-->| Although the combination of these pills was never approved by the FDA, by 1996 more than 18 million prescriptions a year were being written for this combination of pills as a weight-loss treatment. Dr. Connolly and her colleagues noticed an unusual number of young women showing up in their practices with heart murmurs. In sharing notes, they discovered that the young women had something in common: They were all being treated with fen-phen for weight loss. |  In 1982, diuretics accounted for 56% of prescriptions written for blood pressure; ten years later, after ACE inhibitors were marketed, they accounted for 27%. A list of the best-selling drugs among senior citizens shows three ACE inhibitors, but no diuretics. We have replaced the inexpensive drug with an expensive one.
Third, ACE inhibitors do have a limited effect in reducing the risk of heart failure and death from strokes. The HOPE study found that the treated group suffered fewer heart failures (9% compared to the 11.5% for the placebo), fewer deaths from diabetes (6.4% compared with 7. |  Five million prescriptions have been written for Ketek (telithromycin). Most common side effects are gastrointestinal: diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain, and vomiting. Headache and disturbances in taste also occur. Less common side effects include palpitations, blurred vision, and rashes. According to a review of the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System, by the staff of the Senate Finance Committee, between July 2005 and September 2005 alone, there were two deaths, thirty-five adverse liver reactions, forty-four cardiac events, and eighty visual events in Ketek patients. |  In Chapter 8, "Less Commonly Used prescriptions," you'll get important information about depletions related to less commonly used medicines, including drugs for obesity, epilepsy, AIDS, contraception, menopausal symptoms, schizophrenia/bipolar disorder, gout, and cancer.
• The final chapter covers polypharmacy (taking multiple drugs) with some general principles to help you optimize your prescription use. Finally, you'll be given resources for accessing more information on your own.
A FRESH PERSPECTIVE ON HEALTH AND HEALING
If a warning light on your car's dashboard goes on, what do you do? | | I do, however, recommend natural solutions to the underlying cause of your problems, which in many cases will allow you—with the help of your doctor—to reduce the number or dosages of prescriptions you are taking.
ONE
What You Should Know about Drugs and How They Deplete Nutrients n modern times, high-tech drugs and procedures exist for most conditions, but this wasn't always so. Let's turn back the clock to see just how modern pharmaceuticals were developed. |  With 10 million prescriptions filled each year, you would expect a major effort to evaluate the long-term impact of this widely used drug. The FDA has announced no plans to require additional information. The federal grant El-Zein and her colleagues were encouraged to submit proposing an expanded study of more children was turned down.
By now you can probably persuade most people that cigarettes aren't worth the risk. But what about artificial sweeteners like Aspartame? |  Statistics show that in some countries asthma medications are now the second largest category of prescriptions dispensed, so conventional medicine is trying its best. Can anything more be done? We believe the answer is 'Yes'. There are many alternative therapies that do alleviate asthma and there are specific exercises that considerably improve asthmatics' condition. There is also much benefit that can be gained by the asthmatic following a generally healthier way of life. | | Prescriptions rose from 2,000 to 45,000 in a single week.7 Lilly had ten criminal counts filed against the company and its head researcher, Dr. William Shedden, for failure to report deaths abroad ("several hundred"), and 49 deaths in the U.S.8
Fines, 1,400 litigations in England as well as many in the United States finally led Lilly to withdraw the drug from the U.S. market even though it had FDA approval.
During this same period, Lilly was busy pushing influential political contacts to rush approval of Human rDNA-engineered insulin through the FDA. |  Healers across the medical spectrum in each of the major systems I've examined might offer the same patient a different diagnosis and therapy, but all used similar systems of explanation to justify their prescriptions. Thus, language barriers notwithstanding, doctors from around the globe could appreciate the medical thinking of their distant peers, and in many cases could draw upon it.
Sir John Floyer, for example, writing in England in 1701, drew heavily upon Chinese pulse diagnosis and prognosis to support his arguments in favour of a 'physician's pulse watch'. | | Using alcohol or illegal drugs along with prescriptions is dangerous. This practice can not only deplete your body of nutrients, but also an accidental overdose or a bad combination of medicines with recreational drugs and/or alcohol can be deadly!
