds trite and tired, but I say that not because it’s a good motto to live by, but because the circumstances are ripe for it. Because if you haven’t already heard, there’s a huge recall on over-the-counter pills like Tylenol, Motrin, St. Joseph’s Aspirin, Benadryl, even Rolaids.

According to multiple reports filed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, pills and antacids like these have caused dozens and dozens of adverse reactions all across the country, including nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and severe stomach pain.

McNeil, the maker of these medicines, believe they know the source of what’s causing these adverse reactions: A disgusting wood pallet that the medicines were shipped on leaked a chemical. Whatever the chemical was, it had a distinct and offensive odor.

Now, we all make mistakes, so we shouldn’t cast aspersions too quickly. But what makes this instance so outrageous is that McNeil had this same problem two years ago - the very same one! So you’d think that McNeil would take the appropriate measures in ridding their facilities of the offending wood pallets that leak this mysterious chemical.

No such luck, as it happens.

You can bet that heads will be rolling at McNeil as someone clearly dropped the ball on this one.

McNeil has gone ahead and posted all of the offending products on their website, complete with the box labeling, product description and UPC codes. You’d be wise to take a look to make sure you don’t have any of these products lying around your house or lurking in your medicine cabinet.

In the meantime, why not use this incident as a springboard to start taking natural herbs that can treat headache, natural supplements that can help ease the pain of arthritis, and natural elixirs that relieve allergies?

They work, and what’s more, they’re guaranteed not to cause any adverse side effects: one of the many hallmarks to all natural living and supplementing.

Sources:

mcneilproductrecall.com

drugwatch.com

Poisonings From a Popular Pain Reliever Are Rising

By Deborah Franklin

Despite more than a decade's worth of research showing that taking too much of a popular pain reliever can ruin the liver, the number of severe, unintentional poisonings from the drug is on the rise, a new study reports. The drug, acetaminophen, is best known under the brand name Tylenol. But many consumers don't realize that it is also found in widely varying doses in several hundred common cold remedies and combination pain relievers.

These compounds include Excedrin, Midol Teen Formula, Theraflu, Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine, and NyQuil Cold and Flu, as well as other over-the-counter drugs and many prescription narcotics, like Vicodin and Percocet.

The authors of the study, which is appearing in the December issue of Hepatology, say the combination of acetaminophen's quiet ubiquity in over-the-counter remedies and it's pairing with narcotics in potentially addictive drugs like Vicodin and Percocet can make it too easy for some patients to swallow much more than the maximum recommended dose inadvertently.

"It's extremely frustrating to see people come into the hospital who felt fine several days ago, but now need a new liver," said Dr. Tim Davern, one of the authors and a gastroenterologist with the liver transplant program of the University of California at San Francisco. "Most had no idea that what they were taking could have that sort of effect." The numbers of poisonings, however, are still tiny in comparison with the millions of people who use over-the-counter and prescription drugs with acetaminophen.

Dr. Davern and a team of colleagues from other centers led by Dr. Anne Larson at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, tracked the 662 consecutive patients who showed up with acute liver failure at 23 transplant centers across the United States from 1998 to 2003.

Acetaminophen poisoning was to blame in nearly half the patients, the scientists found. The proportion of cases linked to the drug rose to 51 percent in 2003 from 28 percent in 1998. Not all the poisonings were accidental. An estimated 44 percent were suicide attempts by people who swallowed fistfuls of pills. "It's a grisly way to die," Dr. Davern said, adding that patients who survive sometimes suffer profound brain damage.

But in at least another 48 percent of the cases studied, the liver failed after a smaller, unintentional assault by the drug over several days. "I see some young women who have been suffering flulike symptoms for the better part of a week, and not eating much," Dr. Davern said. "They start with Tylenol, and maybe add an over-the-counter flu medicine on top of that, and pretty soon they've been taking maybe six grams of acetaminophen a day for a number of days. In rare cases that can be enough to throw them into liver failure."

Each Extra Strength Tylenol tablet contains half a gram, or 500 milligrams, of acetaminophen, and arthritis-strength versions of the pain reliever contain 650 milligrams. One tablet of Midol Teen formula contains 500 milligrams of acetaminophen, as does one adult dose of NyQuil Cold and Flu. One dose of Tylenol Cold and Flu Severe contains 1,000 milligrams. The recommended maximum daily dose for adults is 4 grams, or 4,000 milligrams.