• The use of multiple medications. Polypharmacy is a fact of life for some people, but they need to be aware that nutrient depletion can be amplified by this.
• Poor diet. This is pretty obvious. | | Even though this book is about drug-nutrient depletion and not diet, I do know that many of the conditions that lead you to take prescriptions in the first place are related to poor diet and overweight. So healthy weight loss, and simply, healthy eating, should be an essential part of your program.
If you are eating the standard American diet, shifting to the Zone diet, consisting of a 40-30-30 ratio of carbohydrates, protein, and fat—will shed pounds. The program is safe and works like a charm to jump-start a lifetime of healthy eating. | | They are among the top-selling drugs in the United States, with 60 million prescriptions per year at a cost of $10 billion. At least 10 percent of adult women and 4 percent of adult men are taking them. They are prescribed for a long list of conditions besides depression, including anxiety, bipolar disorder, chronic pain, eating disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
While antidepressants may be enormously helpful, even life-saving for some people, they are often overprescribed, at too high a dose, over too long a time, and often before a good medical evaluation has been done. |  This is how dangerous drugs get released into the marketplace and only recalled after tens of millions of prescriptions have been written and many thousands of people have died. The drug companies routinely treat the population as drug testing guinea pigs, and the used of vaccines on children is no different.
I find it interesting that genuine scientific skepticism seems to vanish when the topic shifts to pharmaceuticals. | | Before arbitrarily adding such supplements to your treatment protocol, consider what this moderation in blood sugar will do to insulin and prescriptions used to lower blood sugar.
Truth in labeling and manipulation by various components of the food industry make it very difficult to choose nutrition wisely. It is a well-known fact that oatmeal bread —hyped as a healthy choice — contains only minimal amount of oat flour when compared to the wheat flour content. Less obvious, though, is that many staples such as bread, milk, and pastas have been supplemented with vitamins. | | Medco pressured doctors to change prescriptions to improve rebates and bottom lines.2
Pharmacists have an opportunity to intervene in corrupt medico-industry practices. They have the knowledge to serve patients by demanding that dangerous drugs be removed from the market. Their professional knowledge allows them to translate "anecdotal stories" into meaningful statistics that impact on patient welfare.
Another important consideration is the recent introduction of "counterfeit" drugs that have entered the system. Large wholesale pharmacy suppliers must be more cognizant of their sources. | | It is an unfortunate fact today that, in Western societies, the number of pills, potions and prescriptions being dispensed is spiralling every year as orthodox practitioners worry about being sued for medical malpractice if they do not prescribe something—anything—when a patient visits them. The result is a lot of buttons being pressed!
It is also true that asthmatics often rely heavily on their spray or puffer, using it as a psychological crutch rather than as a non-preferred treatment. It is not the use of medication which causes concern, but over-reliance on this form of treatment. |  An investigation made public by CNN on 26 September 2007 discovered that 56 million prescriptions each year are handed out by doctors for drugs that are not even approved by the FDA. Two percent of all prescription drugs in the U.S. are not backed by any scientific research and can be fatal to unsuspecting patients. As shocking as it is, the FDA acknowledges that it hands out licenses to any drug producer who wants to sell a drug, regardless of whether it has been proven safe or effective. |  No, in that narrow sense, the treatments and prescriptions in this book are not technically "cures." But they sure are powerful helpmates on your road to health. And they may feel like lifesavers to a lot of people. For everyone else, they will get you healthier, and they will make a difference.
And I'm pretty sure that, for some folks, they will make all the difference in the world.
WHY THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT
If there's one thing that sets The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth apart from the spate of other "natural cure" books it's this: research. Let me explain. | | In some cases, following these prescriptions can actually "cure" a condition, or at least make it so minor that it doesn't bother you anymore. In some cases, they may not completely eliminate the condition, but you may find that you're able to significantly reduce your dependence on medication. In still other cases, they may give you a partial improvement and relieve a good portion of your suffering. | | With natural prescriptions for PMS, it's a good idea to give it a try over at least three cycles. true. (It got your attention though, didn't it?) But it is true that their risk for breast cancer is substantially less than sighted women, 50 percent less by some estimates.