"Part of the problem is that the labeling on many of these drugs is still crummy," said Dr. William Lee, a liver specialist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, who for years has been lobbying the Food and Drug Administration to make manufacturers put "acetaminophen" in large letters on the front of any package that contains it, so that as they reach for the bottle, patients will be more likely to pause and keep track of exactly how much they are swallowing.

Some companies have voluntarily added new warnings about acetaminophen's risk to the liver, and they should be given credit for that, said Dr. Charles Ganley, director of the F.D.A.'s Office of Nonprescription Products. "But labeling isn't where I would like it to be," Dr. Ganley added.

McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals, a division of Johnson & Johnson, updated the labeling on all its Tylenol products in 2002 to list all the active ingredients on the front of the bottle, increase the type size of acetaminophen, and added a label on the front warning consumers not to use the product with others that contain acetaminophen, said Kathy Fallon a spokeswoman.

"I urge consumers to read the label," she said. "Anything more than the recommended dose is an overdose."

Dr. Lee said he was disturbed by a pattern: "that acetaminophen is always billed as the one to reach to for safety, probably even more so now, with other pain relievers pulled from the market."

In fact, the drug, when given in precise, appropriate doses is safer for children and teenagers than aspirin, which can interact with a viral infection to bring on rare but serious damage to the brain, liver and other organs in a constellation of symptoms known as Reye's syndrome. And among adults, low doses of acetaminophen are less likely than aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen to eat away at the stomach, aggravate bleeding or harm the kidneys.

Even patients with chronic liver disease are justly advised to take acetaminophen for the occasional fever, or for the pain of osteoarthritis, a back injury or other malady, if they keep the total daily dose under about two grams, Dr. Lee said.

Experts agree that a vast majority of people can safely take the four-gram daily maximum that labels recommend for adults - the equivalent of eight Extra Strength Tylenol spread across 24 hours - and some people swallow much more without harm.

But by eight grams in a single day, a significant number of people whose livers have been stressed by a virus, medication, alcohol or other factors would run into serious trouble, Dr. Lee said. Without intervention, about half the people who swallowed a single dose of 12 to 15 grams could die.

How much alcohol over what time period is problematic? Recent research suggests the answer isn't simple. The package labels now warn anyone who drinks three or more drinks every day to consult a doctor before taking acetaminophen, but Dr. Lee thinks that people who are sober during the week but binge on weekends may be vulnerable, too.

The few days of fasting that can accompany a bad stomach bug also seem to increase the liver's vulnerability to acetaminophen. And though safe levels of the drug for large men may, in general, be higher than those for small women, obese people aren't protected; extra fat in the liver seems to prime the organ for further damage.

Nearly two-thirds of the people in the transplant center study who unintentionally poisoned themselves were taking one or another of the roughly 200 prescription drugs that contain acetaminophen plus an opiate. Among the most popularly prescribed drugs in this group include hydroconebitartrate plus acetaminophen, which is commonly sold as Vicodin, and oxycodone hydrochloride plus acetaminophen, better known as Percocet.

While these acetaminophen/opiate combination drugs can be very effective in curbing pain after surgery or injury, some patients who take the drugs chronically soon find they need increasing amounts to achieve the same level of pain relief.

Because the narcotic part of the compound can be addictive, its accompanying doses of acetaminophen climb sky high in lock step. The liver may keep pace with gradual increases of the drug initially, only to suddenly crash months later. It is the acetaminophen that kills the liver.

Lynne Gong of San Jose, Calif., watched her 28-year-old daughter, Leah, nearly die last summer after that sort of crash. What had started out as a treatment for the pain of a dislocated shoulder and subsequent surgery had escalated over two years to a full-blown addiction.

After her daughter was hospitalized, Ms. Gong said she found herself warning friends, neighbors "and anyone else who would listen" that they needed to closely monitor their own intake of acetaminophen and that of their children.

Some dangers lurk in surprising corners. One day, after Lynne Gong told the women in her prayer group about Leah's experience, a member went home and, after a little investigating of her own, discovered that her 12-year-old son and his friends had started nipping NyQuil on Friday nights for the alcohol content, in hopes of getting drunk.

There are 9.8 grams of acetaminophen in a 10-ounce bottle of NyQuil, Ms. Gong said. "Everyone really needs to be more aware."

Restless Legs Syndrome - Are the Benefits Worth Taking the Drug Requip?

Taken from their ad from a health magazine.

Night after night, the urge to get up and move kept me from falling asleep.

Restless Legs Syndrome.

It is recognized as a medical condition.

One that's shared by nearly 1 in 10 US adults. Most people experience its symptoms in the evening..

Requip helped me make peace with my legs.

The compelling urge to move
Disturbing sensations in the legs
Moving offers temporary relief
Trouble resting or falling asleep

People who suffer fro RLS often describe their leg sensations as creep, crawly, tingling, tightening. Getting up and moving their legs offers some relief, but the symptoms always come back. Only a doctor can determine if you have Restless LEGS SYNDROME

Requip is the first FDA-approved treatment for RLS. Taken daily, no-habit-forming prescription Requip helps relieve the symptoms of moderate-to-severe primary Restless Legs Syndrome.

Important safely information. Requip tablets may cause you to fall asleep or feel very sleepy during normal activities such as driving. Or to faint or

feel dizzy, nauseated, or sweaty when you stand up.

Tell your doctor if you experience these problems or if you drink alcohol or taking other medicines that make you drowsy.

Also tell your doctor if you or your family notices that you develop any unusual impulses or behaviors, such as pathological gambling or hyper sexuality.

Side effects include nausea, drowsiness, vomiting, and dizziness. Hallucinations have been reported.

People with Parkinson's disease show that they may be at an increased risk of developing melanoma, a form of skin cancer, when compared to people without Parkinson's disease.

Requip is one of the medicines prescribed for Parkinson's disease.

Do you really want any of the above side effects?

Sleep Drug Rozerem & Side Effects

Taken from a major magazine. Word for word.

**********

Your dreams miss you. When you can't sleep you can't dream. But now there is Rozerem, a sleep aid like no other. Rozerem is approved for adults having trouble falling asleep. In fact, it's the first and only prescription sleep aid that in clinical studies shows no potential for abuse or dependence... Take it when you need it, stop when you don't.

Your doctor can explain why Rozerem is so different. IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION: Don't take if you're taking Luvox or have severe liver problems. Avoid taking it with alcohol.

Don't drive or operate machinery until you know how you will react to Rozerem. Rozerem may affect some hormones.

Consult your doctor about how this may affect you, of if your insomnia doesn't improve.

Take Rozerem right before bed. Side effect may include drowsiness, fatigue and dizziness.

Ask your doctor if Rozerem is right for you. Your dreams miss you.

Margie's note... Then in teeny tiny print I had to use a magnifying glass to read it went on...

WARNINGS (their large print not mine) since sleep disturbances may be the presenting manifestation of a physical and/or psychiatric disorder, symptomatic treatment of insomnia should be initiated only after a careful evaluation of the patient.

The failure of insomnia to remit after a reasonable period of treatment may indicate the presence of a primary psychiatric and/or a medical illness that should be evaluated. Worsening of insomnia, or the emergence of new cognitive or behavioral abnormalities, may be the result of an unrecognized underlying psychiatric or physical disorder and requires further evaluation of the patient.

As with other hypnotics, exacerbation of insomnia and emergence of cognitive and behavioral abnormalities were seen with Rozerem during the clinical development stage.

Rozerem should not be used by patients with severe hepatic impairment. It should not be used in combination with fluvoxamine.

A variety of cognitive and behavior changes have been reported to occur in association with the use of hypnotics. In primarily depressed patients, worsening of depression, including suicidal, ideation, has been reported.

Patients should avoid engaging in hazardous activities that require operating a motor vehicles or heavy machinery after taking it.

It has been associated with an effect on reproductive hormones in adults, decreased testosterone levels and increased prolatin levels...

Patients should be advised they should not take Rozerem with or immediately after a high-fat meal.

Contact your doctor if this product results in cessation of menses or galactorrhea in females, decreased libido or problems with fertility.

Pregnant women or those who might become pregnant should not take this product. Don't use unless the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus.

Rozerem is secreted into the test animals but no tests have been done to see if this does the same thing to human a fetus.

End Of Article

**********

Personal opinion from Margie. I am forever and sadly astounded at the number of people who will take any prescription the doctor gives them and NEVER reads the small print.