And the reason probably has to do with two things—light and a hormone called melatonin. Most people who have heard of melatonin know it as a supplement that can help with sleep (more on that in a moment). And it's great for jet lag. |  As the market for prescription drugs grows to include more and more children, plus aging baby boomers, the number of prescriptions per capita will likely increase. Even a small percentage of those drugs flushed into waterways poses a serious risk.
The threat posed by chemicals in personal care products
Prescription medications are not the only cause for concern. Consider parabens used in soaps, shampoos, moisturizers, and other personal care products. The EPA has reported that parabens -- methyl, propyl, butyl, and ethyl (alkyl-p-hydroxybenzoates) -- are endocrine disruptors. |  The doctor said to rest, drink a lot of fluids, and take aspirin for the fever—a set of prescriptions that you could have come up with on your own. You might have added one for chicken soup!
Time goes on, and you don't feel any better. A week passes, then three. You remain wiped out, unable to work or care for
_2 your home, and you can barely get your child off to school. You make another appointment with your doctor. |  I use a lot of prescriptions. But -- you want to remember -- it's kind of like having a whole tool kit if you're a builder. You want to have a hammer -- which is what the medications are and surgery is -- but you want pliers, wrenches, saws and everything else. All that most doctors have is a hammer, which is why most people feel like they've been nailed by the time they walk out of the office.
Mike: Right.
Teitelbaum: If you have a whole tool kit, the natural remedies are much safer. I would say, overall, more effective than the medications, but there's a time for the medications. | | Retail pharmacies filled 3 billion prescriptions in 2000. Sadly, we don't get much in return for all this money and drug use. Instead, the U.S. ranks as only the 37th healthiest nation in the world. France tops the list. [The French are very health conscious. The use of herbal remedies is widespread. Their health care system is free for all citizens, and doctors receive bonuses for keeping their patients healthy and teaching them how to stay that way.]
Almost all prescribed drugs have a suppressive effect. |  They claim to be locking up Santos in order to protect the health of the public, and yet they'll send patients home by the thousands with prescriptions for toxic pharmaceuticals that harm everyone! FDA-approved prescription drugs are now the 4th leading cause of death in the United States (tuberculosis isn't even close). I suppose if we were to really take steps to protect the general public, we should actually be locking up the drug-pushing doctors! They are right now killing far more patients than any infectious disease. | | What makes matters worse is that an estimated 35-45 percent of all prescriptions have no specific effect on the disease for which they are prescribed. The bottom line is that the majority of positive results are directly caused by the body's own healing response or triggered by the placebo effect. They have nothing to do with the medical treatment itself.
The Placebo in Action
Medical doctors have the status and power to inspire in their patients the confidence to believe that, for their condition, they are receiving the most suitable and best treatment available. | | For the most part, the natural prescriptions in this book are cobbled together from herbs, vitamins, and minerals, as close as reasonably possible to the way they're found in nature. And the treatments included are more similar to those used by traditional healers than they are to conventional Western medicine.
I can almost hear the objections of the "Quackwatch" contingent, so let me answer them in advance. | | Although every medical student knows that viral infections (including colds and the flu) do not respond to antibiotics, millions of people who are afflicted with these ills still receive antibiotic prescriptions from their doctors. In 1983, more than 32 million Americans visited a doctor for treatment of the common cold and 95 percent of them went home with a prescription drug. More than half of them were unnecessarily given a prescription for an antibiotic. Now 25 years later, this trend has nearly doubled. |  By far, the overwhelming majority of psychotropic prescriptions for children are given for attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In some instances, taking medicine is a prerequisite for attending school, with refusal to comply considered grounds for dismissal, or worse, removal of the child from the home by the state.
On top of everything else, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has reported that 19% of newly diagnosed Type II diabetic children also have neurological diseases. |  Many of our senior citizens are on a dozen prescriptions a day, and half of those are usually prescribed to cover up symptoms and side effects from the first few prescriptions.
Why prescription drugs cannot cause health
So why don't drugs work? It's because they make a promise they can't keep. Prescription drugs make the promise -- and this is reflected in the marketing -- that a person can engage in a lifestyle filled with many factors that lead to chronic disease, but by taking one pill they can break that cause-effect chain and not experience the disease that would normally result. | |
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