Since you rarely see you doctor for more than 3 or 4 minutes (that is the time allotted to you) do not blame him for not telling you all this. He only knows what the company reps tell him who are selling him on pushing their drugs.

If after reading the side effects you still take it do not blame anyone but yourself when these side effects hit you.

One doctor commented to me that the odds are so high that it would affect you, than why not take it. Well if I am one of those it effects the odds were 100%.

Again I tell about my son's ex wife, (we remained friendly) who let her baby get the shots the doctor and the government said he had to take and he had an allergic reaction and went into a coma. Died within months. It was and still is a travesty of what is happening today to over 410,934 people in the United State who die each year due to the wrong prescription, or the wrong dose of medications given to them by the hospitals and their doctors.

Just read the small print. Your life may depend on it.

The Dangers of Monosodium Glutamate

By Dr. Steve Windley, MD

BAD TASTE

The hidden dangers of MSG.

The problems associated with processed foods continue to grow. Our overabundance of these items has left a society struggling with poor nutrition and overall health. Information on the food additive monosodium glutamate, or MSG, needs to be shared to protect the American family.

MSG is a flavor enhancer traditionally used in Chinese food, but found today in many foods like breakfast sausages and potato chips. Understanding the pitfalls of MSG can be very confusing. Glutamate is a naturally occurring amino acid that the body uses and needs. The synthetic manipulation and processing of glutamate produces a form that is not found in nature. Proven by studying many other areas, particularly hormone medications, attempting to recreate a product of nature often produces less than desirable results. MSG has been labeled an excitotoxin because it is thought to have the ability to overstimulate cells to death. Many people link headaches, flushing, poor attention and other symptoms, as well as diseases like fibromyalgia, to MSG intake.

Research on MSG has varied, and conventional medicine lacks in understanding what many patients have already found. Research has documented several effects related to MSG, including burning sensations of the mouth, head and neck, weakness of the arms or legs, headaches and upset stomach approximately 15 minutes after the MSG is consumed [1]. Further research again points to problems such as flushing, headaches and hives or allergic-type reactions with the skin [2.3.4]. Other reports suggest that there is really no link between MSG and these symptoms, though this data seems to be wavering [5,6]. In fact, a double blind study (where both researchers and test subjects were not aware who was getting a real test or a fake test) found that MSG exposure caused muscle tightness, fatigue, numbness or tingling, and flushing [7]. One study in mice concluded that injections of MSG produced obesity, inactivity and many other hormone fluctuations [9]. Respected neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D., even wrote a book on the subject, Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills.

One of the most important factors in MSG research is that some of the effects can occur very quickly while others, that are perhaps much more detrimental, might be more cumulative over time with subsequent exposure. For example, a study done with animals found that MSG exposure over a period of 3-6 months led to significant risk for damage to the retinas of the eyes [8]. These changes were not seen right away in the study, demonstrating that studies on MSG using 1-2 doses might miss many of the potential long-term effects associated with MSG intake.

MSG comes in many processed foods and snacks. Similar to high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils, consumers need to get in the habit of looking for monosodium glutamate. MSG does not occur naturally in whole foods, so you do not have to worry about it in apples or bananas. Manufacturers are required to state if MSG is included in products on their food content label. Unfortunately, it might fall under different titles, making it very difficult to keep up with what foods contain the additive. MSGmyth.com lists other names for MSG, including monopotassium glutamate and vegetable protein extract, and several additives that contain various amounts of MSG.

Everyone will not be affected the same by MSG, and perhaps some will experience no problems at all. The uncertain and somewhat frightening aspect of this compound is that it can cause a variety of symptoms over time that can lead to much greater, more permanent problems. It could also be argued that small amounts in any one food will not be a problem, but if small amounts are in several common foods that are consumed every day, the problem moves to a much graver scale.

References:

Metcalfe, DD. (1998). Food allergy. Prim Care, 25(4): 819-29.
Izikson, L. (2006). The flushing patient: differential diagnosis, workup, and treatment. J Am Acad Dermatol, 55(2): 193-208.
Gladstein, J. (2006). Headache. Med Clin North Am, 90(2): 275-90.
Simon, RA. (2000). Additive-induced urticaria: experience with monosodium glutamate (MSG). J Nutr, 130(4S Suppl): 1063S-6S
Fernstrom, JD. (1996). Short-term neuroendocrine effects of a large oral dose of monosodium glutamate in fasting male subjects. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 81(1): 184-91.
Lawrence, DT. (2007). Food poisoning. Emerg Med Clin North Am, 25(2): 357-73; abstract ix
Yang, WH. (1997,1999). The monosodium glutamate symptom complex: assessment in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study. J Allergy Clin Immunol, (6 Pt 1): 757-62.
Ohguro, H., Katsushima, H., Maruyama, I., Maeda, T., Yanagihashi, S., Metoki, T., Nakazawa, M. (2002). A high dietary intake of sodium glutamate as flavoring (ajinomoto) causes gross changes in retinal morphology and function. Exp Eye Res., 75(3):307-15.
Lorden, JF. (1986). Behavioral and endocrinological effects of single injections of monosodium glutamate in the mouse. Neurobehav Toxicol Teratol, 8(5): 509-19.

Other Trusted Sources:

foodsafety.gov

Tylenol Trouble - Acetaminophen Overuse Leads to Liver Failure

For a pounding headache, millions upon millions of Americans turn to pills like Excedrin, the pill that bills itself as “the headache medicine.” And for millions of Americans, pills like these do the trick—24 billion doses of acetaminophen medicines sold last year alone is a testament to that fact.

And even though pills like these will continue to be sold by the billions for years on end for headache relief, our livers will suffer as a consequence if bought and consumed as prevalently as they are now.

Did you know that the most common cause of liver failure is the overuse of acetaminophen-based medicines like Tylenol? That’s right. It’s not due to excessive alcohol consumption, malnutrition, or diseases like Hepatitis B. Nope. Liver failure’s most frequently caused by people popping too many Tylenol.

So it was a long time coming when an FDA panel recommended this week that pharmaceutical companies lower the recommended dosages of acetaminophen found on bottles of Tylenol and the like. This panel is different from the FDA, so the FDA isn’t recommending lowering the dosage. Just why the FDA isn’t recommending lowering the dosage is anyone’s guess.

Something else that’s anyone’s guess is whether pharmaceutical companies will take the panel’s advisement into action. You’d think they would, especially considering that thousands are hospitalized every year because of overuse of over-the-counter medicines like these and that hundreds of people have been given liver transplants due to acetaminophen overuse.

Despite these worrisome warning signs, they appear loath to make any adjustments, as the maker of Tylenol issued a statement recently saying, in part, that “…the safety and efficacy of acetaminophen has been established in over 150 clinical studies” and that it’s the “pain medicine that doctors recommend most.”

That’s all well and good, but what they don’t seem to realize is that acetaminophen is a lot like high fructose corn syrup – it’s everywhere! So when people are taking one medication that contains acetaminophen for a cold, and then start taking Tylenol for a headache, all that acetaminophen has to go somewhere. And where does it go? The liver, where the overconsumption of it can’t be metabolized properly, ultimately leading to the failure of one of our most vital organs.

Some may consider this bad news. “What will we do for our headaches?” some might wonder. Well, naturally, there are “natural” solutions to headaches. And while the alternatives aren’t as plentiful or as prevalent as acetaminophen is in over-the-counter medicines, there’s more than one to choose from.

Some of the most common natural herbs and spices include skullcap, which is really great for stress-related headaches. Another is curcumin, the herb found in the curry spice turmeric. The properties of curcumin help to shield the brain’s pain receptors. One other is capsaicin. Capsaicin is neither an herb nor a spice, but rather a compound that gives chili peppers their spice. Capsaicin is good for other pain problems, too, like the pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

Acetaminophen has been used entirely too much for entirely too long. Sadly, it took liver failure to bring it to everyone’s attention. Perhaps now people will do what they should have been doing a long time ago and turn to natural treatments for headache relief.

Sources:

voices.washingtonpost.com

examiner.com

basilandspice.com

altnature.com

NSAIDs - NonSteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs - Beware!

I have preached in the past about the dangers of using NSAIDs and why I'm so strongly against using them.

This article points straight out the risk you take by using these types of drugs.

I've had conversations with people about the risks involved using these and other drugs. And this statement is always brought up, "possible side effects could be 1 in 1,000 people using the drug…." My response is simply, What if you're that 1 person?

No medicines are entirely risk free of serious health problems, not even the ones bought over the counter.

There are natural solutions to health problems. We must find and treat the cause, not just cover up the symptoms.

NSAIDs, or NonSteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs, are available over-the-counter (OTC) or with a prescription from your doctor and are used to relieve pain, inflammation, and stiffness. Because of this, they are widely used to help treat arthritis.

All prescription NSAIDs, have the same cardiovascular warning: they may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death.

Current over-the-counter NSAIDs include:

Aspirin compounds

Ketoprofen (such as Orudis)

Ibuprofen (such as Motrin, Advil, Nuprin and Medipren)

Naproxen sodium (such as Aleve)

Prescription NSAID

Celebrex (for an example, there are many different NSAID drugs)

What are the uses and your risks using these drugs?

- Aspirin compounds (such as Anacin, Ascriptin, Bayer, Bufferin and Excedrin)

Aspirin is in a group of drugs called salicylates. It works by reducing substances in the body that cause pain, fever, and inflammation.

Possible side effects associated with aspirin include:

nausea

vomiting

stomach pain

heartburn

abdominal burning

gastritis

serious gastrointestinal bleeding

liver toxicity

stomach ulcers and bleeding without abdominal pain

ringing in the ears (usually is dose dependent)

rash

kidney problems

dizziness or lightheadedness

- Ketoprofen (such as Orudis)

Ketoprofen is in a group of drugs called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Ketoprofen works by reducing hormones that cause inflammation and pain in the body. It is also used to treat menstrual pain.

Possible side effects include:

Nausea

Abdominal pain (stomach pain)

Diarrhea

Constipation

Gas

Decreased appetite

Vomiting

Headache

Dizziness

Depression

Insomnia

Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)

Unexplained rash

Vision problems

Ulcer in the stomach or intestines (peptic ulcer).

Get emergency medical help as soon as possible if you experience any of the following symptoms:

Chest pain

Shortness of breath

Weakness on one part of your body

Slurred speech

Allergic reactions, such as:

Swelling of the face or body

Blisters

Unexplained skin rash

Wheezing

Difficulty breathing

Stomach or intestine problems, including bleeding, ulcers, or a hole (known as a perforation). Liver damage, which can cause:

Nausea

Fatigue

Yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes (jaundice)

Excessive tiredness

Also:

Kidney problems, including kidney failure

Fluid retention or unexplained weight gain

Congestive heart failure

Because ketoprofen can increase the risks for major or life-threatening bleeding, contact your healthcare provider immediately if you notice any unusual bleeding or have any of the following symptoms:

Bloody nose

Black, tarry stools

Blood in the urine or stools

Vomiting blood

Red or purple spots on the skin (purpura)

High blood pressure (hypertension)

Allergic reaction

Anemia

Unexplained bleeding

Impotence (also known as erectile dysfunction or ED)

Anxiety

Weight changes

Hair loss (alopecia)

Migraine

Spinning sensation (vertigo)

Asthma

- Ibuprofen (such as Motrin, Advil, Nuprin and Medipren)

Ibuprofen is used for, to treat general pain, as well as pain caused by a strained muscle or inflammation in a tendon (tendonitis) or bursa (bursitis).

Treatment of arthritis symptoms, including pain, stiffness, and swelling. While people may use ibuprofen to treat several different types of arthritis (including osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis), the medication does not cure these types of arthritis, nor does it change their progression.

Treatment of painful menstrual periods and temporary relief of fever.

Possible side effects include:

The most common ibuprofen side effects include:

Nausea

Abdominal pain (stomach pain)

Heartburn

Dizziness

Unexplained rash

Other side effects, occurring in more than 1 percent of people, include but are not limited to:

Diarrhea

Vomiting

Indigestion

Constipation

Stomach cramps

Bloating

Gas

Headache

Nervousness

Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)

Decreased appetite

Swelling

Get emergency medical help by calling 911 as soon as possible if you experience any of the following symptoms:

Chest pain

Shortness of breath

Weakness on one part of your body

Slurred speech

Other serious side effects of ibuprofen include but are not limited to:

Allergic reactions, such as:

Swelling of the face or body

Blisters

Unexplained skin rash

Wheezing

Difficulty breathing

Stomach or intestinal problems, including bleeding, ulcers, or a hole (known as a perforation)

Liver damage, which can cause:

Nausea

Fatigue

Yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes (jaundice)

Excessive tiredness

Kidney problems, including kidney failure

Fluid retention or unexplained weight gain

Congestive heart failure

Because ibuprofen can increase the risk of major or life-threatening bleeding, contact your doctor immediately if you notice any unusual bleeding or have any of the following symptoms:

Bloody nose

Black, tarry stools

Blood in the urine or stools

Vomiting blood

Red or purple spots on the skin

These rare side effects include but are not limited to:

Ulcer in the stomach or intestines (peptic ulcer)

Hepatitis

High liver enzymes

Depression

Insomnia

Hair loss

Hearing problems

Problems with vision, such as blurred vision or changes in color vision

High blood pressure (hypertension)

Congestive heart failure

Dry eyes and mouth

Meningitis

- Naproxen sodium (such as Aleve)

Naproxen is used to relieve pain and swelling (inflammation) from various conditions. It is used to treat headaches, muscle aches, backaches, tendonitis, dental pain, and menstrual cramps. It also reduces pain, swelling, and joint stiffness caused by arthritis, bursitis, and gout attacks.

Possible side effects include:

The most common side effects of naproxen:

Heartburn

Stomach pain

Nausea

Constipation

Headache

Dizziness

Drowsiness

Itching

Unexplained rash

Ringing in the ears

Shortness of breath

Fluid retention

Get emergency medical help as soon as possible if you experience any of the following symptoms:

Chest pain

Shortness of breath

Weakness on one side of your body

Slurred speech

Other potentially serious side effects include but are not limited to:

Allergic reactions, such as:

Swelling of the face or body

Blisters

Unexplained skin rash

Wheezing

Difficulty breathing

Stomach or intestine problems, such as:

Bleeding

Ulcers

A hole (known as a perforation)

Liver damage, which can cause:

Nausea

Fatigue

Yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes (jaundice)

Excessive tiredness

Kidney problems, including kidney failure

Fluid retention or unexplained weight gain (see Naproxen and Weight Gain)

Congestive heart failure

Feeling that the pill is stuck in your throat

Because naproxen can increase your risk of major or life-threatening bleeding, contact your healthcare provider immediately if you notice any unusual bleeding or have any of the following symptoms:

Bloody nose

Black, tarry stools

Blood in the urine or stools

Vomiting blood

Red or purple spots on the skin.

Example of prescription NSAID:

- Celebrex

Celebrex is used for, Acute pain relief, such as for pain following a procedure or muscle strain.

Treatment of arthritis symptoms, including pain, stiffness, and swelling. Celebrex can be used to treat several different types of arthritis, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis. However, the medication is not an arthritis cure.

Treatment of painful menstrual periods.

This warning is posted on the Celebrex website:

********************************

WARNING: CARDIOVASCULAR AND GASTROINTESTINAL RISKS

Cardiovascular Risk

Celebrex may cause an increased risk of serious cardiovascular thrombotic events, myocardial infarction, and stroke, which can be fatal. All nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may have a similar risk. This risk may increase with duration of use. Patients with cardiovascular disease or risk factors for cardiovascular disease may be at greater risk.

Celebrex is contraindicated for the treatment of perioperative pain in the setting of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

Gastrointestinal Risk

NSAIDs, including Celebrex, cause an increased risk of serious gastrointestinal adverse events including bleeding, ulceration, and perforation of the stomach or intestines, which can be fatal. These events can occur at any time during use and without warning symptoms. Elderly patients are at greater risk for serious gastrointestinal events.

********************************

Possible side effects include:

Most common side effects of Celebrex include:

High blood pressure (hypertension)

Diarrhea

Fever

Indigestion or heartburn

Upper respiratory tract infection (such as the common cold)

Upper abdominal (stomach) pain

Nausea

Cough

Other common side effects included but were not limited to:

Gas

Accidental injury

Dizziness

Runny or irritated nose

Sinus infection or irritation

Sore throat

Vomiting

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)

Serious Side Effects

Some Celebrex side effects occur less frequently, but are more serious. These problems include but are not limited to:

Cardiovascular problems, including heart attack or stroke

Stomach or intestinal problems, including bleeding, ulcers, or a hole (known as a perforation)

Liver damage

Kidney problems, including kidney failure

Fluid retention

Swelling of the arms or legs

Rapid weight gain

Congestive heart failure

Allergic reactions (such as a rash, itching, hives, difficulty breathing, or swelling of the mouth or throat).

Rare Side Effects

Because these side effects are so uncommon, it is difficult to tell whether they were caused by the medication or something else.

These possible side effects of Celebrex include but are not limited to:

Constipation

Heartburn

Herpes infection

Middle ear infection (otitis media)

Migraine

Weight gain (see Celebrex and Weight Gain)

Muscle pain (myalgia)

Depression

Anemia

Hair loss

Over The Counter Pain Medications - What you should know before your next pain

Iburprophen - Brand Names: Advil, Motrin, Medipren, Nuprin, etc.

Ibuprofen belongs to a class of drugs called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Other members of this class include aspirin & naproxen (Aleve). These drugs are used for the management of mild to moderate pain, fever, and inflammation. Pain, fever, and inflammation are promoted by the release in the body of chemicals called prostaglandins. Ibuprofen blocks the enzyme that makes prostaglandins. Therefore, inflammation, pain and fever are reduced. The FDA approved ibuprofen in 1974.

Drug Interactions:

Ibuprofen is associated with several suspected or probable interactions that can affect the action of other drugs. Ibuprofen may increase the blood levels of lithium by reducing the excretion of lithium by the kidneys. Increased levels of lithium may lead to lithium toxicity.

Ibuprofen may reduce the blood pressure-lowering effects of drugs that are given to reduce blood pressure. This may occur because prostaglandins play a role in the regulation of blood pressure. When ibuprofen is used in combination with aminoglycosides [for example, gentamicin (Garamycin)] the blood levels of the aminoglycoside may increase, presumably because the elimination of aminoglycosides from the body is reduced. This may lead to aminoglycoside-related side effects.

Individuals taking oral blood thinners or anticoagulants [for example, warfarin (Coumadin)] should avoid ibuprofen because ibuprofen also thins the blood, and excessive blood thinning may lead to bleeding.

Pregnancy:

There are no adequate studies of ibuprofen in pregnant women. Therefore, ibuprofen is not recommended during pregnancy. Ibuprofen should be avoided in late pregnancy due to the risk of premature closure of the ductus arteriosus in the fetal heart..

Nursing Mothers:

Ibuprofen is not excreted in breast milk. Use of ibuprofen while breastfeeding, poses little risk to the infant.

Side Effects:

The most common side effects from ibuprofen are rash, ringing in the ears, headaches, dizziness, drowsiness, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, constipation and heartburn.

NSAIDs reduce the ability of blood to clot and therefore increase bleeding after an injury.

Ibuprofen may cause ulceration of the stomach or intestine, and the ulcers may bleed. Sometimes, ulceration can occur without abdominal pain, and black, tarry stools, weakness, and dizziness upon standing due to bleeding may be the only signs of an ulcer.

NSAIDs reduce the flow of blood to the kidneys and impair function of the kidneys. The impairment is most likely to occur in patients who already have impaired function of the kidney or congestive heart failure, and use of NSAIDs in these patients should be cautious.

People who are allergic to aspirin, should not use ibuprofen. Individuals with asthma are more likely to experience allergic reactions to NSAIDs.

Fluid retention, blood clots, heart attacks, hypertension and heart failure have also been associated with the use of NSAIDs.

Asprin - Common side effects: Heartburn; nausea; upset stomach

Severe side effects:

Rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue; black or bloody stools; confusion; diarrhea; dizziness; drowsiness; hearing loss; ringing in the ears; severe or persistent stomach pain; unusual bruising; vomiting.

The most common side effects of aspirin involve the gastrointestinal system. Aspirin can cause ulcers of the stomach and duodenum, abdominal pain, nausea, gastritis (inflammation of the stomach), and even serious gastrointestinal bleeding from ulcers.

Occasionally, aspirin may be toxic to the liver.

Another serious but rare side effect of aspirin is intracranial hemorrhage (bleeding into the tissues of the brain), similar to a hemorrhagic stroke.

Serious side effects of aspirin, such as bleeding ulcers or intracranial bleeding, are rare (less than 1% of patients) among patients taking moderate doses of aspirin (e.g., 325 mg/d). Serious side effects of aspirin should be even lower with low doses such as 75-160 mg/d. However, the actual incidence of serious bleeding with long-term use of low dose aspirin has not been clearly determined.

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